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