The Meeker herald., 1914-07-18
FoundIn the Ice
AM QUAD
copyrtsht. 1874 By Associated LAt-
srary Press
D u QUAD


srary Press
On the 7th day Of October. 1852. ~
ship Princess left Australia with .
cargo Of wool and othse articles valued
at $3.50 900. She had in her treasure
room gold in dust. bars and coin agsre-
sating 81 SOC, 900. She was never heard
nom.
In June, 1853 eighteen pears aftsr
the los Of the Princess. was one Of
the crew Of the Boston whalsr Tails
man, which was trying the cruising
ground on the south Of Caps Horn.
We had had fair run Of luck when
We rot q gale from the north which
lasted for four days and nights with
out break. This drove ~ away south
among the ice, and on dozen diferent
occasions the ship was within . hairs
breadth Of being cast away or over
whelmed. After the fourth day Of the
Rule there was q 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 4 strong
breeze from the east.
Sometimes We lay moored 10 . berg
for several hours: again We were
pounding among the great cakes Of
ice, which threatened every moment to
crush In hsr sides. We had besu driv.
ing to the southeast for three days
when tho breese fell and left ~ on
heavifg sea, with q monster iceberg
about two miles away 10 the south.
The ship had thus far sustained little
damage. but the crew were exhausted
with the hard work and constant vigi-
lance. The men were given an all
days rest. and no incident occurred
until late In the afternoon. The mass
Of Ice had . front q mile long on our
aide, with an avefaGs height OF 800 feet
What its width was We could not say.
We were ast0nished to SO smoke ris-
ing from the far side Of It No one
doubted that It came from fre lighted
by shipwrecked sailors, who had
caught sight Of the Talisman and were
making her q signal.
The third mate and three men were
ordered Oh in one OF the whaleboats TO
investigate. and was one Of tho three
selected. We took with % breaker
Of fresh water. bottle Of rum, bread.
meat, blankets, . boat compass and
lantern, and darkness fell - we pulled
away from the ship.
We pulled to pass the western face
Of the berg and found II to be about
half Z mile long. A We reached IL
southern limit and turned to the east
We caught sight OF . small DIRE on q
lsdSs about 100 test above TIE water.
A. coon a. ws eot up b Il ths mats
hailed md va pfomptly aaswer92
that thsGe wsFe Two msa - tie le&aA
ens of whom had bfuksa les. Thees-
upon was ordered to remain By the
boat and hold on. while the mate and
the two men landed on the bere and
began making their way mp to the
ledge.
Twenty minutes later the berg spit.
fog settled down. and with It came q
breeze did not know what to do,
and 20 laid in my oar. wrapped my
self In q blanket and sat down in the
bottom OF the boat. You will think It
queer that fell asleep under the cir
cumstances. but that h exactly what
happened. nor did l wake until day
light came again. Then I found my
self in an Ice doc 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 nlghts. On the morning OF what
was probably the NTH day awoke to
ind that the doe had ceased drifting.
and quarter OF mile to the east Of
the boat was . mass Of Ice.
It was mile or moro In length and
not over thirty feet high and looked
more like wall resting ON the water.
The Ice was yellow and dirty. with
rocks embedded In It here and there.
and ! have no doubt that good por-
ton Of 1t was the lower part Of an
iceberg which had turned turtle. Be-
tween me and the wall was a tumble
Of Ice. over which 1t seemed impossible
to make my way. but ~ soon AZ had
broken my fast l sst out to Try 1t. II
took me . full hour to make that quar-
ter Of q mile. but at length reached
the wall and found that could easily
get up its rough side. When reached
the top It was to discover that the
mass OF Ice was almost 4 cube. with q
great hollow In In surface to remind
one Of the crater Of . volcano.
In the center Of this hollow lay =
mass Of wreckage. and after q long
stare. half believing my eyes deceived
tion. No ons will ever see more
curious sight A space several hum
dred feet square was covered with
broken masts, yards. beams, planks,