Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-07-23
PORTLAND IS IN PORT
PERIL0US TIME OF IT
IN ARCTIC ICE FL0E
Bound In Immense Pack and Battered
About At Mercy Of Huge Forces
Story Of the Captain--All
Safe on Board,

Port Townsend, Wash. July Is. -
The steamer Portland, Captain Lad.
quist, ior which fears were entertain.
Cd in the ice foes of the Arctic seas,
came into port this afternoon looking
mt ne the worse for her experiences III
the north. While conceding that he
vessel had = very narrow escape, Cap
tain Lindquist asserts that he felt
Throughout the trying days Of her i'm.
piisonment that she would come oUt
ell right His principal fear centercd
about the time the jam would take
place, and the events at that none II.
tous time showed that be had soOd
cause for fear
When the smash.u2 occurred the
kstanch Portland was lifted like a cork
high out of the water, held a few min.
utes, which seemed centuries, on top
Of the quivering mass, and then the
ice settled out from under her and the
vessel was dropped violently back into
the water, churning up a mighty wave
that drenched the packet from stem
to stern.
From May 18th until June eth tho
PortlaDd was at the mercy of tho
ice foes, and ir that time was carried
from latitude 50 degrees Is minutes
north and 16S degrees minutes west
to 60 degrees s minutes north and 1853
degrees minutes west, every passing
day having its terror concerning the
final dissolution of the foe. The calm
determination Of Captain Lindqust
and his officers went far toward con
vincing the passengers, and few gaNo
utterance to their fears.
When the pack passed Cape Prince
OF Wales, four venturesome passpn.
gers left the Portland to make thcir
way ashore. After proceeding forty
miles, the party returned bearing w
S. Bliss of San Francisco with both
feet frozen. This was the only a"oi.
dent marking the entire trip of Gho
Portland.
Captain Lindquist ascrbes his YES.
sells predicament TO overenthusinsm
in the race to reach Nome first with
tiiings from the outside TO the people
who had been isolated for many
norths. The Portland being in al.
var &c of the procession, was more
firmly caught than were the other YES
sells, which met only the slush Ice and
were enabled to back out when the
pack came down on them. May 10th
Tie heavy pack came down and tho
Portland was cut OFF from all possible
chance of escape.
| Several days later the Jeanne AZ.
/ peGTed on the scene and was sooa a
prisoner. and the two vessels remained
in the ice until June 9th, escaping
within a few hours OF each other. On
jane 9Th the Portland was carried
through Behring Straits at a high
speed on the floating field or ice, i'm
PEELED by a strong northerly current.
Twenty days later the highest poiL t
las reached, the vessel being then
COOS degreeS north and l6s.O5 degrc, ;
west. Two days later the watch
from the forepeak shouted, "Clcar
ahead" and after that the breaL.up
occurred.
After being raised high and then
plunged back again into the icy water,
Captain Lindquist knew that the LONG.
looked-for opportunity had arrived,
and soon had the Portland bucklng
,ith all her weight and the full
strength of her engines against the
apparently insurmountable barriers Of
the ice between her and freedom.
Time after time the pmcky vessel
bounded back like a ball from the wall
OF ice, but, nothing daunted, Captain
Lindquist persevered, and, after SIX
hours OF the hardest sailing ever done
by the Portland, she forced the Ice
apart and went scudding out into her
nillNn element