The San Francisco call., 1906-10-01


Seventeen men came to port yes
terday, part of the crew of the lost
whaling steamer Alexander, : Captain
Tilton. They were derelicts on bleak
Arctic shores for thirteen days and
during that time subsisted, with TWEEN
ty-flve other sailors, eight Esquimos
and two native women, on the pre-
carious nourishment supplied by two
sacks of flour, blubber, the carcass of
a small polar bear and rats killed
along the beach. The ship Alexander
which sailed from this port March 26
1905, ran ashore under full sail off
Cape Perry at o'clock on the morning
of August 13. That morning the fog
was thick on the water. The vessel
began to sink Immediately and the
crew just had time to tumble into the
four boats before the, decks were
awash.
There was little time to collect
clothing or food. From the warm
forecastle to the chill of the Arctic
wind the men went. The vessel
their thirteen days starvation voyage
leaving the masts of the Alexander
standing above the sea. In the thir-
teen days, rowing by day. freezing on
the icy beaches by night, the men
made Herschel Island scarcely alive
There they found the whafer Herman
which took them to Point Barrow
Here they were picked up by the re-
lief steamer Harold Dollar. which
transported them to Seattle. They ar
rived here yesterday.
COME IN ON TWO SHIPS.
On the Centralia were A. j. Milibank.
Theodore Nolt, Theodore Williams
Charles Gustaverson. Martin Blair.
he Dc,
carpenter, known only as Jimmy the
Carpenter" On the steamer Queen, ar
irving in the afternoon, were John
Kessack, John Halligan, George Green.
John Brady, Fred Kirk, John H Dur
nell, John Davis, John Baptiste and
sDiddy' Hartmann All the men went
to the Sailors Home. There they will
wait until the next whaling season.
when they will once more sign to brave
the danger of again being forced to
the scanty bill of fare which nature
has left for sailormen shipwrecked off
Cape Berry-a sorry menu of sblubber
and rats.
George Green narrated the expert
ences of the crew. He told what it
was to eat what you might find lin
Alaska, however unpalatable it might
be, or accept the hard alternative of
death.
TT was starvation morning. noon
and night" he said. We had some
things to eat, but. my God it was
awful One poor polar bear was killed
by native. Blubber we found on the
beach-healthy food for the Eskinog
with us, but for white folks-! And
rats, rats caught along the beach by
the natives: and we ate them. ate rats
that's what we came to-"
COMBAT WITH THE COLD.
Durnell told of the combat with the
cold. The men had but few over
coats when they escaped from the
sinking ship. Some of them were in
light shirts and trousers. They would
row for hours by day to deep warm.
but the spray would fly and the cold
would CONCEAL the water into ice on
the bodies of the men. At night the
four boats would go to shore and if
the beach bore driftwood the sailors
would build a fire. When the fire was
out the men would run about the ice
to keep off the cold. This race with
death would keep up until the men
would drop from exhaustion.
The men who arrived yesterday
showed no bad effects from their cruel
experience They were otitfitted with
clothing in the north Previous to the
wreck the Alexander had had little
luck in whaling. The crew was on
reduced rations when the vessel ran
into the rocks off Cape Perry.