Chapter Twenty ThreeGREENLAND SEA
AUGUST 1914
No ship of one hundred tons burthen can proceed to sea unless at least one officer beside the master possesses a certificate appropriate to grade of mate
Merchant Shipping Act, 1854
They released me next morning, nearly frozen from a night on the open deck, but the residual heat from the burning bodies had kept me alive and the horror kept me awake. I said nothing to the shamefaced men who helped me down below. I was too cold to move and too sick at heart to even curse them. That night broke me, for I was no longer a man.
Pratt brought me hot coffee but I could not drink it, and when Thoms tried to speak I could not reply. At that moment I did not care if I lived or died. I had expected new experiences in the Arctic, but I had seen spectac
