Each year, for generations, poor, ill-clad Newfoundland fisherman sailed out 'to the ice' to hunt seals in the hope of a few penniew in wages from the prosperous merchants of St. John's. The year 1914 witnessed the worst in the long line of tragedies that were part of their harsh way of life. For two long, freezing days and nights a party of seal hunters--one hundred thirty-two men--were left stranded on an icefield floating in the North Atlantic in winter. They were thinly dressed, with almost no food, and with no hope of shelter on the ice against the snow or the constant, bitter winds. To survive they had to keep moving, always moving. Those who lay down to rest died. Heroes emerged--one man froze his lips badly, biting off the icicles that were blinding his comrades. Other men froze in their tracks, or went mad with pain and walked off the edge of the icefield. All the while, ships steamed about nearby, unnoticing. And by the time help arrived, two thirds of the men were dead. This is an incredible story of bungling and greed, of suffering and heroism. The disaster is carefully traced, step by step. With the aid of compelling, contemporary photographs the book paints an unforgettable portrait of the bloody trade of seal hunting among the icefields when ships--and men--were expendable. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Death on the Ice: The Great Newfoundland Sealing Disaster of 1914

Cassie Brown

Harold Horwood

DOUBLEDAY

In the snowy predawn of February 18, 1942, a convoy of three American ships zigzagged up the North Atlantic toward Newfoundland, heading for one of the worst disasters in naval history. The ships were under radio silence to protect their position from the threat of German U-boats. A storm was raging, visibility was zero, and the currents had turned wildly unpredictable. With only unreliable soundings to guide them across the jagged ocean floor, all three vessels ran aground on the sheer rock coast of Newfoundland. Attempts to carry lifelines ashore were thwarted by heavy surf, cold, oil slicks, and floating wreckage. A few sailors, however, overcame the odds and managed to reach the coast where the communities of lawn and St. Lawrence effected a super-human rescue operation. Two hundred and three American sailors died as the Wilkes, the Pollux, and the Truxtun were battered against the icy shore by the treacherous North Atlantic. And those who survived would return home to receive not a hero's welcome but the harsh interrogation of their naval superiors.

Standing into Danger

History

Americas

DDay Gen Adult

Standing Into Danger

In the snowy predawn of February 18, 1942, a convoy of three American ships zigzagged up the North Atlantic toward Newfoundland, heading for one of the worst disasters in naval history. The ships were under radio silence to protect their position from the threat of German U-boats. A storm was raging, visibility was zero, and the currents had turned wildly unpredictable. With only unreliable soundings to guide them across the jagged ocean floor, all three vessels ran aground on the sheer rock coast of Newfoundland. Attempts to carry lifelines ashore were thwarted by heavy surf, cold, oil slicks, and floating wreckage. A few sailors, however, overcame the odds and managed to reach the coast where the communities of lawn and St. Lawrence effected a super-human rescue operation. Two hundred and three American sailors died as the Wilkes, the Pollux, and the Truxtun were battered against the icy shore by the treacherous North Atlantic. And those who survived would return home to receive not a hero's welcome but the harsh interrogation of their naval superiors.

Flanker Press

Cassie Brown is one of Canada's best-known writers of sea tragedies. Her three classic tales were published by Doubleday Canada in the 1970s. However, before this, she was prolific as a journalist, scriptwriter, and publisher of her own monthly magazine. Writing the Sea includes an autobiographical essay on Ms. Brown's formative years in a remote coastal Newfoundland village. In "Rose Blanche and Me" she describes her hometown and the adventures that influenced the writings in her adult life. Also included in this volume are a dozen stories she wrote as a journalist for The Daily News, including the seminal story she was assigned to write, "Death March," to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the most famous sealing disaster in Canada's history. This tragic tale motivated her to leave the security of a salaried job as a journalist and to conduct further research. This resulted in the classic book Death on the Ice. Other sea stories describe the sinking of the SS Caribou by enemy action in World War II, the wreck of the SS Florizel, mutiny on the SS Diana, and "Tragedy at St. Jacques Island." Upon publication of her three non-fiction bestsellers in the 1970s, the author became much in demand by schools to visit and discuss her books, which were used in the classroom. Included here is a question-and-answer interview Cassie Brown held with a high-school class in Newfoundland, in which she reflects on her path to full-time writing, her influences, her methodology, her favourites, and advice for would-be writers.

Writing the Sea

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cassie Brown. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Cassie Brown

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cassie Brown. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Death on the Ice: The Great Newfoundland Sealing Disaster of 1914

Standing into Danger

Standing Into Danger

Writing the Sea