The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1899-07-07
A Mysterious Crew
Jy George H. Coomer.

TT WAS early in the season, and or
all the whaling fleet our ship had
been the first to reach the Arctic, where
more than one vessel had been destroyed
by ice the previous fall. After get
ting we'll up north we caught two or
three whales, but our success was only
followed by an appalling disaster. we
had lust finished cutting in the thick,
oily overcoat of huge old fellow, 50
feet long, piling the 'blubber' on deck,
preparatory to its trying out, when
the ship became so hemmcd in by the
shifting masses of ice that we saw es-
cape to be impossible until some fur
ther movement of the great foes about
us should open lane for our deliver
ance.
But fearful disappointment awaited
us. The sky began to darken, and a
furious gale sprang up. The reader
may imagine our situation, with the big
ice islands in motion all about us, graf
ing against each other, and getting
nearer and nearer to the doomed ship,
as the broad, heavy swells raised by
the wind, surging against them from
the open ocean beyond, caused them
slowly but surely to change position.
At last the crash came. With berg
n hundred feet high on one side, and
low, level plain OF ice on the other, we
were caught as "betwecn the upper and
neither millstones,' SO to speak; and so
irresistible was the shock that the op-
posite sides of the ship were brought
completely together, her stout ribs
cracking like dry twigs.
The deck, with all its belongings, in
Guiding the trypots full of boiling OIL,
was pushed bodily out upon the ice,
while all our boats were either crushed
by the collision or wrecked beyond re-
pair by the falling masts and yards,
which all came down at once with "A
prodigious crash, some of them break
ing up and others remaining entire.
In fact, a more complete wreck can
hardly be conceived.
We had been trying out our catch
at the moment when the gale sprang
up, and although the fire had gone
down, it was not yet quite out. The
shock to the trypots caused them to
spill their oil, which instantly caught
fire, and this was soon communicated to
the fallen spars, sails and rigging, as
well as to the splintered boats. Be
fore the heat became unbearable, how
ever, we succeeded in saving some of
the lighter yards, with the canvas at
tached, and were able also to cut away
the upper fore topsail, well knowing
how invaluable such articles would be-
come to us should we not be shortly res
cued-a result which was very un-
certain at the best.
Some provisions and water had been
left in the boats after our last whale
chase, and these were secured, though
at the cost of some painful burns on
our hands and faces-our chief mate,
who wore a full beard, having it near
ly all singed OFF. We also got num-
Der OF harpoons and lances, together
with u boat hatchet, "line-tub" and
line; and then the roaring flames were
left to finish their work-sending up
! from the large mass of burning blub-
Der column of intensely black smoke,
and melting the surface of the ice till
the water ran in streams.
Our situation was forlorn, indeed,
and there was no probability of imme-
diaterelief. The loose ice had so changed
its position that no ship could now
reach the place where our own yes.
sci had been destroyed, and it might
be weeks before an open sea would pei.
nit near approach to us. Yet here
was the spot, of all others, where we
must wait for succor, as we had pre-
viously observed the foes and bergs to
be less compact at this point than else
where.
Our first care was to construct a
tent, which, as the wind was still high
We found to be quite difficult. 1t was
! made by placing our three royal yards
in triangular form, the foot of each
resting in hole which we had choppe
in the ice with our hatchet, while the
upper ends were firmly lashed together
These strong spars were then covered
with portion of the canvas we had
secured, while 9nother portion fur
nished carpet of several thicknesses
for the solid ice floor of our tent.
AS we numbered 30 men. the food and
water we bad managed to snatch from
the wrecked whaleboats were miserably
| Insufficient for our needs; but we put
ourselves on extremely short allowance
and hoped for the best. A few days
previous we had observed number OF
seals in the open places among TIE
ice. and we now felt that in obtaining
some of them lay our sole hope of avert
ing complete starvation.
The ice was constantly changing po-
sition, probably from some deep cur.
rent beneath it; and on the morning OF
the third day there appeared temper.
hry channel of open water at no grea'
dlntRncc. Behind small ice hummocl1