The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-05-03

Captain D. H. Hatfield, left Iquique,
on the west coast of South America,
homeward bound A little earlier there
had preceded her a large four-masted
sailing ship of the Watson line, of
Glasgow, bound from San Francisco to
Hamburg. This vessel never reached
her destination, but was last sighted
after she had rounded Cape Horn some
time previous to the arrival of the
| Gladys in those waters.
After passing Cape Horn the Gladys
/ stood on an easterly course, hoping to
pick up the southeast trade wind She
| had reached the neighborhood Of the
supposed position Of the Aurora ISL
| ands when, at daylight on Sunday
morning, the 26th of June, land was
reported ahead by the chief officer On
going on deck Captain Hatfield saw
plainly enough what appeared to be a
| bold headland about twelve miles away,
somewhat resembling Cape Clear in
shape, but perhaps higher. The ships
| head was promptly brought as far
18th as the wind would allow, which
enabled her to give this unexpected
land sufficiently wide berth. When
| first seen there appeared to be single
long island, perhaps twenty miles in
length, but on nearer approach it was
perceived that there were Two Islands,
separated by a sound some two or three
| miles wide, and bearing northwest
and southeast. Both islands seemed
nearly of the same height and appeared
| of a grey sandy tint, and barren, re-
sembling the coast of Chile; but the
more northerly island had a hump on
its northwest end and another about
the middle, with a growth of low trees
or bushes on the high, fiat top. The
northern end Of the bluff was steep and
oyerhung considerably No beach was
visible; the sea beat right at the foot
of the cliffs The more southerly ISL
and pointed from south -south-east to
north-north-west, and seemed to be
about three times as long as it was
broad, but was, Of course, farther away
from the ship.
The Auroras having been erased
from the Admiralty charts Of that date,
the ship had come nearer to their sup
posed position than would otherwise
have been the case and the course the
Gladys was steering brought her about
three nautical miles of the northwest
end of the northern island, when she
passed close to a great bed of kelp
which stretched from three to five miles
from the shore. This kelp was of i'm
mense size the fronds floating on the
surface Of the water being fully fifty
feet in length and like palm leaves
their roots were probably anchored to
the rocky bottons some fifteen fathoms
below This very kelp-bed, as | have
mentioned, was referred to in the old
Atlantic handbooks
At the time the Gladys passed them
the islands were quite free from ice
or snow, and the weather was perfect
ly clear. Some three days or so later
the ship, which was then on a north
erly course, fell in with a strong breeze
on the port side, north and west, and
met with a great feet of icebergs reach
ing some five hundred miles to the
north. They were of every size, from
low masses almost awash to towering
bergs of immense height and extent.
The vessel was five days and five
nights picking her way with the utmost
caution through the drifting monsters.
Fortunately she was well manned
and could be easily handled, for al
though every precaution was taken
and she was hove to each night with
topsails to the mast, drifting loose with
the ice, yet one night she was in great
danger
While lying between two immense
bergs about five miles apart, with her
head towards the weathermost one, it
became evident after some hours that
the berg to windward was drifting more
rapidly than the ship, probably drawn
by deep ocean current taking effect
on the submerged part of the ice, which
is generally said to be twice as deep as
the height of the floating portion.
Drifting steadily onward, it approached
dangerously close to. the ship, but all
hands tumbled up and made sail ON the
barque till she gained the weather
side of the berg, when the Gladys was
allowed to drift in its wake till day
light. Some of these enormous ice
masses stood from five hundred to a
thousand feet above the surface of the
water, and were from three to ten miles
long.
On the fifth day the Gladys met with
line of huge bergs extending in a
northeast to west-south-w direction
whose northern ends made them look
just like a column of battleships with
| MESSAGES between each. as far as the