The San Francisco call., 1898-04-18
JOurneyed Across Arctic Wilds to Request Aid of the
 Vessels Owners.
FOOD SUPPLIES NEEDED.
When He Departed the Crews Were Living on Pound Of Bread
 a Day Each.
Special Dispatch to The Call

Walker, the third mate of the Orca, one of the icebound whaling vessels now in the Arctic waters, arrived in Seattle tonight. His experience has been somewhat similar to that of Third Mate Hilton of the whaler Belvedere, who made the hazardous trip overland from the frozen north, arriving two weeks ago. Walker started from Point Barrow with a dog team on November L The hardest part of the trip was the 6S0 miles along the shore line of the Arctic Ocean to Herschel Island, near the mouth of the Mackenzie River.
 Walker brings advices from the ice bound fleet both at Point Barrow and to the eastward. He reports that the crews will have sufficient food to last them until the ice breaks up, if they practice the utmost care and almost starvation in the consuming of their limited SUI ly. However, he brings an appeal from the captains of the vari- ous vessels to their owner, the Pacific Steam Whaling Company, that provis- ions be sent north at the earliest mo- ment In an interview tonight at his Lome in Seattle, MT. Walker said:
 
 row or on ships near there when I left or November l. They had but 400 bar rels of flour left, after having lived chiefly on one pound of bread a day uI' to that time. The supply of short meat and canned goods was very limit ed Indians had brought in some fresh meat, but not in any great quantity. The whalers believed that there would be enough to keep them alive until July 1. The men are quartered in two cabins, kept warm with plenty of fuel consumed in two stoves. When awake the men spend the long hours in play ing cards, chess and checkers.
 The only whaling vessel at Point Barrow is the schooner Rosario, which was beached before the ice formed. The OrCa was crushed in the ice pack off Point Franklin, about siXty-five miles west of Point Barrow, while the Freeman burned and sank in the same vicinity. The steamer Newport and the steam bark Fearless are ninety five miles off Tangent Point, ninety-five miles east of Point Barrow. The ten der Genie is still further east, near Pitt Point. The Belvedere is at Sea Horse Island and will get out all right. The steam whalers Balaena, Grampus Mar Whal and Beluge are at aBiley Island with their crews Cn board
 All of these latter vessels are in safe anchorages. Those near Bailey Island have plenty of supplies and can get more from Herschel Island, where the company has provisions. The crews of the Genie, Fearless and Newport will probably go to Point Barrow. I figured them in the 16S that I mentioned. The bark Wanderer and the steam schooner Mary D. Hume are safe at Herschel Island. The Jesse H. Freeman and my ship the Orca, were lost early in the winter.
 ''After several consultations the cap tains of the various vessels decided that they had better establish a perma- nent camp at Point Barrow. Eight men were left on board the Belevdere at Sea Horse, and the remainder went to the mainland with the crews of the Orca and Freeman. They then followed the shore line to Point Barrow. From the Freeman there were forty-five officers and men and from the Orca fifty-four From the Belvedere twenty went to Point Barrow. Considerable provisions were taken along from this vessel
 "The Rosario succeeded in working her way to the beach and we found her crew at the Point. The crews of the Fearless, Genie and Newport were still on board their vessels, but ex- pected to come to Point Barrow with their provisions"
 Mr. Walker says he made the trip out at the solicitation of William Drynen, who was in charge of thefinances of the company, and realized the importance of the officials at San Francisco being informed of their condition. Mate Til ton had started a couple of weeks pre- vious via Point Hope, but it was feared he would never reach the southern coast. When Walker volunteered to undertake the hazardous trip it was decided that he should go via the east ern route to Herschel Island; then up the Mackenzie and down the Atha baska River. He thus describes his ex- perience:
 T selected five dogs from the big pack at Point Barrow and finally en- gagged two Indians to accompany me. We took but a small supply of bread and canned goods, hoping to kill suffi- clent game to subsist on until we could reach Herschel Island, where there were plenty of supplies reported We kept to the coast line and made but slow progress, as there was consider able snow The last three days be- fore reaching Herschel we were prac- tically without food, but pushed on blindly through the snow. We were about exhausted when we arrived off the 1sIand on november 22 The worst part of the trip was over, but it had been terrible strain, and we were all worn out.
 We were well taken care of at Her schel, at which station there are three years supplies of provisions. We re- mained there until December 16. Bliz- zards and snow prevented our starting earlier. We started with plenty of pro- visions and it was thought best that
 we go up the Peel River to Fort Me Pherson. This distance of 450 miles we covered in sixteen days. At the fort sent pack the two Indians with one dog team and continued on alone I had letters to the Hudson Bay Company agents and procured provisions at the various posts.
 From Fort McPherson went across the trail 300 miles to old Fort Goodhope, on the Mackenzie River. This was a