The National tribune., 1902-07-17

rose up into huge mounds Of crystal
blocks, seemingly as immovabie and i'm
perishable as the bluffs on shore. Indeed,
it was impossible, while gazing off over the
scene of wildness and desolation by which
we were surrounded, to conceive the posi-
/ bility Of an avenue of escape opening
| through such barriers
recalled to mind DIR. Kanes account
Of the war he waged for so many months
! in the polar seas; of his little brigantine,
beset as our ship now was, and the icy
ramparts Strengthening day by day until
| they formed a maIisoleum where she still
/ reposed; and had the season been farther
I advanced, | should have felt grave appre-
| tensions for our safety. Not that should
have feared being frozen in for any great
length of time in that latitude, but our
| ship had not been built to resist the rude
| shocks of Arctic ice. and rs yet her
powers Of resistance had not been tested,
consequently there was ground for fear
| that the tremendous pressure around her
might result in serious consequences.
But a woman's temper is not more
| capricious than the movements Of the ice
in these Northern Seas. The next day
| strong breeze sprang up from the south
ward, and before nightfall there was open
| water all around us, and the vast fields by
| which we had been confined were broken
up and rapidly drifting toward the ocean.
We then laid our course toward Jonas
Island, about 200 miles distant and very
near the center of the Ochotsk Sea- This
island is a favorite rendezvous for right
whalers-a sort of marine caravanseria,
where they meet to talk over their luck,
hold their "gams,' and enjoy themselves
generally. If we could reach it, the
chances were 10 to / of our falling in with
a fleet of from ID to 30 sail, which could
be captured without firing shot; but the
navigation was difficult. and, as l have
said, our ships capacity to resist the
shocks OF the drifting ice had not as yet
been satisfactorily tested, and we almost
hesitated to make the experiment.
That night we were jammed in the ice
again, and as | lay in my berth, l could
hear the huge blocks laundering and
chatting against the side of the ship as
though they would dash her in pieces. 1t
was an anxious night TO all on board.
None Of us were familiar with Arctic
cruising, and consequently were to a great
extent incompetent to judge Of the immi-
nence Of the danger; but the hours of dark
ness wore away at last, without leaving
us to mourn any serious accident. In a
few places the copper had been chafed
through, but this was about the greatest
injury we had sustained, and soon after
daylight the ice separated, through some
unseen agency, leaving us free. But we
had had enough Of the route to Jonas
Island, which may be a most desirable
locality for whalemen and other amphibi-
GUS animals who enjoy temperature be-
low zero, and have an affinity for ice-fields
and fogs: but for my part, I would not
spend six months thereabouts for all the
leviathans that ever poured their oily
treasures into the Golfers Of New Bedford.
The plain truth was, we were running
too much risk in taking our cruiser
through this sort Of navigation for which
she was never intended, and we reluctant
! ly abandoned the idea of reaching the
!. rntaI hno ol.ttr ..ta
whaling fleet.
We learned afterwards that had we per-
severed and succeeded, we should have
made splendid haul. but l, for one, do
not regret it, for, as the event proved we
, did enough mischief that resulted in no
J good to anyone and much harm to many.
. had taken occasion at leisure intervals
! to make such inquiries as l could. with
out exciting suspicion as to my motives, of
, the First Mate of our last prize, a stanch
old sailor, true as steel to his own Govern
ment, concerning the intricate navigation
of Behring's Straits and the Arctic Sea be-
yond, where we knew there was large
whaling fleet, upon which we would like
! to pounce, if the risk of getting there was
not too great to counterbalance the de-
struction we might accomplish
E The old fellow never dreamed that | had
any other purpose than to satisfy n sea
man-like curiosity, and took great pleasure
r in pointing out upon the charts the dan
r serous places. and in giving me a general
idea of the difficulties to be encountered
on cruise in that direction. The infor-
nation thus obtained l, Of course, report
ed TO our Captain, which increased his de-
sire to have a look at that locality; but to
; have attempted the voyage without a
competent pilot would have been fool
hardy in the extreme.
. This want, however, was soon unex-
pectedly supplied. About this time the
, Second Mate Of the Abigail began to ex-
press a desire to join us, and of course