When the ship was snug and safe he came off the bridge, and all he said was, "Aye, aye, a little wind," and then he turned in.
The entries in the log were quite commonplace—all in the day's work, as it were—and one would never glean from them that a ship and cargo worth a quarter of a million had been safely brought to a haven of refuge through exceptional seamanship and courage.
It was in 1894 that Captain Grey in the "Erik," when near Resolution Island at the entrance of the Straits, ran into an iceberg. It happened at night in a thick fog. The ship was moving slowly at the time and before the lookout saw or could give warning she had poked her nose into the 'berg. Her long bowsprit of pitch pine was crumpled up like so much matchwood, and the gear attached to it and one of the catheads was carried away.
Masses of ice came thundering down on her forecastle head, doing much damage to the woodwork. In the meantime the lookout sprinted aft, the watch below came tumbling up on deck and made for safety. The ship was put astern and hove to till daylight. They steamed up next day close enough to see a hole as big as a house which they had punched in the side of the 'berg. All the damage to the ship fortunately was done above the water line.
When the "Erik" returned to Rigolet in October she was sporting a dinky little jib-boom made from one of the spare spars carried on deck for just such an emergency.
Mr. John Ford, a passenger on his way to Georges River Post, told me he never saw Captain Grey more cool or collected. He gave orders as if nothing unusual were taking place. And at breakfast next morning all he said in reference to it was, "Aye, aye, a little ice."
F. T. C. O. Notes
Ralph Parsons, district manager for Labrador, left St. John's, Newfoundland, June 1st for inspection of fur trade posts in his district, including Cartwright, Rigolet, Northwest River and Davis Inlet. Mr. Parsons will later board the H.B.C. supply ship at Grady, off the Labrador coast, and proceed north to the Hudson Straits section of his district.
L. Romanet, fur trade general inspector, left Vancouver at the end of May for inspection of posts in the British Columbia district. He will return in August.
T. P. O'Kelly was to go on Company's business with the "Lady Kindersley," which was scheduled to sail from Vancouver for the Western Arctic, June 28th.