Washington sentinel., 1898-10-22
s-Hr
.,,l SENTINEL
The PeriIs of the Frozen Sea.
Leisure ROAT.

But they found no signs OF her, and |
soon their desperate situation be-
gan to dawn upon them; it became
apparent that the ice had turned
round so that they did not know
which way to 60 and look for her
they realized that they were lost
in that vast f. oating ice held. Alter
earnest consultation among the
leaders, they determined to separ
ate into parties under the various
masters OF watches. Each party
was then to set out in a different
dire ction. and they hoped that, by
taking different points OF the COM
pass, one lot might reach the ship
and be able to direct rescue party
towards the others. Sad farewells
and silent hand shakes had to be
taken-farewells which for many
meant the last on earth. For now
began a most desperate struggle
for existence. All the men were
lightly cIothed-nor was there any
food among them. Two parties
led by William Davies and Jesse
Knee, both men of great exper-
ience-came through fairly well.
for they found rough ice, and were
able to erect rude shelters made OF
large blocks. In these they passed
the night huddled close together,
to cherish the limited stock Of heat
their bodies would supply, In
Gods providence morning found
them all alive, and the following
afternoon all reached the ship in
safety, save for few frost burns" "
One party made a fire on the ice
by cutting the wood handles of
their seal gahs into chips, which,
together with their tow ropes, they
then soaked in seal fat and lit
Over this they partly roasted the
carcass Of a seal, and even this
small addition to their reserve
strength pulled several through
that awful ordeal-one man is said
to have saved himself by smearing
seal tat and blood over himselfa and
letting it freeze on Some poor
fellows, finding the ice too smooth
aRd too hard to cut blocks from
without tools, gave way to utter
despair and wandered hopelessly
to and fro in the darkness. Their
cries Of distress were piteous to
hear, while every now and again
one more voice would be silenced,
as the poor sufferer fell headlong
through a 6ssure in the ice, or a
blow hole left by the seals, and so
found rest at last in the chilly
waters Of the Atlantic OSean.
The tales OF individual survivors
are pathetic indeed. One man
7a-rateS now with many others he
camped on a good sized pan as
night tell. The shelter obtainable
was Of the very poorest, and as
early as ten o'clock one of their
number, a stowaway in the ship,
died CAS- we didn't like staying
IN the pan with the corpse" he
writes, 1--WE moved into another
pan and made a fresh shelter as
USS1 we cOuld Early on tuesday
morning another OF our number
lost his reason. He got up and
rushed about among the men cry
ing out The ship is comingr Here
is the shipl This llVened our poor
fellows bit, and many getting up
on to their legs staggered off in
different directions, expecting to
find her. But, alasl the alarm was
a false one. and the men, after
dragging along some distance in
different directions, were soon lost
in the binding snow storms. Some
fell on the smooth ice and could
not rise again, others walked de-
!. li5erately into the water and were
drowned, others just lay down and
slept their long last sleep alone.
One man relates how he spent the
night on a pan with seven others.
1--WE walked round anc round and
round all night. We knew, if we
gave way to the peculiar drowsi.
ness we felt, we should certainly
never wake again, and we tried
several times to make a shelter,
but we could make no success OF
it. By Tuesday morning two Of
us lay dead on THIS pan. When
the ship at last came in sight we
could hardly understand what it
was" Another says, There were
two lots oi US near one another
about two gunshots apart. Our
men kept kicking one another and
running round to rouse themselves
beating our hands together and
stamping on the ice. BY morning
FIVE corpses lay around US. All
sorts Of queer views kept passing
through my mind | could see
beautiful houses and gardens. One
man fell into the water near me.
but another pulled him out Poor
Al 6W, he bravelY struggled on to
b. life in him by moving about,
|Bynt at last he sank do Wn and was
soon frozen. Some were raving
now, and one in his delIrium seized
one young fellow who lay dying,
and took of even his anty clothes
while vet he lived, Both Of these
men were soon lying near one an
other dead. At last the steamer
was really in sight, and / was get.
ting near 1t but | dropped a hun
dred yards away and remember no
more till Hound myself on board"
Another says, 81 saw my nephew
fall forward on the ice as / had seen
others do, but a friend went and
picked him up, rubbed him and
tended him so we'll that he was
actually the means of saving the
lads life. We camp d in an ice