AMONG THE BERGS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LV, Issue 5518, 21 September 1892, Page 4

AMONG THE BERGS.

Tl'.o birquo Alice arrived at. Now. York : from Auckland nfter an eventful voyage owing to bur Imvinv '"'ilicn m wuli h great deal of ice whilst rft" C^yie. Horn. Captain Swam forwrirrfcf] fo the Auckland .fferaM an account of- his vovago by Iho last mail whiehie aafolMv.3: The Alice left Auckland on May 8. laden sritb |;ut» em) <1 ix 3!io encountered fair wind.-, and m j. 19 f. 30 day* rounded Oapn ,3orr, and onl r.'-' the South Atlantic. On the morning of-Jnni; 1!) Mijio Hcnsen entered the L'aplaia'ii cal»in nnd oxciaimed m evident apprehension, ' 'llu-ro 1 * tuimethiog wrong, captain ! I e'mhl land off the starboard bow." Captain tiwuin went on deck, and 'hrougli his ellipses mnde out Mate Henaen'B "land "to bn nn iceberg of iuliy blackness . Within an hour i>ig!it morn bovjrs were nigbted ihope to starbenrd b-ipg j t back, and those to port a vivid jjrren. Each pnasing half hour rcsniied io tho ri.scoverv of more iceliorßr, all benring dowu toward the Alice. Tho optain crowded on all imil, in.the liopr of ruiiuinc; ntv'iy from bin threatening neigh- : hour.', hut le boro down upon tho largest i field of ioo reported by a sea captain iD rerent i 7eare. This waß on June 20th, m latitude i 43 degrees 40 minutes south, and longitude 33 degress oast. Standing on a ynid Captain Swain end the mate Hensen eaoily counted 300 bergs of all sizes and three distinot colours— black, green, and white. In height the icebergs varied from an estimated 40 feet to between 400 and 600 fedfc. They were be- ' hind, beside, and m front of the little, barque as far away aa the eye could see, and many of tho smaller ones touched aides with the vesiel. If becamo bitterly cold, Ihe ther-|

momotor, which had registered 65 deg., foil to zero, and the members of the crow Buffered intensely. Tho vobbol sailed aloDg m tbie Cbld of ice, a fresh breeze blowing steadily, until nightfall, when, " by the grr.ee of God," aa Captain tf wain says, tho v/ind died down iuto a very moderate breeze, "To this fact wo owo our salvation"' the captain continues. " hed the wind roniained fresh at night wa would certainly have been oruslied. As it was, we were able to keep tip enough light sail to navigate, but even then doatb stared ub m the face for two nighto. Both Dights I kept all my fourteen men on clack, the mate forward, near the forecastle ; myself amidships, and two men at the wheel. Even then we had at least two dozen hair breadth escapes from collision with some moDßter bergs. It was only by the olosoet look-out and tho moat prompt work at the wheel that wo were able to just escspo running into bergs directly ahead. Eunning slow, as we did, the danger was lessened, for we practically drifted along m the ioy ohaar neL With the dawn of day came a f reoher breeze, and wo endeavoured to soil away from tho iceberg?, and I think m the sail of that day we must have passed nt least 1500 bergs of different sizes, for at uu time did we sight less tha.n 300 of them. It was the most exciting and perilous voyage of my life, and I have rounded tho Horn thirty timos. ' I never expected to see land again. But what fantastic shapes those monster burgs took ! You could conjuro up churches, domes, steeples, gigantic men and animals of all descriptions. A peculiar thing about them was that all were black on one Bide and white or green on the other side. One berg must have been nt least 500 feet higb. Ab two-thirds of an iceborg is bolow water, this made ita total bight 1500 feet. It was not until midnight of tho 22nd that we finally escaped them, and just m time-, for before dawn wo were struck by a northeaster tbat developed into one of the severest hurricanes I have ever been m. Ihis hurricane lasted twelve hours, but the Alioo stood it well— better than my tired crew. From that on we had splendid weather, and made the voyage from Auckland to New York m eighty-three days."