ADRIFT ON THE ICE: A TALE OF EXTREME SURVIVAL

It was a truly terrifying situation.

Grenfell: born to survive

A lone man was adrift on a floating islandof ice and drifting steadily out to the wild ocean. Behind him lay the snow-swept coastline of Newfoundland. Ahead lay the lonely, ice-filled sea.

Wilfred Grenfell knew that his chances ofsurvival were extremely slim. He also knew that he had taken a risk-too-far inattempting to cross the gigantic Newfoundland bay.

But it was the quickest route to the localhospital and his journey was a matter of life and death for a young boy in thehospital. The lad had poisonous gangrene in his leg and needed it treated - andpossibly amputated - if he was to have any chance of pulling through. OnlyGrenfell could perform the operation.

Newfoundland in winter: the big chill

His journey across the sea-ice had begunwell. He was well prepared, with a change of garments, snowshoes, rifle andoilskin clothes. He also had a team of six dogs who were to pull his komatic or heavy sledge.

As Grenfell pushed out into the bay hesuddenly grew alarmed. The heavy sea had smashed the ice into blocks that wereheld together by wafer-thin skins. Some of these skins had melted leaving greatgaping chasms between the blocks.

Brin and the unfortunate Watch

With great effort he made it across to astable island of ice. From here, it was a further four miles across slushy iceto the rocky headland. He set off undaunted and was close to the landing pointwhen disaster struck.

He suddenly found himself crossing ‘sish’ -a slush-like porridge of ice. One moment he was afloat; the next, he wassinking.
‘There was not a moment to lose. I tore off my oilskins, threw myselfon my hands … and shouted to my team to go ahead for the shore.’

But the dogs were frightened and also beganto sink in the slush, along with the sledge. Soon they were all flailing in icywater, ‘like flies in treacle.’

After thrashing through this icy water,Grenfell managed to reach an 'ice pan' or miniature floating island of ice. Withheroic effort, he pulled himself onto the pan and then got his dogs onto theice as well. But the wind was now whipping a gale and they found themselvespushed out to sea, where the ice pan was certain to be smashed to pieces.

Grenfell was icy cold, for all hisequipment had been lost. ‘I stood with next to nothing on, the wind goingthrough me and every stitch soaked in ice water…’ He felt sure he would meetwith a quick death, for the sea was growing wilder and wilder. ‘Immense pans ofArctic ice, surging to and fro on the heavy seas, were thundering intothe cliffs like medieval battering rams.’

Grenfell out on the ice

Yet he was a born survivor and now usedevery survival technique he had ever learned. He cut off his moccasins andsplit them open to make a makeshift jacket.

Still freezing, he realised that his onlycourse was to start killing the dogs.
He made a slip-knot from leather, pulledit over one of their necks and stabbed it through the heart. He then hacked offthe skin and wrapped the bloody pelt over his shoulders. Two more dogs werealso killed and he used their skins to keep warm.

It was by now growing dark: he had alreadybeen adrift many hours. He hadn’t eaten for 18 hours but kept himself fromhunger by chewing a rubber band.

Through sheer willpower he survived the icynight, with the wind whipping across the ice and causing frostbite to spreadthrough his feet. When the sun finally rose, he tied together the thigh bonesof his slaughtered dogs and then tied his shirt to the end, making arudimentary flag. It was his last hope of being sighted.

He was in a sorry state: ‘my poor, gruesomepan [was] bobbing up and down… stained with blood and littered with carcassesand debris.’

Grenfell and his bloody clothes

What he did not know was that he’d beensighted some hours before. A man on the cliffs had seen him and raised thealarm. Now, rescue was on its way. Four men were rowing with tremendous effortthrough the slush, aware that their village comrade could not keep himselfalive for much longer.

Grenfell didn’t see them coming, for he wasbadly afflicted with snow blindness. But he never gave up hope of beingrescued.

At long last, they were upon him: they hadreached his ice pan. ‘As the man in the bow leaped from the boat onto my iceraft and grasped both my hands in his, not a word was uttered.’

Grenfell, in common with his rescuers, knewthat he’d had a very lucky escape.

As for the boy who he was intending totreat in hospital, he was successfully operated and made a full recovery.

‘We all love life,’ was how Grenfellfinished the gripping little narrative of his survival. ‘I was glad to be back once morewith a new lease of it before me.’