The Weiser semi-weekly signal. (Weiser, Washington Co., Idaho) 1904-1911, 1905-02-22


.,.e for twenty minutes before reaching
its southern face. and then curren.
drew us into the lee OF II ana we
knew Tat we wore temporarily saved
we rot In bur drag and put out the
oars. and after rowing nearly han
mile we found an inlet or bay making
| into the berg and ran into IL This bay
extended back into the berg quarter
of a mile and was about hundred
| Feet In width. 1t was like great
river flowing down TO the SEA between
high cliffs We were perfectly shelter
ed here, and by the light Of the boats
lantern we made hearty meal or our
provisions, and all turned in for sleep.
The weather was freezingly cold, bur
all were comfortably clad. and we had
the sail OF the boat 10 cover us In we
could hear the wind bowling above us
and feel the berg rembIe as the great
waves flung themselves against the
face, bat every man had good sleep
and woke I'D stout hearted In the morn
ing. 1 have called the mass Of ICE an
Iceberg. Perhaps zee island wouh be
a better term for II, as when we came
to inspect 1t by daylight we found 1t
, 70 be about two miles long on each
face.
The gale was still piping away and
a tremendous sea running when we
hwoke, and of course we had no
thought Of leaving the shelter we had.
The first move was to get to the top
of the berg and have look for the
ship. Mr. Davis, the mate, took this
upon himself, but he made no discov-
cry to reward his efforts. He, how
ever, got good idea Of the lay Of
things and selected a place for land
Ing. When be returned we left the
bay and pulled to the east and landed
upon a sort Of shelf. We had blocks
of ice at hand to build q hut, and be-
fore noon we had cabin big enough
to comfortably hold five Of us and the
stores from the boat In the afternoon
In searching about we found three or
four dwarf pines, planks from a ships
bottom, cooks galley and chairs and
a table, all but the pines from the
wreck of some merchant ship. So in
tense was the cold that night that no
man could have lived for five minutes
outdoors. At midnight gale came on
The gale was the tail end Of winter
On the fourth day the weather became
80 mild that the Ice began to melt, and
the mate told us that our island was in
a current and was being carried south
at the rate Of two miles an hour. We
were In peril now from the breaking
up Of the mass On the fifth day it
turned completely around, and a great
rift appeared right through the center.
We watched it for a day. and, seeing
1t widen, we took up our quarters In
what we thought a safer position We
were not an hour too soon. The rift
through the center continued to widen
and deepen, and by and by there was
great crash, and the berg separated
In halves, leaving us upon the larger
one. Before night the waves had trim
msd the base Of our berg Of all incum-
brances, and we went drifting along So
btnadily and maJestically that we al
NEST forgot our peril.
For three days and nights nothing
happened worth relating except that
we discovered and managed to kill two
seals which crawied upon the berg
from the water 10 sun themselves. AS
the winds were light, our berg had no
motion except from the current On
tie morning Of the tenth day before
daylight had yet come we creshed into
another berg which had probably
grounded, and our escape from instant
destruction was truly marvellous. The
south side of our berg was split of by
the impact, leaving our hut standing
GA the very edge OF q cliff sixty feet
eagh- We had to cut bur way through
The back wall to escape.
Our boat went with the piece, and
within two hours the berg beeled over
ON its side. This movement took place
very slowly and brought us ON the
crest OF the lump instead of being ON q
rheh near the water. We soon had an
other hut up, and next day, the berg
being quite still again, we made an
other find
For the next eight days we moved
steadily southwazd with the current
our food being gone and each man Nv
ing ON the heather OF his belt or shoes
On The morning Of the nineteenth dav
we sighted san and raised smoke
and TWO hours later were safe aboard
OF The Frost King Of st. Johns. we
had bad rough and perfious tfna of
y, and had 1t been mtdwlnter ali wouid
have frozen 10 denth. but as IT was all
came out In good health and without
the slightest bodily injury