Imagine you were standing on a massive sheet of ice floating in the North Atlantic Ocean,

and your ship and only salvation was impossible to see in the snowstorm that surrounded you.

And every minute that went by was one minute closer to the frozen night, during which

some of the men with you wouldn't wake up in the morning.

This is the horrifying story of the men with you wouldn't wake up in the morning. This is the horrifying story of the

1914 sealing disaster. As always, viewer discretion is advised.

The commercial sealing industry was a thriving one early in the 20th century for the island of Newfoundland, which is a little island on the east coast of Canada.

And Newfoundland's capital city, St. John's, couldn't have been more perfectly placed geographically

for sealing companies.

Exiting the harbor there put ships right into the North Atlantic Ocean, which was abundant

with their catch, which was seals.

In recent decades, seal hunting has become highly controversial and for good reason, but more

than a hundred years ago, equate literally built communities like St. John's.

A significant percentage of its population were either actual

seal hunters or worked for a sealing company in some capacity, so it was hugely relied upon

by many. As you might imagine, the work of the average seal hunter was as grueling as it was

gruesome. It was messy, physical work with little safety regulation typical of the time period.

This often resulted

in overworked crews that spent up to 12 hours straight on sheets of ice known as ice flows.

Because that's where SEALs spend most of their time, seal hunters would be dropped off

on the ice and they'd have to walk miles to reach these herds. Then after a successful hunt,

they'd have to walk the same distance back to the ship.

...