Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-06-27
THE DERELICT.
BY A. @. Pearsc.


to the southwark of Cape Horn,
that we fell in with the derelict ship.
Her name. still family to be read nn
| the Scared timhers, was Resolution.
| That is oil we learned about her from
| personal observation, for the fact tina I.
| her hold Was lEi.f full of water pre-
| Guided the possibility OF careful exam
! nation
But on board of hey we discovered :,
| human derelict. He WAS lying in IL
| heap in the galley. and ut first we
\ thought it was Il mere bundle of furs
| and rags. Closer scrutiny, however,
| revealed the fact that the bundle VAS
| a man. There was flicker of lite IN
| hinl---no more.
Pull him around. u you can" said
| the skipper to the ships doctor. II
| should Hike to hear how it was that he
| was drifting around in that old hulk,
| which, by the NAY, is a danger to nav
| igaton.
| My one FELLOW passenger. men
named Holroyd and myself hailet, With
satisfaction the doctors announcements
q couple of days later that the patient
| was sufficiently recovered TO come up
| on deck and spend an hour with us iii
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 was
| pitiful in his eager longing TO give ut
1 terance to some half-fovmed ideas.
Then, suddenly, he turned Ia me and
asked:
What year is ths?s told him.
II thought. perhaps, 1T was fright
\ full dream he murmured But 1T was
reality. Six years--my God-siX years =
Il al
face with his hands. Holroyd poured
out glass of wine and gave 1t to him
| This frightened him UP a bit and he
slowly began again:
.'On the 10Th of December, six years
| ago." he said, we sailed from Adelaide
In the ship Enterprise on an exploring
expedition in the Antarctic regions.
The captains name was Cleveland.
I'VE sieered for lSerguelan island.
where we landed some seal fishers and
! then proceeded ON our voyage. On the
27th of January we made out some high
land on the port bow. To the west tho
water was full of summer ice. but the
water was clear to tile southwark, and
/ wese,pushed on until the 23d of March,
when we We're beset In the Ice pack.
and 1t was only with the greatest diff
ficusty that we warped the ship into a
small inlet which the captain deter
mined to make his winter quarters.
LAS soon as the ship was safely
| moored we started to explore this des-
olate land, which no living man had
| ever set foot upon or even seen. 1t
was evidently part of q great southern
continent, which stretched beyond the
pole itself. And over those frightful
ard voiceless solitudes of snow Cieve-
| Hand determined TO force his way as
soon as spring rendered travelling pos
| sible
with the first traces of returning
light we made preparations for an ex-
petition to the south. and on the oath
of September we started. For a month
| we Travelled under Sky as blue as 1t.
aly's. and then the weather changed.
Fogs, snowstorms and gales succeeded
4 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 jan
uary, only to find that the ice had
1 forced her high upon the shore, amid
n mass OF debris. She was still habi,
able, though she would never float
/ again.
Six more weary months dragged by
Escape to the north being cut off by q
barrier of ice mountains. Captain
Cleveland determined to make anothe,
attempt to cross the Polar sea, OF con.
tincnt, which ever 1T was, and reacl
Grahamland, where he might be picked
up Dy II WTlleT.
our original crew of thirty-five wa.
now reduced by sickness and accident to
ubout twenty We carried a quantity OF
provisions. hoistcd the ensign at the peal,
and bade goodby to the Enterprise on DC
tober e.
AS We advanced further the peaks ant
rough ground fell away until an unbroker
sheet of snow stretched away before us
| Nowhere else Oh earth would L. be posi-
bla % End SlGh hitter IcspIatjon
The crew held consultation, and ever
| the boldest of them, being disfnayed b,
tic gloomy prospect addressed n reaues
to Captain Cleveland 10 return to the En-
tcrprise. This be refused to do but eigh
men determined to go back alone, and so
giving them one of the sledEes aud then
provisions, We parted company. Whethe,
they ever reached the ship know not
we kept on and on. forever toward tn,
south, and one by my companion.
died along the road. until there We're oni,
four of us leftthc captain, myself AN,
two scamcn. 1t was about this time tina
l fell into sort of trance. How long
continued in this dazcd state | do no
know, but when recovered conscious
ness found myself standing on a rock,
headland gazing down upon a ship whic.
was Embedded In the center of a field o
rough Ice. a few PAGES from mo stoot
Captain Cleveland, gaunt and hollow
eyed No one else was in sight.
The strange ship was the Amsrical
whaler Resolution, which we discovere
from her log had been abandoned In l:tti
ture IA south and longitude 90 west, thir
ty-eight years before. ] could not bcliev
my eyes when read go west longitude.
What does 1t mean? muttered.
lit MEANS said Captain Cleveland
that we haze crossed the south pola
continent from the eastern to the vest
crn hemisphere We have done tina, VILE
will make us famous. Famous! or wiz.
use was fame TO us?'
cit was the strangest story / eve
heard. said Ho!loyd
I'VE found quantity of provisions o
board. the speaker continued, most o
which was In good condition. And abohr
the old whaler we took up our wlnte
quarters. l won't trouble you with a
account of how we passed our long. wear
months of Imprisonment | lost all &C
count of time, but believe now that 10
nearly three years that ships cabin WI,
our home
Such a life will shake the foundation
of the strongest mind. and 1t was r9sr tn
end of another polar night that Clevelan
suddenly went mad. cambered down upo
the Ice, and ran wildly toward the south
/ never saw him again
The narrator broke down completely a
this point but soon took up his story
Gradually, inch by inch. the ship work
ed her way through miles of pack ic,
and one morning L awoke to find IL glol
tous eXpansc of open water in from {
me. through which the ship slowly glidec
For days, aye weeks. Grifted on over IN
deserted ocean, With never sail in sig :,
The loneliness was awful. i longeG fo
companionship, and dared not go dow
into the cabin. for every sound made m
start In terror.
During the latter part of his recital ii.
wanderers voice had grown weaker an
weaker his pauses longer and more tre
uuent. We again offered him wine, but h