The Ship Seen On The Ice.

After groping awhile in some shelves stocked with black-handled knives and forks , tin dishes , pannikins , and the like , 1 put my hand upon a stum ]) of caudle-cud . This we lighted , Sweers luckily having a box of Inciters in his pocket , and with the aid of the candle flame

we discovered in the corner of the galley a lime-juice jar half-full of oil . With this we trimmed the lamp , and then stepped on deck to grope our way to the cabin , meaning to li ght the lamp down there , for no unsheltered flame would have lived an instant , in the fierce

draughts which rushed and eddied about the decks . We stayed a moment to look seawards , but all was black night out there , touched in places with a sullen flash of foam . The voice of the gale was invful with the warring noise of the waters , and with the restless thunder of seas smiting the ice on the weather side , and with the wild and often terrific crackling sounds which arose out of

the heart of the solid mass of the berg itself , as though earthquakes in endless processions were trembling through it , and as though at any moment the whole vast bulk would be rent into a thousand crystal splinters . Sweers was silent until we had gained the cabin and lighted the lamp . He then looked at me with an ashen face , and groaned .

" This gale s going to blow the schooner away , " said he . " We ' re lost men , David . I'd give my right eye to be aboard the Lightning . Dy ' e understand the trick of these blooming icebergs ? The ) ' wash away underneath , grow top-heavy , and then over goes the show . And to think of the jollyboat making off , as if two sailormen like you and me couldn ' t have provided for that ! "

He groaned again , and then seated himself , and appeared wholly deprived , of energy and spirit . However , now that I was below , under shelter , out of the noise of the weather , and therefore able to collect 1113- thoughts , 1 began lo be very hungry and thirsty ; in fact , neither Sweers nor 1 had

tasted lood since eight o clock that morning . A lump hung aslant from the cabin ceiling . It was a small lamp of brass , glazed . 1 unhooked it , and brought it to the light , but it was without a wick , and there was no oil in it , and to save time 1 stuck the li ghted caudle in the lamp , and leaving the other lamp burning to enable Sweers to

rummage also , I passed through the door that was in the fore part of the cabin ; and here I found three berths , one of which was furnished iis a pantry , whilst the other two were sleeping places , with bunks in them , and 1 observed also a sheaf or two of harpoons , together with spades and implements used in dealing with the whale after the monster has been killed and towed alongside .

lho atmosphere was horribly close and fish y in this place , reeking of oil , yet cold as iee , as though the ship lay drowned a thousand fathoms deep . I called lo Sweers lo bring his lamp , for my candle gave so poor a light I could scarce see by it ; and in the berth that

looked to have been used as a pantry we found half a barrel of pork , a bag of ship ' s biscuit , and a quantity of Indian meal , beans , anil rice , a canister of coffee , and a few jars of pickles . But we could find nothing to drink .

1 Wiis now exceedingly thirsty ; so 1 took a pannikin—a number of vessels of the sort were on the shelf in the pantry—and carried it with the lump on deck . 1 had taken notice during the day of fom or five buckets in a row abaft the mainmast , and , approaching them

1 held the light close , and lotind each bucket full . I lusted the water ; it was rain , and without t he Jeast flavour of salt ; and after drinking heartily , J filled the pannikin afresh and carried it down to Sweers .

There was a spu-iflessness 111 this man that , surprised me . I had not thought to find the faculties of Salanion Sweers so quickly benumbed by what was indeed a wild and dangerous confrontinent , yet not so formidable and hopeless us to weaken the nerves of a seaman . 1 yearned for si bottle of rum , for any sort of strong waters indeed , guessing that a drain would help us both ; and after I had

made a meal off some raw pork and molasses spread upon the shi p ' s biscuit , which was mould y and astir with weevils , 1 took my lantern and again went 011 deck , and made my way to the galley where the oil jar stood ; and here in a draw 1 found what I now most needed , but what J hud before overlooked—1 moan a parcel of braided lump-wicks . I trimmed the lump , and got-a brilliant li ght . The glass protected the flame from the rush of the wind about the deck . J "messed there

would be nothing worth finding 111 the barque ' s forecastle , and not doubting that there was a lazaret , lc in which would be stored . such ship provisions as the crew had left behind them , I returned to the cabin , and looked for the lazaretto hutch , ,-tnd found it under ( lie table .

Well , lo cut this part of the story short , Sweers and I dropped into the lazaretto , and after spending an hour or two in examining what we met with , we discovered enough provisions , along with sonic casks of j 11111 and bottled beer , to hist a shi p ' s company of twenty

men a whole six months . This was Sweers ' s reckoning . We carried sonic of tin ! bottled beer into the cabin , and , having pipes and tobacco with us in our pockets , we tilled and smoked , and sat listening to the wet storming down upon the decks overhead , and to the roaring of the wind on high , and to the crackling noises of the ice .

That first night with us on board the whaler was a fearful time . Sometimes we dozed as we sat confronting each other on the lockers , but again and again would we start up and go on deck , but onl y to look into the blindness of the night , and only to hearken to the appalling noises of the weather and ( he iee . When day broke there was nothing in sight , Jt was blowing strong , u high sou was running , and the ocean lay shrouded as though with vapour .

The Ship Seen On The Ice.

During the course of the morning wo entered the forepeak , where wo found a found a quantity of coal . This enabled us to li ght the galley lire , to cook a piece of pork , and to boil some coffee . Towards noon Sweers proposed to inspect the hold , to sec what was inside the ship . Accordingly we opened the main-hatch and found the vessel loaded with casks , some of which we examined and found them full of oil .

"By tivndor ! " cried Sweers , " if we could only carry this vessel home there'd be a fortune for both of us , David . Shall I tell you what this sort of oil ' s worth ? Well , it ' s worth about thirty pounds a ton . And how much d ' ye think there ' s aboard ? Not less than a

hundred ton , if I don ' t sec double There ' s no man can teach me the capacity of a cask , and there arc casks below vary in" from forty to two hundred and seventy-five gallons , with no hick of whalebone stored dry somewhere , 1 don't doubt , if thoss casks would lot us look for it . "

But this was no better than idle and ironical chatter in the mouths of men so hideously situated sis we . were . For my part I had no thought of saving the ship ; indeed , I had scarce any liope of saving my own life . We found an American ensign in a small flaglocker th-. it was lashed near the wheel , and we sent it half-mast high , with the stars inverted . Then we searched for fresh water , and

found three iron tanks nearly full in the after-hold . The water stunk with keeping , as though it had grown rank in the bilge , but after it had stood it little while exposed to air it became sweet enough to use . There was no fear then of our perishing from hunger and thirst whilst the whaler kept together . Our main and imminent danger lay in tho sudden dissolution of the ice or in the capsi / . al of the berg . It was our unhappy fortune that , numerous as were the cranes

overhanging the whaler ' s side , we should not have found a boat left in one of them . Our only chance lay in a raft , but both Sweers and I as sailors shrank from the thought of such a means of escape . We might well guess that a raft would but prolong our lives , in the midst of so wide a sen , by a few days , and perhaps by a few hours only , after subjecting us to every agony of despair and of expectation , and torturing us with God alone would know what privations .

We thoroughly overhauled the forecastle of the vessel , but found nothing of interest . There were a few seamen ' s chests , some odds and ends of wearing apparel , and here and there a blanket in a bunk , but the crew in clearing out appeared to have carried off most of their effects with them . Of course , we could only conjecture what

they had done and how they- had managed , but it was to be guessed that all the boats being gone the sailors had taken advantage of a split in the ice to get away from their hard and fast ship , employing all their boats that they might carry with them a plentiful store of water and provisions .

J should but weary you lo dwell day by day upon the passage of the time that Sweers and I passed upon this ship that we had seen upon the ice . We kept an eager look-out for craft , crawling to the mastheads so as to obtain a view over the blocks of ice which Jay in masses at the stem and stern of the whaler . But though we often caught sight of a distant sail , nothing ever approached us close

enough lo observe our signal . Once , indeed , a large steamer passed within a couple of miles of the iceberg , and we watched her with devouring eyes , forever imagining that she was slowing down and about lostop , until she vanished out of our si ght past the north end of the berg . Yet we had no other hope of rescue than that of being taken off by a passing ship !

1 never recollect , meeting at sen with such a variety of weather as we encountered . There would be clear sunshine and bright blue skies for ii day , followed b y dark and bellowing nights of storm . Then would come periods of thick fogs , followed b y squalls , variable winds , and soon . We guessed , however , that our trend was steadil y southwards by the steady cascading of the ice , by the frequent falls of

large blocks , and by the increasing noises of sudden , tremendous disruptions , loud and hearl-subdiiiiigas thunders-hocks Jicard close to . "If we aren ' t taken off , " said Sweers to me one day , "there ' s just this one chance for us . The iee is bound to melt . All these bergs , as I reckon , disappear somewhere to the nor ' ard of the verge

of the Gulf Stream . Well , now the Lord may be good to us , and it may happen that this berg'll melt away and leave the whaler afloat ; and float she must if she isn ' t crushed b y the ice . Let her leak like a sieve—there ' s oil enough in her lo keep her standing upright as though she were a line-of-baltle ship . "

Well , wo had been a little more than a fortnight upon this ship hard and fast upon the ice . Many a vessel had we si ghted , but never a one of them , saving the . steamer I have mentioned , had approached within eyeshot of our distress signal . Yet our health was good and our spirits tolerably easy ; we had fared well , there was no lack of fool and drink , and we were beginning lo feel some

confidence 111 the iceberg—by which 1 moan to say that the rapid thawing of its upper purls , where all ( he weight was , tilled us with the hope that the ni-iss wouldn ' t capsize as we had feared ; that it would hold together so to keep the shi p 011 end as she now was until we were rescued , or failing our being rescued that it would dissolve in such a wiiv as to leave the whaler afloat .

It was somewhere about the end of a fortnight , as I have said . My bed was a cabin locker , on which I had placed a mattress and a bear-skin . Both Sweers and J turned in of a night , unless it was clear weather ; though if I awoke I'd sometimes steal 011 deck to take ii peep , for nothing could come of our keeping a look out if it was blowing hard , and if it was black and thick .