DRAMA OF THE ARCTIC

Waipa Post, Volume 44, Issue 3183, 28 May 1932, Page 3

DRAMA OF THE ARCTIC

‘ SIXTEEN MAROONED SEAMEN. i l Taking advantage of a break in ■ the weather two aeroplanes recently made a dash to the icy waters of Alaska and effected the dramatic rescue of 16 British seamen who had been marooned in the Frozen North for over five months. The men, the majority Scots, with their captain, Mr S. A. Cornwall, of Tunbridge Wells, were part of the crew of the lost Hudson Bay trading ship Baychimo, which disappeared in a blizzard when they were all ashore, leaving them stranded on one of the most exposed parts of the Arctic coast near Cape Barrow. Five hundred miles of impassable snow and ice cut the men off from the nearest point of civilisation. Their only protection from the Arctic blasts was a frail hut hastily constructed from timbers salved from the Baychimo. For a time the men were able to keep in wireless communication with Nome* the nearest Hudson Bay permanent station. Their batteries, however, ran out, and no further word was received. | It was known that the food supplies which the men had been able to salve from the Baychimo were getting desperately low, and that their clothing and fuel were only just enough to keep them from being frozen to death. There came a lull in the stormy weather, and four pilot heroes of the North American Flying Service, operated from Seattle, volunteered for a rescue flight, or die in the attempt. Two aeroplanes left Nome almost simultaneously. They had to make their dash north over practically unknown land and waters, and surmount the dreaded Baird Mountains; which had never been flown before. Good luck attended the pilots on the outward journey. They were able to make Cape Barrow in one “hop,” but had to cruise about for some hours before they could locate the hut, which was practically buried in the snow. They ultimately spotted their objective by a wisp of smoke ascending from the shack. No time was lost in packing the marooned men into the two machines, for it was known that a blizzard might descend upon them at any moment. The men were found to be in comparatively good health but short of food. Heading south, the airmen’s luck partially deserted them. The aeroplanes ran into bad weather, and when crossing the ice-topped peaks of the Baird Mountains one of the machines nearly came to grief.

j Weighed down by their human i freight and the increasing layer of J ice on the wings, the airmen failed to I make Nome, but were forced to descend at Kotzbue, after accomplishing two-thirds of their journey. Clearing away the ice and snow and lightening their machines as much as possible, the pilots rose again. But the weather was against them, and, realising that they could not reach Nome with their passengers, they made for Steward, on the coast, and from there wirelessed to Nome for a boat to be sent to pick up the crew. Pending the arrival of the vessel the aeroplanes stood by.