The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-05-15
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Iceberg Ship
R - III
==- III
M BY H. Hargreaves. Il
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BY H. H~ar2reaYeS.

In the early part of January, 1905,
the Grimsby steam trawler k~astoria,
Captain Thomas Clifton, found her
self off the coast of Iceland. making
for a place called Dyreford. Her
voyage from Grimsby had not, so far,
been attended with any unusual oc-
currence. 1t is true she had eXper-
fenced bad weather, but it had not
been worse than might reasonably be
expected at that time of year.
The Kastoria arrived off Dyrefiord
on the seventh-and then the unex-
pected happened. Without any warn
ing a fierce gale sprang up from the
northwest and smote the little craft
a severe blow. At the time several
of the men were in the f~orecastle
asleep or doing, it being their watch
below. Captain Thomas was on the
bridge, and there were only three
other men on deck.
The wind blew with tremendous
force, the cold was intense, and pres
emily a binding snowstorm came on.
Thicker and thicker fell the flying
flakes, until the mems vision became
completely obscured. Meanwhile the
sea grew worse and worse. Great
waves broke continually over the YES
sci, doing much damage, while the
bowling wind threatened to drive
her on to the lee shore. Captain
Thomas therefore signaled to his en-
gineers for full steam ahead, and
gale. Although she pitched and la
bored terribly, the little craft con-
.trived to make slow Roadway against
the %shrieking wind and moutainous
seas, and so at length freed herself
of one peril. But lying in wait for
the gallant crew was another danger,
in a strange and terrible shape, and
it is nothing to the discredit of the
K~astoria's crew to say that at one
stage Of their trying experiences they
well nigh gave themselves up for lost.
On the bridge, as l have said, was
Captain Thomas, while two men were
required to control the wheel in the
heavy sea. The fourth man, Seaman
Cooper, did his best to carry out Or
ders under very trying circumstances.
AS the trawler fought her way sea-
wards the atmosphere became con-
tinually thicker with snow, which
collected in great drifts at different
parts of the vessel. The men on deck
were half blinded by the snow and
freezing spray; and SO intense was
1.-THE cold - rendered worse by the
mountaiEsls seas that vel and again
broke ol.~ooard-that they were in
peril Of being rendered helpless from
frost bite.
Present a wave mightier than any
of its forerunners crashed down upon
the laboring vessel with a thunderous
roar. For a time it seemed that the
trawleT had disappeared, never to be
seen again, for no trace of her was to
be discerned where the wave had bro
ken - nothing but angry, boiling,
tossing waters, with the surrounding
gloom Of an Arctic night. But soon
the Kastoria emerged, trembling in
every timber and plate. in a sorry
plight indeed: Everything loose or
detachable had been carried away,
and Thomas and his companions had
only saved themselves by clinging
like grim death to the rails and the
wheel. When the water subsidized it
was seen that n end of the bridge
was smashed in and much other dam
age done, but the most surprising and
alarming thing that followed the ad-
vent of the wave was the sudden &C
emulation of ice on every part of
the vessel. Longer and %stouter grew
the icicles on masts and rigging, and
soon all the exposed parts of the lit
tie trawler disappeared beneath a
thick coating of ice. 1t gathered
upon the bridge, forming into a CON-
pact mass at the end, where steps de-
scended to the deck, and presently
Thomas, looking at the spirit conf
pass in the pinnacle, discovered to his
CONSERVATION that it, too, was frozen,
so that he was quite unable to steer
his course. And so they steamed on
through the storm, without knowing
their direction.
The bridge was within shouting
distance OF the companion-way Lead
ing to the forecastle, and presently
Thomas bawled a summons to those
below to come to the aid of their
comrades at this crisis of their fate
In response there came back the faint
sound of a voice:
I'VE can't get OUT"
Only these few words reached the
ears of the four men on deck; the re-
mainder of the message was drowned
IN the roaring Of the storm. But suf-
hc1ent had been said to reveal to them
n nature of their messmates' pre-
dicament. The door of the f~orecastle
was frozen shut, blocked I'D with
masses of ice and snow, rendering
egress an impossibility. The men
below were rendered captive by the
elements, and were quite unable to
come to the aid of their sorely tried
Fellows, who, in turn, found them
selves too busily occupied in attend
ing to the %laboring ship and avoiding
being washed overheard by the rag
ing seas to take any effective stems
towards rescue. So it befell that the
men in the forecastle were doomed to
remain in a condition of inactive sus-