 Autolight and its 98,000 dealers bring you Mr. Joseph Cotton in tonight's presentation of Suspense 100 years ago this week a group of brave men risked their lives in a desperate effort to save their fellow men Tonight Autolight honors this centennial with a dramatic recreation of their attempted Arctic rescue our star mr. Joseph Cotton Oh, what's in the package? Ah the world's best Christmas present hat whoo for whoo 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 It sure is a real press right you are happy 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 cold Flaking and give longer life has proved by tests conducted according to accepted life cycle standards Where can I find this famous battery? Hello under the hoods of millions of cars and that's 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 that's for operator 25 I'll gladly tell you the name of your nearest auto light battery dealer where you can get an auto light 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 An 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 figures of two men One twisted in an unconscious heat is our skipper Jonathan Blake The other figure Gerald Stewart first made me It makes a good sorry picture Civilized men in a primitive wilderness of ice waiting helplessly for death I Sorry 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. Hi, Lady Franklin. We must take the high tide May God and His great mercy protect you and your men from the peril that you wait you the men are prepared for hardships Lady Franklin shall succeed where the others have failed in ending the mystery of the Arabus and terror hi back to 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, Mrs. Stewart for all of us. Thank you, Miss Cracow I'll stand many a watch out at sea thinking of last night the ball Dancing in you That is all of us will I mean what my first maid 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 great for one captain plate Please bring them all home safely. Oh come now lady Franklin No need for why if Jessica's a sturdy ship and the men are in good health and lofty spirits. We'll be back by Christmas. You'll see We must be on our way then good bye and good luck captain. Bye lady Franklin. Miss Cracow. Good bye 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 Darkie. Yes, sir. Dr. Gangway. Yes, sir. All hands at their morning station. Mr. Stewart. Yes, sir Then pass the orders to cast off. Nice sir. All hands prepare to cast off But go one and two but go three and four Hi Well, mr. Stewart fill your eyes with the sight of New York the last of it you'll be saying was some time to come I Good long time. I am sir As the Jessica moved slowly to the outer harbor, I watched a tiny delicate white dot in the crowd as before She stood there beside Lady Franklin waving And I wiped 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 Courage should any sudden disaster occur The first three weeks of navigating Merely a matter of settling down to ship's routine on June 30th after officers mess We cited 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'm 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 terror 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 in his great mercy preserve you all from harm amidst the perils which await Restore you to us safely and in health as well as honor You're sincere and attached friend These are the only written instructions I have gentlemen and now then mr. Stewart the map Yes, sir. That is gentlemen the most recent Admiralty map of the Arctic regions that we are approaching. Ah, it's almost completely blank Hi, mr. Halliday thousands of miles of uncharted wilderness and somewhere in that frozen tundra Sir John Franklin and his men vanished our search will begin tomorrow when we drop anchor in God have We'll pick up our ice pilot. Mr. Patrick Hanson's additional supplies and then make for the Arctic Circle Arctic Circle Sounds like the edge of the world a steward. Yeah, a little frightening too. You frightened. Mr. Halliday. Bower 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 here Through Lancaster Sound. Ah, and he must have passed Pond's Bay here And according to our formation their Eskimos at Pond's Bay 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. Hi In the winter the seas are covered with great ice flows 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 we were never here from again, exactly Well, that'll give you a brief idea of what we're in 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 Noon the next day we dropped anchor in the harbor at Goddard Here we would take on coal additional weather clothing dogs and Eskimo drivers and mr. Hanson our ice pilot Goddard was nothing more than a few huts of the baffin bay trading company And as we prepared to go ashore our longboat suddenly appeared alongside Hi and Patrick Hanson your ice pilot sir We were about to send the boat ashore for you, mr. Hanson no time for that captain But we planned on picking up supplies and dogs. They 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 better get up there while they got the summer weathering you bet All right, so we run into a little summer ice that jessica's prepared for that Yeah, she looks like 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 her hull as well as added bracing four chip and the four ten feet of the bow is 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 our ship even an iron ship mr. Stewart Uh, mr. Hanson you received my letters. Uh, and you made inquiries about the arabus and terra Yeah, they have us here. They couldn't get dogs. So they headed for ponds bay across baffin bay. That's right Just as we thought mr. Halliday. Hi, sir. Get those supplies aboard then prepare the ship to sea right away Sir at once sure. Yeah, sir. You can chart a course for us We'll cross the arctic circle next and on to ponds bay We set it north by northwest course leaving the last outpost of civilization behind us and crossed the great baffin day 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 Out of to ponds bay six and a half days perfect calm Upon landing we found a small contingent of vescomos, 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 Okay, oh what's she saying mr. Hanson? I'm not sure. Oh captain. Look she has something in her hand. She wants us to look at it It's a small brass button from a naval uniform. Hi See she'll trade it for some sewing needles What does she mean by that? You're sick. She's trying to say mine's name Children of Gallagher Stuart is that name on sir john's coolest? I'm uh looking sir Yes, sir. Yes, it's here quartermaster joseph gallagher. They've been here I better get back to the ship man looks like a gale brewing Oh, uh, let her keep the button steward and give her the needles. Yes, sir After leaving ponds bay two months past without incident Then we entered lancas the sound and approached the scarcely chartered islands along barrow strait There we we 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 bassist island The last of the chartered islands on my map Then on september 10th weather change Northwest gales sleep and heavy fogs that force us to a bare crawl and even worse Mammoth ice flows that closed in all around us I'm mr. Stuart. Yes, sir. Keep an eye on the temperature. I am sir Quartermaster starboard six degrees This leads you've been getting smaller all the time captain. The temperature is still dropping Kind of above zero. What do you think of this lead hanssen? It may be the better back out of here back out. Take a look at stern hanssen back out where captain Oh, what is it out there? The rudder will not respond six below sir The lead is getting smaller captain. Hi Hi 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 the ship gave up to the ice Brutiny no I Stop engines mr. Stuart. Yes, sir Hey captain blake Looks like they can forget about looking for sir yarn fraglin in his ships Now that we've frozen in we're going to have to look out for our own lives. You bet 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 half. 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 louis's production of arctic rescue a true story Well calculated to keep you in suspense September 10th 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 money from gangrens Conditions aboard the jessica were deplorable. I thought they couldn't get worse. October came november December and we've heard of home in the holidays and of lady frankman and miss craycroft 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 all-for-fail and minced meat the cook made pies And we had us a celebration christmas day 1852 Man man the captain has a word to say I Drop below to offer you my greetings on this holiday And I wish you a much happier christmas next year Receive 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 hammock and occasionally bare meat and seal blubber No more lime juice this means scurvy The year also served the loss of 11 men the doctor and the ice pilot hansen among them Two in a chase for the pull of the air 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 peal sound We saw the shores of king williams island The captain sent hallowday and three men on sledge to look for food depots or rock care and anything They returned today. What'd you find it hallowday then a care? We also found empty pemicin cans and fits a ship's timber Sure Listen to this It was written by franklin himself 1851 latitude 69 degrees longitude 98 degrees west hms terrors sank When ice broke Erebus still frozen in beset since april 12th 1850 We are deserting the Erebus Attempting overland march to backs fish river to adson's bay If unheard from when disfound We must be considered lost Sir john franklin captain hms erebus Who we've found that became for I They're all dead something doesn't happen pretty soon. We'll be dead too Makes for a very merry christmas captain Captain I heard 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 slab 100 yards wide Shattered up ended and sank into the churning water all around this great jacket fingers of ice crashed It's a touch we're going out on the ice too Jarring who's under the insult with the jessica red sharp withdrawing the across bed The last found in my ears was out of the jessica tariff loose from the ice Came 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 No feeling better than 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 We walked on and on Climbing jagged hubbock's of ice Falling through thin spots legs got wet frozen We beat the ice off and we We kept walking Walking in circles in the arctic night endless circles We'll rest a bit. Ah rest Sleep a bit in the ice Warm comforting ice. No don't don't don't sleep too 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 the head Of bright star over the horizon Captain On your feet captain. We're going to keep walking Walking That way toward that That star We walked on Slowly, I carried the skipper unconscious now. What? Oh, what could it be? There are no lights of 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 I saw Darkie Holiday I in the flesh. I saw a ship. I know you're on it But where did it come from? Not the Jessica. I know At the arabus one of franklin ships the one they deserted arabus Where did it come from? Well, there we were All of us except you and the captain lying on that flue After the jessica went down ready to die just as we thought you had And then just as graceful as you please is he a ship drifting slowly out of the fog through the broken ice right to us 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 Oh, hi The ice is open. You can get out here. Abus will take us back. Now. How's that for a christmas surprise? I follow 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 mistook it for a star Oh Saved his life come the captain Being that it's still christmas, I guess you could call it the Miracle, eh darkie I I guess you could do that sir a spence Presented by autolite tonight star mr. joseph cotton This is harlow wilcox speaking for autolite world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment Autolite is proud to serve the greatest names in the industry They are members of the autolite family as well as are the 98 thousand autolite 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 autolite plants from coast to coast And autolite plants in many foreign countries as well as the 18 000 people who have invested a portion of their savings in autolite Every autolite product is backed by constant research And precision built to the highest standards of quality and performance So remember from bumper to tail light. You're always right with autolite You 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 morrowick and conducted by lutz luskin Arctic rescue was written for suspense by gus c bays Featured in tonight's cast where joseph curns norma varden lilyan bayef thred mackay barney phillips platenpost and ben right Joseph cotton can currently be seen in the burt freed lobe production the steel trap for 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 postmaster Friends on behalf of the entire autolite family and all of us on suspense This is harlow wilcox wishing all of you a very merry christmas. Good night. This is the cbs radio network You