The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-02-05
Six Nights on an Ice-FIeld.
With the details of the adventures

With the details of the adventures OF
portion of the Polaris crew on an ice
| foe in the Arctic regions still fresh in
the memory of our readers, they are
not likely to be very much startled by
the announcement that two men have
survived six days of starvation and ter
ror on floating ice field in Saginaw
Bay. The story of these persons, and
the incidents connected with their dis
appearance, is nevertheless deeply in
teresting. On the 31st of December
they left their wives and children at
Bay City, Mich, for brief vacation,
which was to be spent in fishing and
shooting. Having reached favorable
spot on the bay shore, they took to the
ice, and had spent several hours in
spearing fish, when it was suddenly dis
covered that the ice had parted. They
endeavored to escape, but found the gulf
too wide to be passed over in safety.
Tie mass of ice soon began to drift,
and carried them many miles from the
shore. A man named Rundell, who
had succeeded in reaching place of
safety, instead of calling for help and
going TO their assistance, turned his
back upon them and never rested a
moment until he arrived at home. In
deed, to such an extent was he "de-
moralized" by excitement, that it is
said he even abandoned his own COM
panion to his fate. The two men find
ing themselves thus cut off, immedi-
ately set about the work of chopping
away an ice-cake large enough to bear
their weight, and handy enough to en-
able them to pole themselves ashore
upon it with their spears. The water
beneath them was then but eight feet
deep.
Although they labored with all their
might, the wind blew the ice-feld into
deeper water before they could discon-
meet themselves from it. On the third
day one of the men, while crossing
from one ice-cake to another in hand
sleigh, went down between them, and
would have been drowned but for the
spear of his companion, with which he
was drawn out of the water. Not till
the fourth night did they try to get a
little sleep. While rolled in blankets
in front of their hand sleighs, they were
wakened by the cracking of the ice
within two feet of them, and had barely
time to move further away, when the
place on which they were sleeping also
cracked and gave way. After that,
sleep was not again thought Of. On
the fifth night, the wind had SO acted
upon the Ice that it was reduced to a
thickness of three inches. Holes wer0
constantly breaking in it. The casta-
ways had almost despaired of life, when
the wind changed and the ice began to
close. On the seventh day they dis
fn hot nj
frost of the previous night had made an
avenue of escape. Shortly afterward,
they were espied by kind-hearted In
dian, who, at the risk of his own life,
crossed the new ice in a hand sleigh,
and rescued them. From the time of
the parting of the ice from the shore
until their deliverance they had had
only one meal, and that consisted of
raw fish. In spite Of this fact, how
ever, they were able to walk to farm
house, where they were cared for.
If the story ended here the people Of
Bay City would have occasion only for
rejoicing. Unluckily, however, there is
another side to it, and that is of very
melancholy character. Shortly after
the report was circulated that two men
had been carried out into Saginaw Bay
upon a cake of ice, six of the bravest
and most generous-hearted men of the
neighborhood, nearly all married and
fathers of families, procured a fishing
boat and Immediately began to search
for them. On the first night out it is
supposed that they encountered heavy
gale and were capsized, inasmuch as
the boat has since been found close to
the shore, bottom upward. For some
time subsequent to the finding of the
boat, it was thought that the men had
succeeded in getting on the ice, but
after days went by without intelligence
of them, this was given up, and they
are now mourned as lost. The people
of Bay City, of course, may be depend
ed upon to show, in substantial man
ner, their appreciation of the act which
brought sorrow and desolation to six
happy homes. The life-saving and
other benevolent societies will find this
case worthy of their attention, and for
humanity's sake it is to be hoped that
between the different sources the fami-
lies of the dead heroes will be literally
provided for.