The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-09-13
All Other Vessels of the I'm
prisOned Whalers
Got Out Safely From Their
Bonds of Ice.
THE BEAR RETURNS
Having on Board 81 Members
of the Crews.
Uniniured Vessels Are on the
Way Down.

Neah Bay. Wn.. Sept. 13.-The reve-
nue. cutter Bear touched here on her
way down the coast. She has on board
Iieutenants Jarvis and BerthOlf and
DR.. Call composing the relief party, and
81 members of the crews of the whaI-
ing vessels that were wrecked including
the crew of the schooner Louise J.
Kenney.
When the men came aboard the Bear
after she reached Cape Smythe, there
were 119 in all. Twelve of these ex-
changed places with a like number
from the Fearless and IS shipped on
other vessels of the whaling fleet. Two
shipped on the Morning Light at KOt-
zebu sound, six shipped on some of the
Yukon river steamers when they reach
ed St Michael and two others shipped
on the English ship Illala at Dutch
Harbor.
Besides the loss of the Orca and Free
man last fail, the schooner Rosario was
the only other vessel that was crushed
an the ice. The other vessels, the New
port, Jeanette, Fearless and Belvidere
are all out and either on their way
down or have continued on their whal-
ing cruise The Wanderer which went
into Shell island last fall when she
found she could not get out is known
to be safe. Captain Newth, of the
jeanette who was taken i'll at Cape
Smythe came down on the Bear having
turned his vessel over to Thomas Ellis
and Charles Brewer.
The Bear reports that a petty officer
of the Whaler Rosario committed sui
eide by drowning last spring and in
June, Phil Mann of the Jesse Freeman
dropped dead of heart failure. Gray of
the jeanette died of dropsy. A Siber-
ian and Japanese attached to the
feet also died since the fleet was last
heard from.
Trip of the Bear.
special from St Michael, Alaska, Au-
gust 25, via Victoria, B. c., Sept. II,
says:
The revenue cutter Bear arrived in
port this afternoon with 116 Whalers be
longing to the vessels of the fleet that
were crushed in the ice pack while in
winter quarters off Point Barrow
July 2S the first vessel of the season
to arrive. She found the surviving
members of the steamers Orca and Jes-
sic H Freeman and the schooner RO-
sariO and took them on board, giving
them the first square meal they had in
jOyed in many days.
The reScuing party found that pro-
visions on the Belvidere, Newport.
Jeanette and the Fearless, the vessels
which escaped destruction in the ice
noes, were getting very low. Each yes
sci was given a supply sufficient until
the arrival of tenders from the south
On August II, having fulfilled her
mission Of rescue and relief the Bear
started south on her journey to St Mi
GDael Win the ll6 Wh2l6TS whose ships
were lost Shortly after her arrival at
Point Barrow, the Bear was caught in
the ice and the pressure was so tre-
mendOus that some of her planks start
ed and provisions were made for abaud-
Oning the ship. Fortunately. the pres
sure subsided. but the Bear was unable
to free herself from the pack for thir-
teen days after first being Dinched
The Bear left St. Michael for the
north on July 3, TO rescue nine miners
whose boat, a large steam launch, had
been wrecked five miles south of Cape
RamauoH, while making the trip from
Rampant City on the Yukon river to
st Michael for provisions and supplies
All the miners were saved and the Bear
proceeded on her way to Point Barrow
On the way several stops We're made
and bills contracted by Lieutenant Jar
Wis of the overland relief expedition
were paid in goods wanted by the ma
tfves- At Point Hope, Lieutenant Bert
hOff reported that the "a reindeer which
had strayed from the Lapps herd while
crossing Kotzebu Sound on the ice on
the way to Point Barrow had been
brought to Point Hope and that al
though several had been killed for food
the herd had increased by the birth
Of fawns to forty-nine. Captain Sher-
man of the wrecked whaler Orca board
ed the Bear at Point Day He reported
the wreck of the Rosario and the seri-
Gus condition of the BeIvfdere.
1t being impossible for the Bear TO pass
the ice barrier. food was sent to the Rel
where's men by a native in a skin boa+
cessruly accomplished his mission and
reahed Point Barrow only Is hours after
the Bears arrival there At Cape Smvthe
on July 2S the crews of the wrecked
steamers Jessie n. Freeman and Orca and
the schooner Rosario were taken on board
the Bear and given the first square meal
they had eaten for many dav
The Newport. Fearless and Jeanette ar
rived before August 3, when the Bear be
came fast in the ice. where she remained
Tor Is days it being found impossible to
blast her way out.
stores were. however. transferred to the !
Whalers on sleds- Finally. on August Il (
the rescued Whalers started on her way
south A stop was made at Point Hope /
on the 10th, where the schooner Louise J. |
Kinney was found on the beach. where
she had been wrecked the day before. Her
ofhcers ana crew were taken on board.
AFTER making several stops the Bear ar
rived at St Michael on August 25 and left |
on the following day.
San Francisco. Sept. IA special to the |
EXa miner from Seattle says that news |
brought down by the revenue cutter Bear 1
contrad1cts the recent alarming reports !
of wreckage of ships and loss of lives
ing sea On the contrary. the vessels of /
the fleet which were seawOrthy before the |
breakup are all fit for service now and
that there has been but one death among
the WhalerS since the disasters of the
autumn of 1897. In that case the victim
rell prey to an old standing complaint.
Quite Job for Governor Leedy.
Thomas Griffin of Cornwall, England.
has written to Governor Leedy. asking
him to investigate the estate of his de-