Connecticut western news., 1901-08-01
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It was on the fourteenth day out from Wellington, New Zealand, when we were about 1SO miles to the south ward of Cape Horn, that we fell in with the derelict ship. Her name, still faintly to be read on the scared tim bers, was Resolution. That Is all we learned about her from personal ob- servation, for the fact that her hold was half full of water precluded the possibility of careful examination.
 But on board of her we discovered human derelict. He was lying in a heap in the galley, and at first we thought it was a mere bundle of furs and rags. Closer scrutiny, however, revealed the fact that the bundle was man. There was flicker of life in him-no more.
 Pull him around if you can," said the skipper to the ships doctor. "I should like to hear how 1t was that he was drifting around in that old hulk, which, by the way, Is danger to nayi- gation."
 My one fellow passenger, man nam- ed Holroyd. and myself hailed with satisfaction the doctors announcement n couple of days later that the patient was sufficiently recovered to come up on deck and spend an hour with us in the saloon. We half led, half carried, him from his berth and sat him down on the after lockers.
 The stranger looked from one to the other of us with an expression that ,,;t f,,l; Iii. l1 <x;x-. utterance to some half formed ideas. Then suddenly he turned to me and asked:
 What year is this?" I told him.
 "I thought perhaps 1t was frightful dream" he murmured. but it was real ity. Six years! My God, six yearsv' He stopped abruptly and covered his face with his hands. Holroyd poured out glass of wine and gave it to him. This frightened him up bit, and he slowly began again:
 ''On the 20th of December, six years ago. we sailed from Adelaide in the ship Enterprise on an exploring expedi- | ton in the antarctic regions. The cap- | tain's name was Cleveland.
 We steered for Kerguelan island, | where we landed some seal fishers, and | then proceeded on our voyage. On the 21th of January we made out some high land on the port bow. To the west | the water was full of summer ice, but | the water was clear to the southward. | and we pushed on until the 23d of | March. when we were beset in the ice | pack, and 1t was only with the greatest | difficulty that we warped the ship into small. inlet which the captain deter l mined to make his winter quarters. | "As soon as the ship was safely moored we started to explore this deso- late land. which no living man had ever | set foot upon or even seen. It was evil dently part of a great southern conti- nent which stretched beyond the pole itself. And over those frightful and l voiceless solitudes of snow Cleveland determined to force his way as soon as spring rendered travelling possible. | with the first traces of returning light we made preparations for an ex- | petition to the south, and on the 24th of September we started. For month we travelled under sky as blue as ltaly's, and then the weather changed Fogs. snowstorms and gales succeeded each other. rendering travelling a work of such difficulty and danger that we had to make the best of our way back to the ship. which we reached in Janu ary only to find that the ice had forced her high up on the shore amid a mass of debris. She was still habitable though she would never float again.
 "Sx more weary months dragged by Escape to the north being cut off by 8 barrier of ice mountains. Captain Cleve land determined to make another at tempt to cross the polar sea, or conti nent. whichever 1t was, and reach Ora ham Land. where be might be picked up by whaler.
 "Our original crew of 3o was now re duced by sickness and accident to a bou 20. We carried a quantity of provisions hoisted the ensign at the peak and badt goodby to the Enterprise on Oct. 26.
 "As we advanced farther the peak: and rough ground fell away until aI unbroken sheet of snow stretched ava! before US. Nowhere else on earth would IL be possible to find such utter desola ton.
 "The crew held a consultation, anC even the boldest of them, being dis mayed by the gloomy prospect, ad dressed request to Captain Cleveland to return to the Enterprise. This he re fused to do, but eight men determined to go back alone, and so, giving then one of the sledges and their provisions we parted company. Whether they ev CT reached the ship know not.
 We kept on and on, forever toward the south, and one by one my compan ions died along the road until there were only four of us left-the captain myself and two seamen. It was abou