The Springdale news., 1905-04-14
A TRAGEDY
 OF THE ICE

Cape Horn When lHt 1dHt"iH
 lot of wreckage lying at the base of the berg and sent four of us OH in the vawl to inspect and report. When the berg was reached the mate ana two men scrambled on to the ice Tor q closer look leaving the boat Ill my charge. They had reached q sheiI above ne and 200 feet to tie east when. without the slightest warning the great lump of ice began 10 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 if moved by steam.
 Then a fog came up. That was the 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. 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 a squeeze 1 might drift for several days and not he much the worse for it. I awoke at daylight next morning to find the fog still holding and the pack stii drifting, and it was not unui afternoon that the weather cleared
 When the fog rolled away l was within half d mile of ole of the big cest bergs that ever drifted up from the frozen south. It WAS mile 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 eonfguration of the berg hint= ed that what was HOW out of water had once been fathoms deep beneath the surface.
 1 hauled my boat on To the lee 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 it. and was all of an hour making that half mile When l finally reached the berg and made my way up its jagged eastern side il was to find great hollow in its center like the mouth of a volcano. In the center or this hollow lay q great mass of wreck age. mostly covered with snow, and after d long stare I slid down and be gan an investigation. No one will ever behold more curious sight. \ space several hundred feet square was covered with broken masts. yards beams, blanks, ropes and other debris Amid this heap were hundreds of ar ticles belonging to the interior of ship, such as tables, chairs, crockery been damaged, but the greater mum Der had been quite destroyed for fur ther usefulness. There was q sort of mildew covering everything. and such articles of clothing as held up were quite rotten. X large ship had suffer ed destruction by smashing against the berg It looked to me as if she might have been whole when she first rested ill 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.
 
 identify the wreck This I did by find ing a 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 were 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. Of her cargo only small portion was at hand, and that was bales of wool, black with mildew 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 I might get the advantage of the smoke as signal, and when l 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. I took one of these lanes and worked at the oars until finally clear of the field. and then I let the boat slowly drift to the north, be lieving that some of the whalers cruis- ing in that direction would sooner or later come down in 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 a picnic Among the whalers of the north and south seas no boat Is allowed to leave the ship, even to go half a mile, without food and blankets, and in many cases an alcohol stove is added It was to this infexible rule that owed my life.
 On the afternoon of the fourth day, after had been watching the antics of 8 school of young whales for an hour, a Scotch whaler hove in sight and came down and picked me up. She had seen the smoke forty-five miles away and