Lost up in no-man's land
In the Northwest Terri-tories
They were lost up in no-man's land
The Marten Hartwell story
The Marten Hartwell story
On November the 8th of '72
North of the Arctic Circle
A plane took off from Cambridge Bay
And the pilot's name was Hartwell
He had to make it to Yellowknife
Al-though the night was stormin'
To save the lives of an Eskimo boy
And a pregnant Eskimo woman.
"Oh, Mr. Hartwell," said the nurse
"I pray that you will guide us
To save this woman with her child
And the boy with appendi-citis."
But the wind, it blew and the storm, it grew
And the signal of Kan-twoita
They missed by miles and flying wild
They crashed beside Lake Hota.
* * *Chorus
Now Judy Hill, the federal nurse
She never lived to waken
And the life of the mother and her child
Were both soon after taken
But the pilot woke to find himself
And the Eskimo boy were livin'
Left in pain be-side the plane
To search the skies of heaven.
Day by day the pilot lay
With both his ankles broken
And it took the lad everything he had
To keep the fire stokin'
While in the sky too far away
The rescue team were seakin'
A signal wave that might be traced
The Hartwell's radio beacon
* *Chorus
After nineteen days the aerial search
Was said to be com-pleted
Until someone cried, "They're still alive
And the search must be re-peated."
And the day the beep was finally heard
Was the day we'll all re-member
A man was found safe and sound
On the 9th day of De-cember.
Hartwell said he should have died
At 35 below zero
And the reason Hartwell did survive
The boy had died a hero,
"He brought me food when I couldn't move
While he himself grew feeble
Yes, Davy Koutouk died a saint
And a credit to his people
Davy Koutouk died a saint
And a credit to his people."
* * *Chorus