Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-01-28
DAILY SHORT DRY
TRAGEDY OF THE ICE.

Copyright. 1904. by T. G McCiure-J
Our ship. the TaliSman. was slowly
passing an iceberg Il hundred miles of
Cape Horn when the captain made out
lot OF wreckage lying at the base
Of the berg and sent four of us Off
in the yawl to inspect and report. When
the berg was reached the mate and
| two men scrambled on TO the ice for
| closer look. leaving the boat in my
| charge. They had reached shelf
above me and 20 feet 10 the east
| when. without the slightest warning.
the great lump of ice begun TO split
and quake. and down came thousands
OF tons into the sea The three men
must have met instant death, while
! the boat was shot 10 distance of half
! a mile as II moved by steam.
Then fog came up. That was the
last l saw of the Talisman.
The weather was not severe, AND
was warmly clad and did not suffer
much during the night. In fact.
slept most of the time. leaving the
boat 10 take care of herself. There
were food and water and blankets, and
unless the little craft should get into
squeeze l might drift for several
days and not be much the worse for
Ii. l awoke ut daylight next morning
to find the fog still holding and the
pack still drifting. and it was not until
afternoon that the weather cleared.
When the fog rolled away l was
within half a mile of one of the big
gest 5ergs that ever drifted up from
| the frozen south. 1t was mile OF
| more i'll length. but not over forty
| feet high-a mighty mass OF ice. as
blue and rs hard as steel itself. Here
| and there were great rocks showing,
and the configuration of the berg hint
| ed that what was now out of water
had once been fathoms deep beneath
the surface.
l hauled my boat on TO the ice and
set out To reach the berg and see what
sort of shelter il afforded. The pack
ice had piled up ten feet high around
| IL, and | was all of an hour making
| that half mile. When finally reached
the berg and made my way M its
Jagged eastern side IL was 10 find Il
great hollow in its center like the
| mouth OF volcano. In the center of
this hollow lay II great mass of wreck
age. mostly covered with snow, and
after q long stare l slid down and be
gan an investigation. No one Will
ever behold more curious sight. y
space several hundred feet square was
covered with broken maSts, yards,
beams. planks. ropes and other debris.
Amid this heap were hundreds of ar
| ticles belonging 10 the interior of
ship. such as tables, chairs. crockery
and bedding. \ few articles had not
been damaged, but the greater num-
Der had been quite destroyed for fur
Their usefulness. There WAS sort of
mildew covering everything, and such
articles of clothing as l held up We're
quite rotten. 4 large ship had suffer
ed destruction by smashing against
the berg. 1t looked TO me rs if she
might have been whole when she first
rested in the crater, but had been
| crushed later on by fall of ice. No
other force except dynamite could have
80 wrecked and scattered her about.
Sailorlike, my first thought was to
| identify the wreck. This / did by lind
| ing life preserver with the name
Princess on IT. l had not then heard
| of the loss of the Australian packet.
| but knew from the fittings that the
| wreck must have been a fine passenger
| ship. There We're no bodies under or
| about the wreckage. and during my
| search of half a day l did not find
any money or jewelry or other article
of value. or her cargo only small
portion was at hand, and that was
bales Of wool, black with mildew.
| carried the life preseryer and some or
| the leaves of her rotten log book back
| to my boat to corrobOrate the story
| should tell IL ever rescued. and de-
bated long whether or not to set fire
| to the wreckage. l finally decided to
do SO, that 1 might get the advantage
| of the smoke as a signal. and when
| finally quit the berg there was a col
umn of black smoke rising straight in
| to the air that could be seen for fifty
miles away.
The weather had grown warmer, and
| as evening came the pack ice began to
separate and long lanes of water to
show themselves. l took one of these
lanes and worked at the oars until
| finally clear OF the field, and then let
| the boat slowly drift 90 the north, be-
| lieving that some OF the whalers cruis-
ing ia that direction would sooner or
later come down I'm answer TO the sig
nal. There were food and water to last
me for four days, and the supply Of
blankets kept me warm, and but for
the worry and anxiety l should have
almost called it a picnic. Among the
| whalers Of the north and south seas no
boat Is allowed to leave the ship. even
| 10 go half a mile. without food and
blankets, and in many cases an alcohol
stove is added 1t was to this inhexible
rule that owed my life.
On the afternoon of the fourth day.
after had been watching the antics OF
a school Of young whales for an hour.
Scotch whaler hove In sight and came