The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-03
ALONE ON ASEA-GIRT ROCK
THE TERRIBLE TIGIL Of LIGHT
KEEPER CAMPBELL'S WIDOW.

Her Husband and TIVE Hunters Carried Out
10 Sea on the Ice. she Kept Eird Rock
Light AEiow Until Keller Came TIVE Months
Later-lIer Hair Whitened By the Ordeal
NORTH SYDNEY, Nova Scotia, May 30.-A
tragic story from the lonely lighthouse on
Great Bird Rock, far out in the Gulf Of st.
Lawrence, fifty miles northeast Of the Magdalcn
Islands, has been brought here by the schooner
Rob Roy, just in from the islands. The supply
steamer Of the Dominion Government, which
visits the lighthouses quarterly, called at the rock
on May 8. The rock Is precipitous ana rugged.
and has no beach. It's storm. battered sides sinh
ing perpcndicularly into the sea. The supplies
are hoistod by a derrick to a ledge Of the rock.
The skipper OF the Government steamer was
surprised to see n wan, gray-haired woman
standing alone on the ledge. He did not recog-
niZe her at first glance. A closer view con-
WINGED him that she was the wife Of the light
house keeper, Angus Campbell. She had ap-
parently aged ten years since the skipper had
seen her three months before. Then there was
not n trace OF whiteness in her hair, and she
was a plump and handsome woman. The skip.
per looked up from the deck ofthe 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 t~earfully told how her
husband and Duncan and Bryson, the latter
two professional seal hunters, had been lost.
and how. for moro 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 Feb. 81. 1t
was a cold day. ana there was no open water
within five or six miles Of the lighthouse in any
direction 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. 1.-The
ice will break up, and you may be carried out to
sea-"
Suppose 1 am, Maggie" he answered. laugh
ingly, ~ shall como back again, and even IL l
don't, you are able to tax care Of the light"
The three men started across the ice. They
had not been gone moro than fourhours when tho
wind, which had been blowing from the east.
ward. shifted to the southwest. This is a dan
gerous wind in the gulf in winter, and breaks
up the leo with marvellous swiftness. Mrs.
Campbell became alarmed and hoisted the dan
ger fiag. She soon saw the hunters h~urrying
toward the rock. They had doubtless realized
their danger even before the flag futtered from
the lighthouse. They were within a mile of the
lighthouse when the ice cracked in q line run
ming 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
reverbcration Of the cracking ice impelled her to
run out and see II her husband and his compan.
ions were safe. The cracking was followed by
the breaking up of the field of ice into foes.
which began drifting slowly seaward. Mrs.
Campbell, realizing her, helplessncss, simply
waved his hands at her. She fell on her knees
and began praying as darkness set in. Then she
was then 80 far out and the twilight was SO deep
that his motions were barely visible,
Mrs: Sampled remained awake all night, me:
to the other duties about the lighthouse that
We're usually performed by her husband. She
dawn. She swept the horizon with his glass and
saw nothing but stretches of ice-dotted water.
breaking up Of the foe or. II it held together.
they died OF hunger and exposure.
The skipper Of the supply, steamer asked Mrs.
Campbell how she managed to get through the
II can hardly tell. know that I have kept
the light burning. 1t was a dreadful experience,
been in the middle OF the atlantic so far as the
day passed during the hrst month p, my isola,
ton that l did not sweep the sea with my hus'
Sestiso s 81 sim' T Y do not '%s ,h hSRe 81 Slept SSf t%e h SSa%s
away on the foe. Although ! have plenty Of
than one meal a day.
Al you see. my hair has turned gray, and !
have grown so thin that I believe do not weigh
much more than ninety pounds. although ]
weighed ITO when my husband disappeared. /
have seen no living things except sea birds and
seals. The seals gave me some little comfort
when they swan mp and lay around the base OF
the rock. l fancy / was just beginning to &c
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 Islands. She is n native OF
Prince Edward Island. and is OF Scottish descent
Her husband had been q c%oasting sailor before
he took charge Of the lighthouse. many years
ago. Mrs. Campbell used to spend three months
on shore every year, leaving on the supply ship
in May and returning in August.