Death of a Wooden Shoe - U.S. Coast Guard

July 24, Friday; Labrador Sea.
Drew more heavy duty clothing; a khaki-colored, fleece- lined, 3/4 length parka is
great. It fits atop everything else I choose to wear. It’s soft, fluffy interior makes it
easy to fall asleep in this man-made cocoon. Also received heavy army shoes.
Heavy but comfortable and excellent for walking. Hightop rubber boots. All great
stuff. I make immediate use of most of my allotment. Even my hair shivers when
the air is cold.
Most of the world’s weather is born north of here; the key to tomorrow’s weather
in the south. Off Greenland’s west coast, even in mid-summer, there is a wide
variety of weather from blustering storms to dense, blanketing fog, to bright warm
sunshine. The ice cap temperature can vary from 50 degrees to minus 80
degrees. This is understandable since most of the island lies under thick ice.
Not much activity today. Maybe this Greenland Patrol will turn out to be the
Greenland Gravy Train.
July 25, Saturday; Labrador Sea.
I awake to see icebergs to the glory! Big as mountains! I feel as though I am
watching a travelog movie. The sea is pitching and tossing something fierce! Up
we go to the heavens, then downward we plunge into hell. Surprisingly, I am not
seasick, but many are. The Nanok tosses and rolls at great angles. I wonder
what it would be like for the old girl to be fine-ground between two of these giant
bergs.
Grapevine says we should sight Greenland sometime tomorrow. It is supposed to
be just over the horizon. Only Maggie has ever seen Greenland before. The
thought of seeing honest-to-goodness Eskimos is very exciting. I feel like
Gunnbjorn must have. He was the first European known to have sighted the
island in about the year 900 A.D. He was a Norwegian blown off his course from
Iceland. He chose not to explore the vast unknown country he called "White Shirt
Land."
The next European to come along was one "Eric the Red." Eric, like myself, had
no choice but to do some exploring. I would guess our reasons differ. In my case,
my government chose to send me to the "White Shirt Land." In Eric’s case,
Iceland’s authorities pursued him with a manslaughter charge. To escape the
iron arms of the law, he fled and landed in Greenland. He was "Eric the Red
(because he had red hair) Thorvaldson." He renamed the White Shirt Land
"Greenland," for reasons of his own. My idea is that the man had an enormous
sense of humor and decided to call the land Greenland because it was all white
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