The daily morning Alaskan., 1903-01-13
TWENTY YEARS AFTER
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| AAH Emmy RNAAeA tN+N ~r' ~f
 E.. for a trip to the polar seq and was not heard from.
 Seventeen years after the sailing of the Benson the Discovery set out from the port of London for a polar cruise. She was sent out under the auspices of the Royal Geographical society, and when not heard from for almost two years a vessel called the Rescue was dispatched to look for her. and 1 was one of the crew of the latter. Reach Ing North LiROln, we searched the coast.
 On the nfth day we made our And. We had tolled Co the crest of a rocky range. which crossed our path and e1- tended Inland a long way. when three or four men simultaneously caught sight of a ship in a bay a mile away. but which seemed at our feet The first thought was that we had travelled in a circle and come back to the Res cue, but the second glance showed us that thls craft was a full rigged brig and the bay was a strange one 10 us. We cheered and waved our caps, and every man of us was highly elated as we hurried along down the slope to board the stranger. The thought that she might be a deralict did not occur 10 any one until we were close upon her. The bay was but a cove. not more than an acre fin extent The brig yas not lying in the-waters Of the cove at all but among the rocks on the shore hfty feet from the water. She hy with her bead to the north and had only a slight list Co port Her looks aloft told us the story as we came to a halt Her sails had been hrrled and slowed as lt the work had been done in a gale. None had blown away, but all were rotting on the yards As we stood looking up a gust of wind brought a cloud of black dust down in our faces. Here and there a loose rope was swinging about Ike a serpent suspended by the tail to a limb, but the rigging as a whole was fin fair shape-that is, it seemed to De but later on we found every rope ready to part at the llghtest pull
 We had come upon her broadsioe' One of the men walked down Co her stern and stared and blinked for hve minutes before be could trace the faded letters and make out Emily Benson. st. Johns. N. F." She wasn't Rus sian but a Newfoundland whaler and sealer. Not boat was in sight on her dayits. while her rudder had been car Tied away and several blanks above it crushed in. Night fell as we stood there. and it was decided to put up our tent Instead of going aboard. No one had cyea looked over her rail yet The mate had affirmed that nothing grewsome could be found aboard. but be had DO relish for making an in- spection by candlelight | doubt IT any man in our party slept for more than an hour at a time that night. our tent was pitched within hve feet or the vessel. and while the air was perfectly stil the cold was Intense. the thermom- eter showing 23 degrees below zero Now and then the Ice in the bay would crack like the report ot blunderbuss, while the frost penetrated the blanks of the derelict and produced strange and uncanny noises. l remember that I. for one. was glad Indeed when day light came again.
 The brig stood SO high that we had to board her by clambering up the fore chains. We had pictured her deck a scene OS desolaton. but we were agreeably disappointed. There was come little disarray, but no such disor- der as might have been expected. The cabin doors were shut. the hatches on the slide drawn over the focastle. Her try works were stin standing. and the biz kettle in which the blubber was melted was half full of a substance which had once been oil The seuttle butt or cask holding drinking water was simply a heap of rotten slaves and the same was true of the beef bar rel Here and there were rotten spots ln her deck blanks. and the fo'eastle deck was almost hidden from sight by the growth of fungus. Ind the eight of us grouped together in any one spot our united weight would have broken the deck beams. and had we swayed on the rigging we could have loosened all the chain plates and perhaps brought down all the yards and the topgallant masts on deck. Our first move was to enter the cabin. The doors were readily opened, but we had to stand aside for ten minutes on ae' count of the unpleasant Odor of what ls known as dry rot. and a breath of ii ehoked the lungs Ike smoke.
 The skyiight and windows had been closed and 0ealed, and the cabin was as dark as q prison solitary. We got a couple of candles from our stock tc Night the way. and in the course of half an hour we bad seen everything there was to be seen. The brig's los told u' everything. It was lying open on the table in the cabin, and beside lt were a pen and an ink bottle.
 Twenty years previously the whalei had been driven Into the boy during e gale. She rode out the storm safely enough, but winter caught her therC . .HaIHH Naa Naf