WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:13.360 Auto Light and its 98,000 dealers bring you Mr. Joseph Cotton in tonight's presentation 00:13.360 --> 00:20.920 of Suspense. 00:20.920 --> 00:25.540 One hundred years ago this week, a group of brave men risked their lives in a desperate 00:25.540 --> 00:27.560 effort to save their fellow men. 00:27.560 --> 00:32.640 Tonight, Auto Light honors this centennial with a dramatic recreation of their attempted 00:32.640 --> 00:33.640 Arctic rescue. 00:33.640 --> 00:38.480 Our star, Mr. Joseph Cotton. 00:38.480 --> 00:44.120 Hey Harlow, what's in the packet? 00:44.120 --> 00:46.880 Ah, the world's best Christmas present, Hap. 00:46.880 --> 00:47.880 Who for who? 00:47.880 --> 00:48.880 My car. 00:48.880 --> 00:52.600 It's an Auto Light stay full battery, the famous battery that needs water only three 00:52.600 --> 00:54.480 times a year in normal car use. 00:54.480 --> 00:56.280 That sure is a real present. 00:56.280 --> 01:01.000 Right you are Hap, the Auto Light stay full is always a real present for every car and 01:01.000 --> 01:05.360 every car owner because money just can't buy a better battery. 01:05.360 --> 01:10.240 Why the Auto Light stay full has fiberglass retaining mats protecting every positive plate 01:10.240 --> 01:15.240 to reduce shedding and flaking and give longer life as proved by tests conducted according 01:15.240 --> 01:17.360 to accepted life cycle standards. 01:17.360 --> 01:19.680 Where can I find this famous battery, Harlow? 01:19.680 --> 01:24.720 Under the hoods of millions of cars and at your Auto Light battery dealer. 01:24.720 --> 01:29.320 He services all makes of batteries and you can quickly locate him by looking for the 01:29.320 --> 01:33.280 Auto Light battery sign or just call Western Union by number. 01:33.280 --> 01:35.280 And ask for operator 25. 01:35.280 --> 01:39.320 I'll gladly tell you the name of your nearest Auto Light battery dealer where you can get 01:39.320 --> 01:40.720 an Auto Light stay full. 01:40.720 --> 01:45.200 The battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use. 01:45.200 --> 01:50.560 And remember from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto Light. 01:50.560 --> 01:57.680 And now Auto Light presents a dramatic recreation of Arctic Rescue starring Joseph Cotton hoping 01:57.680 --> 02:07.240 once again to keep you in suspense. 02:07.240 --> 02:13.720 Picture this if you can, Christmas night, miles and miles of endless empty broken white 02:13.720 --> 02:19.840 ice and ice flow drifting somewhere in the vicinity of the 73rd parallel north of the 02:19.840 --> 02:21.800 Arctic Circle. 02:21.800 --> 02:23.680 Nothing but ice. 02:23.680 --> 02:24.960 That is nearly nothing. 02:24.960 --> 02:30.760 If you look carefully through the winter night, you'll see two tiny dark blemishes. 02:30.760 --> 02:38.840 The figures of two men, one twisted in an unconscious heap is our skipper Jonathan Blake. 02:38.840 --> 02:44.720 The other figure, Gerald Stewart first mate, me. 02:44.720 --> 02:51.120 And it makes a good sorry picture, civilized man in a primitive wilderness of ice waiting 02:51.120 --> 02:54.120 helplessly for death. 02:54.120 --> 03:07.200 I, a sorry picture. 03:07.200 --> 03:11.920 It's a far different picture you'd have seen if you'd been a part of the excited crowd 03:11.920 --> 03:23.000 standing at the battery on the New York waterfront on a June morning the year 1852. 03:23.000 --> 03:24.000 The moment of departure. 03:24.000 --> 03:27.280 Aye, Lady Franklin, we must take the high tide. 03:27.280 --> 03:31.800 May God and his great mercy protect you and your men from the peril that awaits you. 03:31.800 --> 03:34.080 The men are prepared for hardships, Lady Franklin. 03:34.080 --> 03:38.560 We shall succeed where the others have failed in ending the mystery of the Erebusan Terror. 03:38.560 --> 03:39.560 Aye. 03:39.560 --> 03:42.640 We'll be in Aberdeen in time for a Christmas feast. 03:42.640 --> 03:47.000 And we'll prepare a Christmas celebration your men will never forget, Captain. 03:47.000 --> 03:49.280 We're leaving for England next week. 03:49.280 --> 03:51.880 I shall pray for you, Mr. Stewart. 03:51.880 --> 03:52.880 For all of you. 03:52.880 --> 03:54.680 Thank you, Miss Cracow. 03:54.680 --> 04:03.120 I'll stand many a watch out at sea thinking of last night, the ball, dancing and you. 04:03.120 --> 04:05.320 That is, all of us will, I mean. 04:05.320 --> 04:09.400 What my first mate is trying to tell your niece, Lady Franklin, is how grateful the officers 04:09.400 --> 04:13.680 and crew are for the farewell ball you held in their honor last night. 04:13.680 --> 04:15.960 I'm the grateful one, Captain Blake. 04:15.960 --> 04:17.840 Please bring them all home safely. 04:17.840 --> 04:20.040 Well, come now, Lady Franklin, no need for worry. 04:20.040 --> 04:23.440 With Jessica's astutorship and the men are in good health and lofty spirits. 04:23.440 --> 04:26.240 We'll be back by Christmas, you'll see. 04:26.240 --> 04:29.440 Tide will change. 04:29.440 --> 04:30.440 We must be on our way. 04:30.440 --> 04:32.440 Then goodbye and good luck, Captain. 04:32.440 --> 04:33.440 Goodbye, Lady Franklin. 04:33.440 --> 04:34.440 Miss Cracow. 04:34.440 --> 04:35.440 Goodbye, Captain Blake. 04:35.440 --> 04:36.440 Goodbye, Mr. Stewart. 04:36.440 --> 04:37.440 Godspeed. 04:37.440 --> 04:38.440 Thank you. 04:38.440 --> 04:42.760 We shall see you in Aberdeen Christmas week. 04:42.760 --> 04:43.960 Let's get aboard, Mr. Stewart. 04:43.960 --> 04:44.960 Yes, sir. 04:44.960 --> 04:47.960 Bye, Lady Franklin. 04:47.960 --> 04:48.960 Starkey. 04:48.960 --> 04:51.420 Yes, sir. 04:51.420 --> 04:52.420 Drop the gangway. 04:52.420 --> 04:53.420 Yes, sir. 04:53.420 --> 04:54.420 All hands at their morning station, Mr. Stewart. 04:54.420 --> 04:55.420 Yes, sir. 04:55.420 --> 04:57.420 Then pass the orders to cast off. 04:57.420 --> 04:58.420 Aye, sir. 04:58.420 --> 04:59.420 All hands. 04:59.420 --> 05:00.420 Prepare to cast off. 05:00.420 --> 05:01.420 All hands. 05:01.420 --> 05:02.420 Prepare to cast off. 05:02.420 --> 05:03.440 Let go, one and two. 05:03.440 --> 05:04.440 Let go, one and two. 05:04.440 --> 05:05.440 Let go, one and two. 05:05.440 --> 05:06.440 Let go, one and two. 05:06.440 --> 05:07.440 You may all cast off. 05:07.440 --> 05:09.440 Let go three and four. 05:09.440 --> 05:11.440 Let go three and four. 05:17.440 --> 05:19.440 Ship's underway, sir. 05:19.440 --> 05:24.440 Aye. Well, Mr. Stewart, fill your eyes with the sight of New York. 05:24.440 --> 05:27.440 The last of it you'll be seeing will some time to come. 05:27.440 --> 05:29.440 Aye, good long time. 05:29.440 --> 05:31.440 Aye, am, sir. 05:31.440 --> 05:40.440 As the Jessica moved slowly to the outer harbor, I watched a tiny delicate white dot in the crowd at the wharf. 05:40.440 --> 05:43.440 She stood there beside Lady Franklin, waiting. 05:43.440 --> 05:49.440 And I watched until the morning fog erased the sight of the New York waterfront. 05:49.440 --> 05:53.440 Aside from the ship's log, I have decided to keep a running account of this voyage. 05:53.440 --> 06:00.440 This account will be transferred to a watertight jar and thrown into the currents, should any sudden disaster occur. 06:00.440 --> 06:08.440 The first three weeks of navigating North were merely a matter of settling down to ship's routine on June 30th, 06:08.440 --> 06:23.440 after Officer's Mess, we sighted Point Farewell on the Greenland coast. 06:23.440 --> 06:28.440 The time had come for the captain to read a letter of instruction given to him by Lady Franklin. 06:28.440 --> 06:36.440 Captain Blake, I am sure you will do all that any man can in discovering the fate of my husband, Sir John Franklin, 06:36.440 --> 06:39.440 and his two ships, the Erebus and Terra. 06:39.440 --> 06:45.440 But my only fear is that you might sacrifice your lives in the unknown regions of the Arctic. 06:45.440 --> 06:51.440 Therefore, let me state that above all else, the preservation of the lives of you and your heroic companions 06:51.440 --> 06:55.440 is more important to me than the purpose of your journey. 06:55.440 --> 07:00.440 May God and his great mercy preserve you all from harm amidst the perils which await, 07:00.440 --> 07:04.440 and restore you to us safely and in health, as well as honor. 07:04.440 --> 07:08.440 Your sincere and attached friend, Jane Franklin. 07:08.440 --> 07:12.440 Well, these are the only written instructions I have, gentlemen. 07:12.440 --> 07:15.440 Now then, Mr. Stewart, the map, please. 07:15.440 --> 07:17.440 Yes, sir. 07:17.440 --> 07:24.440 Well, there it is, gentlemen, the most recent admiralty map of the Arctic regions that we are approaching. 07:24.440 --> 07:26.440 Ah, it's almost completely blank. 07:26.440 --> 07:30.440 Aye, Mr. Halliday, thousands of miles of uncharted wilderness. 07:30.440 --> 07:35.440 And somewhere in that frozen tundra Sir John Franklin and his men vanished. 07:35.440 --> 07:40.440 Aye. Our search will begin tomorrow when we drop anchor in Godhabla. 07:40.440 --> 07:45.440 We'll pick up our ice pilot, Mr. Patrick Hanson, some additional supplies, and then make for the Arctic Circle. 07:45.440 --> 07:49.440 Arctic Circle? Sounds like the edge of the world, eh, Stewart? 07:49.440 --> 07:51.440 Eh, a little frightening, too. 07:51.440 --> 07:52.440 You frightened? 07:52.440 --> 07:56.440 Mr. Halliday, if I were you, I'd respect Mr. Stewart's fear of what lies before. 07:56.440 --> 08:01.440 Captain, I was just thinking, if Franklin was looking for the Northwest Passage, 08:01.440 --> 08:06.440 he'd probably make an approach through, uh, here, through Lancaster Sound. 08:06.440 --> 08:07.440 Ah. 08:07.440 --> 08:14.440 Then he must have passed Ponce, here, and according to our information, their Eskimos are Ponce. 08:14.440 --> 08:17.440 They might have seen his ship sent to Lancaster Sound. 08:17.440 --> 08:19.440 If they did, then we'll have something to go by. 08:19.440 --> 08:23.440 I hope Mr. Hanson understands the Eskimo dialects. They can tell us much. 08:23.440 --> 08:28.440 I don't see how we can cover all this territory and get back by Christmas, Captain. 08:28.440 --> 08:35.440 We have no choice, Mr. Stewart. If we get caught beyond the Arctic Circle after the summer months, we may never get back. 08:35.440 --> 08:40.440 Never? Aye. In the winter, the seas are covered with great ice floes. 08:40.440 --> 08:45.440 Once a ship is frozen in those latitudes, it'll stay there until the summer thaw. 08:45.440 --> 08:49.440 You can't imagine the horrors we'd endure in an arctic winter, Mr. Halliday. 08:49.440 --> 08:51.440 Are you? I suppose not. 08:51.440 --> 08:54.440 Franklin and his men were probably frozen in for the winter. 08:54.440 --> 08:56.440 And they were never hit from again. 08:56.440 --> 09:01.440 Exactly. Well, that'll give you a brief idea of what went for gentlemen. 09:01.440 --> 09:05.440 We'll know more after Mr. Hanson comes aboard. Any questions? 09:05.440 --> 09:08.440 I have nothing but questions, Captain. 09:08.440 --> 09:10.440 I wish I had the answers, Stewart. 09:10.440 --> 09:18.440 Noon the next day, we dropped anchor in the harbor at Goddard. 09:18.440 --> 09:24.440 Here we would take on coal, additional winter clothing, dogs and Eskimo drivers, and Mr. Hanson, our ice pilot. 09:24.440 --> 09:32.440 Goddard was nothing more than a few huts of the Daffin Bay Trading Company, and as we prepared to go ashore, longboats suddenly appeared alongside. 09:35.440 --> 09:36.440 Captain Blake? Aye. 09:36.440 --> 09:39.440 I'm Patrick Hanson, your ice pilot, sir. 09:39.440 --> 09:41.440 We were about to send a boat ashore for you, Mr. Hanson. 09:41.440 --> 09:42.440 No time for that, Captain. 09:42.440 --> 09:45.440 But we planned on picking up supplies and dogs. 09:45.440 --> 09:47.440 I brought them. They're in the boat. 09:47.440 --> 09:48.440 Well, what's the rush, Mr. Hanson? 09:48.440 --> 09:50.440 Oh, this is Gerald Stewart, my first mate. 09:50.440 --> 09:53.440 You've never been in the Arctic before, Mr. Stewart? 09:53.440 --> 09:54.440 No. 09:54.440 --> 09:58.440 Take my word for it. You'd better get up there while they've got the summer weather, you bet. 09:58.440 --> 10:02.440 All right, so we run into a little summer ice. The Jessica's prepared for that. 10:02.440 --> 10:05.440 Yeah. She looks like a good, strong ship. 10:05.440 --> 10:06.440 Hey. 10:06.440 --> 10:10.440 You've never seen iron ship up here before, and steam engine, too. 10:10.440 --> 10:18.440 That's not all that Jessica has. There's additional iron plates across the hull, as well as added bracing for a chip in the floor at ten feet of the bowels. 10:18.440 --> 10:24.440 Solid iron, and razor sharp at the edge. What do you think that'll do to your ice, Mr. Hanson? 10:24.440 --> 10:29.440 You wait and you see what the ice can do to a ship, even an iron ship, Mr. Stewart. 10:29.440 --> 10:32.440 Mr. Hanson, you received my letters. 10:32.440 --> 10:33.440 Yeah. 10:33.440 --> 10:35.440 And you made inquiries about the Erebus and Terra. 10:35.440 --> 10:39.440 Yeah, they're both here. They couldn't get dogs, so they headed for Ponds Bay. 10:39.440 --> 10:41.440 Across Baffin Bay? 10:41.440 --> 10:42.440 That's right. 10:42.440 --> 10:44.440 Ah, just as we thought. Mr. Halliday. 10:44.440 --> 10:45.440 Aye, sir. 10:45.440 --> 10:47.440 Get those supplies aboard, then prepare the ship for sea. 10:47.440 --> 10:48.440 Right away, sir. 10:48.440 --> 10:49.440 At once. Stuart. 10:49.440 --> 10:50.440 Yes, sir. 10:50.440 --> 10:55.440 You can chart a course for us. We'll cross the Arctic Circle next, and on to Ponds Bay. 10:55.440 --> 11:02.440 We set a north by northwest course, leaving the last outpost of civilization behind us, and crossed the Great Baffin Bay. 11:02.440 --> 11:06.440 On July 4th, we crossed the Arctic Circle without ceremony. 11:06.440 --> 11:10.440 Then we had ice freezing on deck in the rigging. 11:10.440 --> 11:14.440 A day later, we saw our first floating iceberg. 11:14.440 --> 11:18.440 For this time of year, we should not have seen either one. 11:18.440 --> 11:25.440 From Goddard to Ponds Bay, six and a half days. Perfect calm. 11:25.440 --> 11:29.440 Upon landing, we found a small contingent of Veskimos, but nothing else. 11:29.440 --> 11:32.440 They seemed hostile and would give us no information. 11:32.440 --> 11:40.440 Then, as we were preparing to return to the Jessica, one of the natives, a girl, rushed from one of the huts and down to the beach. 11:40.440 --> 11:48.440 Ose? Ose? 11:48.440 --> 11:52.440 What's she saying, Mr. 11:52.440 --> 11:53.440 I'm not sure. 11:53.440 --> 11:57.440 Captain, look. She has something in her hand. She wants us to look at it. 11:57.440 --> 12:00.440 Small brass button from a naval uniform. 12:00.440 --> 12:04.440 Ah. She should trade it for some sewing needle. 12:04.440 --> 12:07.440 Ose? Galaga? 12:07.440 --> 12:10.440 What does she mean by that? 12:10.440 --> 12:11.440 Ose? 12:11.440 --> 12:14.440 Ose. She can't just say a man's name. 12:14.440 --> 12:17.440 Ose Galaga? 12:17.440 --> 12:22.440 Joseph Galaga? Stuart, is that name on Sir John's crew list? 12:22.440 --> 12:24.440 I'm looking, sir. 12:24.440 --> 12:29.440 Yes, sir. Yes, it's here. Quatermaster, Joseph Galaga. They've been here. 12:29.440 --> 12:33.440 I'd better get back to the ship, man. Looks like a gale brewing. 12:33.440 --> 12:34.440 Ose? 12:34.440 --> 12:37.440 Oh, let her keep the button, Stuart. Give her the needles, too. 12:37.440 --> 12:38.440 Yes, sir. 12:38.440 --> 12:48.440 Ose? 12:48.440 --> 12:52.440 After leaving Ponds Bay, two months passed without incident. 12:52.440 --> 12:58.440 Then we entered Lancaster Sound and approached the scarcely charted island along Barrow Strait. 12:58.440 --> 13:02.440 There we re-encountered great mountains of floating ice. 13:02.440 --> 13:06.440 And we had only a few hours of twilight each day. 13:06.440 --> 13:12.440 We crossed the 75th parallel and north into Wellington Channel to Bathurst Island, 13:12.440 --> 13:15.440 the last of the charted islands on my maps. 13:15.440 --> 13:18.440 Then on September 10th, weather changed. 13:18.440 --> 13:23.440 Northwest gales, sleet, and heavy fogs that forced us to a bare crawl. 13:23.440 --> 13:28.440 And even worse, mammoth ice floes that closed in all around us. 13:28.440 --> 13:29.440 Mr. Stuart. 13:29.440 --> 13:30.440 Yes, sir. 13:30.440 --> 13:33.440 I am, sir. 13:33.440 --> 13:35.440 Quatermaster, starboard six degrees. 13:35.440 --> 13:37.440 This lead should be getting smaller all the time. 13:37.440 --> 13:41.440 Captain, the temperature is still dropping. Ten above zero. 13:41.440 --> 13:43.440 What do you think of this lead, Hanson? 13:43.440 --> 13:45.440 I think maybe we'd better back out of here. 13:45.440 --> 13:48.440 Back out? Take a look at stern, Hanson. Back out where? 13:48.440 --> 13:49.440 Captain. 13:49.440 --> 13:50.440 What is it, Hounder? 13:50.440 --> 13:51.440 The rudder will not respond. 13:51.440 --> 13:52.440 Six below, sir. 13:52.440 --> 13:53.440 I say ahead! 13:53.440 --> 13:55.440 The lead is getting smaller, Captain. 13:55.440 --> 14:02.440 Aye, aye. Well, the Arctic seems to be closing down on us on all counts. 14:10.440 --> 14:16.440 The walls of the lead moved in closer until a man could jump to the ice from either side of the ship. 14:16.440 --> 14:21.440 And then the Jessica was cutting through the ice, making her own lead. 14:21.440 --> 14:25.440 But slowly we lost the lead. 14:31.440 --> 14:34.440 Finally, the ship gave up to the ice. 14:34.440 --> 14:37.440 He... he's frozen in, though. 14:37.440 --> 14:40.440 Aye. Stop engines, Mr. Stuart. 14:40.440 --> 14:42.440 Yes, sir. 14:42.440 --> 14:49.440 Well, Captain Blake, looks like they can forget about looking for Sir John Franklin in his ships. 14:49.440 --> 15:12.440 Now that we've frozen in, we're going to have to look out for our own lives, you bet. 15:12.440 --> 15:24.440 Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Joseph Cotton in Arctic Rescue, tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 15:24.440 --> 15:38.440 It was the night before Christmas, and outside the door a man was trying his starter once more. 15:38.440 --> 15:44.440 But try as he would, the car wouldn't go, for the battery was dead. Out of water, you know. 15:44.440 --> 15:48.440 That man should have had an Auto Light stay-full battery, Harlow. 15:48.440 --> 15:54.440 Right you are, Hap. There's the battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use. 15:54.440 --> 16:01.440 Because the Auto Light stay-full has over three times the liquid reserve of batteries without stay-full features. 16:01.440 --> 16:08.440 And, in addition, it has fiberglass retaining mats protecting every positive plate to reduce shedding and flaking, 16:08.440 --> 16:14.440 and give longer life, as proved by tests conducted according to accepted life-cycle standards. 16:14.440 --> 16:21.440 Money just can't buy a better battery. So, friends, see your nearest Auto Light battery dealer. 16:21.440 --> 16:28.440 He services all makes of batteries, and he has an Auto Light stay-full for your car if a replacement is needed. 16:28.440 --> 16:33.440 Just call Western Union by number and ask for operator 25. 16:33.440 --> 16:40.440 And I'll tell you where you can get an Auto Light stay-full battery, the battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use. 16:40.440 --> 16:45.440 And remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto Light. 16:45.440 --> 16:54.440 And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage, Mr. Joseph Cotton, in Elliot Lewis's production of Arctic Rescue. 16:54.440 --> 17:00.440 A true story, well calculated to keep you in suspense. 17:00.440 --> 17:12.440 September 10, 1852. Unless a miracle occurred, we were frozen in the Arctic for the rest of the winter months. 17:12.440 --> 17:18.440 A sea of ice surrounded us, and the ship took on a starboard list from the pressure of the flow. 17:18.440 --> 17:23.440 Rations were cut in food, water, and coal consumption. Furious gales came and went, 17:23.440 --> 17:28.440 and there were more freezing temperatures, often as low as 35 below. 17:28.440 --> 17:33.440 The doctor was a busy man. Nearly all hands suffered from frostbite, many from gangrens. 17:33.440 --> 17:40.440 Conditions aboard the Jessica were deplorable. I thought they couldn't get worse. October came, November. 17:40.440 --> 17:51.440 December, and we thought of home and the holidays and of Lady Franklin and Miss Kraycroft sitting alone at the Christmas feast that was to be held in our honor. 17:51.440 --> 17:59.440 On Christmas Day, the cook outdid himself. We had a feast aboard the Jessica on the last of the salt, pork, and beef. 17:59.440 --> 18:03.440 And with the last of the also failed and minced meat, the cook made pies. 18:03.440 --> 18:08.440 And we had us a celebration, Christmas Day, 1852. 18:08.440 --> 18:12.440 Men, men, the captain has a word to say. 18:12.440 --> 18:22.440 I, uh, drop below to offer you my greetings on this holiday, and I wish you a much happier Christmas next year. 18:22.440 --> 18:24.440 Thank you. 18:24.440 --> 18:46.440 Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright. 18:46.440 --> 18:58.440 Christmas Eve, 1853, one year later. We're still frozen in. Summer came and passed without an appreciable rise in temperature, and the ice failed to break up. 18:58.440 --> 19:06.440 Men living on Pamikon occasionally bare meat and sealed blubber. No more lime juice. This means scurvy. 19:06.440 --> 19:18.440 The year also saw the loss of 11 men, the doctor and the ice pilot Hanson among them. Two in a chase for the polar bear, three from scurvy, and the rest from gangren. 19:18.440 --> 19:26.440 Most of the men have frostbite. 19:26.440 --> 19:41.440 Our second Christmas in the Arctic. The flow that holds the ship is drifting south down Peel Sound. We saw the shores of King Williams Island. The captain sent Halliday and three men on sledge to look for food depots or rock cairn, anything. 19:41.440 --> 19:43.440 They returned today. 19:43.440 --> 19:44.440 Where'd you find it, Halliday? 19:44.440 --> 19:50.440 In a cairn. We also found empty Pamikon cans and bits of ship's timber. 19:50.440 --> 20:05.440 Sure. Listen to this. It was written by Franklin himself. 1851, latitude 69 degrees, longitude 98 degrees west. HMS Terra sank when ice broke. Erebus still frozen in. 20:05.440 --> 20:27.440 Be set since April 12th, 1850. We are deserting the Erebus, attempting overland march to Back's Fish River, to Addison's Bay. If unheard from, when this found, we must be considered lost. Sir John Franklin, Captain HMS Erebus. 20:27.440 --> 20:29.440 So we've found what we came for. 20:29.440 --> 20:31.440 Aye. 20:31.440 --> 20:32.440 They're all dead. 20:32.440 --> 20:34.440 Aye. 20:34.440 --> 20:38.440 If something doesn't happen pretty soon, we'll be dead too. 20:38.440 --> 20:41.440 Makes for a very merry Christmas, Captain. 20:41.440 --> 20:42.440 Captain. 20:42.440 --> 20:45.440 I hear it. The ice breaking. 20:45.440 --> 20:49.440 How long do you think our iron plates will last against this, Captain? 20:49.440 --> 21:07.440 Great cracks opened in the ice, then out of the water through the openings another great mountain of ice would rise, great slabs would lift, and hundred yards wide, shattered, upended, and sank into the churning water. All around us great jagged fingers of ice crashed them. 21:07.440 --> 21:13.440 Fall hands up and into the ice! Fall hands up and into the ice! Fall hands up and into the ice! 21:13.440 --> 21:16.440 Do it! Get your tops! We're going out on the ice too. 21:16.440 --> 21:17.440 Yes, sir. 21:17.440 --> 21:24.440 I could feel the ship jarring loose under me, and suddenly the Jessica red sharp lit right there across the deck. 21:24.440 --> 21:38.440 The last sound in my ears was that of the Jessica tearing loose from the ice. 21:38.440 --> 21:48.440 Slowly I became aware of pain in my leg, then of movement. I opened my eyes, the Captain was helping me to walk. 21:48.440 --> 21:58.440 I looked into the winter darkness for the familiar sight of the Jessica. I saw nothing. Nothing but ice. 21:58.440 --> 22:00.440 Skipper. 22:00.440 --> 22:03.440 Huh? You're feeling better, lad? 22:03.440 --> 22:05.440 What about the ship? 22:05.440 --> 22:06.440 Gone down. 22:06.440 --> 22:08.440 And they? The rest of the men? 22:08.440 --> 22:15.440 I don't know. Gone. The flow separated. Most of them were on the other side. 22:15.440 --> 22:19.440 Where? Where are we walking to? 22:19.440 --> 22:26.440 I don't know. I don't know. 22:26.440 --> 22:36.440 We walked on and on, climbing jagged hubbocks of ice, falling through thin spots, legs got wet, froze. 22:36.440 --> 22:47.440 We beat the ice off and we kept walking, walking in circles through the arctic night, endless circles. 22:47.440 --> 22:57.440 We'll rest a bit. Rest. Sleep. Up in the ice. Warm, comforting ice. 22:57.440 --> 23:02.440 No, no, don't sleep. 23:02.440 --> 23:16.440 My eyes grew heavy. I craved sleep. But the sleep was to die. I was ready. 23:16.440 --> 23:22.440 In the sky over the horizon. A star. 23:22.440 --> 23:32.440 The night was overcast. There were no other stars. Just, just one. Bright in the distance. I could see it. 23:32.440 --> 23:45.440 I, I, I stood. It was still there. A bright star over the horizon. 23:45.440 --> 23:55.440 Captain! Up on your feet, Captain! We're going to keep walking. Walking. Where? 23:55.440 --> 24:00.440 That way toward that, that star. 24:00.440 --> 24:08.440 We walked on, slowly. I carried the skipper, unconscious now. What, oh what could it be? 24:08.440 --> 24:25.440 There were no lights in the arctic, no stars through the overcast. But we kept moving. And the star came closer. 24:25.440 --> 24:36.440 I couldn't believe what suddenly appeared. Through the darkness, directly beneath the star, with the vague outline of a ship. 24:36.440 --> 24:53.440 A ship. Mates! Mates, help! Help me! 24:53.440 --> 24:57.440 He's coming out of it. Stuart. Stuart. 24:57.440 --> 25:10.440 A ship. I saw. Darky. Halliday. I, in the flesh. I, I saw a ship. I know. You're on it. 25:10.440 --> 25:21.440 See? But, where did, did it come from? Not the Jessica. I know. At the Erebus. One of Franklin's ships. The one they deserted. 25:21.440 --> 25:31.440 Erebus. Where did it come from? Well, there we were. All of us. Except you and the captain lying on that flu. 25:31.440 --> 25:37.440 After the Jessica went down, ready to die just as we thought you had. And then just as graceful as you please, 25:37.440 --> 25:43.440 I see a ship drifting slowly out of the fog through the broken ice, right to us. But the captain, I left him out on the ice. 25:43.440 --> 25:51.440 He's all right. We brought him aboard. And pretty soon we'll be on our way home. The ice is open. We can get out. 25:51.440 --> 25:58.440 The Erebus will take us back. Now, how's that for a Christmas surprise? I followed the star. 25:58.440 --> 26:07.440 What? He's sleeping. What was that he said? He followed the star? 26:07.440 --> 26:14.440 They must have seen that lantern we hung from the main mast. We stuck it for a star. Oh. 26:14.440 --> 26:25.440 Saved his life. Come, the captain. Being that it's still Christmas, I guess you could call it a miracle, eh, Starkey? 26:25.440 --> 26:53.440 I... I guess you could at that, sir. 26:53.440 --> 26:59.440 Suspense presented by Auto Light, tonight's star, Mr. Joseph Cotton. 26:59.440 --> 27:07.440 This is Harlow Wilcox speaking for Auto Light, world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment. 27:07.440 --> 27:13.440 Auto Light is proud to serve the greatest names in the industry. They are members of the Auto Light family, 27:13.440 --> 27:22.440 as well as are the 98,000 Auto Light distributors and dealers in the United States and thousands more in Canada and throughout the world. 27:22.440 --> 27:31.440 Our family also includes the nearly 30,000 men and women in 28 great Auto Light plants from coast to coast and Auto Light plants in many foreign countries, 27:31.440 --> 27:37.440 as well as the 18,000 people who have invested a portion of their savings in Auto Light. 27:37.440 --> 27:45.440 Every Auto Light product is backed by constant research and precision built to the highest standards of quality and performance. 27:45.440 --> 27:58.440 So remember, from bumper to taillight, you're always right with Auto Light. 27:58.440 --> 28:08.440 Next week, a story from your morning newspaper. The dramatic expose of narcotics peddling among teenagers, as reported in Melody in Dreams. 28:08.440 --> 28:17.440 Our star, Mr. John Lund. That's next week on Suspense. 28:17.440 --> 28:24.440 Suspense is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis, with music composed by Lucian Morawick and conducted by Lud Bluskin. 28:24.440 --> 28:29.440 Arctic Rescue was written for Suspense by Gus C. Baze. 28:29.440 --> 28:38.440 Featured in tonight's cast were Joseph Kearns, Norma Varden, Lillian Bajoff, Fred McKay, Barney Phillips, Clayton Post, and Ben Wright. 28:38.440 --> 28:45.440 Joseph Cotton can currently be seen in the Burt Free Globe production, The Steel Cramp, a 20th Century Fox release. 28:45.440 --> 28:55.440 Remember next week, John Lund in Melody in Dreams. 28:55.440 --> 29:00.440 Eight million Americans are suffering from arthritis or rheumatism. 29:00.440 --> 29:05.440 Recent medical discoveries have given these people hope of cure from this crippling disease. 29:05.440 --> 29:13.440 You can help make this hope a reality by mailing a contribution to Arthritis Care of Your Local Postmasters. 29:13.440 --> 29:22.440 Friends, on behalf of the entire Auto Light family and all of us on Suspense, this is Harlow Wilcox wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas. 29:22.440 --> 29:26.440 Tonight, this is the CBS Radio Network.