Man on the Ice (12 page)

I WOULD LIKE TO
thank our pastors, the Primmers and the
Rogerses, for all they did for Irene while I was lost on the ice. Also, thanks
to Sheila Hillier and Tonya Sheppard, who never left Irene’s side from the time
I was lost until I was found. Thank you to our premier, Danny Williams, and the
Honourable Trevor Taylor, and the Minister of Fisheries, Tom Rideout. Thanks to
the hospital staff physicians and nurses of the Charles S. Curtis Memorial
Hospital, and to Dr. Singh who took care of me. Thanks to The Northern Delight
Restaurant for the big pot of soup for the crowd that was at our house. Thanks
to all the people that phoned
and sent cards, and all the people
that brought food and made cakes. You know who you are; thank you and God
Bless.

Thank you to the crew on the
Ann Harvey
, the airplanes, and the
helicopters. Thanks to everyone for your kindness. It will never be
forgotten.

A special thanks to my wife, Irene, and our boys, Denley, Derrick, Corrie, and
Darryl, and our daughter Trudy, for encouraging me to write this book. Thanks
for the love and support of my grandchildren, Gregory, Stephen, Ryan, Leann, and
Martin, and to our eldest granddaughter, Charmaine, for preparing my book for
the press by editing and typing my words.

I would also like to thank Carl Hedderson and Max Sexton for the survival
strategies they taught us at our meeting. Some of these things came to memory.
The most important thing is to try and keep warm and not to panic. Thanks again,
Carl and Max. Also, thanks to the following boys who went looking for me in
their longliners and speedboats. Some of you walked alongshore and in small
coves just in case I had somehow gotten ashore.

My brothers, Wade, Herb, and Ezra Saunders

Thanks, boys.

I
’
M NOT SAYING ANYTHING
about the Coast Guard
people, because they did all they could to find me. But there is one thing that
bothers me. It was April, 2009, when two DFO officers came to St. Lunaire-Griquet
and had meetings with the men who were going out ice sealing. They showed us
video pictures or slides of sealers killing seals on the ice from their
speedboats. They were shooting the seals with rifles. Then one of the men ran
across the ice pan and hooked his gaff in the seal. The DFO officer said that the
sealer did the wrong thing. He was supposed to cut the seal open and make sure
the main arteries were severed so the seal would be properly bled out before it
died.

All that was okay, but the thing that bothered me the most was
the fact that those pictures were taken from a DFO airplane eight miles away.
That’s what the DFO officers told us. I wondered if the Coast Guard would save
money if they invested in a few of these cameras. They may cost a few thousand
dollars, but they would save a few thousand dollars in fuel for planes and
helicopters and big boats. Just a thought. I’m sure the people running the Coast
Guard know what they’re doing.

The pilot of the helicopter phoned me a week or so after I was rescued, and he
told me he saw a green shrimp bag frozen in a small clump of ice. At first he
thought it might have been something from my boat. He felt very bad when I told
him he was so close to me.