How to Survive if You Are Stranded on an Iceberg
1. Construct a Shelter.
For protection from the harsh climate, you must build a snow shelter immediately. Your iceberg should have plentiful amounts of snow, so construct either a snow cave (make a huge pile of snow, hollow it out, and crawl inside) or a snow trench (dig a deep channel in the snow, cover the top by stacking snow blocks or improvising a tarp out of material on hand, and crawling in). A snow trench requires less energy and time to construct, but will limit your range of movement and should only be used if you expect quick rescue.
2. Melt snow and ice to make water.
Place snow in a container and melt over a flame to create drinkable water. If snow is not available, scrape shavings from the topmost layer of ice. Though sea ice contains salt, over time the salt leeches from the ice due to surface melt, and the water from the top ice should be safe for drinking.
3. Cross icebergs to get closer to land.
Wind and ocean currents will keep icebergs in motion, often causing them to crash into one another. Step onto a new iceberg if it will bring you closer to a land mass. Use caution when crossing; the edges may be very slick, and the ice may be thin and prone to cracking or collapse. Do not jump onto a new iceberg. Test the strength of the ice by pressing lightly with a foot, then adding pressure slowly until you are certain it can support your weight.
4. Catch fish and seabirds.
Fashion a fishing rod with anything available (harpoon, spear, ski pole, or walking stick) and use it for fishing. Seabirds congregate on icebergs, and may be killed with ice balls.
After that, there's a picture of a dude stretched out that says, "Do not try to reach across icebergs".
5. Look for seals.
Seals eat fish, and you may be able to scare one away from a fresh catch. As a last resort, if you're likely to be rescued for a while and can't cross onto another iceberg, and only if your life is at risk, consider killing a seal. Seals can serve as both food and a source of fuel. Unless there is a surface melt, without a fuel source you will unable to melt snow and ice for drinking water and you will quickly die of dehydration. (Avoid sucking on ice: it will lead to hypothermia). Seals will occasionally jump on drifting icebergs to escape predators and may pop up through breath holes in the ice. While out of the water, seals are generally inactive and docile. Approach adults stealthily from the rear and kill using a club, harpoon, or homemade spear to the skull.
6. Make fuel from seal blubber.
Cut blubber (fat) from the seal carcass and place in the best bowl you can fashion. Using an implement, pound the blubber until it liquefies. Roll a small piece of material into a wick, place it in the blubber, and light.
7. Roast or boil seal meat for food.
8. Burn moist seal skins to create smoky signal fires during the day.
However, your best chance of polar rescue is from land. Just because a ship can see you on an iceberg does not mean it can rescue you.
Be Aware
- Small penguins are also good food source. Penguins have most of their strength in their flippers, however, so avoid by being bashed by a flipper when hunting by approaching from the rear and pinning wings to the sides. Avoid attacking from the front or you risk being badly "beaked".
- In antarctica, which is a frozen landmass surrounded by ice, icebergs tend to drift in a clockwise pattern around the South Pole, pushed by the circumpolar current. An iceberg may eventually pass a populated weather station or move into a shipping channel. (Weather and research stations may be located hundres of miles apart in polar regions). In the Arctic, which is a frozen sea, the currents also move clockwise, east to west, around the polar ice cap. However, the transpolar drift, a current that carries water and ice eastward from Siberia, may bring an iceberg down the east coast of Greenland into more populated areas. The trip from the edge of the Arctic may take several months
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