The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1905-05-12
A TRAGEDY
OF THE ICE

L
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 200 feet 10 the east
| when, without the slightest warning,
the great lump of ice began 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 to distance of half
mile as II moved by steam.
| Then a fog came up. That was tho
| last / saw OF the Talisman.
The weather was not severe, and l
was warmly clad and did not suffer
much during the night. In fact, l
slept most of the time, leaving the
boat to 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
slys and not be much the worse for
it. l awoke at daylight next morning
to find the fog still holding and the
pack still drifting, and 1t was not until
afternoon that the weather cleared.
When the fog rolled away l was
! within half q mile OF one Of the big
gest bergs that ever drifted up from
the frozen south. 1t was a milo or
more In length, but not over forty
feet high-a mighty mass of ice, as
blue and as 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.
hauled my boat on to the ice and
set out to reach the berg and see what
sort of shelter it afforded. The pack
Ice had piled up ten feet high around
Ii, and / was all OF an hour making
that half mile. When finally reached
the berg and made my way up its
Jagged eastern side 1t was to find n
great hollow in it's center like the
mouth of volcano. In the center of
this hollow hay q great mass Of wreck
after a long stare l slid down and be
gam an investigation. No one Will
ever behold a more curious sight. \
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 to the interior Of a
ship, such as tables, chairs, crockery
and bedding. 4 few articles had not
been damaged, bat the greater num-
Der had been quite destroyed for fur
ther usefulness. There was u sort OF
mildew covering everything, and such
articles of clothing as L held up were
quite rotten. a large ship had suffer
cd destruction by smashing against
the berg. 1t looked to me as 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
so wrecked and scattered her about.
Sailorlike, my first thought was to
identify the wreck This did by find
ing n life preserver with the name
Princess on 1t. 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 were no bodies under or
about the wreckage, and during my
search OF half a day / did not find
any money or Jewelry or other article
of value. OF her cargo only a small
portion was at hand, and that was
bales of wool, black with mlldew. l
carried the life preserver and some Of
the leaves of her rotten log book back
to my boat to corroborate the story /
should tell If ever rescued, and l 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 q 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 l let
the boat slowly drift to the north, be-
lievlng that some of the whalers cruis-
ing in that direction would sooner or
later come down Ia 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 I should have
almost called it n picnic. Among the
whalers Of the north and south seas no
boat Is allowed to leave the ship, even
to go half mile. without food and
blankets, and In many cases an alcohol
stove is added. 1t was to this inflexible
rule that owed my life.
On the afternoon of the fourth day,
after had been watching the antics of
n school of young whales for an hour, q
Scotch whaler hove In sight and came
down and picked me up. She had seen
the smoke forty-flve miles away and
taken it for a ship on fire, but could not
get down sooner on account of the Ice.