LATEST FROM THE ARCTIC FLEET.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 56, 11 December 1871, Page 3

LATEST FROM THE ARCTIC FLEET.

THIRTY-THREE SHIPS LOST 1—1,200 SHIPWRECKED SEAMEN! (FROM TIIE “ HAWAIIAN GAZETTE.”) By the arrival this morning of the Hawaiian whaling barque ‘Arctic-,’ Captain Tripp, we are in receipt of truly disheartening news from the whaling fleet lately cruising in the Arctic Ocean. The greater portion ot the fleet, numbering over 30 vessels, has been, caught in the ice, and hopelessly crushed or held fast so that they had to be abandoned. Fortunately, the weather was such that all the crews were safely got on hoard the vessels which were outside the pack, although in some instances the utmost expedition had to be used to save life. In the case of the ‘ Roman,’ as described to us by one of her company, the sight must have been fearfully interesting. The floe caught the caught the ship on each side, and lifted her up bodily, keel out. Relaxing its grip for an instant, the ship settled between the icy jaws of the floe, when coming together again, she was crushed like an eggshell into atoms, and as the spasmodic relaxation again occurred she disappeared, leaving not a vestige of the lately noble vessel in sight, 45 minutes from the time the icc first closed upon her. It is an open question as to whether any of these ships will be found, on the return of spring, in a condition to he saved. It was considered probable that in the first northerly gale they would all be destroyed by the moving heavy ice. Besides, the natives, who are numerous in the neighbourhood, would, without delar , strip them of everything movable. About the Ist of May, 1871, the whalcships began to arrive at the icc south of Gape Thaddeus. By the time the ships got to Cape Behring and Plover Bay the whales had all passed through the >aits. The barque ‘ Oriole ’ was sto 1 ' "'t mto Plover Bay to try and v passed through Behri* -1 the 18tli and 30th of taking on board the which was wrecked last fall, not seeing any win., finding large quantities of ice. r.. whole fleet now engaged in catching walrus. In clear water they worked up to within a few miles of Icy Gape, and some of them anchored. On the 2‘Jth had light south-west winds, which freshened towards the latter end of the day, setting the ice in shore so fast that some of the ships were caught in the pack. . lhe rest retreated in shore ahead ot the ice. Hcie they anchored in from three to four fathoms of water, the ice coming in and the small ice packing around the ships. By the strong current rushing to the north-east the large heavy floe ice grounded in the shoal water. Inside of this the ships lay or at least the most of them, and those who did not get in kept working in as they had a chance, to keep from being stove. At this time it began to snow, and they had several storms and winds from S. to N.AV. Here they were all jammed close together, some not having room to swing clear of each other. On the 7th of September the barque ‘ Roman ’ was crushed by the ice. she having got caught while cutting a whale. She drifted helplessly with the ice to Sea Horse Islands, and was then caught between two heavy floes of ice ; one of the floes was aground, and an immense floe of several miles in extent came against hci from off shore, crushing her like an eggshell in 45 minutes. She sunk head foremost, leaving her mizenmasQ and her stern out of water, the ice having held her up until it separated ; the captain, officers, and crew escaping over the ice with the boats, and not. saving scarcely anything except the clothes they had. on. The crew were received on board the other ships. On the 2nd September the brig ‘ Comet ’ was crushed in the heavy ice ; her crew were taken on hoard the other ships and cared for. It now became evident that the ice was setting on shore very heavily, the open strip of water became narrowar every day, and no possible chance to get out. Still no one thought there would be any difficulty of getting out the first N.E. gale. On the btli of September the barque ‘ Awaslionks ’ was crushed between the heavy floe and the ground ice. Her crew were also received on board the other ships. As day after day passed and no sigus of the ice opening, the masters of the ships became anxious about the loss of time, as the season was passing away. They were unwilling to believe that the icc would not go off shore, as in all their former experiences it had done at this time of the year. Nothing would be seen but one solid body of ice on shore as far as the eye could see, except the narrow strip in shore, which was from 200 yards to half a mile wide. The ships were lying, some jammed in the ice and some in open water, all the way from Point Belcher to two or three miles south of Wainwright Inlet. A meeting was held by all the masters, in order to concert some measures for the safety of their crews, in case they found it impossible to escape from their dangerous situation. It was decided to lighten the brig Koliola,’ and try to get her over the bar at "Wainwright Inlet, on which there was sft. or Oft. of water. This was done. She was hauled alongside the ‘ Charlotte,’ of San Francisco, and her oil and stores landed on her deck, and she was then found to draw 9fc. of water. However. she was taken down the coast in the narrow strip of open water, close to the beach, and an attempt made to get her over the shoal water. This they found to he impossible, as she drew too much water, and this was given up. At the same time an expedition of three boats -was fitted out under the command of Captain Fraser, to go down the coast until they came to the open sea. and then to try and find any of the ships which might have got out of the ice, or kept out, as it was known there were seven vessels to the south. This was deemed expedient, as they were afraid that they would leave the cast shore and go to the westward, and so remain in ignore ice of the situa-

tiou of the rest of the fleet. He. succeeded in finding the barques and ships—- ‘ Arctic,’ ‘ Progress,’ ‘ Midas,’ * Lagoda,’ 1 Chance,’ 1 Daniel Webster,’ and ‘Europa,’ and the captains of thesQ vessels at once expressed their willingness to stay and wait, for the crews of the distressed ships, as long as their anchors would hold them. Still hoping the ice would open and let them out, in the meantime, Captain Redfield, of the brig ‘ Victoria,’ tried to get his vessel off over the bar by lightening her, hut without succeeding. On the night of the otli of September, the weather was calm, and the clear water around the ships froze over, and it was with great difficulty that a whale boat could be got through it. The boats had to he coppered around the bows to keep the ice from cutting through the planking. No time was lost in sending provisions by the boats to the south, as they were apprehensive that their retreat by the boats might be cut off, and it might he that they would be obliged to travel by land to where the ships were anchored, it being well known among every ship’s company that there was not provisions enough to last over three or four months at the most. In case the sUips escaped from the icc these provisions could be taken on board again, for all hoped against hopes to the last. It was hard to entertain any thoughts of leaving their ships, there being no harbor where they could winter, even had they provisions enough to do. And more, they knew that if the ships did not get out they would either be crushed or driven ashore by the ice the first NAY. gale. On the 13th Sept, another meeting was held by the masters, the painful fact having forced itself upon the mind of every one that in order to save the lives of their crews they would have to abandon their ships. None hut those similarly situated could tell how difficult it was for them to arrive at this painful conclusion, and to winter was utterly impossible, as their provisions would not last one-third of the winter, which is nine mouths in duration in these latitudes. And then to what purpose could it be done, as there was no place of safety -w tne ships ? Had they been in harbor some of the crews might have been left to take care of them, and keep the natives from destroying them. But as they lay in the open sea exposed to every stonn, the chances were that they would all be destroyed by the icc. Under these trying circumstances they were forced to conic to the conclusion to abandon the ships to save their lives, and the colorsj were accordingly set as agreed on—at the mast heads —to notify all the ships’ companies to get ready to leave on the 14th of September. The masters of the dis tressed vessels knew if they were caught by the bad weather, the chances were that they would never get back again, after being blown off. Thus, although they were ready to stay any length of time by their ships a« long as they could be sure of a ship to take them off at the last moment, and that time had now arrived, and as every one regretted leaving their ships, still there was no alternative. Starvation and death awaited them should they be obliged to stay ; accordingly, boats were loaded with such provisions and clothing - were absolutely necessary ; and by 4 every ship’s company had left, u-o on their way soutii. As they •ir -way down the coast they icc much worse than they had any iu, of, and a great deal of shoal water besides, so that even if they had succeeded in getting - the brigs over the bar at Wainwright Inlet, they never could have got them in the clear water south. The barques ‘ Arctic,’ ‘ Midas,’ and ‘ Progress ’ lost each an anchor in trying to hold on to take them on board. They were very kindly received on hoard these ships—seven in number as before_ mentioned. The boats were cut adrift, as it was impossible to save them, the ships being so crowded. On the 18th, the last boats’ crews were taken on board, and, the wind blowing strong from NAV., they weighed anchor and stood to SAV., it having been agreed between the captains of the ships to proceed to Plover Bay, and there get water and wood to last them on the passage to the Sandwich islands. This was done by five of the ships, the ‘ Arctic,’ ‘Progress,’ ‘ Midas,’ ‘ Lagoda,’ and ‘ Europa,’ which arrived there on the 24th, and sailed again on the 25th. The distance traversed by the boats after abandoning the ships before reaching the ships south of Icy Cape was about <0 miles ; the ice being one solid body nil the way to Icy Gape, leaving a narrow strip of clear water along the beach the cutiie distance —but also very shoal. Annexed is a list of the names of the abandoned ships : —‘ Concordia, ’ 650 barrels; ‘ Gay Head,’ 530 barrels ; ‘ George,’ 300 barrels ; ‘ John Wells,’ 300 barrels ; “ Massachusetts,’ 350 barrels ; J. D. Thompson,’ 100 sperm and 770 barrels ; ‘ Contest,’ 850 barrels ; ‘E. Morgan,’ 150 barrels ; ‘ Champion, 275 sperm and 300 barrels ; ‘ Henry Taber,’ 300 barrels ; ‘ E. Swift,’ 700 barrels ; ‘Florida,’ 550 barrels; ‘O. Crocker,’ 200 barrels ;_ ‘Navy,’ 280 sperm and 400 barrels ; ‘ Reindeer, 800 barrels: ‘Seneca,’ 150 barrels ; ‘Fanny,’ 300 barrels ; ‘ George Howland," 500 barrels ; 1 Monticello,’ 270 sperm, 630 barrels; ‘ Carlotta,’ 700 barrels; ‘ Paien,’ 100 barrels ; ‘ Kohola,’ 150 barrels , ‘ Eugenia,’ 250 barrels; ‘ Julian,’4o sperm, and 200 barrels ; ‘ Awaslionks,’ clean ; ‘T. Dickason,’ 550 barrels ; ‘ Minerva,’ 130 barrels ; ‘William Botch,’ 200 barrels; ‘Mary,’ 300 barrels; ‘ Roman,’ 650 barrels ; ‘Comet,’ 30 barrels. The following are tne names of the vessels saved, and the amount of oil taken by each : —‘ Arctic,’ 480 barrels ; ‘ Progress,’ 250 barrels ; ‘Chance,’ 220 sperm, and 280 whale; 4 Daniel Webster,’ 250 whale ; ‘ Lagoda,’ 725 whale ; ‘ Europa,’ 330 whale ; ‘ Midas ’ 450 whale, 140 sperm.