The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1897-08-03
HER HAIR TURNED GRAY.
A WOMAN'S LONG AND LONELY VIGIL
IN A LIGHTHOUSE.


Great Bird Rock Light AgIow Unit,
Relief Came Two Months Later
A tragic story from the lonely light
house on Great Bird Rock, far out in
the Gulf of st. Lawrence, fifty miles
northeast of the Magdalen Islands, has
been brought to North Sidney, Nova
Scotia, by the Schooner Rob Roy,
just in from the Islands. The supply
steamer of the Dominion Government,
which visits the lighthouses quarterly.
called Mt the rock on May 5. Tho
rock is precipitous and rugged, aud
has no beach, its storm battered sides
sinking Perpendicularly into the sea.
The supplies are hoisted by derrick
to ledge of the rock
The skipper of the Government
steamer was surprised to see wan,
gray-haired woman standing alone on
the ledge. He did not recognize her
at first glance. A closer view CON
WINGED him that she was the wife of
the lighthouse keeper, Angus Camp
bell. She had apparently aged ten
years since the skipper had seen her
three months before. Then there was
not a trace of Wilderness in her hair.
and she was n plump and handsome
woman. The skipper looked up from
the deck of the steamer, and when he
was within hailing distance he shouted
Where's the old man?"
This answer came back in tremulous
tones:
''Angus is dead, and so are jim
Duncan and George Bryson."
The skipper said no more, but
straightway had the derrick rugged and
was hoisted up to the ledge. Mrs.
Campbell tearfully told how her hus-
band and Duncan and Bryson, the lat
ter two professional seal hunters, had
been lost, and how, for more than two
months, she had kept lonely vigil on
the rock. Campbell and his friends
went out from the rock with their
spears to hunt seals on the morning OF
February 27. 1t was n cold day, and
there was no open water within five or
six miles of the lighthouse in any di-
rection. Seals had been seen on the
ice the day before. Mrs. Campbell
was somewhat reluctant to have her
husband go out
IF the wind changes, Angus" she
said, "the lee will break up, and you
may be carried out to sea
Suppose L am, Maggie" he an
swered, laughin2ly, 81 shall come back
again, and even if don't, you are able
to take care of the light.
The three men started across the ice.
They had not been gone more than
four hours when the wind which had
been blowing from the eastward, shifted
to the southwest. This is dangerous
wind in the gulf in winter, and breaks
up the ice with marvellous swiftness.
Mrs. Campbell became alarmed aud
hoisted the danger flag She soon saw
the hunters hurrying toward the rock.
They had doubtless realized their dan
ger even before the flag futtered from
the lighthouse. They were within a
mile of the lighthouse when the ice
cracked in line running east and
west, parallel with the rock and North
Bird Rock, about five miles west of the
lighthouse.
Mrs. Campbell was in the lighthouse
when the reverberation of the cracking
ice lmpelled her to run out and see if
her husband and his companions were
safe. The cracking was followed by
the breaking up Of the field of ice into
foes, which began drifting slowly sea
ward. Mrs. Campbell, realizing her
helplessness, simply stood on the ledge
and cried. Her husband waved his
hands ct her She fell on her knees
and began praying as darkness set in.
Then she waved him farewell, and he
responded. He was then so far out
and the twilight was so deep that his
motions were barely visible.
Mrs. Campbell remained awake all
night, mechanically lighting the oil
lamp aud attending to the other duties
about the lighthouse that were usually
performed by her husband. She had
hoped to see something of the casta-
ways mt dawn. She swept the hori-
ION with his glass and saw nothing
but stretches of ice-dotted water. The
three men were either drowned by the
breaking up Of the foe or, if it held
together, they died of hunger and ex.
posture.
The skipper of the supply steamer
asked Mrs. Campbell how she man.
aged to get through the winter. She
said:
az can hardly tell. know that 7
have kept the light burning. It was
dreadful experience, all alone on
rock that might just as we'll have been
in the middle Of the Atlantic so far as
the prospect Of getting relief was con
cerned. Never day passed during
the first month of my isolation that
did not sweep the sea with my hus-
bands glasses with the hope of seeing
some vestige of him I do not think
/ slept two hours consccutively since
my husband was carried away on the
foe. Although ] have plenty of pro.
visions, do not think 7 have eaten
more than one meal day.
'As you see, my hair has turned
gray, and / have grown so thin that
believe / do not weigh much more
than ninety pounds, although /
weighed 40 when my husband disap-
peared. ! have seen no living things
except sea birds and seals. The seals
gave me some little comfort when they
swan up and lay around tle base of
the rock. J fancy / was just begin
ming to go crazy when you came"
Mrs Campbell consented to stay on
the rock until May 10, when she was
relieved by n man from the Magdalen