The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-11-11
RELIEF FOR
WHALERS
Government May Be
Forced to Send
Supplies.

! holds thirteen stout whaling ships in
its grip came the little schooner Mon
terey yesterday. The ice Of the north
ern seas stroye To hold the vessel in
its clutches. but she fought her way
! to freedom. Tidings of the irnprison-
ed fleet are brought here by the Mon
terey, tidings that bode i'll for the 500
luckless souls that are doomed to spend
the winter III the endless ice plains.
1t will go hard with the Arctic
whalers if the words of the crew of
the Monterey prove true When last
seen the fleet was far to the east of
Point Barrow and was striving TO push
further east in the hunt for the levi
athans of the deep. And all the time
the ice was fast closing in upon them
the heavy pack moving shoreward to
form an impenetra BILE fmmovable bar
rier. Five hundred and seventy-five
miles of ice block the way of the
whalerS to Point Barrow, the nearest
supply station. Unless a lucky fate
has interviewed the ships are now where
no relief expedition can ever reach
them and their men must face starva-
ton without hope of succor
Though far from civiliza ton the
icebound crews will not lack medical
attention for among them is a sur
geon who has already proved his worth.
Strange was the coming of the profess
sional man among the rough men of
the sea. He shipped as a common
sailor on board the Karluk There came
a time during the cruise that there was
need of the services of physician.
Then the sailor showed to the skipper
his certificate and the degree of a
Harvard graduate. His skill saved
the lives of ten of the whalemen.
1T is a Godsend that such a man is
among those ice-bound whalers this
year. said Captain Foley of the Mon
terey yesterday. He went north to
overcome his craving for drink and
shipped as common sailor. He now
occupies the cabin with Captain Nc
Gregor of the Karluk. The men of the
fleet idolize him.
MONTEREY SIGHTS WHALERS.
On August 10th the Monterey last
sighted the whaling ships. They were
then off Cape Bathurst and cruising
to the eastward. The Monterey with
the Baylies gave up the hunt for
whales and turned their prows west
ward. Three times the Monterey was
caught in the ice. Three times luck
favored her and she worked her way
clear. For eight days the vessel
bucked the ice before she finally reach
ed the open sea. Here is Captain
Charles Foley's story of his fight to
save the Monterey from the ice and
OF the propable fate of the imprison-
ed feet:
L left Cape Bathurst on August 10
and the entire fleet was there all ready
to go to Banks Land. At that time
there was ice all the way from Bat
hurst to Point Barrow, a distance of
575 miles 1 arrived at Cape Bathurst
on August and found the ice near
shore. There was no whaling there
so rather than take any chances of
being caught in the ice I decided to
hunt whales to the westward The
the ice would work off and allow them |
to get to Banks Land
After leaving the fleet I was ice |
bound for three days. The William |
Baylies joined Us and we worked our !
way westward between the ice and the |
land The ice was very thick after |
eaVing Herschel island, and we were |
compelled to work along the shore.
Norm1ng passage through every little
Day and opening. Three times we
we're caught in the pack, but managed
o find lead and worked into open
water. The ships that followed later
must have found it impossible to get OUT
or the heavy ice was forming fast.
WHERE SHIPS ARE CAUGHT.
Il think the fleet was caught be-
ween Cape Bathurst and Bailey is
and. HerscheI island is their only
efuge unless they can work the ships
ehind the giant cakes of ice, which
7ill prevent the heavy pack from
rushing them. If caught in the young
ee the ships will be piled upon the
each, for the wind has been steadily
rom the north and the heavy pack J
ill pile the young ice upon the shores
Ike cordwood. If frozen in to the
eastward of Cape Barrow there is no
efuge for the vessels. =
There is no question whether or not
lie vessels that were to come out of
lie Arctic this season started at the
ime time. If all came together then
lere will not be much danger from
arvation as some of the vessels were q
'ovisioned for several years and the I
apply will be divided among those I
TAT carried food for only ten months. y
can not see how relief expedition
IN possibly reach the ships"
The officers of the Monterey state
lat only the hardest of men could =
axe the trip over the ice to Point :
arrow and they predict great suffering >
case the fleet separated.
The Monterey captured only one .
hale and when she left the Arctic
q Thrashe1 was the only vessel that .
ID captured a whale. The schooner
tura Madsen was sighted by the Mon e.
rey on August 90, near Point Bar II
X C3nfaiO Foley saws that the 81