DRIFTED SIX MONTHS ON AN ICE FLO

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3601, 14 August 1912, Page 7

DRIFTED SIX MONTHS ON AN ICE FLO

".M AST AMAZING ESCAPE IN HISTORY.” "TiHV.v- is widespread regret amoqg Hie hardy fisherfolk of Newfoundland that there was nobody on hoard the. Tituuk'; to suggest the obviously On- C pleat and most effective method of saving tho whole 2500 people on hoard. Tliis cb-dd have been done by simply utiiTag tab ice floes- in the vicinity a.s gigantic rafts; to which the passengers and crew 'might have bv transfeTjed,” writes the. Hon. P M'Orati;-, a member of the Legislative (/s'jr.cjl % ' of Newfoundland. •'Cana-hj.” “It seems incredible,” he proem- < "that in all the immense multitude people aboard the* liner nobody thought of this simple solution. It is one that would imve immediately commend* : itself ft Newfoundlander, and it > one that has already won histori reeognivki/. through the most amaza.g escape in the whole annal« of authentic adventure. “I refer to tbs famous icefloe jo ney -< r i;i-3 survivors of the Arete: steamer Polaris, who, in April, !S7k, were pi ked up by the Xewfoundlar-i sealing steamer Tigress on an icefk-e on the 'Grand Banks, after having drift*-'] *.c ™3 1000 miles < ; ii this p;«~ < ari< :-;othckl. their, absolutely umqtie voyage having occupied 103 day?"T?T ship had been crushed in ti e ice in North Greenland waters ti-* previous November, and, as is the invariable practice in thpsc region-, they sbard-cued the ice-gored hull a; - 1 , took the floes in order to reach the land. h:* a storm coming up the fragment n which they had established themselves was driven southward, and for six months it was the:r fiosting kerne until rescue reaobo-d them on the Grnmßßanks. WHOLE FAMILIES ON FLOES. "Tr.i.% however. though v=>c- irwro remark vUN case of its kind, is by r » means tc-t only case of shipwreck-1 ■prop];* escaping death by taking fuge on an icefloe. Whenever a New founokird sealing steamer is crushed by thv reck —as happens to one- - r other ot the flotilla almost every spring —the k-r. 7 at onc-e betake themselverto the nearest floes- with their clotting. provisions, boats, and other kcpcdirner.tt. and there remain until some ethers of the fleet come upon thc-m .and take them aboard. They aie net, dismayed by the prospect- -f a day's, or a week's, detention. _ "Fishing crews making their way to Labrador in the early summer resort it the fame expedient when ship* arc crushed, and there are w - moron- -n-cs on record where thg^* 3 - peop] ■ —r.xn, women, and children — have b;on adrift for several days fore n:g peeked up. Scores of snob tah-s- be told, where ccd-Ssherr, and vse:-hrinters, have escaped fre-jr. p' v ril ‘ y this simple expedient. The***’aboard th-r Titanic might just as easily ::r.v v Terre the same. “Any number of fragments wer-' iivailitbh;- t-c- which the first bcatlen * could have k:~n transferred, while the boat- war:— a. second and a third try to tb> -hip. and brought off ths >- maind-'r the people The •Via-": a: ' children from NewrouncIr.nd obliged to leave- their bed-- in t! ? darkness of night have -•u"\iv- • xg-:t unices of this kind i~: ■ frou: to seven days, and then- ■ fore it urhkely -h it any great number ' f these on the Titanic, however, dclicateiy nurtured, or however poorly equirr-n: for this enforced imp-rv-omne-r.:- • n an ice islet, would lii-v* suii'ereT ray ill effects.”