270 WHALING 



Five years later (1876) of twenty vessels in the Arctic, twelve 

 were lost. Again it was a story of the slowly moving, irresis- 

 tible, merciless pack ice. When the vessels were caught in the 

 pack forty miles from land, their officers and crews started 

 across the ice toward the craft that were free and clear to the 

 east. When they had gone a few miles, part of them, realizing 

 that if they should be left on the ice they must starve or freeze, 

 since they had neither food nor extra clothing, turned back to 

 take their chances on board the vessels. Of those who pushed 

 on, some succeeded in hailing the fleet and were rescued, and 

 some found their way to Point Belcher, whence they got 

 passage home. Of those who turned back, not one was ever 

 heard from again. 



In 1888 a succession of gales, coupled with unusually heavy 

 ice, destroyed one whaler at Herald Island, one at Point 

 Hope, and three at Point Barrow. In 1889 three vessels were 

 lost, and between 1890 and 1896, two. But still, though in 

 diminishing numbers, the whalemen went north, and in the 

 annals of Arctic whaling the year 1897 is second in dramatic 

 importance only to 1871. 



That year the pack caught the Narvarck of New Bedford, 

 while she was working up with the ice in the spring, and 

 carried her north until early in August, when she lay helpless 

 about thirty miles off Point Barrow. Sighting the revenue 

 cutter Bear lying at anchor between the ice and the land, the 

 captain of the Narvarck decided to abandon his ship. Hauling 

 three boats by hand, the crew started over the pack toward the 

 cutter, but fog set in and prevented their finding a way through 

 the rough ice, and they faced about and returned. 



A few hours later the captain took his wife and the mate, 

 together with a canvas dinghy, and started a second time 

 across the ice. Thirty-two men of the crew followed, and ten, 

 refusing to leave the ship, remained on board. The captain, 

 his wife, and the mate succeeded, thanks to the dinghy, in 

 reaching the Bear, but with what appears to be either extraor- 

 dinary stupidity or criminal carelessness they reported that 

 the crew was lost. 



