Evening journal., 1905-01-16
The Ice Prisoners


hauling. In making our way back we
were caught in a squat and carried
out Of sight to leeward in ten minutes.
There wasn't over an hour of daylight
left us when the squat came down,
and when night fell the gusts had set !
tied down into a steady gale.
At about o'clock each man snugged |
down to make himself as comfortable /
as possible, and it was an hour later /
when the roar Of breakers came to our |
ears. Every one instantly divinee that
we were drifting down upon an iceberg
and that we were also perfectly help
less in the matter. We had dashed the
oars together and flung them overheard
for drag to keep the boats head to
the sea. To have pulled in the drag
would have been fatal. Before the
oars could have been detached we
should have been in the trough of the
sea. Presently we drew nearer and
could see the ghostly glare of the berg
through the darkness. We missed the
northwest corner of 1t by not more
than a hundred feet, and the spray Of
a recolllng wave half filed our craft.
We drifted along the great island of
ice Tor twenty minutes before reaching
its southern face, and then a current
drew US into the lee Of it. and we
knew that we were temporarily saved.
We got In our drag and put out the
oars, and after rowing nearly half
mile we found an Inlet or bay making
into the berg and ran into it, This bay
extended back into the berg a quarter
Of mile and was about a hundred
feet in width. 1t was like a 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 a hearty meal of our
provisions, and all turned in for a sleep.
The weather was freezlngly cold. but
all were comfortably clad, and we had
the sail Of the boat to cover us in. We
could hear the wind bowling above US
and feel the berg tremble as the great
waves flung themselves against the
face, but every man had a good sleep
and woke up stout hearted in the morn
ing. l have called the mass Of ice an
iceberg. Perhaps ice island would be
better term for it, as when we came
TO Inspect it by daylight we found it
70 be about two miles long on each
face.
The gale was still piping away and
t-cueaIons sea running when we
ro.r and Of course we had no
20 leaving the shelter we had.
move was to get to the ton
r-. ana have n look for the
.,.vla. tie mate. took this
5a rr but be made no discov-
Ei ia His efforts. He. how
05a idea of the lay of
.e.eg mace FOR land
re..,~re1 we left the
20 tie east and landed
r.af We had blocks
,lt.. lrHd hue ANA he
rahla NE enough
l.r. i've of ma and the
..,. q, fire afternoon
ei ,.e found three on
.oa f,.,l,; f~,in sbto's
..,t.. ag ana c.airs ana
tno So. p.-e, from tie
n-t sa.Y. So in
-a v.- -. ft.,t mint alma n.
Y.el.- Tor e~e minutes
..ta-. n-.tY .,..l, came ON.
tle..-o vts a.,.9 ana az winter
t-o r,..-.1. -. .,.. ,,aefser i,eeon,
l,.r..il ,,e, ...,tn .n 4, melt and
r.,,r,,.s, ~. s.. q. au,. island was FL
cr~.c ...ns carried sontl
fft.o r,., tu-, il. .'ee am tour w,
woo T.. rr1 a3o. res mo broakin.
,r,Ilsf tlr ms. ou tle gftb day r
famed ..,.......,.r a..,,ud. anna n prea
u.t ua.c9rr t.-or IA the center
we w.l,.c. II f9~ II G2v. and. sceln.
ftwiccY. we t5gs nm our cunr.ers n
what we co.. rta s.fer position. W,
were n9t Pm b,rr ton soon. The riff
through he ,cu,or continued TO wider
md 6eepcn. ANA uv and bv there wa
great crash and the berg SEPARATE,
in halves. leaving us upon the large
one BEFORE nieht the waves had trim
med the base of our berg of all incum
brances. and we went drifting along s
steadily and maiestlcally that we al
most forgot our peril.
For three DAYS and nights nothln,
happened worth relating except tina
we discovered and managed to kill tw
seals which crawled upon the her
from the water to sun themselves. A
! the winds We're light. our berg had n
motion except from the current. o.
the morning of the tenth day befor