Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1914-03-11
FoundI In the Ice
By M. QUAD
Copyright, 1874 by Associated Lit
erary Press.
By M. QUAD

Ut @Aoo,ooU she mad in her treasure
room gold in dust, bars and coin aggre-
eating $1,300000. She was never heard
from.
In June, 1868. eighteen years after
the loss of the Princess. / was one of
the crew of the Boston whaler Tails
man, which was trying the cruising
ground on the south of Cape Horn.
We had had fair run of luck when
We got gale from the north which
lasted for four days and nights with
out break. This drove US away south
among the ice, and on dozen different
occasions the ship was within hairs
breadth of being cast away or over
whelmed. After the fourth day of the
gale there was a calm lasting thirty
hours During this interval the Tails
man lay between two monster icebergs,
With her boats down and ready to tow
her out of the way should they close
in on her. Then we got strong
breeze from the east.
Sometimes we lay moored to a berg
for several hours; again we were
pounding among the great. cakes of
ice. which threatened every moment to
crush in her sides. We had been driv-
ing to the southeast for three days
when the breeze fell and left us on a
heaving sea, with monster iceberg
about two miles away to the south.
The ship had thus far sustained little
damage, but the crew were exhausted
with the hard work and constant vigil
lance. The men were given an all
days rest, and no incident occurred
| until late in the afternoon. The mass
of ice had front mile long on our
side, with an average height of 300 feet.
What its width was we could not say.
We were astonished to see smoke ris-
ing from the far side of it. No one
doubted that it came from a fire lighted
by shipwrecked sailors, who had
caught sight of the Talisman and We're
making her a signal.
The third mate and three men We're
ordered off in one of the whaleboats to
| investigate, and / was one of the three
selected. We took with us a breaker
Of fresh water bottle of rum, bread
meat. blankets, a boat compass and a
! lantern, and darkness fell as we pulled
| away from the ship.
We pulled to pass the western face
| of the berg and found it to be about
half mile long. AS we reached its
| southern limit and turned to the east
we caught sight of small fire ON a
| ledge about 100 feet above the water
AS soon as We got up to it the mate
| hailed and was promptly answered
| that there We're two men on the ledge,
| one of whom had broken leg. There
! upon / was ordered to remain by the
| boat and hold on, while the mate and
| the two men landed on the berg and
began making their way up to the
| ledge.
| Twenty minutes later the berg split,
| a fog settled down, and with it came a
| breeze. | did not know what to do,
and so l laid in my oar. wrapped my
| self in blanket and sat down in the
| bottom of the boat. You will think it
| queer that l fell asleep under the cir
! cumstances, but that is exactly what
| happened, nor did l wake until day
| light came again. Then | found my
| self in an ice foe which was drifting
to the south at the rate of about three
miles an hour.
| | am not at all sure how long | drift.
| ed, but the general direction was south,
| and the time was at least four days
and nights. On the WotIfrn-; Of what
was probably the fifth day l awoke to
find that the hoe had ceased drifting,
and a quageer of a mile to the east of
the boat~as a mass of ice.
| 1t waF mile or more in length and
not oyer thirty feet high and looked
| mors' like a wall resting on the water.
| The ice was yellow and dirty, with
| rocks embedded in it here and there,
| and 1 have no doubt that a good por,
tiqn of it was the lower part of an
| iceberg which had turned turtle. Be
tween me and the wall was a tumble
of Ice, over which it seemed impossible
to make my way. but as soon rs had
| broken my fast | set out to try it. 1t
| took me a full hour to make that quar-
ter Of mile, but at length l reached
| the wall and found that l could easily
! get up its rough side, When l reached
the TOP it was to discover that the
mass ofEce was almost cube, with a
great holpw in its surface to remind
one of the crater of volcano.
In the centeh of this hollow lay a
mass of wreckage. and after a long
stare, half believing my eyes deceived
me, l slid down and began investiga-
ton. No one will ever see more
| curious sight. A space several hun
| dred feet square was covered with
| broken masts, yards, beams, planks'
, boards, ropes, blocks and sails. A large
| ship had here suffered destruction.
| Just how l could not determine, but 1t
| seemed to me as If a great body OF ice
| had fallen on it as she rested in the
crater. No other force unless gun
| powder could have so wrecked ana
| scattered her about. Some of the wreck
! 90 bore the name Princess.