Man on the Ice (9 page)

The first thing I did when I got on the pan of ice was get my cellphone out and
try to call my wife, but of course the phone was dead. Then I started walking
around the ice pan. I was very cold. The pan of ice was about twenty feet wide
and about forty feet long. It had one small clump of ice on it about the size of
a five-gallon bucket. It was hard and shiny. I put my hand on it and the water
was running off of it. I said to myself, “Oh my goodness, I can’t sit on that.
I’ll freeze to death,” but I had to sit down somewhere and get my boots and
socks off, or I really would freeze
to death much quicker. After
walking around the pan a few more times, I sat on the clump of ice. Boy, oh boy,
it was cold. My floater suit was already soaking wet where I had opened up my
collar and the water had flowed in. I managed to get my two boots off and wring
the water out of my socks. Then I turned my boots upside down and let the water
drain out. Next, I took my two socks and wrung the excess water out and dried
them off as well as I could. I wrung out my socks again, put them back on, then
my boots, and my feet felt nice and warm.

I sang out, “Help!” three or four times, just in case there was another boat
around that might hear me. But that didn’t work. There were no other boats
around.

I didn’t worry much, because I was just talking to my wife no more than half an
hour ago. She was always nervous about me being out in the boat, because of my
heart condition, so I figured she’d be contacting somebody soon after I was
supposed to be home. I had brothers and friends with boats. My brother Wade had
a 35-foot longliner and my friends Alvohn and Tim Pilgrim had a 40-foot
longliner, so I knew she’d have somebody on the go. And she did. The first one
she called was my brother Wade, and Wade called the Coast Guard. Soon there was
a big crowd looking for me. I would be okay, she thought. I was on this ice pan,
just walking around, singing out and
praying that someone would
find me soon. There was a lot of daylight left yet; the sun was high in the sky.
I figured it was around four o’clock when my watch stopped.

I just kept walking around the ice pan, hoping to find something from my boat,
but nothing could be seen, except for my wool cap that was on a small piece of
ice about a couple of hundred feet away. I just kept saying to myself, “It won’t
be long now before someone will find me, because I told Irene where I was.”

A short time later I saw two longliners. They were a long way from me, but it
made me feel better knowing they were looking for me, for sure.

Then I heard a helicopter. By this time it was dark. I heard the helicopter
long before I saw the lights. When I saw her first, she was circling the ice pans
scattered around the water. Then she came and shone the light all around the pan
I was on, but the crew didn’t see me. That was very discouraging, but I said to
myself, “At least they’re searching in the right place for me, and they’ll find
me by and by.”

Then I saw another helicopter coming. She was coming straight toward me and I
thought this and the other one were looking to spot my boat.
They’re not
looking for me on the ice,
I thought.
They’re shining their light all
around the ice pans for something in the water.
So I went to the edge of
the pan of ice, and sure enough, she came, and the big light
was shining on the water only twenty or so feet from where I was standing. The
rays from the light shone on the toes of my two boots. If they had just raised
the light another couple of feet, it would have shone right in my eyes.

Another time I saw a helicopter coming, and she went around the ice pan I was
standing on. All at once, she turned around very fast, and I said, “Thank you,
Lord. They saw me,” but she just stopped in the air for a minute or so. I went
to the far side of the pan to give her room to land to pick me up, but she went
on again.

The wind came up from the northeast and it started to rain. Then the rain
turned to snow. Then it turned back to freezing rain, and all I could do was
walk around the ice pan and pray and keep looking for lights of boats or
helicopters . . . something. I had to stay in the lower part of the ice because
the big waves were rolling in and hitting it, and the wind would take the spray
from the water and bury me right over. I thought I would never make it through
till morning.

An old hymn, “Till the Storm Passes By,” came to mind, and I began to sing.
“Till the storm passes over, Till the thunder sounds no more; Till the clouds
roll forever from the sky, Hold me fast, let me stand, In the hollow of Thy
hand; Keep me safe till the storm passes by.”

I was very thirsty, so I dug a hole in the ice with the
heel of
my boot and found water. The water looked so good. I drank a lot of it because I
was a diabetic. I knelt down and took a big mouthful and swallowed it, but it
was all salt water. Then I thought of the clump of ice that I had sat on
earlier. I licked the water from that. It was good, but after a while it got
salty from the waves splashing up against the ice pan.

My back was hurting. I had undergone six back operations and three of them were
spinal fusions. I was also very tired. I’d had two heart attacks, the last one
five months before this trip to the ice. I didn’t have much feeling in my right
leg because of one of the back operations, but I just kept on the go. If I had
just sat in a rocking chair at home every day, I might never walk again. Because
of that thought, I kept on the go, and that was the one reason for me being out
in the boat that day.

I began to think about being in such a hurry that morning. If I had only taken
my time, I would have put my pocket knife and my lighter in my pocket. I had
taken my knife out of my pocket Saturday night and put it on my nightstand. I
always did that, and Monday mornings I would put it back in my pocket again. But
this Monday morning I was in such a hurry I forgot all about my knife and
lighter. Now here I was, on this ice pan with nothing in my pockets but two rifle
bullets.

I saw a helicopter coming toward me and I tried to set off one
of the bullets by striking them together. After hitting them together a few
times, I realized that if one of them went off I might blow my hands off. I
started to strike them together evenly, to make a spark for the helicopters to
see, but I soon realized there was no way to get spark from brass, which the
bullets were made of. There was nothing more to do but walk around and sing and
pray that the Lord would allow someone to find me soon. A few times I felt like
giving up, but I reminded myself that I had my wife, my family, churches, and
people everywhere praying for me. So I kept going.

Just as daylight came I saw the full gas can, just barely bobbing in the water.
It was about fifty or so feet away. I said, “Lord, if you let that gas can come
to me, I would have something to sit on.” I just kept watching it come closer
and closer. Then I reached out my hand and grabbed hold of it. I took the cap
off and poured the gas out and said, “Thank You, Lord.”

I sat down and rested for a while. That was the first time I had been able to
sit down in about fifteen or sixteen hours. It felt really good, because I was
really tired. Then the sun began to rise. I said, “This is going to be a good
day. Someone will find me for sure.”

The ice pans closed together and, holding my gas
can, I jumped
onto a much bigger pan, with two or three big clumps on it. Now I had something
to shield me from the wind, and a nice warm five-gallon gas can to sit on. But I
was afraid to get
too
comfortable. I was afraid I would go to sleep and
not wake up. I had to keep on the go. I dug another hole in the middle of the
ice with the heel of my boot, just like I had on the other pan, only this one
had good fresh water, and it was very cold.

After resting awhile, I got to thinking about the seals I saw on the ice. I
thought that if I could find them, I would have something to put my legs up on,
and I’d be able to warm my hands on their nice warm bodies. So, I got up on the
highest pinnacle of the ice pan, and sure enough, there was a little harp on
another piece of ice nearby. I thought that if I could get over there, I could
walk right up to him. I wasn’t going to kill him or hurt him in any way. I was
going to take him back to my pan and use him to keep me warm. I was going to
tear off the tail of my shirt and put it in his mouth, get it hooked around his
sharp little teeth, and tie it around his head and jaws. That way he wouldn’t be
able to bite me. I was going to sit on my gas can and put my two legs across his
back to warm my legs and feet. I’d put my hands around his sides. However, I was
afraid to jump from my ice pan. I was afraid I would get in the water and not be
able to get out, so I had to scrap that idea.

The sun was high in the sky. It was a bit cold, but nice and
sunny. I saw something coming almost straight toward me. At first I thought it
was an old seagull, but then I said, “No, that’s an airplane.”

Sure enough, she passed right by me. I saw three or four windows in the side of
her when she went by. She was green and very fast, only two or three hundred
feet over the ice, and very noisy. “Well,” I said, “she saw me for sure,”
because I was running across the ice pan, waving my red gas can. I felt very
good about that. “I’ll see a helicopter very soon,” I said. I knew that the
plane couldn’t do anything except report my position to the boats or helicopter.
The plane went on. I watched till she went out of sight. I was sure that I was
found this time, but that was not the case.

Again I saw something far away from me. At first I thought it was an old seagull
and I just kept watching it. Then I said, “No, that’s the same airplane, coming
again.” I watched as she went almost out of sight. Then I saw it turn. I didn’t
know if it was coming toward me or going away from me, but it didn’t take long
to know, because she was getting bigger. I saw two bright lights. “Well,” I
said, “she’s coming right straight for me. If she keeps coming she’ll fly right
over my head.”

Then, all at once, she tipped on her side and big black smoke came from her. I
didn’t know what it meant, but she
came right over my head. The
noise almost stunned me as I looked right up at her bottom. I kind of smiled to
myself and said, “Well, for sure they got me this time.” I thought that the
smoke I saw a minute ago was a signal that they saw me. So, I just said, “Thank
You, Lord, for that plane and her crew,” as I sat on my gas can and
waited.

Darkness was falling when I saw two longliners. As I watched them go by, it got
darker and darker. Then I saw the lights in their spars. They were too far away
to see me. That was very discouraging.

I just sat on my gas can, very discouraged, cold, wet, and hungry. Soon, I
stopped feeling bad for myself and got up and started to walk around the ice pan
and sing and pray. The hymn I think I sang most was an old hymn we sang in our
church.
“Oh there’s power in prayer, power to spare, all that you’d ever need
is waiting right there. With just a few words, a child’s faith, then it’s
goodbye despair, oh there’s power, so much power, there’s power in
prayer.”

Then there was another hymn that we sang in our church.
“Not by might, nor
by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. This mountain shall be
removed.”

Then I prayed again. I said, “Lord, You know I don’t have much faith, but you
can increase my faith and this mountain will have to move and someone will find
me and take me home to my wife and family and back to my church again.”

I would sit on my gas can and beat my hands together and strike
my feet together and sing some more. I would sing the same hymns like “Till the
Storm Passes By” over and over again

I would get off my gas can and go to the water hole I had dug with the heel of
my boot. Each time I went to the water hole to get a drink of water, it was
frozen over with about half an inch of ice. I didn’t know how cold it really
was. I had to hit it very hard with my fist to break the ice. Sometimes I would
have to use the heel of my boot. Then I would go back and sit on my gas can
again.

I was beginning to feel desparate. I was worried about all that cold water and
small pieces of ice going down my throat. I said, “This is not good for me,
especially when I’m trying to stay warm. All this ice water is not helping me
now.” But, of course, I had to drink.

I don’t know if all that shivering I was doing was from the cold or if it was
from my blood sugar being so low. Anyway, I sat on my can and I kept my coat
collar up and around my face and my hood up over my head, and I would blow
twenty or so big blows under my right arm, then the same thing under my left
arm, and then the same amount down my belly. I kept most all of the front part
of my shirt underneath my armpits dry from blowing my breath. I didn’t let heat
escape at all. I only stuck my face
out once in a while to look
around for lights, hoping the searchers were somewhere to be seen, but no luck.
Then I would go back to blowing my breath whenever I could find the strength. It
felt good when the warmth would hit my cold belly and arms.

My left foot got very cold, but my right foot felt okay. That was a great worry
for me, because my right foot had nerve damage, which left me with very little
feeling in it. I was afraid it would freeze and I wouldn’t know about it, but I
kept striking my two feet together and I would get up and walk around the ice
pan. My right foot felt kind of funny, not cold, but it had a funny feeling.
After walking around a bit and striking my feet together, my left foot would get
warm, but my right foot would feel the same as before. That worried me. I began
to pray again. I said, “Lord, if that foot freezes and they find me I’ll lose my
foot because I’m a diabetic. If I’m not found alive, then it’s no difference
about it. But I still believe I’m going to be found. Lord, I can take care of my
left foot. I’ll beat them both together and that will warm my good foot, but
You’ll have to take care of my bad one. Lord, I’m leaving it to You.”