The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-04-24 00:00:00

TERRIBLE ADVENTURE ON THE ICE.

A thrilling account of the sufferings of 34 men from
Newfoundland, who were cast away on floating ice, of
the death of 13 from cold and exposure, and of the
rescre of the remainder in a nearly exhausted condi-
tion, is given by a New York paper. The men are
all Irish, or of Irish descent, and comprised nearly the
entire able.loodied male population of the little town
of St. Mary's. Andrew Mooney, a survivor, gives
an account of the disaster which befell the party.
He says :—The ice had been firm all winter, and
the villagers had gone out upon it frequently to hunt
sea birds. On the 2nd of March a brig was discovered
miles from the shore, fast in the ice. The party
ot 31 was gathered, and started out on the ice to her,
and spent the day on board. Towards evening they
started homeward, but had not proceeded far when the
fact was presented to them that the ice had parted be-
tween them and the shore, and the opening was in-
creasing every moment. When the brink of the ice
was reached, the space of water between them and the
shore was half a mile wide, the ice having broken one
mile out from the land, and the immense field upon
which they stood was floating steadily farther out to
sea. It was now quite dark. The party were ex-
hausted, and only half clad, and unprepared for the
terrible cold which soon set in. At first it rained until
hey were all wet to the skin. The rain then
turned to sleet and snow. The wind veered to
the northward, and the cold became intense. Then
came the Struggle for life, the men stamping their
feet and running madly about, the more sturdy
encouraging the weak and faltering. At midnight
the cold and exhaustion began to tell upon the doomed
ones. First one and then another would lie down,
saying he could go no farther. The others would pick
them up and try to keep them on their feet, but, after
reeling for a short distance ike drunken men, they
would fall senseless apon the ice and die without a
struggle. "When morning dawned seven corpses
were discovered at intervals upon the ice. A piece
of ice twenty feet square floated near the brink of
the ice in the open water, u4riil which nine of them
got, hoping that it would float towards the shore
ice, and they could then save themselves. When
it had floated 300 yards it grounded, and the unfortu-
nates remained upon it for three days and nights,
during which time Fix of them died, the other three
being picked up by the schooner George S. Fogg. All
the food they had in all that time was a small white
fish which was frozen in the ice. This they divided
between them. The eighteen men remaining, after
the nine floated out on the smaller ice-field, made their
way back to the abandoned brig, which. moved with
the ice for a week in sight of land, and the fishermen
were on her ten days before they were rescued.

THE PRINCE OF WALES'S VISIT ITO
INDIA.
The Bombay Gazette says :—The official announce
ment that the Prince of Wales is corning out to see
India at the end of this year will create a good dcal of
pleasurable excitement throughout the country. When
the Duke of Edinburgh's visit was first spoken of the
proprietary of allowing English princes to become per-
sonally known to the inhabitants of the greatest and
most interesting dependency of the English Crown
was gravely discussed; and, while optimists fancied
that the presence of a Royal Duke in India would do
wondcrs in the way of making the people loyal, cynical
critics took alarm at the posbible political danger of
making the natives familiar with the idea that the
Viceroy himself is quite a second-rate personage in
comparison with a Prince of the blood Royal. Theo'
hopes and fears were alike exaggerated • and all
that can be said of the Duke of, Edinburgh's
tour in India is that it formed a welcome break in
the monotony of impersonal government. The
Prince of Wales will be received with even greater
demonstrations of honour and goodwill than were
offered to his brother; for there is a general feeling
of impatienee among both Europeans and natives
in India to see the Heir to the Crown of England.
It was confidently hoped, six years ago, that,
he would not return home from Egypt withouV
making a voyage to India; and the disappointmenf
then experienced will serve to increase the delight
caused by the unexpected news that the Prince means
to come amongst us now. It is right that one who will
hereafter be King of England should learn something
by personal observation of all the countries forming
the marvellous empire which is his splendid heritage;
and we are sure that the Prince could not have shown
better judgment than in selecting Sir Bartle Frere
to he the guide philosopher, and friend who is to ex-
plain to him the wonders of India.