Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-02-22

| for sled travel, but this was not SO. We
looked upon our shore-g9ing as a two
| fourteen excellent new sleds and one old
one. 1 took the old sled. with the idea
| that it was good enough for mere carl
| bou hunt. We had many dogs. tried and
| found excellent; l took untried dogs. to
see if they were good. We had the best
| instruments that money could buy; took
! only the fewest possible and cheap ones.
with the idea that il they got broken
| there would be no great harm done. We
| brought no proper winter clothes. even
though We had an abundance on the ship
Our whole outfit had been similarly
selected We could get along with what
we had. but not with any comfort.
| We started west October 3. and Octo-
mo families fishing in Harrison bay,
back of Cape Halkett. While they had
been inland. some weeks before, a
party Of five men. some of whom
men, had come along the coast from
the east and had stolen a sled which
| these Eskimos had left behind. 1t oc-
Cured to US at first that possibly these
white men might have been from the
Alaska or Mary Sachs. which ship, in
that case, must have been wrecked.
Eskimos His Friends.
All these Eskimos were old friends
of mine, and one of them had been
my travelling companion for about two
months in, 1908. They were catching
plenty of fish in small lake, and gave
us about 300 pounds for our dogs We
stayed with them three days. while
their women repaired our boots, which
were in urgent need of it.
Before we left the son-in-law of one
rived from the west. They had gone
by boat in the summer to Barrow to
trade, and on the return journey the
early freeze-up had caught them west
Of Cape Simpson. They could tell US
that both our schooners had come to
Barrow and passed to the east, but
they did not know how far east they
had been able to go.
The west-going party which had
taken the sled they had met west of
Cape Simpson. and they now brought
| the sled back. The party had consist.
ed of four Point Hope Eskimos and
a white man. A J. Allen. who no, also a,2
lives at Point Hope; They had al
Belvedere which had been beset with
ice about forty miles west of Herschel
Island She was said to be there. COM
paratively safe behind grounded ice,
Capt. c. T. Pedersen's Elvira and Capt
Louis Lanes Polar Bear had been
caught ten miles farther offshore. and
would therefore drift about during
the winter. $500.
They believed that both these latter
ships would be abandoned by their crews,
who would fall back upon the Beivedere
Aliens party had told our Eskimo In
formants nothing of our two schooners.
The Belvedere had been unable to reach
Herschel Island, Aliens party had said.
but they did not know whether or not
the Elvira and Polar Bear had also
failed or been beset on their way BACK.
AS the Beivedere was carrying not only
ofcrnf for
but also freight for the mounted police az
Herschel Island. it seems likely that II
no ship got into Herschel Island, the
police there may not be so well supplied
as Is their wont. OF course they VIII
not suffer. as they can always fall back
on Fort Macpherson, 200 miles to the
southeast.
Proceeding west we got no further
news from the Eskimo colony at Cape
Halkett. who were congregated there to
trap foxes in that neighborhood and get
meat and oil from two whales that
drifted ashore there year ago
Ship in Ice Sighted.
On reaching Cape Simpson We learned
from an Eskimo family there that a
ship had been seen of shore in the ice;
the next day. upon our arrival at Bar
row. we got further details. Mr.. Brewer
told us that Sunday, October ., ship
had been seen all day in the ice about
twelve miles off shore. An attempt had
been made by some Eskimos to get out
to her, but, although she had been sta.
tionary for day. she was started on
again by a rising northeast wind about
the time the boarding party was organ
lied, and soon disappeared to the north
west.
It was clearly seen that this ship
was a schooner, and the Eskimos re-
I
a galley fire. For the present it seems
most likely that the ship was either
! the Elvira or Polar Bear, abandoned
There wintered also last year to the
eastward the schoonersa Rosie H., Ted,
dy Bear. North Star oand Anna and
Olga one or more of which may have
tried to get out and may have been
caught by the ice.
Mr.. Brewer was also able to tell US
at Collinson point and had gone into
winter quarters there. while Mr.. LEI
fngwell was at Flaxman island. So
two Of our three ships seem safe.
1t appears now. that we have fun IN
formation about it. that this has been
| an extraordinary summer. or the ships
| wintering last year east of Herschel Is
| land it is known that the Teddy Bear.
North Star and Anna and Olga wanted to
come west to Bering sea, but nothing
| has been heard from them.
Two Vessels Probably Abandoned.
Concerning the six ships that came
from the west intending to go east be-
You'd the Mackenzie all the main facts
are known. The Polar Bear. Elvira
! and Karluk were caught off shore in the
pack ice and the Polar Bear and FL
vira are supposed to be abandoned; the
Belvedere was caught by the ice near
shore forty miles west OF Herschel Is
land and is comparatively safe behind
| ground ice: the Alaskan and Mary Sachs
| ing Herschel Island. but are in safe
| quarters for the wipter.
| Besides these six. only two other YES
sells came as far north as Point Barrow
| this year. OF these the four-masted
schooner Transit was wrecked at Cape
Smythe, and the United States revenue
cutter Bear was caught by the ice twenty
or twenty-five miles southwest Of Point
Barrow and carried helpless by it north
| east past the point, as the Karluk had
been some two weeks earlier Here the
Bear was freed from the ice, as the Kar-
LUX had been. but was kept a prisoner
there for about two weeks before the Ice
allowed her to get back west Of the point
again.
The E,skimos in their sailboat trading
voyages along the coast were overtaken
| far from their homes by the winter
| freeze-up in midsummer. 1t has been a
monotonous chapter of misfortune for all
who have travelled by ship or boat along
| the arctic coast Of Alaska this year.
The behavior of the Karluk herself has
| been thoroughly satisfactory to me. She