The icebergs surrounded our ship one night;
The captain shouted no water in sight,
Like mountains around us, we are here to stay;
It may be a week, it may be a day.
We looked at each other in mute horror and dread,
Should the days go by, who would give us bread?
Nearly three weeks went by, no help in sight,
Each man was willing to do his mite.
At sunrise the captain called with a shout,
Out of these icebergs, we must get out;
I was up on the mast, I see water ahead;
The sun is high and looks quite red;
Today is Ascension Day, all come, kneel and pray
That we will be out of here before close of day.
Weeping and sobbing they knelt on the floor,
And prayed as they never had prayed before.
Now, my men, get an ax or a saw, cut the ice;
Make a path for our ship. To work, time flies;
They labored untiringly for hours; ’twas hard work,
It meant much suffering if this work they should shirk,
Then when they were through, all panting and cold;
They were drawn up by ropes into the ship’s hold.
Now, my men, be steady; shove with all your might;
For, if it’s God’s will, we will be in the light.
The ship moves; what’s creaking; oh, what a roar;
Today it’s life or death; what can be done more;
Mothers clung to their children and clasped them real fast,
For this is a day of days, it may be the last.
The foghorn blows; I trembled with fear
For my little ones and my husband, so dear.
I hugged them closely to my heart,
We are saved, we are saved, I heard with a start;
Do my ears hear aright; I laugh and I cry,
For I was ready this day to die.
God heard our prayers; ah! can it be
That we are again sailing out on this wide sea?
Such laughing, such shouting, no time to weep;
Only to dance and sing; no time for sleep.
The dignified and glad captain took a hand in the game,
From hearty congratulations his right arm was lame;
But three hundred souls, with God’s help, he had saved
From the towering bergs and a briny grave.
This really happened in April, 1865, in the northern part of the Atlantic ocean. The ship was an old fashioned sailing vessel and under ordinary circumstances would have required three to four weeks time from Bergen, Norway, to Montreal, Canada.
Passengers were compelled to carry enough bread for their entire families, to last for the whole trip, which of course, would become hard and dry. Many icebergs have nearly vertical walls, often more than one hundred feet. These floating mountains of ice sometimes have very fantastic shapes. It is not safe for a ship to come near one, and it is no uncommon thing for an iceberg to suddenly turn upside down. How things have changed since then! One can go the same distance in about twelve days. We were seven weeks crossing at that time on account of the anxious and terrible stay in the icebergs.
I’m glad to be here in this great land and to tell you this story of my youth.