The following is a story which gives some indication of the hazards of travel by early steamship. The Northern Light was one of these early steamships. It sailed with passengers and mail on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from Georgetown to Pictou weather and ice permitting.

Northern Light

An account of the trials of the passengers of the Northern Light appeared in the records of February, 1881:

Twenty-two persons had a narrow escape recently while passing between the winter vessel Northern Light , which got wedged in the ice, and the Prince Edward Island shore. After being jammed in the ice they left the Northern Light at eight in the morning in an attempt to make shore on foot. One of the party describes their ordeal in a personal account:

We made good progress the first six or seven miles, but we then met with large drifts of broken or ‘lolly’ ice, which was very difficult to get through. By this time the weather changed from fine clear sky to overcast and dirty-looking; the wind still keeping northeast.

Before 2 pm. it was snowing hard, and the land was lost to our view. We plodded along manfully every man doing his duty. We were delayed considerably by the broken ice, which seemed to stretch along as far as we could see. It now became a serious question whether we could make the shore that night. A great deal of valuable time was lost by every man having a different opinion as to where we were and in what direction the land lay, while the second officer who was sup- posed to be in charge of the expedition seemed ready to do anything but exercise his authority in the proper manner. We tramped about first in one direction, then another, till five o’clock found us fighting our way through broken ice, trying in vain to find a solid field.

There was nothing left for us to do but pass the night on the ice, so we chose a pan of solid ice, turned the boat up on one side, packed around her some snow and large pieces of ice and then commenced our terrible night watch.

What we all suffered during our fourteen hours in darkness no one but those who have ever been so situated can form the least idea. Some of us had to keep rousing up a few who would persist in crawling into the shelter of the boat and going to sleep. A sleep from which they would never have awakened in this world but for the watchfulness of the others.

Every man did his best to cheer up the others. The best of us at this encouraging work were the Wyse brothers, two of the steamer’s crew, who are deserving of every praise for their preserving pluck during the whole trip.

Daylight was at length seen and after a perilous tramp of a mile and a half, Cape Bear was reached, where many hospitalities were received. Complaint is made of the ice boats of the Northern Light, which are said to be far too cumbrous.

Cars In Cardigan, as elsewhere, the first cars were greeted with distrust and

dislike. Only the very rich could afford one at first and they were seen as troublesome, dangerous, and frightening for the horses.

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