Clark Carrados: El negro pájaro de la muerte

"The Black Bird of Death," by Clark Carrados, depicts a ship expedition toward the Antarctic polar region. Charles Bull Sterkey awakens aboard the *Attruk*, a small vessel, after being drugged and shanghaied the previous night in Port Stanley. He confronts Captain Saphson, a red-bearded giant of extraordinary strength, demanding explanation. When Sterkey strikes the recruiter Wronski, Saphson crushes him with ease and confines him to the ship's hold on bread and water for a week. During imprisonment, a woman—Kate Doggen, a tall passenger aboard—secretly provides him better food and coffee. Released after seven days, Sterkey reports to Contramaestre MacKee for work assignment. Fragments suggest the expedition seeks a diamond-adorned crown of incalculable value, guarded by a perfectly preserved giant frozen in Antarctic ice for over a million years.