A Word Edgewise |
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A Word Edgewise |
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Last Updated 01/20/06
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Email: mjclen@our-town.com
A
Word Edgewise
SOME
COOL THOUGHTS FOR A HOT DAY
By Mary Joe Clendenin
Do you remember reading a book or watching a movie where the weather is
extremely hot or cold or wet, different from what hits you in the face when you
open your own door, and being surprised by reality?
I was reading a “who done it” the other day about a rain storm that
had drenched the subjects with a cold hard rain. I looked out the window
expecting the glass to be a rivulet of rain—and the bright sun was a reality
awakening. Instead of fog, heat waves nestled over the black top.
Maybe reading about a very cold incident will make you feel a little
cooler on this hot summer day when even the snakes have blistered bellies.
This story is recorded in STRANGE STORIES, AMAZING FACTS OF AMERICA’S
PAST, published by Reader’s Digest.
December 1850, on Maine’s rocky coast, towering waves
swamped the coast sending showers of spray in the air where they quickly froze
to coat everything in shrouds of ice.
Mate Richard Ingraham and his fiancée, Lydia Dyer thought
they were safe and warm in an anchored schooner near Rockland with Roger
Elliott, a seaman also on board.
Shortly before midnight both anchor chains snapped in the tormented waves
and the boat, out of control, shot out across the harbor and crashed on Owl’s
Head ledges. Icy water swamped the ship as the three passengers grabbed their
blankets and fought their way through the icy spray to the deck.
It was impossible to signal for help in the blinding blizzard where they
were exposed to the full force of the storm. Dyer wrapped herself in her blanket
and lay down on the deck. Her fiancé then wrapped his body and blanket around
her, and Elliott did the same next to him.
With the sheath knife Elliott carried he cut himself a breathing hold in
the shroud of ice that quickly formed around them.
After several hours the storm began to abate and Elliott punched and
chiseled his way to freedom from the ice. The other two were motionless.
Though he fought fatigue and frostbite, Elliott tackled the slippery
rocks and made his way to shore where he was rescued by a passerby. Before he
collapsed, he managed to whisper, “Others on deck.
The rescue party arrived to find the grim sight of the two bodies wrapped
together in a solid cake of ice. The rising tide meant rescue had to be
immediate. They pried the ice block loose from the deck and hauled it to a
nearby house.
The rescuers picked and chipped the ice from the bodies and submerged
them in cold water gradually increasing the temperature of the water-----
Are you cold now?
When the water reached 55 degrees, they began to massage the still
lifeless bodies. After two hours Lydia opened her eyes. An hour later Richard
stirred, “What is all this?” he asked. “Where are we?”
He looked over at smiling Lydia. Recovery was slow, but complete. Six
months later, Lydia and Richard were married in June 1851. Roger Elliott never
recovered.
Evidently, the two went into suspended animation, somewhat as a bear does
in winter where all body functions almost cease.
If the temperature reaches 120 degrees here, as in Iraq, you might have
frigid thoughts and look for an icehouse that would agree to put you on cold
storage, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Someone might hit your icicle
and shatter you.
Best to just grin and bear it. Maybe you don’t have sand in your ice
tea—and actually have ice for it. How fortunate can you get.