Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-23

Is
/HA route" to the Pole stop at Sgd
ney Nova Scotia. 1t is the first
leg of the journey; the natural
place to pick up such items of the Arctic trous-
Seau as have been forgotten, and it has rail-
connection with New York. At this point the
explorer may either abandon hope and dive into
the unknown, or take the train back to the
flesh pots We abandoned hope, chantied up
the anchor and headed for Holstenborg, Green
land, $500 miles away.
The weather as we wallowed out of Sidney
Harbor must have been of the brand known
rs dirty for it consisted of equal parts of
drizzling rain and clammy fog. A few hours
after starting, the engine was stopped while
the chief tore of the air pump and removed
ar accumulation OF foreign matter. Then we
walowed with a vengeance-four directions at
once. ST move we make this motion unani-
NOUS" suggested the cowboy. There were no
Geconders.
At shutdown we were cutting across Cabot
Strait through which the st. Lawrence finds its
way into the North Atlantic. We must have
Travelled through some kind OF tide rip, Tor
the waves reared many feet above our low
deck and pursued us like hungry satVrs Yet
in every case, experienced nymph that she was,
our schooner the Fife M. Morrissey, eluded
them successfully.
livery time we inquired our position the an
swer was "Just of the Bay of Islands" We
were hours passing it, The thing seemed more
! like serious interruption than bay. There
was only one consolation. We now found time
to catch up on our reading. There was rather
a complete Arctic library aboard into which we
reckIeSsly plunged.
It turned out to be CHEEKY material. There
was the Last Cruise of the Karluk. She was
crushed in ice The Last Cruise OF the Miranda.
She ran onto a rock. From the Deep of the
Sea was the story of a total loss. Moby Dick
was a disaster set to the music Of mysticism.
Or Kane's Arctic Explorations were filled with
descriptions of scurvy SO realistic few pages
of it gave one the feeling his teeth were about
to drop out. This course Of reading definitely
established two points-the successful explorer
apparently always swinns home, and arrives in
O lisping condition of toothlessness.
We passed through one storm and felt we
had every right to peace and quiet when the
operator burst in with radio message: Belle
Isle Straits clear of ice, but plenty of GROWERS
1t read. What was "growler'? That was the
problem that concerned us now. We were get
ting down to realities. The authorities were
consulted.
Growers it seemed were nothing but small
half submerged bergs of blue ice Blue ice
was as tough as steel. While they sounded
harmless, it was Just as unpleasant to collide
with growler as large majestic iceberg. In
either case apparently the results were identical
Their size became only d LnaCJeT Oh acaueHuC
interest. The North was closing in on u.s.
At noon next day we Weathered Cape Fer
role and entered the Straits of Belle Isle. The
wind whistled into our teeth, and there was a
snap to it Suggestive of vast frozen Solitudes.
81 smell ice," Sailor Joe remarked, drawing
about a cubic yard of the gale in through
dilated nostrils, like connoisseur
The strait is only II miles wide just here,
which gives vague feeling of being land
locked until he notices the wreck of a large
steamer just of the cape when the vagueness
entirely disappears and the feeling becomes
definite. 1t was very suggestive traffic signal.
A short distance from its rusty hull lay
stranded iceberg-our first. It was small ugly
and smeared with mud, yet to it seemed
crystalline marvel
With land on either hand we ran on until
twilight. Then suddenly huge bergs lowered.
all about us We seemed to be vending our
way through the silent deserted streets of
floating city, the architecture Of which was the
result of a deranged intellect. They had
weathered into an infinite variety Of shapes
and their coloration was delirium Byzan-
tine palace covered with pinnacleS, minarets
and domes might rub elbows with a severe
Greek temple of white marble set of with
6uted columns.
HERE was fair replica of Grants Tomb and
the Albert Memorial squeezing between
them the Tai Mahal done with mother-of-
pearl finish. Brown-stone fronts jostled Jap
anese pagodas that gistened as though succeed
with jewels Everything was done on a grand
scale. regardless of expense. Aside from their
poetic significance these bergs rose SO to rs
feet above the water, which gave them an over
all height of from 400 to 900 feet In bulk
they represented millions of tons of ice.
That night we lay in our berths and won