White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1929-08-09
while the Moewe had escaped once


more.
Nor was that the only ship the Brit
ish sank by mistake. They shelled
two harmless sailing vessels to pieces.
mistaking them for our Seeadler. It
all came about because of one of
those familiar war rumors. rumor
to the effeet that we were already
somewhere Off the Australian coast.
An Australian cruiser encountered
Scandinavian three-master, and they
seemed to think she was behaving
Queerly. Word had been passed
around that the Seeadler carried tor
pedoes. So the cruiser thought she
had better not run any chance of be-
ing blown up. She opened fire at long
range. Only ten men aboard the
Scandinavian ship were saved. La
ter on the arlnored cruiser Kent sank
another sailing vessel under similar
circumstances in the Pacific.
Sailors since Magellan, by Joe, have
talked about the storms around Cape
Horn. Sea stories usually have some
thing about the tough times rounding
the Cape. had seen those storms
myself when l had sailed in the fore
castle, and as a naval officer had
many time told tales to my brother
officers of gales and tempests had
witnessed in an old windjammer
rounding Horn. But our trip this
voyage was to be the most unusual
Of all. # the storms held us back.
the cruisers would be almost certain
to catch us. We had sailed south in
fine time and if we made quick pas
sage round that boisterous tip of
South America, we might slip into the
wide Pacific and continue our raids.
Well, we ran into the dirtiest wealth
er off the Horn, gales and hurricanes
Why, there were days when even with
our motor running we could make no
Roadway at all. Z 1t took us three
weeks to beat our way through the
gales and around the point. By that
time, the cruisers lay there in wait.
for u.s. not just one or two, but q
whole half dozen of them.
Ordinarily, a sailing ship tries to
hug Cape Horn as closely as 1t can
keeping quite near land. If you veer
too far to the south, you run into ice
bergs.' Navigating among icebergs with
the wind whistling through your rig
ging is enough to give any skipper
the chills. So the storms had held
us up, and now our best chance prob
ably would be to steer rs wide q
course to the south as possible, wheth
er safe or not. The mountains of ice
were there, and hurricane was blow
ing. But we considered the Ice the
lesser of two evils The British watch
to the Far South was hound to be less
vigiIant than up nearer the Cape. We
must try to sail around them. So, no
for the Antarctic!
On our way through the blockade.
we aad steered into the Arctic. Now
here we were heading into the Ant.
arctic.
To make 1t pleasant. by Joe; the
weather. which had been quite decen;
to us on The way South. changed In
order to give US regular Cape Horn
welcome. 1T turned into veritable
hurricane Nevertheless we were de
rermined to carry as much sail as pos
sible. Risky, hui we had to take
chances in the hope OF getting
through. AS the tempest increased.
not even the Seeadler dared carry
more than rag or two of lower sail
With this we tried to hold OuI way
Through the mist we saw a great wall
1t came moving toward us. A vast
wall OF white, an iceberg Tie wind
WAS driving this white specter through
the wafer and we had to veer off In
order 10 avoid collision
TO the north were the cruisers. and
mere. but few hundred yards away
an equally relentless enemy bearing
down upon us. as though determined
to turn us into the arms 0f our our
suers shout to the henlsnlan lie
termined as we were to gu no farther
north, we knew we could do no more
than hug the Antarctic ice field.
The mountain of Ice nearest us
seemed coming closer and cluser-nine
times as much ice below the water us
above. As every schuOlboy knows, II
berg looms up two hundred feet
above the waves, Its base extends
eighteen hundred feet below the sur
face How far its sharp hard edges
and SnlIrS may extend on either side
sou never can tell unless one of them
rips open your hull. The best way to
avoid running into spur is to turn
Dnd run the other way An iceberg
carries either lights, lighthouses
buOys, nor sirens. She is a cold cal
culating, merciless Circe, and the wise
mariner gives her II wide berth Some
Of us thought the berg was six thou.
sand feet long while others thought
1t much more than that We were so