THE PERILS OF THE FROZEN SEA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6362, 17 December 1898, Page 1

THE PERILS OF THE FROZEN SEA.

(From " The Perils of the Frozen Sea : the Disaster to the Greenland,'! by Ih Wilfred Grtnfell, 1 the Leisure Sour.) As soon as the furious blizzard came on, the various gang* of men had converged again to their starting point, in order to meet the ship. But they found no signs of her, and soon their desperate situation began to dawn upon them ; it became apparent that the ice had turned round so that they did not know which way to go and look for her— they realised they were lost in that vast floating ice field. After earnest consultation among the leaders, they determined to separate into parties under the various masters of watches. Each party was then to set out in a different direction, and they hoped that, by taking different points of the comjpass, one lot might reach the ship and be able to direct a rescue party towards the others. Sad farewells and silent hand-shakes had to be taken— farewells which for many meant the last on earth. For now began A MOST DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. All the men were lightly clothed — nor was there any food among them. Two parties — led by William Davies and Jesse Knee, both men of great experience — came through fairly well, for they found rough ice, and were able to erect rude shelters made of large blocks. In these they passed the "ight huddled close together, to cherish the limited stock of heat their bodies would supply. In God's providence morning found them all alive, and the following afternoon all reached the ship in safety, save for a few "frost-burns." One party made a fire on the ice by cutting the wood handles of their seal gaffs into chips, which, together with their tow ropes, they then soaked in seal fat and lit. Over tliis they partly roasted the carcass of a seal, and even this small addition to their reserve strength pulled several through that awful ordeal — one man is said to have saved himself by smearing seal fat and blood over himself and letting it freeze on. Some poor fellows, finding the ice too smooth and too hard to cut blocks from without tools, gave way to utter despair, and wandered hopelessly to and fro in the darkness. Their cries of distress were piteous to hear, wliile every now and again one more voice would be silenced, as the poor sufferer FELL HEADLONG THROUGH A FISSURE IN THE ICE, or a blow-hole left by the seals, and so found rest at last in the chilly waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The tales of individual survivors are pathetic indeed. One man narrates how, with many others, he camped on a good-size pan as night fell. The shelter obtainable was of the very poorest, and as early as ten o'clock one of their number, a stowaway in the ship, died. "As we didn't like staying in the pan with the corpse," he writes, " We moved into another pan, and made a fresh shelter as best we could. Early on Tuesday morning another of our number lost his reason. He got up and rushed about among the men crying out ' The ship is coming !' ' Here is the Ship !' This livened our poor fellows a bit, and many getting up on to their legs staggered off in different directions, expecting to find her. But alas ! the alarm Was a false one, and the men, after dragging along some distance in different directions, were soon LOST IN THE BLINDING SNOW STORMS. Some fell on the smooth ice and could not rise again, others walked deliberately into the water and were drowned, others just lay down and slept their last long sleep alone. One man relates how he spent the night on a pan with seven others. "We walked j round and round all night. We knew, if mo gave way to the ?>aculiar drowsiness we felt, we should certainly never wake again, and we tried several times to make a shelter, but we could make no success of it. By Tuesday morning two of us lay dead on this pan. When the ship at last came in sight we could hardly understand what it was." Another says, "There were two lota of us near one another, about two gunshots apart. Our men kept kicking one another and running round to rouse themselves — beating our hands together and stamping on the ice. By morning five corpses lay around us. All sorts of queer, views kept passing through my mind. I could see beautiful houses and gardens. One man fell into the water near me, but another pulled him out. Poor fellow, he bravely struggled on to keep life in him by moving about, but at last he SANK UOWN AND WAS SOON FROZEN. Some were raving now, and one in his delirium seized one young fellow who lay dying, and took off his scanty clothes while yet he lived. Both of these men were soon lying near one another dead. At last the steamer was really in sight, and I was getting near it, but I dropped a hundred yards away and remember no more till I found myself on board." Another says, " I saw my nephew fall forward on the ice as I had seen others do, but a friend went and picked him up, rubbed him and tended him so well that he was actually the means of saving the lad's life. We camped in an ice shelter soon after until the morning— -but when I got up there were five men sitting dead around me." It was terrible work that the relief party had to do, and terrible- sights they had to witness. Some poor fellows fell dead just as their rescuers reached them ; some thought they were all right, and only found out their awful condition when they were itaken to the warmth of the ship. Strong men as they were, and accustomed to hard times, many shed bitter tears as fresh evidences of AWFUL SUFFERING HEROICALLY BORNE by their friends kept being brought to light. By sun-down on Wednesday twenty-three men were still missing. Twenty-five bodies had been recovered — five living men had returned from the sealer Iceland, and one from the sealer Diana, All three ships were now diligently searching Uxe ice for any traces of the rest of the erew — but none were found, though for three days and nights an unwearying search was kept up by all three steamers. It was quite evident the rest had perished. It now became imperative for the Greenland to hasten home, and carry the injured to where skilled assistance was available, and so endeavour to save limbs and aenses injured by the exposure. Under a pall of ice on deck she bore the sorry cargo of her frozen crew.