3 minute read
STRANDED IN THE ARCTIC - 19 Days lost to the world
By Jeanne Jones
On September 28, 1956, two Cessna float planes took off from the small Arctic settlement of Coppermine on Coronation Gulf on a 318 mile flight west to Norman Wells. On board were Gerald, 34, a Fisheries Research Board Scientist and his new English bride Mary, 27, a nurse. They had spent all summer in the Arctic and were on their way home to British Columbia.
Mary is a beautiful, intelligent, upbeat woman who lives in Peterborough at Kawartha Heights Retirement Residence and kindly shared her story with us.
The two planes were piloted by George Gonzales and Dick Warner, and had very little radio equipment. They got lost in poor weather ending up 300 miles off course. Gonzales’ plane had only 20 minutes of fuel left, so they were forced to land on a lake in the Arctic.
Before going to the Arctic, Mary wasn’t so much an outdoors girl. “I had never roughed it before in my life. All I was used to were the bright lights of London, the train ride out to the town near Epsom Downs where I lived. Spending the summer in the Arctic changed that. I was living in a small tent, watching Eskimo women cut up white whales on the beach.’ By the time they left to go home, Mary had toughened up a bit. ‘It was very fortunate I was, too,” says Mary.
Mary cooked whatever was caught. Mostly Fixh
She kept a diary of their ordeal. In an excerpt, Mary said “My shoes are useless. The leather has hardened and cracked from my wanderings in the muskeg all around camp. Feet so sore I shall not wear them anymore. As we were on our way out to civilization, Gerald and I had all our clothes. I even have a pair of high-heeled pumps and have promised myself I’ll wear them when the rescue plane comes. It must come.”
They managed to build a log cabin before snow set in. While Gonzalez strips a pole, Mary and Warner sit inside the partially built shelter.
After 12 days, with no sign of being rescued, Dick Warner set out to find help. He ran out of food within 3 days. After 6 days trudging through the bush, he met a party of Indians who took him to Rayrock Mine on the shore of Sherman Lake. The trip took a total of 8 days. He walked an estimated 100 miles.
When they were finally rescued, Mary said, “How thankful I am that Dick Warner was able to summon help. After plunging chest deep in muskeg and clambering over rock heights of eight days, he finally reached a remote uranium mine. Gerald had cut his hand. Mary said, “I shall not forget the dreadful professional knowledge I had as a nurse that Gerald’s condition was far more desperate than it seemed.” On the 13thday, Mary wrote “Gerald’s hand is very puffed and terribly painful. It worries me. Without medical attention it will spread up his arm and into his body. Wehave never lost faith that the RCAF will find us, but when, when, when!”
By the time they were rescued, Doctors told her that two more days without medical aid and Gerald probably would not have survived. The blood poisoning would have spread through his body.
In summary, Mary said, “There are things about it that are still very vivid in my mind. I can still taste the strange flavour of barbecued squirrel. I remember sitting hunched over the fire in our little hut when I saw the can of water a foot away had frozen solid. And the overwhelming joy when the plane winked it’s lights in recognition as it roared down the dark lake towards us; that too is still very much with me.”
Mary wrote in her diary, “For me, I weigh 108 pounds now, 15 pounds lighter than the day we were first lost in the North. And I have just remembered that I forgot to wear my high heeled pumps to climb aboard the rescue plane.”
The Air Force had conducted one of the biggest air searches in the history of the Northwest Territories in a vain 17-day attempt to find them. They put in 250 flying hours and covered more than 75,000 square miles. They never did search the area where the party were stranded.
To read Mary's detailed diary, go to www.atasteofthekawarthas.com/magazine-bonus
Mary Hunter in her home today.
Photo by Karen Irvine
