''REPORTED MISSING" 55 



better than to use force, for thereby ye can certainly get what 

 ye choose." They returned to their quarters without further 

 protest. 



In late November the sun failed them and the discouragement 

 of the long dark days was heavy indeed. Now misfortune 

 fell upon the Thomas. On December 12th she was heeled over 

 by the ice and her crew left her, in terror well founded. ' On the 

 13th she was a total wreck. During that one night two of her 

 crew had died on the ice. The remaining men and the provi- 

 sions were distributed among the remaining ships, but the 

 Thomas was so far away that she was useless for fuel. 



On the 6th of January a brilliant sky and a large sheet of open 

 water brought new encouragement to the icebound crew of the 

 Dee, but on the next day, yet more men were unable to leave 

 their miserable beds. On the 11th of the month came the first 

 death. Mr. Little John read a prayer, and the crew — what 

 few were still able — carried the body to an opening in the ice, 

 for sea burial. On the 16th the sun shone again, but it was 

 of small comfort; their captain was sick now and the crew was 

 growing steadily weaker. Still they were drifting south — they 

 were now in 69° 71' — and, in fear of utter helplessness in a 

 gale, should they ever get to sea, the mate called up the crew to 

 double-reef the topsails. Only fifteen were able to go aloft. 



By the 1st of February, four more men had died. Two 

 days later the captain died also. The cold was frightful: only 

 six feet from the fire, the water cask was hung with icicles. 

 The beds were in a shocking state, frozen solid and ridden with 

 vermin of the most ravenous sort. By this time, of course, the 

 men were too far spent with disease even to clean themselves. 

 By the 12th, six more were dead. But the whalers were still 

 drifting, and more rapidly now, the Dee ahead of the rest. 

 On the Advice, twenty miles behind, six men had died within 

 four days of each other, and five more died in the week that 

 followed. This left fuller rations for those who still lived, but 

 of course there was still no food of the right sort to check scurvy. 

 Thus in early March the Dee had only six men able to do duty. 

 The mate crossed on the ice to the Grenville Bay and asked her 



