EXCITING ADVENTURE WITH BEARS.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 91, 1 September 1877, Page 3

EXCITING ADVENTURE WITH BEARS.

Three of the crew of the steam-' ship Intrepid, Captain Soutar, had a very' exditing adventure at_ the Greenland seal .fishery this, season. During the time~ that their vfessel was fast beset atnong the ice, three of the cr,ew — Thomas Royal (Wolverhampton), James Winter (Peterhead), and William Mulligan (Dundee) — set out one day tq_pay a visit to the ship Perseverance', or Peterhead, which lay apparently about four miles distant. AJiter walking about a couple of miles it was seen i that the distance between the two ships had been misjudged, and that, m reality, they -were' six miles apart, and the \ dangerous nature of the journey began to dawn" upon ( the seamen when they realised how 'far they were from any vessel, and that their sealing clubs- were the only weapons with which they were armed.. When ,they came ,to realise the distance, they began to deliberate whether it - would 'not be the best course.to return to the ship. One of the trio insisted on making the •journey; while the others -were" of opinion that they should give up the attempt. In the midst of' the debate an unwelcome visitor came upon the scene m the shape of a' she bear, with one of her cubs, and as she was fast coming up between the men and their ship, the, only chance, of escape was to run on m %he hope of reaching the Perseverance, a dis-. tance of about four miles. When the men took to their heels the-bear quickened her, pace, and in^a short time was close upon the sailors. To attempt to face the animal with their clubs was" useless, and accordingly one by one of the men took off portions of his clothing and threw them down on the ice. In this way the progress of the bear was retarded, as Bruin stopped to sniff and tear at each of the*articles as she came up to them. By this means the men were enabled to keep a little ahead ! for about a couple of miles 1 , by which 1 time, however, they had parted with. i most of their clothing, one of them having nothing but his pants, a | cravat and wollen shirt upon him. i He' had retained possession of his club, and, fastening his cravat to' the end of the" weapon,' he waved it as a signal of distress, andf ortunately. the attention of the crew of the Perseverance was attracted to the perilous position of the! three seamen. Several of the crew of the Perseverance immediately set out, armed with guns, and, after running about a milef, they came up to" the three men just m time to save them, as they had almost no clothing left, and were quite exhausted with the chase. The bear and her cub were so close' behind that the rescuers had no difficulty m. despatching > them with several bullets. The following morning' the three sailors returned 1 to the Intrepid. They were escorted part of the way by a number of the crew of the Perseverance, and the male bear having been seen m the vicinity, apparently .on the look-out for the. she bear and her cub, he was likewise killed. The three men had been kindly, treated on board the" Perseverance and supplied with clothing, so that they suffered no bad effects from their exposure and exciting adventure. The most • of the men's clothes and their sear-boots were picked up, all.mor,e or less torn. — Dundee (Scotland) " Advertiser."