The true story of Hugh Glass - a man who managed to survive a fight with a bear. The True Story of "The Revenant": What Really Happened to Hugh Glass Glass's Story

Elizaveta Buta

Survivor Hugh Glass. True story

Those who have been beaten by life will achieve more,

He who has eaten a pound of salt values honey more highly,

He who shed tears laughs sincerely,

He who has died knows that he lives.

1859 Napa Valley

In the last days of summer, the Napa Valley was literally drenched in sunshine. Every square centimeter of George Yount's vast domain was basking in the pre-sunset rays. The air was filled with lively and somehow melancholy sounds. It seemed that with the onset of evening everything here plunged into a light slumber, systematically flowing into deep sleep. Somewhere in the distance, a newly built mill rumbled, the dissatisfied cries of hired workers could be heard, and endless plantations of ripening grapes could be seen. Yount recently completed construction of his own winery. This year he planned to make his first batch of wine.

The valley was safely bypassed by the Gold Rush, and trappers had nothing to do here. More precisely, ten years ago it was impossible to meet a pale-faced person here at all. And a clash with the Redskins also seemed unlikely. The deserted but fertile land of the Napa Valley belonged to Mexico. When George Yount decided he had had enough adventure for his life, he remembered his old connections and turned to an old friend for help. He helped him get sixteen and a half acres of land that no one needed. So George Yount became the first official settler of the Napa Valley. Of course, people already lived here, but there were so few of them that Yunt could rightfully consider himself a conqueror of endless spaces. The improbably rapidly aging fellow trappers, the adventurers whose golden age had ended many years ago, disapproved of Yount's decision to become a farmer. However, everyone has their own path, and it is not for them to judge Yunt. Eventually, even the legendary John Colter returned to St. Louis, got married and became an ordinary farmer. True, it only lasted for a few years. The unprepossessing and hard life quickly killed the legendary trapper. Literally three years after retiring, Colter fell ill with jaundice and died somewhere near New Haven.

George Yount was so busy building a farm that he did not even notice how several years of his life had passed. Not the most disgusting ones, I must admit. He was rightfully considered here the most respected person in the city, or rather, in a small settlement, but that’s not so important. He liked to spend evenings on the small terrace of his house. Old friends, local residents, heads of administrations from neighboring settlements and young adventurers often visited him. The latter came here mainly in search of accommodation for the night. The Yount Ranch was open to anyone who needed it. George Yount's only requirement was these evening gatherings on the terrace of his Napa Valley home. Here, together with the guest, according to the old trapper habit, they lit a pipe, and Yount started his endless stories. He was an excellent storyteller, so guests listened with pleasure to stories from half a century ago. Fifty percent of them were complete fiction, but exactly the same amount of them were true. Now, contemplating the surprisingly calm expanses flooded with an endlessly joyful sun, all the stories about the legendary trappers and great expeditions seemed even too realistic. Even if all this did not really happen, all these legends would simply need to be invented for such sunny and quiet evenings of the last days of summer.

In that distant year of 1859, the famous writer and no less famous adventurer named Henry Dana decided to stay at the Yunta ranch. He was a thin, gloomy man in his early forties with a very heavy look. He wore his hair long and was always dressed in a formal suit, topped off with a bowler hat that hid his receding hairline. It was already difficult to discern in him the completely insane guy who abandoned his studies at a prestigious university to serve as a sailor on a merchant ship. And yet he was not adapted to a quiet and measured life. Henry Dana had been a fairly successful politician in Massachusetts for many years. He came to California in connection with some business. Having learned that the legendary George Yount, famous for his stories about trappers, lived nearby, Dana decided to stay at the Yount ranch for some time. All these stories could easily make up more than one book.

Have you ever heard of a man who killed a bear with his bare hands? - Henry asked Dana that evening. They sat on the terrace, George's wife brought them young, even too young, wine, and the conversation smoothly turned to times long past.

I even know a couple of such daredevils,” George chuckled, “the banks of Missouri are full of grizzlies.” Almost every trapper has encountered them, although most often the fight ended before it began. If the bear did attack, the result was not difficult to predict, but sometimes you were lucky. Jedediah Smith, one of Ashley's hundred, killed a bear, Hugh Glass...

I read about a man who killed a bear with one knife. He was considered dead and left, but he crawled three hundred kilometers and still survived. - Henry Dana even leaned forward a little from the curiosity that burned him. He read that story in one of the magazines. It was published by a journalist, a collector of stories, back in the 1820s. Moreover, the author of the article was not at all interested in the man who defeated the grizzly bear. The journalist did not even mention his name at that time, limiting himself to only describing the fight itself. Henry Dana remembered that story for the rest of his life, but did not even hope to find out the details of that man’s life.

His name was Hugh Glass,” George Yount nodded slowly. - A man of amazing honesty. Do you know what the trappers said about him? Born to run. His story began long before the fight with the bear.

1823

Dying is only difficult the first time. Then it turns into a game. Fate loves it when there is a person who challenges it. She always takes the fight. She likes to watch with interest how a person tries to deceive her. No one has ever succeeded in doing this, but sometimes, very rarely, fate gives in to the crazy people desperately trying to overtake it at a turn.

An incomprehensible creature came out into a clearing near the shore of the majestic Grand River. Without a doubt, a predator. Dangerous. All wrapped in the skins of the animals he killed. These predators appeared here recently. They were very similar to the Arikara Indians, to whom the local forests were already accustomed. Yet these predators were different from the Indians. They were much more dangerous and ruthless. Their weapons were capable of destroying any beast in just an instant.

Hugh Glass peered with horror into the shining, black eyes of the bear. The grizzly watched the creature with no less horror. This continued for one, very long moment. Then the clearing was poisoned by the monstrous scream of Hugh Glass. This voice literally destroyed the poor animal’s hearing. All her instincts begged her to run away from here. Then a small, one-year-old bear cub came into the bear’s field of vision. The second one carelessly hobbled towards an incomprehensible creature wrapped in the skins of local animals. The she-bear's instincts instantly changed her mind. She must protect her children, so she cannot run. The animal growled with no less frenzy.

Hugh Glass knew very well that when meeting a bear in the forest, it was important to scare the animal. This is the only chance for salvation. Only this time this technique did not work. The scream undoubtedly scared the grizzly, but she had no intention of running. Two one-year-old bear cubs deprived her of this opportunity. One of the most dangerous and unpredictable animals in the world accepted his challenge. He saw it in the grizzly bear's brilliant black eyes. Just a couple of seconds to reload the gun. He was an excellent hunter, so this was not a problem. As soon as the bear took the first, cautious step towards Hugh, he fired. There was a dull sound, barely audible against the background of the cacophony of screams. Misfire.

Two men ran out into the clearing. They ran to the heartbreaking screams coming from the clearing. One was a little older. His face had long been frozen with indifferent disgust towards what was happening. The second is still just a boy with tousled hair.

These two did not cause fear to the bear. They didn't scream. The bear bent slightly and in one jump overtook Glass. The trapper managed to get his last hope for the fight. Dying is not scary if you know that the last moments of your life will be spent in battle. Glass managed to stick his hunting knife into the animal’s chest. The bear roared in pain. Popping sounds were heard from somewhere on the other side. He didn't even have time to realize that these were shots. His entire consciousness was swallowed up by the giant mouth of a bear with fangs bared in rage.

The bullet that hit the target left the bear no chance to live. There were only a few moments of agony left in her arsenal. In a futile rage, she gathered the strength that was leaving her and struck the most dangerous of the predators in the clearing. Her claws ran down the entire right side of Glass's body. Behind the claws there were deep grooves from which blood flowed. Dying, the bear was still able to neutralize at least one of the trappers in the clearing. This left a chance for life for her children.

Citizenship: Date of death:

The detachment set out on a campaign at the beginning of 1823. While moving up the river, the hunters became involved in a conflict with local Arikara Indians, as a result of which several members of the expedition were killed and Glass was wounded in the leg. In August, reinforcements called by General Ashley arrived and defeated the Indians in battle, after which fourteen people (including Glass) separated from the main detachment. Led by Major Henry, they decided to follow their own route. The plan was to head up the Grand River and then turn north to the mouth of the Yellowstone, where Fort Henry was located.

Fight with a bear

A few days later, Henry's detachment approached the fork of the Grand River (currently this territory, along with the Shadehill Reservoir located on it, is part of Perkins County). Glass, while picking berries away from the camp, unexpectedly came across a grizzly bear with two cubs. The animal attacked before Glass could use his gun and inflicted deep wounds on the hunter with its claws. Glass, however, managed to grab a knife, which he used to defend himself from the bear, while simultaneously calling for help. The comrades who came running to the cry killed the bear, but Glass had already lost consciousness.

Major Henry was convinced that a man with such wounds would not live more than a day or two, so he decided to leave two volunteers with Glass who would bury him when he died while the main party continued their journey. John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger volunteered. After the major's departure, they dug a grave for Glass and began to await his death. Five days later, Fitzgerald, fearing that they might be discovered by the Arikara, convinced young Bridger to leave Glass and follow Major Henry. Since both believed that the hunter would die anyway, they took with them all his equipment, including a rifle, a pistol and a knife. Meeting with the major, they informed him that Glass had died.

Travel to Fort Kiowa

In reality, Glass survived. Having regained consciousness, he found himself completely alone, deprived of all equipment, water and food. In addition, his leg was broken, and deep wounds on his back reached to his ribs. The nearest settlement, Fort Kiowa, was more than 200 miles (over 320 km) to the southeast, on the banks of the Missouri.

In popular culture

Glass's biography formed the basis of the adventure novel "Wild Lands", written by the famous American science fiction writer Roger Zelazny in collaboration with Gerald Houseman. In the novel, Glass's fate is described in parallel with the story of another famous pioneer, John Coulter, who in 1809 ran naked for more than 5 miles, pursued by Blackfeet Indians, and then spent eleven days, without clothing or equipment, traveling through the wilderness to the nearest populated area.

Literature

Bradley, Bruce. Hugh Glass. - Monarch Press, 1999. - ISBN 0-9669005-0-2

Links

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See also: Portal "Indians" Portal "Wild West"

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Books

Survivor Hugh Glass. The real story, Buta Elizaveta Mikhailovna, The lands of the Wild West of America are the lot of real men. Wimps and weaklings cannot survive here. Fight hand-to-hand with an angry grizzly bear, relying only on a hunting knife - and survive... Category:

Current page: 1 (book has 15 pages total) [available reading passage: 10 pages]

Elizaveta Buta
Survivor Hugh Glass. True story

* * *

Those who have been beaten by life will achieve more,

He who has eaten a pound of salt values honey more highly,

He who shed tears laughs sincerely,

He who has died knows that he lives.

Omar Khayyam

Prologue

1859 Napa Valley

The Gold Rush safely bypassed the valley, and the trappers 1
Trapper ( English. trap - "trap") - a hunter of fur-bearing animals in North America.

Hunters of fur-bearing animals had nothing to do here. More precisely, ten years ago it was impossible to meet a pale-faced person here at all. And a clash with the Redskins also seemed unlikely. The deserted but fertile land of the Napa Valley belonged to Mexico. When George Yount decided he had had enough adventure for his life, he remembered his old connections and turned to an old friend for help. He helped him get sixteen and a half acres of land that no one needed. So George Yount became the first official settler of the Napa Valley. Of course, people already lived here, but there were so few of them that Yunt could rightfully consider himself a conqueror of endless spaces. The improbably rapidly aging fellow trappers, the adventurers whose golden age had ended many years ago, disapproved of Yount's decision to become a farmer. However, everyone has their own path, and it is not for them to judge Yunt. Eventually, even the legendary John Colter returned to St. Louis, got married and became an ordinary farmer. True, it only lasted for a few years. The unprepossessing and hard life quickly killed the legendary trapper. Literally three years after retiring, Colter fell ill with jaundice and died somewhere near New Haven.

-Have you ever heard of a man who killed a bear with his bare hands? – Henry asked Dana that evening. They sat on the terrace, George's wife brought them young, even too young, wine, and the conversation smoothly turned to times long past.

“I even know a couple of such daredevils,” George chuckled, “the banks of the Missouri are full of grizzly bears.” Almost every trapper has encountered them, although most often the fight ended before it began. If the bear did attack, the result was not difficult to predict, but sometimes you were lucky. Jedediah Smith, one of Ashley's hundred, killed a bear, Hugh Glass...

– I read about a man who killed a bear with one knife. He was considered dead and left, but he crawled three hundred kilometers and still survived. – Henry Dana even leaned forward a little from the curiosity that burned him. He read that story in one of the magazines. It was published by a journalist, a collector of stories, back in the 1820s. Moreover, the author of the article was not at all interested in the man who defeated the grizzly bear. The journalist did not even mention his name at that time, limiting himself to only describing the fight itself. Henry Dana remembered that story for the rest of his life, but did not even hope to find out the details of that man’s life.

“His name was Hugh Glass,” George Yount nodded slowly. - A man of amazing honesty. Do you know what the trappers said about him? Born to run. His story began long before the fight with the bear.

1823

An incomprehensible creature came out into a clearing near the shore of the majestic Grand River. Without a doubt, a predator. Dangerous. All wrapped in the skins of the animals he killed. These predators appeared here recently. They looked a lot like the Arikara Indians. 2
Arikara, Ri - a group of closely related Indian tribes speaking the language of the Arikaraddoan family.

To which the local forests are already accustomed. Yet these predators were different from the Indians. They were much more dangerous and ruthless. Their weapons were capable of destroying any beast in just an instant.

In an instant everything became silent. The bear let out a final wheezing roar and exhaled. She lost, just as every living thing in the world would one day lose, just as Hugh Glass was losing now. These are the last minutes of his life. He was aware of this.

As soon as the animal stopped showing signs of life, two trappers rushed to pull off the giant carcass. Hugh Glass welcomed his agony. Jim Bridger suddenly appeared before his eyes. The boy who became his son in the few months that they knew each other. The clearing was flooded with the midday sun. Glass did not feel pain, but the fear of the unknown still splashed in his eyes, gradually giving way to humility. After all, he lived an interesting life. So...why not?

Part one. Pirate

Chapter 1. Childhood. Philadelphia

Hugh Glass fought a bear at the age of thirty-six. Who would have thought that a boy who was destined for a completely quiet, unremarkable life would turn into a desperate adventurer, a trapper, the greatest of mountain men? 3
Mountainmen, mountain people, highlanders ( English Mountain, men) were hunters, pioneers and fur traders in the Wild West of the United States who flocked to the Rocky Mountain region in search of valuable furs in the early 19th century.

No one, except perhaps Hugo Glass himself.

Philadelphia in the 1780s and 1790s was one of the largest cities in the United States. From 1775 to 1783, this city served as the capital of the “united colonies”, and a little later in 1790 it became the temporary capital of the newly formed state. The largest trading port, located in an unusually flat area for this area, became a refuge for emigrants from all over the Old World. The city was literally swarming with merchants, swindlers, bandits, pirates, businessmen, aristocrats and adventurers.

Here in 1783, Hugh Glass was born into a family of Irish emigrants who fled from annoying creditors. One of five children in the family. From birth he was labeled as a difficult teenager.

The Glass family in Ireland were famous for their weapons. They made the best guns in the country, light and strong, they very rarely misfired. However, life played a bad joke on them. It remains unknown to history how the Glass family suddenly went bankrupt overnight. There was only one way out. Escape from the island. Further away. Preferably overseas. It was rumored that there, in North America, people, almost stepping off the ramp of a ship, get a fortune. And the Glasses desperately needed a second chance, at least a minimal opportunity to start over from scratch.

Philadelphia generously gave them this opportunity. The months-long voyage in the hold of the ship was difficult for the family. The chances of surviving such a journey are no greater than winning at Russian roulette. The Glass family managed to avoid serious losses.

At the dawn of the formation of the United States of America, the Glass family settled in one of the less prestigious areas of the largest city. In just a couple of years, the father of the family managed to make a small fortune and open a shop selling a variety of foodstuffs.

Hugo Glass began to surprise his parents from the first years of his life. A smart, intelligent boy, he was fascinated by maritime affairs from birth. At first, the boy's parents did not pay attention to this, but the older Hugh became, the more often he could be found on the banks of the Schuylkill River, the largest tributary of the Delaware River.

From time to time, a family friend came to see them; according to another version, a distant relative who was engaged in maritime trade. Every time he found himself in Philadelphia, he certainly stopped at the Glasses. Of course, he brought with him many different gifts, but the most important advantage of his appearance were endless stories about distant shores and incomprehensible customs of other countries. And once he gave Hugh some very practical advice, which he, however, did not pay any attention to at first. What to take from a five-year-old boy? I remembered the words of a family friend a couple of days later. Together with their parents they went out of town. While his parents were arguing passionately about something, Hugh decided to take a walk along a small path. Very soon he became completely and irrevocably lost. For a five-year-old child, the forest instantly turned into a gloomy and formidable enemy who wanted to destroy it without fail. I wanted to run away, but where?

“Sooner or later, all roads lead to people, Hugh.” The main thing here is just to find the way,” a family friend, whose name remains unknown to history, told him a couple of days ago. Hugh stood on the road, but he didn’t know where exactly to go. Deciding that the main thing was to simply move forward, he continued on his first great journey. Five hours later, the family friend's words were confirmed. Hugh came out to a small village consisting of several houses. Here he was noticed and taken to his relatives. It turned out that they were not that far away, the path just took too big a detour.

In matters of study, Hugh proved himself to be a very obstinate child. He flatly refused to study theology, which literally infuriated his Sunday school teachers. The boy also listed spelling and language learning as his least favorite subjects. But he studied mathematics and cartography with great pleasure. Discipline was lame on both legs. Hugh constantly ran away from home, categorically did not want to do his homework and listened with horror in his eyes that they intended to send him to training as a gunsmith. In fact, the position is no better than a slave, and for many years, if not for life.

This went on for a little over a year. Everything changed when Hugh turned thirteen. That year his mother fell ill. The cholera epidemic then claimed many lives. Hugh's mother suffered for several weeks. Anticipating the imminent end, she called Hugh to her and, in a voice choked from excessive tension, gave life instructions.

“Study theology, pray, help your father...” she quietly asked. The boy's face showed nothing but despair at the inability to help in any way. The woman pointed to an antique music box that stood next to her bed and asked her to take it for herself. So that Hugh does not forget about his roots. The next day the woman fell into unconsciousness.

The fever lasted three days, and on the fourth day she died. Everyone Hugh Glass had ever loved died or betrayed him. His path seemed never to lead to people. That incident in the forest is just the exception that confirms the rule. The father began to pick up the bottle more and more often, the family's income dropped sharply, and Hugh began to be beaten often.

The day his mother passed away changed Hugh Glass's world forever. It seemed as if someone had reloaded the gun and pulled the trigger. There was a deafening explosion, and everything around was covered in acrid smoke. Despite all the disadvantages of black powder, it has a number of undoubted advantages. It ignites instantly. All his brothers and sisters are almost grown up, some have left to study, one sister has already gotten married. There was nothing keeping Glass in Philadelphia anymore. The streets of this city are empty. Almost a third of the city’s population suffered from the epidemic, while the rest were afraid to go out onto the streets. Houses in which all family members died were boarded up. Sometimes it began to seem that there were simply no sounds left in the city except this measured knock of hammers. To drown it out, Glass opened a gifted music box and listened to the tune of an old Irish song.

A couple of months after his mother's death, Glass's father announced:

“I achieved my goal, I sold you to a gunsmith,” he muttered slurringly. After which the man, barely able to stand on his feet, walked towards Hugh, who was sitting peacefully on the stairs, grabbed him by the collar and threw him down. Glass didn’t have time to group himself, so he simply fell head over heels at the gunsmith’s feet. A melancholic-looking middle-aged man led him to the workshop.

Now he spent almost all twenty-four hours a day in a dirty and dusty basement. The gunsmith had several slaves, but Glass only interacted with one. A newly acquired black boy of the same age as Glass was at first wary of the appearance of an apprentice. However, Glass' position here soon became clearer. In fact, he was now the same slave as the black servants of the gunsmith, like that boy. They became friends out of hatred for their master. The main and only goal of both was survival. Moreover, Hugh had an undoubted advantage here. He had a family and, albeit nominal, freedom granted to him by birth.

Day after day, Glass was engaged in cleaning guns, cleaning the workshop and other, even more boring tasks. The master gunsmith did not spend much time teaching the apprentice the basics of his art. And Glass himself did not show any zeal for studying. Of course, at first gunsmithing seemed to him a rather interesting occupation, but the closer he became acquainted with the work, the less interest weapons aroused in him. However, whether he wanted it or not, he began to understand weapons better than any hunter. And our own recipe for explosive powder soon appeared. In those days, almost every hunter had his own recipe for making black powder. Some people preferred larger gunpowder, others a special type of coal, etc.

For some time Glass served as an apprentice to a gunsmith. Exactly until the smoke screen cleared before my eyes. Just when it seemed to everyone that life had returned to normal, Glass saw a goal in front of him. And it was by no means to become a gunsmith, like his ancestors from Ireland; this goal was thousands of kilometers away from this gloomy basement. Perhaps he could not yet say the exact coordinates of the goal, but one thing was clear: in order to get closer to the goal, you need to at least start the journey.

Together with a black slave boy, Hugh Glass began to think through an escape plan. However, they did this in about fifteen minutes, but the question of where to run tormented the teenagers’ heads for a long time.

And then one fine morning Hugh Glass woke up with the thought that there was only one way out, and he knew which one. A family friend of theirs had just arrived in Philadelphia. All that was left was to find him and ask for help.

“I want to go serve on a ship,” he said gloomily and clearly.

The family friend looked carefully at the boy, who had a decisive expression on his face that was uncharacteristic for his age, and realized that this was not a question or a request, but a simple statement of fact.

By leaving Philadelphia, Glass felt that to some extent he was betraying his family, but he could no longer remain in this dead city.

Chapter 2. Sailor

Strictly speaking, there is practically no reliable information about the early years of Hugh Glass’s life. Some sources claim that he went into the service of a gunsmith, after which he ran away and ten years later ended up on the ship of the famous pirate Jean Lafitte. Other sources deny service with a gunsmith, but they talk at length about how quickly Hugh made a naval career for himself. Most of Glass's biographers say nothing at all about the first thirty-six years of Hugh Glass's life. His story has long turned into a legend, in which only two facts are reliable: a bear and three hundred kilometers of crawling. What brought him to the banks of the Grand River? Here we have to be content with meager stories that sometimes bear little resemblance to the truth. The kind that pioneer George Yount often told on his Napa Valley ranch.

On a merchant ship, Hugh became a cabin boy. None of Glass's former acquaintances were here, not even that family friend was on board. He decided to stay at the port.

Fifteen-year-old Glass knew nothing about the laws of marine life. The first thing he did was put his foot on the post on which the ship was moored. A passing sailor casually pushed him into the water and moved on. Subsequently, it turned out that you can never sit on bollards (as these bollards were called) - this way you show disrespect for the boatswain. There were a great many such signs and superstitions. For Glass it was a revelation. Superstitions are the lot of impressionable women, but not sailors. Of course, he knew that the sea has its own laws, but he did not expect that there were so many of them. Moreover, most of them seemed strange and even stupid at first.

– Water is an element, you cannot challenge it, you can only rely on luck. And on the shore, too, no matter what you do, everything depends on luck, and it does not tolerate neglect and arrogance,” one of the sailors told Glass then.

All difficult teenagers of the early 19th century sooner or later ended up on a ship. It was believed that the naval service quickly knocks down the arrogance of overly arrogant boys. In most cases, they simply could not withstand the strict rules of life at sea. Stepping ashore, they became meek and obedient, respectable citizens who only occasionally began long stories about the wonderful and free life at sea. However, usually those who like to tell such stories never set foot on the ship again, even as a passenger.

Like everyone else, Hugh and his friend, whom the captain reluctantly also accepted into service, thought that working on the ship was nothing more than an adventure. What could be so difficult about getting from one destination to another? There is no need to row, the sails themselves will lead you to the shore. If you're lucky, you'll have to recapture the goods from the pirates, well, you'll have to do something urgently when the storm begins... In any case, this is only a small part of the journey. The rest of the time you can stand thoughtfully on the deck and look into the distance. Needless to say, Hugh was wrong.

Everything on the ship depended on the will of the captain, the first person on the ship. He turned out to be a stern and very religious man. His assistants were a match for him. Already in the second week of the voyage, the sailors were literally howling from the wolfish order that the captain had established here.

There were several immutable laws in force on the ship, the main one of which was to always be on task. The second most important law was the need to remain silent while working. In general, both of these rules were in effect to one degree or another on all merchant and military ships. Work deprives a person of the need to think, and at sea this is important. Since people are unable to go ashore, sooner or later thoughts take on a gloomy tone. With such an attitude, luck will definitely turn away from you, and soon from the entire crew. She doesn't like gloomy people. This resulted in one of the main maritime laws, the implementation of which the captain did not need to monitor. Whatever happens to you, you shouldn't take it too seriously. Storm, attack, illness, death... Whatever. Gloomy thoughts attract failure, and this reduces the chances of survival not only for the individual, but for the entire team. Whatever happened, the first thing was to find a way to turn it into a joke.

The ship's crew consisted mainly of young and hot-tempered people. In a confined space, this inevitably led to mutual irritation, smoothly flowing into skirmishes, fights and riots. This led to another rule: remain silent while working. The less you talk, the less reasons for conflicts.

The work never ended. Just one check of rigging, tackle and cage 4
Clanting is a special type of rigging work, which consists of the following: caster (old canvas, cut into long narrow strips) is placed on a trenched and tarred cable along the descent of the cable so that each step overlaps the next.

They occupied the entire crew for many months, not to mention the watch that each sailor had to maintain every day.

Hugh spent day after day stubbing and making so-called “thin ends,” or, in land language, ropes. From old cables and other junk it was necessary to weave usable skimmushgars, benzel and trout lines and marlins.

This went on day after day. Only on Sundays the team was released from most work. On this day, the sailors studied the Holy Scriptures, whether they wanted to or not. Every minute of life should be occupied with business, since it is customary to give people a day off, let them spend it usefully for business.

Gradually, Glass began to show more and more interest in studying. A couple of stops in ports unfamiliar to him very clearly explained to him the value of knowledge. Languages, mathematics, cartography, astronomy - all these sciences were simply necessary for the sailor. Not all team members understood this, but Glass quickly realized that information, knowledge and intelligence are the most valuable goods that can be transported.

The law of silence, almost immutable, was easier for Glass to bear than anyone else. He didn't need to talk to people. He preferred to contact people only on business. This good quality for a sailor played a cruel joke on him. On the one hand, he received the respect of the team for his taciturnity and harshness, on the other hand, he turned out to be completely unsuited to learning languages. His quick and tenacious mind literally refused to remember all these completely illogical laws of foreign languages. Some knowledge comes easier, some more difficult, but sooner or later every person masters the minimum necessary for himself.

Very soon Glass learned the basics of cartography, mathematics and astronomy. Mathematics and cartography were especially useful. In any port, it was easy for a person who could count well and draw a map of the area to find a part-time job. A couple of extra dollars for a day or two was a good help for ten dollars a month on the ship.

Beginners are lucky. The first few raids went quite calmly. Glass quickly got used to it and began to be respected by the team. Thanks to his invaluable knowledge, the level of respect of his comrades skyrocketed. It began to seem to Glass that life at sea was strictly ordered, systematized and devoid of any surprises. This is partly true, but not always.

They had a long voyage ahead of them, so they left the port loaded to capacity. In addition to goods, the ship was literally packed with food products prepared for the duration of the voyage. The diet was not particularly varied, but the team needed a lot of high-calorie food to maintain morale. And yet, it took a little more to cross the ocean. The voyage was drawing to a close. The team was completely exhausted and angry. Food supplies were running out, so the cook’s already modest ration was cut in half. This did not add optimism to anyone. Moreover, everyone began to suspect each other of theft. The first to suspect, of course, was the cook and his assistant, but very soon irritation and suspicion spread to all members of the team. It began to seem that someone was being given a larger ration, someone was being unfairly deprived, and so on. On top of that, corned beef, the main dish on the ship, although high-calorie food, was not able to replace vegetables and fruits. From a lack of vitamins and general weakness, a good half of the crew suffered from scurvy. People started dying. In sequence.

The ocean generously accepted everyone. When the body, wrapped in canvas, was lowered into the water, the depths of the sea, with a barely audible hiss, accepted it into its embrace. With this slight hiss against the background of the general measured roar of the waves, the ocean seemed to remind us of the insignificance of human life. Not only the body disappeared, but also the memory of the person. One of the main rules: do not allow dark thoughts on the ship, no matter what happens. Everyone tried not to talk or think about the departed comrades, about the fact that several more people were so bad that they were simply lying below and waiting in the wings. Many by that time were so weak that they could no longer get up.

Against the background of hunger and disease, a few storms and a couple of pirate ships on the horizon were not even considered as troubles. It was in the order of things, it happens in any voyage. To be honest, almost any long voyage took with it the lives of more than one or two crew members, and hunger was also far from uncommon. Sometimes you are more lucky, sometimes less. All the will of God. At least, that’s what the captain, a very religious man for his profession, believed.

Glass once again proved to his comrades that he is worthy of respect. It seemed that he was not at all worried about hunger or the deaths of his comrades. Every day he got up and carried out all the assignments from morning to evening. Fast, clear and unquestioning. It was impossible to tell from his face what he was thinking about now. He could well be accused of callousness and cowardice. Sick and embittered by hunger sailors periodically came to exactly this opinion about this man, but Glass was not at all worried. The main thing is to survive, and for this you just need to follow a pre-planned action plan. The friend with whom he escaped from the gunsmith decided to stay in the first port in which their ship anchored. Glass was friends with a couple of sailors who treated the cabin boy condescendingly. He was soon promoted to sailor, but Glass preferred to treat the rest of the crew with a certain degree of mistrust.

When one of the sailors with whom Glass communicated died, the unfortunate man's rations went to Hugh. In the evening, Glass was about to eat the unexpectedly received extra portion, when he suddenly heard the mocking advice of one of the sailors:

- Think about it, guy, what you want: if you live, then it’s better not to, but if you die quickly, so as not to suffer, then eat.

Glass, puzzled, put aside the piece of corned beef and looked at the sailor. It is unlikely that the unfortunate person before his death rubbed his rations with rat poison in the spirit of “so don’t get it from anyone,” so why then can’t you eat?

“If it gets really bad, eat it,” the sailor chuckled and fell asleep. Glass hid the rations away and also tried to sleep.

This incredible story took place in 1823.

It started when an American pioneer and fur trader named Hugh Glass went to pick berries and fell into the clutches of a grizzly bear. Who doesn’t know, this is a giant angry monster weighing about five hundred kilograms with sharp fangs and long (about 15 centimeters) claws. And Glass had one small knife at his disposal.

An ordinary person in such a situation could only hope for a quick death. But our hero was far from an ordinary person. Therefore, with wild screams, he entered the battle and finally defeated the beast. When Glass’s comrades came running to the screams, it was all over.

However, the winner himself was barely alive - one leg and several ribs were broken, his whole body was bleeding, and there was a huge wound on his neck, in which something squished and bubbled with every breath. In general, it was clear that our brave hero was not a survivor.

The detachment needed to move on, there was no point in dragging a dying man along with them, but they also could not abandon their friend to the mercy of fate. Therefore, it was decided to leave two volunteers with Glass, who were supposed to wait for his death and bury him properly.

Volunteers John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger dug a grave and honestly looked after Glass for two days, hoping that he was about to give up. Finally, their patience ran out, they decided to throw the dying man into the grave and catch up with the others before they got too far. That's what they did, taking Glass's shotgun, pistol, knife and all the rest of his property.

For an ordinary person to survive in such a situation would be completely unthinkable. But Glass, as we remember, was not an “ordinary man.”

After lying down, he came to his senses, somehow pulled his tortured body out of the grave, cleaned the wounds as best as possible, fixed his leg by attaching a stick to it and... crawled, fueled by a passionate desire to survive and take revenge on Fitzgerald and Bridger.

The nearest settlement was Fort Kiowa, and it was more than 300 kilometers away. It was there that Glass crawled, feeding on berries, roots, rotting animal corpses and even snakes that came across his path.

But our story did not end there yet, and the incredible trials of poor Hugh continued. He crawled for six weeks in a row and by some miracle crawled to the Cheyenne River, which flowed about 160 kilometers from his “grave.” Then he was discovered by Sioux Indians hunting in these places.

In fact, these Indians could easily have scalped the white-faced man, but they were so impressed by Glass’s fortitude and courage that they came out, helped him build a raft, and sent him to Fort Kiowa by water. There, our hero hoped to find Fitzgerald and Bridger in order to deal with them for their betrayal and return his beloved rifle.

Glass reached Fort without incident and actually found his traitors there. And when I found it... I forgave. True, after I received my property back.

This stern man in the picture is a bright representative of a now rare profession - trapper, fur-bearing animal hunter, trap specialist. They could not accurately establish his origin; they say, however, that in his youth he was involved in the activities of Jean Lafitte, a pirate and smuggler. What is known for sure is that Hugh (that was his name) fell for the advertisement of William Henry Ashley in the newspapers of St. Louis in 1822 - “... 100 enterprising young men are required ... to reach the sources of the Missouri ... employment - two, three, or four years" - the ad received a short name - "Ashley's Hundred".

Literally from the first days of the expedition, Hugo established himself as a skilled and hardworking hunter. In August 1823, in what is now South Dakota, Hugh encountered two grizzly bear cubs and their mother. He did not have time to use the gun - the bear attacked instantly. I had to fight with a knife, my comrades arrived and the bear was finished. However, Hugh also suffered seriously. W. G. Ashley was convinced that a person would not survive after such wounds and asked two volunteers to stay with the wounded comrade and bury him. Fitzgerald and Bridger (by the way, a very outstanding personality) volunteered.

Later they will tell the story of the Indian attack, they say they were forced to take the gun and equipment of the dying man and suddenly flee. They had already dug a hole for him, covered Hugo with a bearskin and flashed his heels. But at first they simply said that Hugh died; they came up with the Indians later.

Meanwhile, Hugo had come to his senses and was obviously somewhat surprised by the lack of comrades, weapons and equipment. A broken leg, deep (to the ribs) wounds on the back and suppuration. 300 km to civilization and a knife in hand. I think - at first he swore from the bottom of his heart. Then he threw the skin of a freshly killed bear over the fresh wounds - so that the larvae from the untreated skin would at the same time rid him of gangrene and crawled. The journey to the Cheyenne River took 6 weeks. Diet: berries and roots. Plus, once we managed to drive away two wolves from a killed young bison. On Cheyenne he assembled a raft. Well, you understand, he got to Fort Kiowa on the Missouri.

It took a long time to recover. He took a gun and decided to take revenge. But Bridger had just gotten married and Hugh forgave him in absentia. And Fitzgerald hid in the ranks of the US Army - killing a soldier in those days meant a certain death sentence. In 1833, Hugo was killed by Indians.

It was an interesting time. Conquest of the Wild West. Cowboys and Indians. Heroes. Scoundrels. Researchers. Adventurers. The story inspired Roger Zelazny to write his only non-fiction story. And there is, of course, a film.