ADRIFT ON AN ICEBERG.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1567, 25 May 1887, Page 3

ADRIFT ON AN ICEBERG.

An old whaler gives In a New York paper an interesting aaeonnt of hlB experiences on an Iceberg off Cape Horn fle and four other men were sent from their ship to kill, for food, two beare which they saw on an iceberg. Just after they had shot the bears a snowstorm came on suddenly, and they loßt sight of their ship. They rowed for the vessel, but, missing her, returned to the Iceberg where they out a cavity m the Ice for shelter from the storm, and then a&t to work to skirrthe bears.

1 Oar real situation was aoarcely referred to by any of us, although eaoh man fully understood how desperate it was. We had blsouit sufficient to last the four for a week or ten days— that is, enough to sustain life for that length of time. If We were oompelled to remain on the berg the beat-meat would be a godsend to us. Every man had this reflection, but no man gave utterance to his thoughts, We cracked jokes and tried to be cheerful, and, could a sixth man have looked In on as, he would have said we were enjoying ourselves immensely. The big skins were ipread on the floor of our ice-oave, the OarOMBW OQt ap m bandy pieces ; and wb«n darkness fell upon the ocean we lay down side by aide without having eaten or drunk, and were soon asleep. 1 had knocked about.in all sorts of crafts, and ' had sailed m all seas, and peril was no new thing to me. When I lay down I hid to admit to myself that the present situation had never been equalled, and I forced my thoughts into other ohannels. Had I begun figuring on our chances I should have gone wild. An hour before daylight we were aroused by euoh a Bhook and crash as made us belieVe that the heavens and the earth had oome together, Then there came a ore grinding And crunohing and crushing, and directly after ail was still except the bowling of the gale, and we were driving along ai quietly as before. ' We've had a collision with another berg,' exolaimed the mate, ' and I think all danger hat passed.' He advised us to return to our sleep ; but every man had had enough, and every eye was wile open when the firat Bigns of daylight appeared' The fall of enow was not bo heavy, aUhough we oould not have seen a second berg as large as ours half a mile away; but the wind was blowing a living gale, and held steady from the old quarter. The mate gave db leave to soatter for a look around, though warning the men against; taking any chances, and presently I found myself m his company as we walked part way along the length of the shelf, and came to a spot upon which we could climb with a promise of a look to wind ward. Byand-by we looked out between two pinnacles and Lad a square look into the face of the storm. We were not yet at the top of the berg by any means, but had struck a sort of lift m the centre of it, and about 40ft above the sea. A more forbidding sight I never looked upon. The sea was In a perfeot turmoil, flinging spray almost as high r.a oor faoe3, and two other berg's, eaoh seemingly as large as our own, were m sight through the haze. One was on what mi^ht be called our starboard bow, and the other on the starboard quarter, and the three of us were driving cff to the west. * Nelson,' suid the mate as we olambered part way down and stopped to rest, 'what do you think of our chances V ' Well, ■Ir, it's' a bad fix. We c. n't look for any change under three days at the j least. I know the Bhlp will look for üb, but the pack-ice may drive down too heavy for her, or we may be too widely separated, However, we have the chance of being Blghted by another whaler.' 'That's all true,' he ■aid m a gloomy voioe, 'and we must keep up our tplrits. The moßt I fear just now Is another collision.' We scrambled down to the *helf, and thonce along to the cave, where we found the other three. Every face was gloomy enough. We had been worn out aboard the whaler for want of sleep, and after a little we all began to doza, and then fell off Into slumber, and it waa after noon before we were aroused, Then it was by another grinding and or whin g, and by feeling the wind shrieking about us, and we turned out to find that our berg was ■winging around to the gale, while at the nme time it was foroing its wsj. through paok'ice. In half an hour more our Cavd faced to windward, and the grinding was positively awful. The berg kept •winging, and by 2 o'clock we were again on the 'es aide ; and now we oould look right down on the tremendous struggle j^+ween our berg and the heavy ice wbtoh covered the sea tor mil™ ZZZ™* !!!: Tfa e berg was driving faßter than the ice, and nothing could check its progress. As it pußhed steadily through the pack the grinding was as if thunderbolts were tipping through a forest. We did not •wing but that once, though the gale did not break until midnight.

Just before dark they lighted their fire again, and cooked some more meat ; and that night they all slept soundly. "The next day* dawned bright and clear, with the wind blowing from the Bouth ; and before noon the ice most exposed to the sun waß thawing. We had a clear sky, and could Bee for miles around as, and a grand sight it was. The pack* ice had mostly gone off to the west, but there were a score of big and little bergs m view. We kept the breakfast fire going all day as a beacon firo, smothering it down occasionally to make a black smoke, and wo rambled about a good deal over the berg. We started up three white foxes, bat as we dared not use the. muskets for fear that the concussion might work us harm, we made no capturoß. The night came on tranquil, with the wind going to tho west and holding ba'my, and we had nothing to disturb üb. In the scorning, as we were toasting our meat, we felt a tremendous quiver rnn through the berg, and next moment a good third of it split off with a terrible crash and floated away from us. The loss of this portion gave us a bad list to port, and for half an hour we were m momentary expectation of the berg capsizing. It floated steadily, however, and by-and-bye we were reaa.ured and bsgan to wallr about again, and while the fire lent up a Bmoke which could be E3en many|miles away. It was about au hour after noon, and the mate was makiag ready to remove a thwart from the boat to use for kludllng, when a steam whaler suddenly rounded a great berg to the south-east of us, and came into full view of one uf the men who had jaet climbed np for a look-out. She had seen our ■moke, and had beeu working towards as for hour«. An hour after she was first seen ire were aboard of her, and it isn't for the purpose of exaggerating th« perils of our adventure that I tell you we had not stemmed two miles from the berg when it split In three portions with thunderous Bounds, and every portion turned turtle. Our ship, as we afterwards came to know, searched for ub for the beßt part of a week, and then, feeling that we must have certainly been , lost, put up her helm and was off for another crohmg ground, while we were entered on the log-book as thousands of others have been.'

During the month of April 946 persons arrived m the colony and 1333 persons left. Of the arrivals 267 were from the United Kingdom, 290 from New South Wales, and 280 from Victoria. The largest number of arrivals was at Inyeroargill, 327 ; Auckland, 289 ; Wellington, 260 ; Ly ttelton, 67. Of the departures 359 were for the United Kingdom, 416 for New South Wales, and 417 for Viotoria. Of these 435 left Inveroargill, 408 Auckland, 256 Wellington, and 201 Lyttelton.

11 Rough' on Bats."— Clears but rats, mice roaehee, flies, ants, bed bugs, beetles, insects Bbanks, jack rabbits, sparrows, goph • At bemiete Mid drng^etg,