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„ Seldovia, Alaska .
“ n A —
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new Time Record Established
For Voyage In Alaskan UJaters
(By A. DANI3LS0N)
Today many hundreds of Seldovia’s resi
dents gathered at the waterfront to watch a
ghost ship, ice shrouded and weary, creep
through the mouth of Seldovia Eay and churn
slowly up alongside the wharf at Municipal
Dock •
It seemed the very noises of industry and
* commerce were stilled in honor of the occa
sion. Clangor of street cars and the busy
chug of harborcraft and trucks along the wa
terfront died out in the stillness of the af
ternoon as hundreds of pairs of unbelieving
eyes watched the storied relief ship tie up.
Ford of the old ship’s coming had been
wired to Seldovia from the ancient farming
community of Homer, and a welcoming commit
tee had been hastily assembled to greet the
officers of the ship, batchers were stunned
and unbelieving, and there was an air of
mourning over the crowd as the splintered,
gangplank crashed into place.
Those nearest the wharf could see the
faint and illegible letters of the old
ship’s name. They had been almost washed
away by the years. R--f K- was all that
remained on the nameplate of the once-proud
r Alaskan steamer.
Not even a welcoming blast from the
stranger’s whistle marred the awful still
ness of the occasion. Long since, the win
tery months of ice and snow through
which she had wander
ed in Alaskan waters
had frozen the old
ship*s whistle mech
anism. She carried
mementoes of those
awful months on every
ice-sheathed line and
timber.
rm__ _ _ __a _ J__j
x iic vi urm a o xx x ou.
as officers began to
appear on the deck
and prepared to des
cend the gangplank.
Dressed in threadbare
and tarnished remnants
of a Maritime uniform
which had b^en smart
ly nautical and very
fashionable in the
mid-1900!s, the capt
ain and his aides
stepped from the deck
of their ship and ad
vanced to meet the
welcoming committee.
as the men made
their feeble, totter
ing descent to the
wharf floor, a pity
ing murmur arose from
the crowd. Bearded,
long-haired and grey,
they needed only a
shepherd1s staff to
complete the illusion
of Biblical patri
archs .