Year: 1874




From the Bay CITY Gdich.a ) Chronicle,


William McEwing and George
Smith went out on the ice on Sagi-
inaw bay on Wednesday, Dec. 81,
1878 to fish. They took with them
to the shore sundry supplies of pro-
visions, &c, intending to be absent
from home several days. They took
with them, however, on the ice only
their blankets, fish-spears, two hand
sleighs, tools for cutting holes in
the ice, and some other fsherrnen's
apparatus. The ice.at this time was
from four to six inches thick, and
the weather was steadily but not
severely cold. They spent the af-
ternoon in fishing through the ice
and caught three fish. a southerly
wind was blowing, and about balf-
past four O'Clock, McEWing looked
up and saw man named Rundell of
Winons, running from the ice to-
wards the shore. He also saw that
the ice had parted in . line extend
ing across the bay and down the
east shore, they being about six
rods from the break.


McEwing called to his conrad,
and the two ran towards the crack;
but before they reached it the crack
at first discovery only six or eight
feet wide, had increased so much
that it was impossible to jump
across it. They called to Rundall,
but he payed no attention to them.
He saw the two men afeat off on the
ice, and said nothing about it until
inquiry was made on Saturday. = 20
There were plenty ofmen and means
within easy reach, and the castawaysI
could have been rescued in half an
hour with little exertion from this
man, or a party Of others who were
in fish shanty near by. These men
say they tried to launch a boat, but
it was too heavy, and then they
thought some one from the light
house would go out and get McEw-
ing and Smith. ,E .-o..- az..J |
10 as1is 2' sAFLoAT ON THE ICE. 80 so


When it was evident that there
was. no means ofgettihg across the
crack, MeEwing and Smith set
shout chopin out cake of lee
large enough to hold them, which
they proposed to pole across the
open water with their spear lies
They sounded the water first and
found it but eight feet deep Before
they had half cut out the cake, how
ever, they saw that they were drift 4
ing, INTO deeper water, and a. trial
proved that they were already be-
yond reach Of, the bottom. with their
spear poles. I-TKey5 were drifting
straight out towards Charity Islands
and rapidly too. The castaways
then abandoned all hope of getting
to shore at that point, and started
over the ice to the west, in the belief
that it had not yet separated from
the shore along the west. ~
4HH .H


The ice which had broken loose
had also broken in many pieces,
some large and. some small.~sT The
piece upon which the men were was
five or six acres in extent. Passing
on to the westward they went over
cakes sometimes not over six or
eight feet square. Finally the ice be-
came so much broken up that they
could no longerproceed. Then they
tried to pole cake towards the
shore, using their spear poles for
the purpose, but the water was. so
deep that to reach bottom they had
put their arms into the water up to
their elbows, but after half an hour
of this desperate work, they were
compelled to


frr ABANDON ALL EFFORT }
and make their precarious way back
to the larger cakes of ice in the main
body. This attempt was continued
INTO the night of Wednesday, which
was fortunately. a bright moonlight
one.' The men found a secure
piece of ice, and lay down for the
night, putting their hand sleighs on
the windward side, and so making
a tolerably comfortable night with
the aid of their blankets. On their
way towards the west shore they
passed a fish shanty On a large cake
of ice, but next morning it was gone.
This showed the exceedingly rpreca-
rious nature of the support which
kept them out Of the water. 4
THE SECOND DAY OUT.


During Wednesday night and
Thursday the wind blew steadily
from the southwest. This was the
second day, and still they were
dr;ft;nO tovarda thu Ghar;fx To-