The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-08-11
CRUSHED N THE ICE
Thrilling Experience on Board a
Sealing Vessel.
HOW THE SHIP WENT DOWN.
Smashed In An,idships and Powsrisss
TO Escape, She Was Swallowed In the
Icy Deep-Ths Wild Rush Of the
Crew TO Escape on the FIoe.


TO Escape, She Was Swallowed In the
Icy Dsep--Ths Wild Rush Of the
Crew TO Escape on the FIoe.
Constant peril menaces the hardy
crews that fearlessly sail into the icy
northern seas and risk their lives in
the dangerous work of hunting the
seal. In Harper's Magazine George
Harding, the author. writes dramatic
ally Of the sinking OF the ship ON
which he sailed with the Newfound-
land sealing feet His experience was
uniquely perilous. The ship was
crushed like an egg in the fee.
"OD the bridge were the captain and
watch anxiously awaiting the chance
to head the ship out of the moving
Ice into the stationary pack of which
the big sheet was part The bowllne
lay on the barricade. ready for heav-
ing when the crew should be ordered
on the Zoe to haul the ships head
around. Aloft the spyman searched
the gloom for signs of hull in the
| confused and tremendous waste.
Then there came terrific crush.
The vessel. caught in the trench be-
tween the raftering sheets, was pow
erless to escape. The smash of break
Ing timbers rose above the gale as
| great corner of ice crushed the yes.
sells side amidships. The captain and
watch rushed to the engine room. 1t
| was. filed with steam, the inHowing
water having already reached the fires.
| A glance showed that nothing could
| stop the thrush of water. The fremen
were retreating. The FIRST of them.
| like creature from another world,
coal begrimed, undershirt clad. reached
the Ice sheathed deck. spreading panic
In bis path. Above the haillpg OF
questions aud shouts that no man
could understand came the voice OF
the skipper; he knew the situation as
no other man.
Men, he shouted. the ship III gol
Pack your clothes--save the grubp
Then II was confusion everywhere.
The crew poured up the hatchway,
hauling clothes boxes and bags. crowd
Ing over the side. colliding in midair
as they half tumbled and half slid
down the ropes. then back for food.
Laboriously the heavy pork barrels
were hauled by hand from the after
hold. where men braveiy toiled. 9th
ers fought their way aloft. where the
sails were slowed. The canvas cut
loose, bellying out in the force of the
gale, was dropped to the deck. Punts
we're slipped from the davits. Some.
hitting the Ice with crash, were
slowed In. Throughout It all the cap.
tain shouted:
"'Haui them punts and grub farther
OF! Farther yet! Fartherr
"The water. rapidly rising, drove the
men from the lower hold. They re-
treated to the deck. Then the inflow,
level with the ocean. ceased. The ice
for the time held the ship in its grip.
Second by second passed. bringing no
change. In that brief interval each
man suddenly thought to save the
thing he most desired. wild rush
was made to wheelhouse. to cabin, to
the ships storeroom-every man for
himself-a scuffie to get the thing most
coveted aud escape to the ice. With
one 1t was rifle from the ships ar
mory to replace the antiquated muzzle
loader at home; with another, the
ships compass or the barometer; with
the after galley cook 1t was the cabin
dishes. In the cabin a crowd surged
to the medicine chest, scrambllng for
llniments and pills. smashing anything
that was an obstacle In their way.
Such was the scene when the cry arose
on deck. repeated by ffty men and
echoing throughout the vessel. '"Tis
time TO take to the icey Then great
rush to be clear Of the doomed ship as
the mass of men, some empty handed,
others laden. defending their spoil from
the unsuccessful. plunged on to the
Ice.
"The ship was sinking fast. 1t was
but short leap for the last man from
her deck to the loosening Ice. The
men stood on the foe. looking the ship
over from the bow. lifted high, to the
stern. now below water.
"a pity to lose the vessel they
said. Wonderful hard to lose the trip
o. fat
"Then came the final plunge. The
mainmast, reaching over the foe. broke
as the weight Of the vessel pulled IL
under The great anchors sliding from
the bow added to the tumult, as every
thing not frozen solid to the deck
crashed into the house and galley. For
a second n fash of fame shot from the
overturned stoves; then nothing save
few seal pelts and broken oars lay
on the surface OF the troubled hole In
the doe where the Grand Lake had dis
appeared"