BECAUSE "BIG-FOOT" TILTON DARED DEATH,
WHALER BELVEDERE AGAIN CAUGHT IN ICE
Belvedere, Oldest Whaler Afloat.
Seattle, Wash. The steam "whaler,
Belvedere, the oldest whaler afloat,
is locked In the ice in the Par North,
60 miles from Herschel Island. She
was caught by the ice pack while en
route with relief for the ill-fated Ste
fansson expedition, of which the Kar
luck, with 25 men on board, was
caught in the ice earlier in the season
and the crew recently rescued after
battling death on the Siberian coast.
This is the story of what happened
to the crew of the Belvedere and her
brave captain, "Big Foot" Tilton,
back in the winter of '97, one of the
most cruel seasons in the history of
the Arctic sea.
Some 400 men of the whaling fleet
coast from Point Barrow to Herschel
Island had been trapped aboard ship
by the ice pack. The Belvedere made
a harbor at Pt. Franklin on Seashore
Island, to the north of Pt. Barrow.
Unless someone had reached the
outside for aid they would have died
miserably a slow, horrible death of
starvation and freezing.
Who would make the trip? Every
man in the crew volunteered.
"I can't let you do it," said Capt.
George F. Tilton, better known as
"Big'-Foot" "As first officer of the
Belvedere I consider it my duty to
take the word outside myself."
La.k.
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