The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1886-10-21
CAST AWAY In THE COLD.
The Thrilling Story of a Survivor of the
JeanEette.
Wadlng Through Icy Water Waist Deep
Feet Frozen Until the Flesh Drop
ped from Them--NOrOs and
Nindeman's Journey.
Mr. Louis P. NOrcs, VINO is canvasslng

Mr.. Louis P. NOrcs, who is canvassing
the city Tor "The Voyage of the Jean
nette," is one OF the TWO survivors OF the
party that was with Lieutenant De Long
after the wreck Of the Jeannette off
Siberia. He is one of the few men wdO
i've TO tell Of enduring the most terri
BILE sUfferings and prlVatiOn that can
fail to the lot Of humanity. He Is OF
large, full figure and apparently 10 ro
bust health, but his aspect isQlle of n
tinual and unchanging seriousness Ha
Is fGent and rapid talker, and tells
his thrilling story as If 1t we're mere
recltal Of commonplace events, though
it is most extraordinary narrative.
The Jeannette sailed for the Arctic
s. as" said MIR. NorOs to DEMOCRAT
r porter, from San Francisco July 9Th,
1879, ani was caught in the Ice iD Sep
tember, All the winter she drlfted
about In the Ice and on June 18Th, 1881
rhe was crushed and sank. Then we
took the boats, three In number, with
all the food we could carry and began
iouTneylng over the Ice. Imagine great
uiOcks of Ice piled up here and there as
h gh as houses, no level spots anywhere
and the ice constantly In motion, and
you can Judge of the work of thirty
three men composing the party had 10
10 to get the boats and provisions along.
We were on the ice from June II h to
July Goth, when we discovered Balnett
island named in honor OF James G. )rdnn
Bennett. We stayed here one week,
l. ~ n Ar -
water for q half hour, then dragging
the boats over the ice again, and in this
way VIC dragged about ole hundred
days, first over a great high hummOck
Of ice, then down into deep gully,
dragging our very lives away. This
work produced such an intense heat that
a had TO turn night into day; at that
season the sun did lot set,
| making it light twenty four
ours round; the average temperature
during the day was what would be freeZ
ing point here. Part of the time the
sun rises and sets the same as here, then
it will be light all the time, night and
| day, then dark night and day. In summer
The thermometer never gets above 40; In
winter 1t ranges from 40 to 81 below
zero. W. finally reached the new Slbe-
ian Islands and got caught in the DRIFT
ice, remaining there ten days, and
| named the place "Ten Day Camp" Then
We got away and dragged along until
5eptem6ef 10, when we reached the is-
and of SemelOV. Here we saw deer
racks, and by command of De Long
went searching for deer. shot deer,
nd rs there seemed to be plenty OF
lear water in sight, De Long decided to
tay few days for rest. Monday, the
| 18th, the boats all got uLder way, one
under command of Engineer Melville,
the second commanded by Lieutenant
Chlpp. the third, our boat, commanded
by belong, and we started for the Slbe-
Tiau coast, ninety miles away. A stiff
breeze sprung up and about noon Mel
ville's boat got injured by Cole, who
WAS steering up against cakes
/ of ice, and laughing to see
the boat bump; he was get
ting light-headed The boat was
dragged on an Ice cake and fixed, and
we started again. By night we were
having a heavy gale, and shipping
seas right along, making us all wet ard
cold As darkness began gathering
looked around for Chipp's boat, and SAW
1t rise, like speck, to the Top of wave
and that was the last seen Of his party
Of eight men by mortal eyes; they pro
badly fOuDdeTed in the gale. MelVi lie
was also out of sight, having the fastest
boat of the three. Then to cap the eli
msx, constantly shipping seas our mast
wac carried away. We fastened mast
and sail TO the boat to form drag to
keep ns before the wind, but the sail
chBfed away, and we then had to fssten
o the mast our oars, stove, shovel and
pickaxe, in order to accomplish this
result. We were In that predicament
that night and part Of the next day,
aud ali the men had their feet an legs
frozsn, making them feel intensely
heavy and painful. Then we mar
aged to rig a temporary sail,
and moved along slowly until
ths 18Th, when we sighted the
Siberian cOast; the Ice next began form
ing about three quarters of an inch
thick and we had to keep two men in
The bow all the time 10 break the ice
way TO make way for the boat TO pass
through. On the morning of the 10Th
we grounded on a mud bank, and for a
day or TWO we kept getting stuck in the
mud, then In the Ice, trying to reach
The land, one day In the ice cold water
TO our knees, next to our waist, drag
ging the boat through the young Ice.
Our fest had turned black or purple,
and Il cug 1t seemed hard to be Ia the
water so much 1t was probably the best
thing for US.
The 17th we got ashore and built a fire
| Of drift wood and crawled into our Sleep
ing bags and went to sleep. These bags
are made of deer skin, with the hairy
part inside, and taper from the feet up,
so that when once pulled on they ke6p
the body warm. We had now left one
and One-half cans of pemican-a mix
ture of meats, raisins, tallOw and sugar,
specially prepared for Arctic food
enough to last our party, fourteen men
and he dog SnoOzar, four or five days.
We stored the ships instruments, etc,
and planted over them q signal pole, and
on the noon of the 10Th started south
ward for help. The ground was mRrshy
and we kept breaking through the thin
crust, making travelling very painful to
us; we only made about two miles that
dsy. Poor Erlcksen's feet then gave
OUT, and his eyes started from his head,
his mouth was wide open all the time,
and to add to his intense suffering the
balls of his feet dropped out, and he bad
to walk on his bones and sinews; then
the poor fellow laid down on the
ground and begged to be left to die. But
we came across hut, got board,
rlgged sled, lashed him on 1t, and
dragged him along. We kept this up
into October, our supply of food having
Increased by killing deer. We were
now becoming weaker day by day, then
our food gave out and we began stsrv-
ing; W ewere wet all the time and had
no place to sleep nights save under the
shelter Of banks, or mounds, keeping
uarm at nioht nv making hrtftWnod