Died on the Ice Fields

DESCRIPTION: "The white, rugged ice-flow came gliding along" as Richard Parsons and his sons return home. The younger goes ahead. The elder complains he can't go on. Parsons tries to keep him warm. The younger dies on the way; the others are barely alive when found
AUTHOR: P. J. Dyer
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Murphy, Songs Sung By Old Time Sealers of Many Years Ago)
KEYWORDS: father children death hunting
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Ryan/Small-HaulinRopeAndGaff, pp. 39-40, "Died on the Ice Fields" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: James Murphy, editor, _Songs Sung by Old-TIme Sealers of Many Years Ago_, James Murphy Publishing, 1925 (PDF available from Memorial University of Newfoundland web site), p. 18, "Died on the Ice Fields" (1 text)
Roud #V44601
NOTES [69 words]: Murphy reports that this was based on an incident of March 24, 1894. Such stories are depressingly common in Newfoundland, where fathers and sons often went to the ice together; in the Newfounland disaster (for which see "The Newfoundland Disaster (I)"), there were multiple instances of family members together trapped on the ice, including at least one case of three family members dying in each others' arms. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: RySm039

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