The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-07-19
SAILOR DYING ON
ARCTIC ISLE LEAVES
GRIM STORY BEHIND
In Charge ofWreck, William Ode
Writes of His Sufferings :
Fought Elements, Disease
and Hunger to the Last.

Death at last. Four months alone -
From the log of the Courtney Ford, writ
ten by Sailor Ode.
SAN FRANCISCO, July 18.-Of all the
stories of brave, accomplishing suffering
that ever came out of the white silence
of the ice-packed northern waters none
has ever exceeded in dramatic realism
and deep human pathos the simply told &C
count of the last four months of the life
of William Ode, sailor, which reached here
yesterday. in the shape Of copy of
log found a few weeks ago beside Ode's
body on the wreck Of the schooner Court
ney Ford.
In the simple language of a practical
man Ode sets down the happenings of that
quarter year. To incidents which would
have unseated the reason Of most meE
he refers in the most casual way, men
tioning them in the same matter of course
vein as he tells of the winds direction
His own sufferings he catalogues in short,
crisp sentences, and such moralizing al
he finds occasion for is disposed of briefly
and to the point.
His story is a calendar of events, some
of them trif1ing in themselves and un-
worthy of notice under other surroundings.
They all lead, however, to one end and
that is the extinguishment of William
Ode. sailor. The tale reaches the world
complete, but spun as 1t was in one of
natures ice-barred prisons by the lone
prisoner himself it makes one of the
grimmeSt yarns that ever came out Of the
North.
Foxes Howl About Him.
The Courtney Ford ran ashore Septem-
Der 80, 1902, on Izenbek Island, Alaska.
Two men were drowned when she struck
the beach and two others We're drowned
later by the capsizing. of boat. After
the boat had struck Capt. N. b. Burge-
piece of iron inside the compass, rendering
it useless. The schooner stranded during
thick weather, after she had been navi-
gated for three days by dead reckon
ing.
The captain and crew. after camping
ashore for about week, were picked up
by. a passing vessel and landed at Sc
attic. William Ode ives left behind as
watchnian. Ode's dead body was found
recently by revenue cutter officers. The
help for which he waited in vain left here
a few days ago, when the schooners Car
RE and Annie sailed for IZenbek Island,
with wrecking apparatus aboard. The
Courtney Ford was owned by c. A. Hoop
Odes log commences October 4, and
ends with faint pencil scrawl, in which
he tells of the approatl Of a welcome
death. 1t recounts the routine of duty
necessary and he was physically able.
He describes the bowling of the hungry
foxes which surrounded MS 1Ce-DOunQ
quarters and writes with no note of com
plant of the gradual conquering of his
body by the dread Scurvy and of his lonely
fight with death He tells of suffering
from the elements of f-uitless struggles
toward where he expected to find fellows
and of the growing weakness which grad
ually claimed his robust frame and rem
dered impossible the effort necessary to
light a fire or crawl few feet for water
He had rheumatism, and merely men
tfons it. He had a toothache and endured
1t patiently.
Sufferngs Rsein.
His log, in part is as follows, and tells
its own story:
Oct 4-Boys left at 10 a. m. Took my
stuff back to the schooner and pumped
her out. Wind northwest.
October 5-Found the skiff. Pumped
her out. Shot one goose Took canvas
on board. Made sail for skiff from bed
sheet.
He then tells from dap to day of fitting
each day records the fact that he pump
ed her out. A hurricane visited him Oc-
tober II. and after that, as long as it
pumped her out twice He records a total
eclipse of the moon on October 16, and
on october II notes visit from two
until October 81, when the schooner was
thrown on her beam ends October sc
ne walked across the island and Novem-
Der l Shot two ducks.
His log continues:
November 20-Snow.
November 22-Terrible wind Made
mp mind to leave.
November 24-Left schooner. Came
about six miles away from schooner
and at 5 D. m. was swamped by break
ers. Could not return as beach was toe
steep.
November 25-Had terrible night
which l spent outside Lay under quilt
and oil coat Turned back.
November 26-Skiff frozen in.
November 81 and 2S-Started to builG
cabin Con schooner).
December My twenty seventh
birthday. Carried fifteen barrels of wa
ter.
Little Hope Left.
He completed his cabin, stocked it with
firewood and was ready for the heavy
snow and cold which followed. The grim
record continues:
December 2S-Wind northwest stiff
Terrible cold. Stove red hot but
could not get the ice off the window
December 29-Two foxes came to the
cabin over the ice.
January 2-Ice began to move out Of
January s-wind west; light one day