The Alaska daily empire., 1918-07-19
DETAILS GIVEN OF RESCUE IN
 ALASKA WATERS
Seattle Times

After performing one of the most thrilling rescues of men and ships in the history of the North Pacific, saving the lives of TOO cannery em- ployees, including twenty-one men who had been marooned on great iceberg for three weeks, and towing three big vessels to safety at a time when they seemed doomed to destruction in the ice-chOked seas, ship Roosevelt. Capt. H. Bierd, has completed a voyage to the North. News of the great work of rescue of the Roosevelt, after a battle of | many days and nights with the enor- mouse ice foes, was received in Se- attle recently after reports had been made to Washington, D. c. The first details of the rescue, how ever, were available in this city to- day and caused a thrill along the l waterfront as soon as seafaring men yearned what Captain Bierd, First Officer D. Thomas Davies and the crew of the Roosevelt had ac- complshed.
 When the full-rigged sailing ship Tacoma of the Alaska Paskers' As sociatiOn of San Francisco was crushed in the ice and sank in deep water. twenty-one cannerymen who were aboard the vessel took refuge on a huge iceberg which Captain Bierd describes as more than an acre in extent. The men from the Tacoma had time to save six Co., lumbia River fishing boats, few blankets, a small amount of food and some canvas, which they took with them on the iceberg. The ship sank May 19, and as she filled the masts fore and aft went over l the bow and stern while the main mast crashed through the bottom of the vessel. She had been crush ed into battered pulp by the enormous force of the ice
 Some Reach Solid Ice.
 | Until June 8, the day of the res cue by the Roosevelt, the twenty one men from the Tacoma camped on the ice and when found by Cap tain Bierd had been living on sea- gulls for several days. The Tacoma had a total of 1l5 men aboard when she entered the ice, but the other cannery employees and members of the crew succeeded in reaching solid ice and were rescued by other ships of the cannery fleet. The great berg on which the twenty-one men had been camping for three weeks. was was drifting with the ice pack in Bristol Bay. The rescued cannery men were transferred to the steam ship Nushagak of the Alaska Pack CTS Association of San Francisco and later reached their destination in the Bristol Bay cannery district.
 "The men on the big iceberg cheered like mad as the Roosevelt approached" said Captain Bierd. "The small supply of provisions they had taken from the Tacoma before she sank was exhausted, and they had been living on seagulls for several days. They believed that they were doomed, and expected to be either crushed to death or car ried to sea at the mercy of wind and wave. Risking their lives on a perilous journey over the ice, two men reached the Roosevelt before the main party was found on the big iceberg.
 1 Ship Badly Crushed.
 fl "The Tacoma was crushed fore and aft by the ice foes." contin- ued Captain Bierd. Two of the masts went over the bow and stern, and the main mast crashed through the bottom of the ship as the ice closed in, exerting an enormous pressure. The Tacoma's entire car go went down with the ship. We transferred the twenty-One men found on the iceberg to the steam ship Nushagak off Point Greig."
 The Roosevelt rescued the bark Star of Chile and the barkentine Centenniau of the Alaska Packers Association of San Francisco and the ship St. Nicholas of the Colum-
 bia River Packers Association and their crews and cannery employees. | a total of more than GOO men. The St. Nicholas rudder was gone and her bow damaged. the Centennial lost her rudder and the steering gear of the Star was damaged dur ing the long battle with the ice.