Tuesday, October 5, 2010
By Aaron Vukelic
Leopard Seal Story Ending
..... was a leopard seal tooth sticking out of my leg! It was big and sharp. I started pulling it out slowly but it was very painful! Once the tooth was out, we examined my leg, it was horribly mangled and bleeding. Tim said “we need to wrap his leg tight with something to stop the bleeding.” We went through our bags, grabbed clothing and started ripping them into strips and tied off Carl’s leg as tight as we could and the bleeding stopped. This would help for now but we needed to get Carl back to the hut as soon as we could. I (me) couldn't walk so Steve and Tim had a brilliant idea to cut and rip their backpacks apart to make a makeshift support to drag me back to our science hut.
Tim and Steve started walking while dragging me. We have been walking for an hour and suddenly we see a leopard seal. We were scared! It’s like we couldn’t move, we were so afraid of another attack but we knew we had to try to get away. We tried to hurry past the leopard seal when suddenly we hear a loud CRACK! We looked at each other, and then suddenly Tim falls into the icy Atlantic waters! Tim screams and yells! “Help! Help! Get me out of here!” Steve pushes me out of the way, gets down on his stomach and slowly starts moving towards Tim who is frantically fighting to keep his head above the freezing waters. Steve yells “calm down Tim, you’ve got to stay calm.” “I’m coming to help you.” He eases his way to Tim as slowly and carefully as he can. Steve grabs Tim’s hand and slowly pulls him out of the water and immediately tries to think of how to get him warm.
Steve grabs their sleeping bags and begins bundling Tim up with them. They need to find shelter and get a fire going to get Tim dry and warm. Tim was shivering and shaking but he still tried to walk and even help to pull Carl. Steve was feeling very overwhelmed and worried for the lives of his two friends. Suddenly, Tim dropped to his knees. He couldn't go any further. He just sat there shivering. His face was pale and his lips were blue. We knew that Tim likely had hypothermia. Tim said “you need to go on and get Carl (me) to the hut before he dies of blood loss.” We covered Tim up and told him that we would send help as soon as we got back. Carl said “be strong and hold on Tim, we’ll be back before you know it.” Deep down inside we both knew that he probably wouldn’t be alive when we got back to him. Steve struggled pulling Carl (me) by himself and all he could think about was that he may lose a valuable partner, friend and co-worker. We didn’t want to leave Tim behind but there was nothing else we could do for him.
Steve and I continued on and after a few miles had passed, we spotted a man with a dog sled team in the distance. We started yelling, screaming and waving our arms frantically trying to get his attention. He finally noticed us and we were so relieved to feel that there was someone coming to help us. We told him what’s happened to us so far, he realized this was a very serious situation. He told us his name was Peter Rook and that he was a wild life biologist. He agreed to help us so we moved Carl (me) onto Peter’s dog sled and made the journey back to camp. Peter said that it was more than likely that hypothermia had set in and taken Tim’s life by now and that we needed to get help for Carl (me) before he bled to death.
It was getting dark and Peter said” we need to set up camp for the night there was a storm blowing in.” We needed to seek shelter. I said “where do we find shelter in the middle of nowhere?” Peter said” I know where a cave is not too far away,” and he took us there. It seemed like we were there in no time at all. We went over to the cave and went inside. Peter immediately began to make a fire from moss and kindling. In a very short time, we could hear the winds blowing and we knew the storm was coming. We blocked the opening and soon the fire was roaring and we felt warm and comfortable for the first time that day. Peter pulled some canned goods such as beans and soups from his bag and cooked them on the fire. We were feeling so warm and comfortable, we began to talk more about our journey when Peter had noticed that the bandaging of Carl’s leg was not very good. He asked if he could see it. Peter could see that the big gaping wound was still oozing a lot of blood. He had an idea to use the metal rod from his tent, heat it red hot in the fire and burn all of the blood vessel endings of the wound to stop the bleeding. I (Carl) was feeling quite weak at this time because of all the blood loss already and knew that it could help me to live so I agreed to it. I don’t think I (Carl) had ever experienced so much pain in my life but it worked. When Peter was done, he wrapped it very well, confident that the bleeding had stopped. Now that they knew I (Carl) was going to make it through the night, they lay down, exhausted and fell asleep.
Morning came and as we cleared the opening to the cave, we saw that the storm had passed and the sun was shining. We packed up our things into Peters sled and went on our way. As we headed towards camp, we noticed the beautiful sunrise and it was the most amazing thing we had ever seen. Steve and I were very happy to be getting home after our experience but we couldn’t help but think about Tim and wonder if he had survived the storm. We were sledding for about an hour when I heard Steve yell “There it is! We’re back! “We were so happy we could have cried. When we arrived, there were so many people that came running to greet us. They had been worried that we all had died in the storm. As soon as Peter dropped us off, he headed out to find Tim. Steve rushed to the radio to call an emergency helicopter for Carl (me).
Fortunately, I was okay, thanks to Peter stopping the bleeding when he did. I will never forget my encounter with the leopard seal. I will always have my souvenir of the leopard seal tooth and the scars from it in my leg. Unfortunately, when Peter found Tim, he has already passed on. He will always be remembered for his courage and strength on this journey.
The End
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Daniel's story -HOPE-
In chapter 5, Daniel's father said that the radio was really important to the family. He said that it gave them hope and...
"Hope was more important than bread."
What did he mean? Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
I think Daniel's father meant that the radio was their hope and their hope was escaping from the work camp. Escaping is much more important than bread (food) because they would have a better chance of survival without food then staying at the work camps. I agree with this statement because if they do not escape the work camps they will have a small chance of survival. They would die by disease, cold, starvation,and they would most likely die sooner than later. The gaurds would most likely kill them if they started to look to unhealthy or sick.
By: me Aaron ^.^
"Hope was more important than bread."
What did he mean? Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
I think Daniel's father meant that the radio was their hope and their hope was escaping from the work camp. Escaping is much more important than bread (food) because they would have a better chance of survival without food then staying at the work camps. I agree with this statement because if they do not escape the work camps they will have a small chance of survival. They would die by disease, cold, starvation,and they would most likely die sooner than later. The gaurds would most likely kill them if they started to look to unhealthy or sick.
By: me Aaron ^.^
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
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