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st. ,‘ 108 V ' OUR ISLAND STORY
; tended to them and all the known appliances were used to allay their 5 ' . terrible sufferings. One of the passengers stated that several of the men owed their lives to the prompt and kindattention given them by Mr. McPhail and his family. He said “it was a motley spectacle, that of twenty men sitting with their feet in dishes of cold water trying to thaw out the frost from their frozen limbs.
By noon on Friday several of the sufferers had been-brought to Charlottetown and were conveyed to the Charlottetown Hospital or made comfortable in the homes of their friends. Drs. McLeod, Taylor, Jenkins and Conroy were at once in attendance and medical
relief was afforded. ' ' Naturally the “disaster” Caused much discussion and engaged the attention of men and women in all parts of Canada. Among j. . those who took part in the discussion were Archbishop O’Brien and i; - _ Dr. Schurman—two of P. E. Island’s most celebrated sons. The Archbishop presented a strong plea for improved conditions at the Capes ;- and, referring to some animadversion on the conduct of the -; . , captains and their men, Dr. Schurman remarked: “For my own part I feel constrained to attest that though I have travelled a good deal in the old world and in the new, I never felt such confidence in . any commander, nor such admiration for any men as I felt for the " Captains and crew of the ice boats, when some winters ago, under very inauspicious circumstances, I was obliged to cross the Straits of
3 1 ' Northumberland.”