. The Arctic whaleman; or, Winter in the Arctic Ocean: being a narrative of the wreck of the whale ship Citizen .. . o which they went and shortly novel, and yet a common sight was now wit-nessed ; the ice was covered with a vast numberof walruses, which, to appearance, extendedmany miles. The weather being fine for the season, the lastpart of June, in company with the Almira, Cap-tain Jenks, we concluded we would go into theice again, and if good fortune would have it so,we might capture a few whales. Accidents occur not unfrequently when leastexpected, and sad ones, too, arise
. The Arctic whaleman; or, Winter in the Arctic Ocean: being a narrative of the wreck of the whale ship Citizen .. . o which they went and shortly novel, and yet a common sight was now wit-nessed ; the ice was covered with a vast numberof walruses, which, to appearance, extendedmany miles. The weather being fine for the season, the lastpart of June, in company with the Almira, Cap-tain Jenks, we concluded we would go into theice again, and if good fortune would have it so,we might capture a few whales. Accidents occur not unfrequently when leastexpected, and sad ones, too, arise sometimes fromthe slightest circumstance, or inattention. Con-tact with icebergs, or large masses of block ice,when a ship is under sail, is highly dangerous. Amomentary relaxation of vigilance on the partof the mariner may bring the ships bows on thesubmerged part of an iceberg, whose sharp, nee-dle-like points, hard as rock, instantly pierce theplanks and timbers of a ship, and perhaps opena fatal leak. Many lamentable shipwrecks havedoubtless resulted from this cause. In the long, > CO O $ —iowawSd 52CO. NINE MONTHS IN THE ARCTIC. 49 heavy swell, so common in the open sea, theperil of floating ice is greatly increased, as the hugeangular masses are rolled and ground againsteach other with a force which nothing can resist. The striking of the Citizen against a mass ofice, which nearly resulted in the loss of the shipand the destruction of the voyage, was simplyinattention or misunderstanding the word of com-mand. The man at the wheel was ordered not to luff the ship any more, but steady, as shewas approaching a mass of ice ; indeed, ice wasall around us, which would have passed us onour larboard bow, and thus we should have es-caped a concussion; but instead of doing this,he put the wheel down, which brought the shipinto the wind, and the consequence was, a largehole was stoven in her larboard bow; the shipbegan to leak badly. Casks were immediatelyfilled with water, and
Size: 1361px × 1837px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., book, booksubjectshipwrecks, booksubjectwhaling, rotate270, walrus
