The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-03-17
BY JOHN T. MEANEY

(C0pyr1ght, 10S1, by United Press)
 St Johns. Newfoundland, March 17 - (UP) - A band of wounded and exhausted seamen of the shat tered sealing ship Viking waged a dogged battle for life today on the ice Hoes off Horse Island, scene of one of the worst disasters of the north in many years.
 The seamen ---Some of them dying and others who refused to abandon their wounded comrades - were the marooned survivors of the Vii. king. which was wrecked and burned Sunday night by an explosion while stuck fast in the ice.
 They were struggling against the breaking of the ice floes and against a stiff wind which slowly carried the ice out to sea, diminishing hour fly their hopes of rescue.
 Early this morning the latest in- formation from Horse Island said the survivors on the ice were making progress toward safety. Several who reached the island reported that the others were making tedf- ors advances because the wind was blowing the ice out from the shore and the temperature was dropping. Some of the injured were unable to walk.
 7 All of them were suffering from lack of food and water and were eating ice to relieve their thirst. A few had small quantities of hard bread. They said they feared some of the injured would not survive night.
 There were about 14O to 16O New foundland seamen and three United States citizens on the Viking. Of this number 20 to 34 were estimated in various messages to have been killed outright by the explosion. A total of 62 others reached Horse Is- land in small groups after hours of struggle over eight miles of ice.
 The number still marooned, in- cluding the dead, was estimated at between 80 and 90, with officials at Horse Island unable to estimate the number of survivors because the in- Jured men were dying on the ice. The survivors who reached the is- land were unable to give coherent story of the disaster or to estimate accurately the number of dead.
 The missing included Varick Fris- sell, Yale graduate and scientist of New York. who was making & mo- ton picture of winter sealing activ- tiles; Henry Jackson Sargent of Boston, an amateur explorer and a graduate of Harvard; and A. E. Penrod of New York, camera man for Frissell.
 Captain Abram Kean. Jr. master of the Viking. was carried to Horse Island in a serious condition, suf- fering from concussion of the brain that he had died. but late messages said he was still breathing, although it was feared he would die before doctors reached the island. <
 The weather remained good, with the sky clear. as the rescue efforts were speeded by ship and by every means possible on the part of resi- dents of the island.
 The Steamship Foundation Frank lyn of the Montreal Salvage Com pany, out of St Johns. was due to effort to pick up the marooned sea- men before they are blown far out to
 The government steamer Sagona was due later in the day. Who Sargent Is Boston, March 17 (UP) Henry Jackson Sargent of Boston, one of the Americans who was aboard the sealing steamer Viking when 1t blew up off Newfoundland, Is a son ot p4EBs E EAtASA6 w. k,<AA GOAA~s V Se CA ASSN- | ton and Wellesley.
 He was graduated from Harvard university in 1912. During the World war he served overseas as a second | lieutenant in company 3, 302d infan. ltry, and later with the 77th division company E, 307th infantry. Sargent had made several trips Into | the Far North prior to his departure March to join the Viking expedi- \ ton to assist Varick Frissell in film. ling sealing activities in Arctic wa. Iters. Only last summer Sargent re- turned from an expedition to Ice land and Labrador. Sargent is Al years old and unmar. ried. The news of the Viking dis. aster was withheld from his elderly mother to-day because she has beer Ill several months.
 Mother Is Confident New York, March 17.-kUP) .Af. 1 ter night of sieepless suspense Mrs Antoinette Frissell to-day held tS brave assurance that her son, Varick lie safe and helping injured survivors | of the viking disaster.
 \ ''f4e has been in danger before she said. f'and he always came bacI lana he will come home. again tflil Itime, too.y
 Mrs. Frisseii Is tall. gray -halret | woman. deeply stirred by the stfalI