The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-17
CHRISTMAS on AN ICEBERG.
a Thrilling Story of n Miraculous
Rescue.

New York, Dec. 15.-Roy Lambertson was
discharged from Bellevue Hospital, New
York city, last week, and started at once
for his home in Yarmouth, N. S., where
he will eat his Christmas dinner Last
Christmas he had no dinner to eat and
passed Christmas day on an iceberg
Lambertson is a youth of IS, but hard
ship and sickness make him look much
older. When the brig Sea Serpent was
moved to the Roberts wharf in Brooklyn
early in March Lambertson went ashore,
and after shaking hands with his ship
mates, proceeded to Bellevue Hospital,
where he was treated for gangrene SUI
perinduced by frost bites.
you are a sailor?'' said the physician
who examined him.
yes, sir. a sort of sailor-fsherman."
who brought you here?'
IL came from the Azores in the Sea
Serpent"
"And how did you get to the
| Azores?"
Part of the way on an iceberg and part
of the way in the barkentine Nelly
Now" said the physician, tell US how
| you received your injuries. And mind, I
don't want a forecastle yarn or a sea ser
pent story
This is in substance the story told by
| young Lambertson and corroborated in
part by letters from Nova Scotia to the
| hospital authorities:
Father and 1 went out fishing on
| Christmas eve last from Clark's harbor
| We were after mackerel and were doing
| wei, but had not been long out when a
! Bay Of Fundy fog surrounded us and we
concluded 10 put back. The old man steer
ed and l roWed, as there wasn't a breath
| OF wind to fill the sail. After groDing our
way east for half an hour we struck
against something or something struck
| against us and l was thrown clean over
! board. l know now that the keel of our
| boat collided with the spur of an ice
berg. When 1 rose to the surface l heard
! the old man shouting, but l couldn't an
| swer him, and ii seems 10 me that The
spur got between US in the first D ace and
| then we were separated altoge her by the
entire berg. At all events l haven't seen
the old man since, though he is alive and
well, thank God. 1 am a pretty good
swimmer, and after 1ounderine around
some time 1 managed to get on a ledge
of the berg and maintain myself there by
! bracing my shoulder against a slight pro-
| lection overhead. knowing | could not
keep this position very long climbed with
great difficulty to the top, though really
| there is no such thing as a top to a
make out 1t was ike one Of those huge
rocks you may see taken out of the ear. h
| by blasting, and it rolled and tumbled
about in all sorts of ways. When thought
j was on top the berg would keel over un-
til found myself on The de, and at one
time 1t turned a complete somersaut and
| threw me once more into the water
had good mind to give up then and ac-
cept what seemed my fate, but thought
of the folks at home, and that my father
being probably drowned the family would
have to depend upon me. So 1 made an
other effort. The berg was rolling and
presented many sharp points here and
and by it's means tifted myself
to the ledge from which 1 had been
thrown. Realizing that 1 could not main
tain myself in that position / climbed
once more to the top and this time found
myself in a saucer shaped cavity. Wbin-
ping out my knife l hacked away for dear
life until had scooped out a still deeper
| hollow, and after much hard work l gath
cred quite a pile of pebbles and sea weed
on which l rested my feet. Mean line nv
body from the waist up was exposed. Even
| al this l was in danger of falling ont or
off, when the berg rolled over, as it fire.
quently did. l was therefore Obliged to
be constantly on the alert. From the sit
uation l was now in / could think and
think. The berg had evidently come
down from Labrador in the warm current
and was drifting in a southeast erly dire
ton. The part of it above water was
! about twelve feet in altitude and 7 had
hopes that if did not succumb to hunger
: and thirst ! might be taken off bv n mas
ing ship Exhausted from my exertions
| and though fearing that sleep might mean
death 1 could not resist the drowsiness
that came over me and so fell asleen
| When l awoke after a few hours It WIS
night and the stars were in the s1xv
| Though my hands and feet were numbed 7
did not feel as cold as one might imagine
1t is useless describing my sensations, I
thought of the sad Christmas mother and
the kids would pass without me and. per-
haps, without the old man, and l PRAYED
to God to save me- I was glad when the
| morning came-Christmas morntng-but
suffered fearfully from hunger and tn irst
| especially from thirst. Christmas dav
passed over me like Christmas eve ana
at the dawn of the 26th gave up hone
| But one should never despair, even though
hundreds of miles out at sea on an e.
berg, for that evening / was taken off the
| berg by a boat from The barquentlne Sea
Serpent of Charlottetown, r. e. T., COM
manded by Capt. Ferguson and bound for
the Azores. The captain treated me wen
and after staying on the Azores a few
| weeks l came to New York in the Sea Ser
| pent, a Liverpool brigantine.
| THAT Is about ALL concluded the Young
fisherman from Nova Scotia, "and, saw.
doctor. ! don't want to spend no more
Christmas days on berg"
| ->-e-s
--Forethought - ORafferty. (pausing.
hammer in hand: shure, OF wish OF was
Hft-handedl
Clancy: What for2