The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1905-02-16
The Ice Prisoners
Copyright, 1884, by T. c. Mcclure. !

| Ol cape llOfn III tne American brig
! Wanderer, we sighted derelict and
| lowered a boat to give her an over
hauling. In making our way back we
We're caught in a squall and carried
| out of sight to leeward in ten minutes.
| GEere wasn't over an hour of daylight
left us when the squall came down,
and when night fell the gusts had set
tied down into steady gale.
| At about 6 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 OWNED that
we We're drifting down upon an iceberg
and that we We're 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 it by not more
than a hundred feet, and the spray of
a recoil:ng wave half filled our craft
| We drifted along the great island of
ice for twenty minutes before reaching
its southern face, and then n current
drew us into the lee of 1t, 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 IL 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 We're perfectly shelter
ed here. and by the light of the boats
lantern we made u hearty meal off our
provisions, and all turned in for sleep.
The weather was freczinsly cold, but
| all We're 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 trenbie as the great
waves flung themselves against the
| face. but every man had Il good sleep
and woke UP stout hearted in the morn
| ing. | 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
| to be about two miles long on each
| face
The gale was still piping away and
tremendous sea running When we
awoke 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. tie mate. took this
upon himself, but he made no disccv-
cry to reward his efforts. He, how
ever, got good iGea Of tie lay Of
things and selected a place for land
ing When he returned we left the
bay and pulled to the east and landed
upon Il sort of shelf We had blocks
of ice ut hand to build Il Lut, and be-
fore noon we had a cabin big enough
| to comfortably hold five Of us and the
| stores from the boat. LII the afternoon
four dwarf pines. planks from a ships
bottom. a cooks galley and chairs and
table, al but tie pines from the
wreck of some merchant ship. SO in
tense was tie cold that night that no
man could have lived for five minutes
outdoors. At midnight a gale came on
The gale was the tail end Of winter.
On the fourth day the weather became
SO 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 tie rate Of two miles an hour. We
We're in peril now from the breaking
up of tie mass. On the fifth. day it
turned completely around, and great
rift appeared right through the center.
| We watched it for Il day. and, seeing
it widen. we took up our quarters in
what we thought a safer position We
We're not an hour too soon. The rift
through the center continued to widen
and deepen, and by and by there was
q great crash, and the berg separated
in halves. leaving Cs upon the larger
one. Before night the waves had trim
med the base of our berg of all incum-
brances, and we went drifting along 50
steadily and majesticaliy that we al
most forgot our peril.
For three days and nights, nothing
happened worth relating except that
we discovered and manaG Geu to kill two
seals which crawled upon the berg
from the water to sun themselves. AS
the winds were light, our berg had no
motion except from the current. On
the morning of the tenth Gay before
daylight had yet come we crashed into
another herg which had probably
grounded. and our escape from instant
destruction was truly marvellous. The
south side of Our berg was SILT off by
the impact, leaving our hut Standing
OH the very edge Of q cliff sixty feet
high We had to cut our way through
the back wall to escape.
Our boat went with the piece. and
| within two hours the berg heeled over
cn it's side. This movement took place
very slowly and brought us on the
crest Of the lump instead of being on a
shelf near the water. We soon had an
l other hut up. and next day, the berg