CASTAWAYS LIVE ON SEAWEED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14235, 4 December 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

CASTAWAYS LIVE ON SEAWEED.

STORMBOUND ON A DESOLATE ISLAND ON CHRISTMAS DAY,

A YEAR WITH ESKIMOS.

Aftkr being absent from port for 17 months, during a year of which they had lived with the Eskimo* of Baffin Land and suffered great privations, the owner, master, and crew of the Dundee whaler Snowdrop have just returned home.

The Snowdrop.left Dundee in April, 1908, and met. with good success at the walrus hunting, securing over 200 walrus and nearly 1000 seals. -On September 17, 1908, the vessel was at anchor in Countess of Warwick Sound, Baffin Land., near which the ship's owner, Mr. 0. C. Forsyth Grant, had established a trading station, when a terrible storm arose, and the vessel, dragging her anchors, was thrown on the rocks.

At the time, in addition to the crew, there were on board 14 Eskimo men, 17 Eskimo women, and. 11 children, it being the custom for Eskimos to take their entire families on board the whalers when they are enguged for the fishing season. In the blinding snowstorm that followed the wreck the work of rescue was attended with much excitement, but the crew behaved splendidly, and not a single life was lost.

A quantity of provisions was saved, and some of the effects of the crew, along with rifles and ammunition. As by that time all the whaling ships were leaving for home, the castaways tried to get south to Hudson Bay in an open boat, but were twice driven back by terrible snowstorms.

They then settled down for the winter, and soon their stock of provisions ran out, and they were placed in sore straits, being reduced to eating seals' Blubber and even seaweed. Five of the crew lived with the native tribes till the spring, as all game had been killed off in the vicinity of the main camp. This detached party lived in snow huts and hunted for their daily food, and at times had thrilling experiences.

Un Christmas Day last they were "stormstayed on a desolate island, and were kept there for a fortnight,' when the weather moderated. .All that time their main food was seal blubber, seaweed, and some ducks' eggs. The party made an attempt with the aid of natives to reach a station on Hudson Bay 500 miles distant, but only one man, Seaman Ritchie, succeeded in reaching the objective, the others being obliged to turn back because of the severe travelling.

One man. Morrison, of Aberdeen, contracted frostbite in his feet, and the natives amputated them. The remainder of the party came back to the main camp, and on September 13 last were rescued, by the Peary relief ship Jeannie and conveyed to Si. John's, Newfoundland. Before leaving a. search was made for Morrison, but the natives in whose care he had been placed had taken him up country with them on a hunting expedition. The crew of the whaling ketch Paradox, which was fitted out by an Ipswich syndicate for an Arctic trip, has just arrived at Glasgow. The master, a Dundee man, states that the Paradox was to call at the point where the Snowdrop men were cast away, but when within 20 miles of the place terrific gales were experienced, and the Paradox was badly holed. For a week, tTie master stales, the Paradox crew were fighting death. They were rescued by the Hudson Bay steamer Pelican.