IN ICE-STREWN SEAS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 12758, 1 May 1909, Page 7

IN ICE-STREWN SEAS.

SDIP'S PERILOUS EXPERIENCE.

DI3A3IER THREATENED.

"BOAR OF DISTANT AUTILLERY."

i ADELAIDE, April 21. . ' Few seafarers are called upon to undergo *afa perilous End neive-racking an adventore. as that which befell the crew of the 'Xorwegian 6 }jjp Maletta, which arri■ved~itt the Semaphore last night. - - "Twelve days after clearing the La Plata the Jressel . ran into an ice roe, which etretehed for. miles on the leeward side, - while the windward side was a mass of berga.eome .as high as 700 feet., and a hundred could be counted. * The ship was in the floe almost before the officers and ftr«9W. W3re aware of the fact, and or thre3 whole days and four nights was' in infmiment peril. THe experiences, indeed, of that dread time would provide material for a most exciting novel. Sleep during, the ,time was out of the question, as every, minute threatened to be the last, while there was a ceaseless roar as of distant artillery, as the great masses of ice became dislodged and crashed and cannoned from pinnacle to pinnacle. Small wonder that several of the crew wept, and less that others should have vowed never to proceed to sea again, for, brave and skih'ul navigator he is, Captain. Neilson found himself sore pressed to bring his ship safely through those treacherous seas. More than once the vessel seemed to be surrounded on all sides with no hope of escape, and preparations were early completed for a hurried departure in the event of the worst fears being realised. The danger of being crushed between opposite bergs was only equalled^ by the risk of the hull below the waterline being pierced by partially submerged fragments from the floe. Altogether the ship sailed 343 miles through these ice-strewn seas, and on the authority of the master, that is . a record sail through ice for a merchantman. But in any case it was an experience none of the crew wish to go through again. Interviewed, the captain gave the information, and added "for a time we could see no. opening in the ice, and I personally had to stand on the forecastle head during the whole night to navigate the ship through it. So high were some bergs that they took the wind out of the vessel's sails, and there was little room in which she could swing. All the time the ship was :n the ice a heavy fog prevailed, and the impossibility of seeing' for any great distance rendered navigation work exceptionally dangerous. This is a record passage through ice for me. By steering' north-north-east and forcing 1 the ship along we cleared the ice on March 22. We travelled from 13 to 14 knots an hour on this course, and went about 180 miles. I made Borda light at 8 a.m. on Monday, and reached the anchorage 44 days from the River Plate. This is regarded as a record passage for a sailing vessel. Cargo steamers usually take 53 days, ■ and we htA an average of 268£ knots for twelve successive days. The best day's run was 323 knots, and for two watches — eight, hours — the wind forced the vessel alon? 108' miles. In two hours we travelled 30. miles,- which was our fastest sailing. We ran down the Easting in 25 days from Greenwich Meridian, in latitude 43 to 44 degrees south."

"Smouldering %vA smoking 1 ," writes a correspondent to the Hawera Star, "Ngaunthpe continues to be the sight of the district. Seen on Tuesday from Manunui, the mountain was very much like a deflating balloon which had become inverted. Smoke .was pouring out fiercely in long spiral volumes, drifted away northwards in a murky iiazr At times the dense black clouds wouM issue out thicker and faster as if the Titanic' stoker was putting on a spurt. The snowy slopes of Tongariro, and Ngrauruhoe itself, have been polluted by falling ashes and cinders, and! changed into a great Mack waste, and it seems as if the underground conflagration were spreading. Mananui residents who have ascended the mountain state that there is no doubt that the sides of the mountain are falling in, and the fire is coming down the mountain. Geysers are now in operation at the foot of the slopes, and near the crater the earth crust shivers, and is hot underfoot. Tongariro was smoking from two of ite cones. As to many of the illustrations of Ngauruhoe which have appeared, there is no doubt that they have pictured things of the artists' imagination, and they have been regarded with much derision by the natives in the vicinity."

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