Blue Ice is an illustrated biography based on the extraordinary diary of the late artist George A. Noseworthy. In 1970 he boarded the 253-foot "Chelsey A. Crosbie" out of St. John's, NL., bound for the ice-fields and the annual seal hunt off Northern Labrador and Newfoundland. Until this time, he was the only artist who had actually gone to "the front."

Blue Ice dramatically records Noseworthy's time in the wild. As he was portraying the life of the courageous sealers through his art, he was also recording the daily hunt in his journal.

"April 9,1790. We are jammed in ice over the Northern Bank of Newfoundland. Winds are gusting to 90 mph, accompanied by heavy snow; white-out conditions."

Later he recalls the fierceness of the storm and the effect it had on his psyche.

'The fury of the howling gale drove the snow horizontal, creating a wall of whiteness, and the wind shrieking around the deck sounded as if all the Banshees from Hell had been set free. The rigging moaned with a deep forlorn sound and a high pitched twang, created by the whipping radio antenna, added to the cacophony -- the ice rafting around the ship is now higher than the gunnels. If it gets any higher it will be on our decks. Most hands are getting more and more sleep."

Noseworthy never regretted going out with the sealers on the "Chelsey A. Crosbie," but he was not inclined to repeat the experience.

"Better to embrace a dream than accept the reality of our situation. I think prison would be better than being jammed in this ice, in a 253-foot coffin. I feel if an icebreaker doesn't get to us soon, either there will be a mutiny, or the ice will punch a hole in us for sure. I don't expect to see my home again. If Hell freezes over, it's ice like this that would do it."

Blue Ice is the true account of George Noseworthy's passion for adventure - and the men of Newfoundland's sealing industry whose bravery he immortalized in his art.

Noseworthy was born and grew up in St. John's, NL., and has been writing since grade school. After graduating from high school, she left the island, 'to see what was on the other side of the mountain', finally ending up in Kingston, On. In college, while pursuing full time studies in fine art, she also studied creative writing, under E.B. Brown, Queen's Unitersity, Kingston, and later enrolled at Stratford, where she studied creative writing, graduating with honors. This is her first full length novel.

Daphne divides her time between Ontario and Georgia, USA.

Daphne Noseworthy's profile page