The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-12-23
SURROUNDED
BY BERGS
Barkentine Nuuanu Ran
Among Them for
Hours.

II
ing as spick and span as if just out
of drydock instead of having COM
pieted a round the-Horn passage. The
Nuuanu left New York on August z.
crossing the line when thirty-one days
out Off the mouth of the river Platte
and along the coast Of Brazil strong
southerly winds and gales were expe-
rienced, and when considerably north
Of the regular iceberg limit the bark
ran through miles of sea dotted with
mammoth bergs.
Concerning this Captain Josselyn
spun the following yarn, told in a most
interesting manner and containing
facts which are of much more than
passing interest. especially as to the
results of the temperature tests of the
water, made while the bark was cross
ing the equator Captain Josselyn
says:
after fifty years travelling on the
water in all oceans. and after many
anxious nights passed on the lookout
for possible icebergs when in the waters
in which they might be expected, my
first sight of bergs was most unex,
of October Is last, when the Nuuanu
was speeding south in latitude At
south, longitude 55 west, which Is
nearly two hundred and forty miles
for icebergs.
Just at daylight on that morning
saw a small white cloud on the weather
quarter and a similar cloud on the
being NNW. We were heading south
west close hauled. Looking to leeward.
what appeared to be an island came
into sight, but as knew full we'll that
there was no land at that point I
realized that after fifty years at sea L
was about to have the doubtful pleas
ure of seeing my first iceberg.
LAS it grew lighter we could make
them out in numbers dotting the hori-
zon as far as the eye could see, great
monstrous masses of ice, and, to my
surprise, as white as snow fresh fallen.
l had always pictured them to myseh
as partly, If not entirely, covered with
dirt and looking old and battered, for"
getting that they could never have
been soiled by dirt, but had been born
and had lived in air Of dustless
purity.
LAS we approached the crowded
nf wind
rain and were forced to shorten sail
to topsails. Then the wind shifted
into the-west, the rain squall passins
and leaving the air clear and cold.
The wind was blowing a smart gale,
in which we were pitching, but the
huge ice islands were motionless. The
seas which tossed US about were with
out effect on them, and it was hard TO
believe that they were ahoat. the
hergs were from one to five miles
apart. but we did not dare to sail IN
amongst them. We wore ship ana
came around to the nor NOR west
thinking that that would be the quick
est way out OF them.
I'VE were afraid that we would run
into thick weather, but most forIu-
nately it remained clear the whole day
and we had such a view of 1ceoergs
as is had by few. We counted twenty
three large ones on our port side, perss
that varied from 200 to 700 feet hlgn,
and some of them a thousand feet long.
We measured one of the smaller ones
with sextants and it gave US 29O feet.
..At first all I could think of was
ice cream. huge, massive blocks OF IT,
and L shall never see ice cream again
without thinking of that wondrous
panorama of icebergs. Those twenty
three big ones also made me thlhK OIL
Broadway. for most of them were ike
huge city blocks, only bigger than any
city block l have ever seen. had
before that bergs were PIN
nacled with sharp spires. L only WISH
T could describe these to you so as to
do Justice TO their immensely ana
grandeur. 1 have seen most of the
show buildings of the world and much
of the grandest scenery, but this sur
passed them all. Imagine if you can
Broadway floating out to sea ana eV-
cry great building carved of white
marble.
''Of course We were very anxious all
the time for fear thick weather would
come ND. for it would have taken only
the very smallest of those bergs to
have crushed US. And what added TO
our anxiety was large quantity OF
Oregon pine timber floating by US all !
that day. Someone had either lost
their ship or a deck load of timber had !
been swept overheard, and recently, for
the timber was fresh, without bar
nacles. as fresh looking as if it had
been thrown into the water that very
day.
'.AIl day long from aloft we kept a
lookout for a, boat or for distress sig |
nal, but all we saw was the timber, |
which kept sweeping past US all day
until six o'clock in the evening, by
which time we We're up to the last OF
the icebergs.
"I cannot understand how the bergs |
we saw were all so square, many OF
them exactly resembling great cubes
Of marble. One or two Of them were
nearly round and the one we meas !
ured was like a great armchair the