SESNATIONAL VOYAGE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2513, 28 May 1909, Page 2

SESNATIONAL VOYAGE.

SHIP AMONG ICEBERGS.

SAILORS'WEEP WITH FEAR.

Fuller details of the sensational voyage of the Norwegian ship Maletta than were cabled from Sydney recently aro ( rivon in the “Sydney Morning Herald:”— . , ... ■ Ofiiecrs and men united m dccenbmg the adventurous voyagte among the ico as the most perilous experienced by them in their seafaring careers. Within a fortnight of clearing, the La Plata River the Maletta encountered ice floes which stretched for miles on the leavvard side, while hundreds of icebergs, rising in some cases to an estimated height of 600 or 700 feet, were visible on the windward side of the vessel. The position was one of great peril for three or four days, and so alarmed were the sailors that many wept, and but few of them were able to secure any sleep until the danger was passed. The nojse created by the contact with the huge floating masses resembled the ceaseless roar of distant aitillcry. Great masses of ice were dislodged by the ship, and crashed and cannoned from pinnacle to pinnacle. F0r".343 miles the Maletta sailed through ice-strewn seas, and fears were constantly entertained that the vessel would either be pierced below the water-line, or crushed between the icebergs. So desperate did the situation become at one stage that preparations were made to leave the ship should she ■meet with disaster. Captain E. Neilsen. the master ol the Maletta, furnished a graphic description of the voyage. “We left Buenos Ayres ” he said, “on March 6tli; and it was at sunset on March 18th, vyhenwo were in 16 deg. west and 40 deg. south, that we ran into a field of ice. For four nights and three days wc remained in it. Lying on the lea " IC . e was a field of low-lying iee six miles in extent, and on the weather side were ber"s by the hundreds, some towering as high as 700 ft. As wo passed along between them great masses of ice crashed down and made a noise similar to that created by the roar of artillery. All the narrow channels through which we passed were, filled with hundreds ol ice fragments, which made the navigation of the vessel extremely dangerous. For a time we could see no opening in the ice. and I personally had to stand on the forecastle head during the vyhole night to navigate the ship through it. So high were some of the bergs that they took the wind out of the vessel s sails, and there was little room m which she could swing. . “On the morning of the. 19th vvo could for a time see no opening at all. I then espied a small break between two high bergs, and I felt that fkeoy thin" to do was to run between them As f was going through the bergs took all the wind out of the vessel s canj ass and we were scarcely able to drift through before the bergs came together with a crash. The navigation of this channel was made infinitely more risky bv the presence of ico fragments three or four tons in weight, and dvoi> m ute threatened to be our last. In one instance her bow rose and f V fragment, cutting it in twain, the nieces flew up and dented a board plate. All the time the ship wres in the ice a heavy fog prevailed, and the impossibility of seeing any great distance rendered navigation ex emotionally dangerous. All of us had a ■most anxious time. We kept the vessel running before the wand during day, and at night practically hove her °“We had to tack and wear the whole time between 43 south and 46 south and 16 and 10 deg. west, in order to clear the ice. We sailed altogether by the 100- 343 miles through tins ice, steeung in°all directions. I have had some record trips for sensationalism duung my time at sea, but this is a record passage through ice for me. It is also a merchant shipping record for previously the greatest sail through ice by a cargo ship was IS6 miles. None of us thought we would clear the floe, and wc had the boats in readiness for instant depait ure in the event of the worst happening There were mountainous seas, and the haze added to our danger, bo bad were the conditions that one or two of the crew cried, and many of them vowed that they would never face the St “By a steering north-north-west and forcing the ship along we cleared the ice on March 22nd. We travelled from 13 to 14 knots an hour on this course and went about 180 miles 1 :made <Jape Borda (South Australia) at 8 a.m. on April 19th, and reached the anchoiage 44 days from the River I late. T 1 s is regarded as a record passage for a sailing vessel-cargo steamers usually take 53 days. , icq, Vnots “We had an average of 168. knots for twelve successive days, lhe be. dav’s run was 322 knots. .For two watches (eight hours) the wind Jorced the vessel along 180 miles; this was our fastest sailing- We ran down the coast in Hdays from the Greenwich meridian in latitude 43 to 44 deg, south.