Death on the Ice - A study in courage
My
interest in this subject was piqued from watching the PBS movie
"Blackwood". David Blackwood, born in Wesleyville, Newfoundland, was
steeped in the lore of seal hunting and tales of the sea during his
childhood. His interest in those stories resulted in a series of
beautiful, haunting prints, one of which is the cover art for "Death on
the Ice: The Great Newfoundland Sealing Disaster of 1914".
Author Cassie Brown does a masterful job of taking the reader back into
the heady days when sealing provided a welcome addition to the meager
income eked out by most Newfoundlanders. It was such a good read that I
loaned my copy to my son.
This story is compelling, shocking, saddening, frustrating and
heartbreaking at times, pointing out the errors that many made during
this event, both the men on the ice and those in the ships. It is truly
a tragic comedy of errors, made more so by its reality.
It is amazing to me that any of the sealers survived their ordeal on
the ice, a testament to the hardiness and mental toughness of those
men. The conditions aboard ship were brutal, with men sleeping atop the
piles of bloody sealskins, being fed minimal rations and enduring
unending hours of duty, while the owners lived very well and reaped
huge rewards from the bloody harvest.
There will, no doubt, be those who focus on the massive slaughter of
seal pups for their hides, leaving the bloody carcasses to freeze on
the ice, food for the gulls, so a few men become wealthy. The
?harvest?, given the paradigm of that time: that God gave man the
earth, with all its bounties, for mans? use, doesn?t elicit the same
emotions as have the more recent Russian fur seal harvests.
These men were accustomed to living on the edge of survival in an extremely
unfriendly environment. Being hungry, cold and weary were their daily
lot. The opportunity to get out on the ice and earn extra money,
however meager, for themselves and their family was not to be ignored.
On this trip, however, everything that could go wrong did!
I feel that this is truly a fine book...well-written, nicely paced and
insightful, with good character development, excellent background
material, with everything building to the final climax.
True stories are rarely so gripping as this particular tragedy. I highly
recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the
true grace and character of men caught in deadly circumstances,
learning lessons that none wanted to learn. Nature itself fills the
unwanted role of villain, providing unceasing and increasing violence
to the already numbing weather they endured. The petty mistakes of the
men and ship owners, though pilloried in the press of the day, can
hardly compare with the relentless action of the weather.
Excellent book, Ms. Brown.