An account of the bungling and greed that caused 120 men to be stranded for two days and two nights on an icefield drifting in the Atlantic. Describes the harsh, bloody trade of seal hunting among the icefields - where ships and men are expendable.
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An account of the bungling and greed that caused 120 men to be stranded for two days and two nights on an icefield drifting in the Atlantic. Describes the harsh, bloody trade of seal hunting among the icefields - where ships and men are expendable.
Read Less
Add this copy of Death on the Ice: the Great Newfoundland Sealing to cart. $2.66, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Doubleday Canada.
Add this copy of Death on the Ice: the Great Newfoundland Sealing to cart. $2.66, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Doubleday Canada.
Add this copy of Death on the Ice: the Great Newfoundland Sealing to cart. $2.66, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Doubleday Canada.
Add this copy of Death on the Ice: the Great Newfoundland Sealing to cart. $4.22, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Emerald rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Doubleday Canada Limited.
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Add this copy of Death on the Ice: the Great Newfoundland Sealing to cart. $5.95, like new condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Anchor Canada.
Add this copy of Death on the Ice: the Great Newfoundland Sealing to cart. $5.95, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Anchor Canada.
Add this copy of Death on the Ice: the Great Newfoundland Sealing to cart. $5.95, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Anchor Canada.
Add this copy of Death on the Ice: the Great Newfoundland Sealing to cart. $5.95, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Anchor Canada.
Add this copy of Death on the Ice: the Great Newfoundland Sealing to cart. $5.95, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Anchor Canada.
Add this copy of Death on the Ice: the Great Newfoundland Sealing to cart. $5.95, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Anchor Canada.
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.
