Ada Blackjack

Ada Blackjack(néeDelutuk; May 10, 1898 – May 29, 1983) was anIñupiaqwoman who lived for two years as acastawayon the uninhabitedWrangel Island, north ofSiberia.
Ada Delutuk was born on May 10, 1898 or 1899,in the remote settlement of Spruce Creek, 8 mi (13 km) fromSolomon, Alaska. Ada's father died of food poisoning when she was eight years old, and her mother sent her and her sister, Rita, to aMethodistmission school inNome, Alaska.She was raised by missionaries who taught her to read English and sew.She married Jack Blackjack, a former hunter and dogsled driver, at age 16 and moved to theSeward Peninsula.The Blackjacks had three children, only one of whom survived infancy. Jack abused Ada, finally deserting her and their surviving son, Bennet.Ada obtained a divorce before her husband could return and walked 40 mi (64 km) with Bennet toNome, where her mother was living. To survive, Ada cleaned houses and sewed clothes for miners, but was still unable to afford Bennet's tuberculosis treatment.Due to this, she temporarily had to place Bennet in theJesse Lee Home for Children, which could better care for histuberculosis. Ada became committed to making money to be reunited with her son.
Nome police chief E.R. Jordan was familiar with Ada's situation, so he mentioned to her that some men were recruiting Inuit to go with them on theirArctic expeditionsacross theChukchi SeatoWrangel Island. While Jordan was not familiar with the purpose of the expedition, he believed that Ada, who spoke English and was an excellent seamstress, might be a good fit for the mission, which needed someone to sewfur clothingfor the team.The expedition was led by Canadian explorer Allan Crawford but financed, planned and encouraged byVilhjalmur Stefansson.Stefansson remained behind to fundraise for another exploration to search for a continent north of Wrangel Island.He believed that the Arctic would be easily habitable for those willing to adapt.
Stefansson sent five settlers (one European Canadian, three European Americans, and one Iñupiaq, Blackjack) in a speculative attempt to claim the island for Canada.The explorers were handpicked by Stefansson based upon their previous experience and academic credentials. Stefansson considered those with advanced knowledge in the fields of geography and other sciences for the expedition.
On 15 September 1921, the team was left on Wrangel Island north of Siberia, to claim the island for Canada or the United Kingdom.Blackjack had many misgivings about joining the expedition, especially because she had been misled to believe she would be only one of manyAlaska Nativepeople to join the crew.The team included five people: Blackjack, who had been hired as a cook and seamstress;the American men Lorne Knight, Milton Galle, and Fred Maurer; and Allan Crawford. Maurer had spent eight months on the island in 1914 after surviving theshipwreck of the Karluk.
The conditions on the island were adequate at first, but after a year turned for the worse.Rations ran out, and the team was unable to kill enough game on the island to survive.On January 28, 1923, three of the men finally attempted to cross the 90 mi (140 km) frozenChukchi Seato Siberia for help and food, leaving Blackjack and the ailing Knight behind. Knight was affected byscurvyand was cared for by Ada until he died on June 23, 1923. The other three men were never seen again, and so Blackjack was alone, except for the expedition's cat, Victoria.Blackjack survived in the extremely cold conditions for eight months, learning to hunt foxes, build boats, and sew parkas out of reindeer skin.She was rescued on August 19, 1923by a former colleague of Stefansson's,Harold Noice.Some newspapers hailed her as the real "femaleRobinson Crusoe".
Blackjack used the money she saved to take her son toSeattle, Washington, to treat his tuberculosis. She remarried and had another son, Billy. Eventually, she returned to the Arctic, where she lived until the age of 85.
Blackjack was a quiet person and hated themedia circusthat developed around herand the attempts by Stefansson and her rescuer Noice to exploit her story. Except for her expedition salary and a few hundred dollars she had earned for the furs she trapped on Wrangel, Blackjack did not benefit from her ordeal and received no compensation from the books that were written about her.
Blackjack died in the state retirement facility, the Pioneer Home, inPalmer, Alaska, and was buried inAnchorage. Her gravestone includes a plaque reading "Heroine--Wrangel Island Expedition".