~ -)> ww - + te enn “boy. scrambled ‘down. the A2 - Sunday, February 6, 1983 - North Shore News coat to let the cold Then he heard his 15-year- otd son, Randy, calling. Followed by his seenage Es indyan ‘strictly personal by Bob Hunter Almost too late... (continued from last Wednesday) FINDING HIMSELF washed up on a snowy beach off the coast of Alaska in February, and thinking his three children had drowned when their boat sank, Elmo Wortman had opened his ind finish him off. It was the teenagers who began to move out, pulling handfuls of mussels from the = s—BDuring fe previou two days’ storm, nobody had vation and cold took their toll, the Wortmans desperately lashed together an impossible raft, set out in winter temperatures, and fought their way against tide and wind through some of the most dangerous waters in the world. They survived on nothing but seaweed, b clams and mussels. Howling north wind In his book, Almost Too Late, Wortman writes that “trying to think was like trying to start a cold engine when the oil is too thick.” It seemed futile to him to try to survive. The kids had to force him to move. It might have been worse - - they at least had matches and some diesel fuel washed ashore in a can when their boat broke up in a freak storm in the mouth of Dixon Entrance, depositing them on a remote Alaskan beach in winter. But not much worse. Bits of sail, some rope. three foam pads, rubber tubing, a badly-damaged plastic punt, a container of corn oil, a Cheez Whiz jar, some seasoning for spaghetti sauce, six ruined apples and three onions — that was it. They did not even have a knife. been adie to eat. They had all been soaked in freezing water. And as they huddled around the fire, drifting snow piled up around them. Wortman knew enough about the geography of the area to suspect that they were not all that far from a friend’s cabin, but they would have to brave the open sea -— which meast building a raft. We have all had at least one experience of finding ourselves capable of rather superhuman strength or stamina -- invariably brought on by some- kind of emergency. The story of how this middle-aged man and _ his teenagers overcame a Series of obstacles that would have daunted even the Hobbits of Tolkien fame is one of the most gripping tales I've read in years. As the ravages of star- turned them back repeatedly. As they were forced to take what shelter they could on open beaches and coves, their strength began to fail. Their feet began to swell, gouges and scratches began to fester. 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