The age-herald., 1900-02-26
WENT IN SEARCH
 OF NORTH POLE
Won Berggrun Was a Member
 of Peary's Expedition.
HIS THRILLING ADVENTURE
Tells an Age-Herald Reporter Some of His Experiences in the Far North During the Trip.
 Of Noble Birth.

Eduard Waldersee von Berggrun who Is
 supporting James Young in the play of 1 'Lord Byron," and who sang the Ave
 Maria" at St. Paul's church yesterday, is
 quite a remarkable man. He is under 30
 years of age, but some of his adventures have been thrilling. and he is known in
 diplomatic circles in Europe He talks bril-
 liantqy on many topics, art, politics, phil osephy and navigation Von Berggrun was
 a member of Pearys second expedition in
 search of the north pole, and to Age
 Herald reporter at the Arlington yesterday ! afternoon he gave the following graphic story:
 We left Spitzbergen in November, 1S93 There was a party of twenty volunteers. | fitted with sleighs, guides, provisions and | dogs. The start was made with seighs | and everything went well for three weeks. ] At the end of that time several of the sleighs upset, and, besides losing nearly all | the provisions, three members of the party | were killed by being crushed between the | ice. This caused the expedition to be aban- | doned and with crushed hopes and failing hearts we started the return to Spitz- | bergen, our nearest relief station. The | provisions remaining to us after the acci- dent were just sufficient to enable us to reach the relief station without wanting seriously for food.
 Indescribable Horrors "The expedition was then fitted out again, the lost seighs being supplied with I Otherc and a nauy cforo of Yrovieiope taLap l along. Then commenced our weary travel towards the frozen north. To attempt to | describe the horrors of this trip is be- yond me. It is impossible for anyone to l describe them. When we reached a point
 that was said by Peary to be 45O miles from 1 the pole, we were separated from the main- l land by the breaking of the ice. There we | were on floating Ice in camp. On account
 of the terrible velocity of the wind, 1t was | impossible to put up a tent or to build a l fire. The thermometer registered 5S de- | grees below zero, and we lost several of the | party, dying of hunger, exertion and ex- | posture
 l At this point came the most terrible ex- | perience of the entire trip. We were on
 the verge of starvation. The food supply l was running low, and each man was put on
 a small allowance. A fire was an unknown l luxury. Several members of the party were 1 talking of committing suicide to prevent
 slower and more torturous death, when | the relief party from New York reached
 us with supplies. They were life-savers,
 and to them great credit is due The route
 they took to reach us was over land and
 water, part of the way in boats and part | If if caiphc af cto rt-
 ed for home and civilization again. The | party was kept up only by the daring cour- | age and indomitable will of Commander
 Peary. He is without doubt the possessor l of more personal courage than any man I | have ever known heard of."
 MT. von Berggrun is a relative of Grand l Chancellor Count Waadersee of Germany,
 and is connected with the highest rank of
 German nobility. His father was court sing 1 CT to Alexander the First of Russia, and l also to Frederick the Great of Germany. l His brother is the leading tenor in tho | Royal opera house at Berlin and Is a court | favorte.
 l One of Four
 | MT von Berggrun came to this country
 several years ago, but previous to that time | his love for adventure had caused him to go 
 to sea, and while following that line of life he had several very interesting adven- | lures. While on board the steamshipTyrian l she struck rock while at sea, about half l ways between St. Thomas and St. Vincent,
 and foundered in twenty minutes She car 1 ried crew of thirty-five mon, and out of
 that number only four were saved. He was | one of the quartet. In an open boat the sur | vivors tossed upon the sea for four days l without a drop of water to drink or a par | ticle of food to eat and two of the party had
 very little clothing. They were picked up | after four days of suffering and agony, by
 a British bark, and carried to the coast of | Africa. They were compelled to go to a l hospital, where they spent some time be- l fore recovering.
 Another instance of shipwreck was when l he was on board of the bark Margurite off l the Australian coast. The ship sprung a
 leak, and all hands were called to the
 pumps. For three weeks and three days
 they worked necessarily, yet the water
 gained on them When Sydney was reached
 the water was oyer the deck, and the ship
 sank in a few minutes after the crew left | her.