The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1915-01-29

sisted Of "fiapjacks" made out OF half
q barrel or hour which they scraped
up In the hold. IlL
In 1878 the steamship Tigresa pick
| ed up those OF the Inflated Polaris
Iexpedition, who had been cast away
the previous November on the Green
ltlnd coast, and had been nve months
/ on fee pans, drifting south with the
current. Daylight was just breaking
when the watch reported some people
on a large pan, with the American
flag flying. Then a kyak put on. and
Hans. an Eskimo, came alongside and
said: ship lost. captain gone.
Boats were lowered and 10 persons.
including two women and one BABY,
born on the ice pan, were taken
aboard the Tigress. In due course
they were landed Mt st. Johns.
One spring SO many vessels were
lost or abandoned about the Wadhams
and Cobbler rocks on the east coast
some 100 I'm all. that the season Was
called the Spring of the Wadhams.
Three thousand men were thrown on
shore, but none was lost. This large
number OF people coming on the poor
Inhabitants of the nearby coast came
near causing starvation. !.
Another year 10 vessels were lost
and II was called the Green bay
spring. The losses in both years
were caused by heavy gales dispers-
ing the ice. The rapidity with which
the foe goes abroad In a swell so
far out at sea is very striking. The
men scattered over three miles oil Ice
when Il Is tight, In an hour or two
Will be spread over 10 miles or more.
The sealers along the coast are SUD
| ject TO the same dangers. Almost
every spring a succession OF easteriy
winds will drive the "whelping Ice
against the shore. The coast folk hail
its advent joyfully. "a II means a rich,
| IL risky, harvest for them. Every man
Iwho can walk, all the boys over IL
years old, and oftentimes the women,
hurry forth on the foes 10 CLEAN the
spoil that lies there. They start at
midnight. so as to be among the herds
at daybreak, and as soon as the light
permits the slaughter begins. While
| the foes are damned" against the
coast the settlers know neither rest
mot sleep, for every tow" OF seals
they bring to land means a few more
dollars, and while the harvest may
continue for a fortnight, II may. on
the other hand, last only a day.
The stronger the landward breezes
have been the tighter the ice Is pack
ed against the shore. This closes
the blowholes and inlets, and the
seals. to mount and leave the pans
with ease, must 90 further out among
the looser ice Thither the hunters
follow, and when the shift of wind
comes this ice is the first driven to
sea. for the inner sections. being so
closely packed, are not so readily
moved. The men are usually SO alb
sorbed I'm their work that they do not
notice the veering breeze. But by
and by Il freshens and they awake to
their danger. II then becomes a wild
scramble for life. Dropping every
thing they hurry for the shore. Wide
stretches OF water cut them of from
safety, the pack is opening. and Its
separate fragments are dispensing
over the face of the ocean. If there
is an extensive unbroken area they
fmay reach II and get near enough to
land and be rescued by boats. but In
many cases they are driven OF and
perish, being carried out into the
ocean. When circumstances admit In
these cases steamers are sent out
from st. Johns, but too frequently
they are beyond rescue.