fright and anxiety were in the beginning very great, he said, that he
committed himself to our Saviour, and felt resigned to his will; and
when the danger seemed most imminent, help was afforded, for which he
gave thanks to Him who alone could deliver in such distress.
But an interposition of providence, which rescued two Christian
Esquimaux, belonging to the congregation at Hopedale, who were carried
out to sea on a field of ice, and were nine days driven about at the
mercy of the waves, is not the least extraordinary among the many
which occurred. A party of three, Conrad, Peter, and Titus, being
engaged in fishing on the ice, that part on which they were standing
broke loose from the shore, and was driven by a strong south-west wind
out to sea. Conrad having a sledge with him, fastened some seal-skins
and bladders to it to keep him buoyant, and turning it upside down
used it as a raft; in this he paddled a full English mile back to the
firm ice, being commissioned by his companions to procure a boat, and
send it to their assistance. The sea, by God's mercy, being calm, he
reached the shore in safety, but before he could procure the boat, the
field of ice with his two companions on it had drifted nearly out of
sight, and there was no possibility of overtaking it. The size and
strength of the ice was such that it afforded them the means of
building a snow-house upon it, in which they took shelter during the
night, and in rainy weather. They had caught eight seals on the day of
their departure, which afforded them nourishment, though for want of
fuel they could make no fire, but ate the meat raw and drank the
blood. Of their feelings during nine dreadful days of anxiety and
suspense, they wrote the following affecting account. Peter for
himself says, "When on the 4th of June (1824,) we were driven off the
coast upon the field of ice, I was not much alarmed, for I did not
apprehend much danger. At night when we lay down to rest we commended
ourselves in prayer to God our Saviour, and gave up our lives into his
hands, which we always continued to do. On the 5th, as we were
floating pretty near to the point of Tikkerarsuk, I hoped that our
brother Conrad, who had been with us, would come to help us with
kaiaks. We repeatedly thought we heard the report of fire-arms, and
therefore fired off our pieces, but towards evening, we perceived that
we had been mistaken. Now I began to feel great fears about the
preservation of my life, and thinking of my poor family, I wept much.
With many tears I cried fervently to Jesus to save me. I could speak
with him as if he stood by me, and said; 'I pray that I may not be
carried to the other side of the water, nor to the south, nor too far
to the north among the unbelievers, but that my body may have a decent
burial in the earth. O! shew mercy to me, and do thou, the only helper
in need, take care of my poor family!' Then these words occurred to my
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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