DRIFTING TO DEATH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 290, 6 December 1929, Page 7

DRIFTING TO DEATH

GRENFELL’S CLOSE CALL SAVED BY A MIRACLE A thrilling story of how Sir Wilfred Grenfell, of Labrador fame, faced deaflh on an ice-pan with his dogs, his sole companions, has been revealed by himself for the first time. In Northern Newfoundland, in the grip of winter, Sir Wilfred—or IDr Grenfell, as he was then—was asked to attend an urgent medical case. With a team of dogs he had travelled a long distance across the frozen sea, and was only a quarter of a mile from his landing place when he found the ice impossible to cross. “The piece of ice we were on was so small it was obvious we must soon all be drowned if wo remained upon it, as it drifted seaward into more open water,” says Sir Wilfred. “It was scarcely safe to move on any small ice raft for fear of breaking it. Yet I saw I must have the skins of some of my dogs—of which I had eight on the pan —if I was to live the night out.

‘‘Taking the sealskin traces from my waist, round which I had wound them to keep the dogs from eating them, 1 made a slip-knot, passed it over the first dog’s head, tied it round my foot close to his neck, threw him on his back, and Stabbed him to the heart.”

Two more large dogs were also aim ilarly sacrificed. The dogs were then skinned and strung together. At night Sir Wilfred made his dog Doc, which weighed 921 b., lie down so that he could cuddle him. Realising the necessity for a flag or signal of some sort, he tied together the legs of his dead dogs, thus making the pple, using his shirt as the flag. After what seemed an eternity came the rescue. First a glitter some distance away. Then it seemed to get bigger. It was a boat. Although Sir Wilfred had never dreamt he would see a living human being again, the miracle had happened and somebody had spotted him through a telescope on the mainland. .“As the man in the bow leaped from the boat on my ice-raft and grasped both my hands in his, not a word was uttered. I could see in his face the strong emotions he was trying hard to force back, though in spite of himself tears trickled down his cheeks. ’ ’