|
Nature of Casualty
Abandoned after trapped in ice and forced ashore by ice. In 1872, found ashore at Sea Horse Island
burned to water's edge by Eskimos. Tornfelt, Evert E., Burwell, Michael, Shipwrecks of the Alaskan
Shelf and Shore, U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Alaska OCS Region,
1992
The Bringhampton Republican publishes the following private letter from Capt. William H. Kelley, of the
that city, who was Captain of one the fleet of whalers deserted in the ice Point Belcher a year ago, and
is again in the Arctic in command of a vessel: The Reindeer sank and the Florida lies ashore on
Sea-Horse Islands, burned to the water's edge; and all the rest of the fleet were either carried away by
the ice or crushed to pieces in shapeless masses, or burned by the natives. New York Times
10-31-1872
That same day [11th] Captain D. R Frazer of the ship Florida of San Francisco ten miles from Icy
Cape. He learned that there were seven ships nearby, two in clear water southwest of the shoals and
the rest in easy ice inside the shoals and likely to get out soon. The word was sent out among the
seven ships.. Captain Frazer returned [12th] with his news to the northern fleet at 10 A.M. As the wind
rose in the southwest and the ice crept in closer, the captains met aboard the Florida. [There they drew
up the agreement document].... 1872: The Florida had been dragged up the coast to Sea Horse
Islands and had been burned there by the Eskimos. The shore was a jumble of litter: "spars, timbers,
planks, staves, casks, hoops, boxes of soap, bread," and countless other this. Bockstoce, John R.,
Whales, Ice, and Men: The History of Whaling in the Western Arctic, University of Washington Press,
Seattle Washington, 1986:156, 163-164
|
