The San Francisco call., 1906-04-05
Cold IS Fierce, but
the Men Are All
Cheerful.

Out of the great white silence sur
rounding Herschell Island. where the
ships of the Arctic whaling fleet are
frozen in and several hundred men are
held prisoners, comes a letter written
to The Call by the master of the Kar-
LUX, Captain A. H. McGregor. The let
ter was written five months ago and
at that time the stock of flour was
alarmingly low and other provisions
were growing scarcer Deer were re-
ported plentiful, but natives, on whom
the whalemen depended for the killing
of the venison. were scarce.
1t was last November that the news
of the fleet having been caught in the
Ice reached this city. Only two vessels
of the Arctic fieet-the William Baylies
and the schooner Monterey-escaped.
Captain Mogg, whose schooner Bonanza
was lost in the ice jam, came out later
and reported the other vessels. eleven
of them, in no danger until the ice
should break up OF provisions he
seemed to think there were plenty.
Now comes Captain McGregor,. how
ever, with another story.
A detachment of~cafadian mounted
police were sent to Point Barrow to
take In and bring out mail and Captain
McGregors letter. written in Novem
ber and intrusted to the volunteer mail
carriers when they reached Herschell
Island. has only now arrived
Captain McGregor paints picture of
225 men in pretty bad plight. but
trying to make the best of it in spite
of the fact that the worst was yet to
come.
DARKNESS CLOSE.
The great darkness had not set in
when the master of the Karluk wrote
his letter. but it's shadow was already
over the little ice-b bound settlement and
the problem of occupation for the 225
men during the long Arctic night was
looming big to those in positions of re-
sponsibility. Captain McGregor has his
wife with him on board the Karluk.
This is Mrs. McGregors eighth year,
in the Arctic, and. according to her
husband, she was enjoying the lone
some novelty Of the situation, but just
little worried for fear the depleted
condition of the larder would inter-
fere with her plans for giving her hus-
bands crew the kind of Christmas din
ner on which she had set her heart.
Everybody was in good health, how
ever, and in spite Of a temperature so
degrees below zero the whaIemen were
enjoying themselves playing BASEBALL
and football.
McGREGoRS LETTER.
With his letter Captain McGregor
sends a sketch of the five vessels froz-
en- in at Herschell Island. This sketch,
made by a member of his crew, is re-
produced herewith
Captain McGregor's letter follows:
Thinking that few lines TO the San Fran.
cisco Call would interest our many friends
and those who have friends up here in the
frozen north. 1 take the liberty of giving you
outline of the situation.
In the first place. we are short of food and
very short of -four. which is the main thing
ever. az II we can get deer meat as we
have in the past everything will be all right.
The report is that deer are now plentiful,
but very few natives The natives did not
course they did not come to the island.
Another thing. We have very little with
which to pay the natives for hunting for
If we can only get word to the natives we can
way as we have always treated them well and
trusted them for things they needed and could
not then 2ay for.
There are Ave ships in this little cove of
a harbor 1t is safe enough, but oh, what
snorters Of southwesters we do have some
times. Simply impossible to go out of doors
and the cold is something ferce-50 below
zero Still the boys play baseball and kick
football and don't mind II much. There are
about 225 men of the ships here and about
10 natives, of course We not very lone
some. but will be when the dark days set in.
which will be soon. We will not see the sun
for fifty odd days.
The health of my crew and in fact of all
the men has been excellent, hardly case of
me on this long and lonesome trip and seems
to enjoy It. She is in fine health and is not
worrying. OF course she is old sailor this
being her eighth year In the Arctic. This year
it will tax her small stores to make something
for the boys Christmas dinner.
Inclosed is pen sketch OF the ships in
winter quarters in this harbor which is a
quarter of mile long and an eighth of a mile
a - lro1 ox,I4 -