The Alaska daily empire., 1918-03-08
The Stout Little Schooner Is a Pioner of the ArC- tic Having Made
 Many Trips.
TO VISIT PIT. BARROW
She Will Leave Seattle on July 1St and VIII Make Trip to HerscheI
 Island.

1 row ana thence 45U miles eastward to remote Herschel Island. Sheathcd in iron bark, she will sail July 1 If all goes we'll the little vessel, veteran wayfarer of the North Pa
 cific, Boring Sea and the Arctic wastes, will arrive home in October But to be on the safe side she will
 carry two years provisions for off.
 cers and crew.
 On the run to Point Barrow, the vessel will meet Stefansson, the ex plorer, bound out from the Arctic in the power schooner Polar Bear The Bender Bros. was charatered yesterday for the Arctic voyage from the Kuskokwim Fishing X Trans poTtation Company of Seattle by the i Hudson Ray Company. She will car ry the United States mails to Point Barrow but otherwise she will have
 only Hudson Bay Companys cargo 200 deadweight tons of groceries coal, matches, coaloil explosives and other general merchandise, the freight including nearly everything in that line. She will load at Vancouver. Dates Back to 1870
 The Hudson Bay Company was in corporated in 1870, and the contract
 reads that the charter is made by The Governor and the company of the adventurers of England, com monly known as the Hudson Bay Company" a phrase that gives a touch of picturesque historic color ing to the contract.
 News of the charter was obtained last night from Capt. Louis Kniflich president of the Kuskokwim Fishing & Transportation Company, who is one of Seattle's oldtime navigators.
 From all indications, the Bender Brothers is the only vessel to enter the Arctic this year that will ven ture to the eastward waters. From Seattle to Herschel Island via Nome and Point Barrow the distance is 3,700 miles, ConsequentlY the stout little ship will travel a total of 7.400 miles on the round voyage.
 Traced on the chart. the voyage represents an enormous horseshoe of irregular shape. The schooner will sail westward to Unimak Pass, thence northward to Nome. and Boring Strait and into the Arctic. where she will shape curving northeasterly course to Point Barrow, the most northerly land of the American con tinent. Thence the voyage will take schel Island.
 Shortest Way There
 A crow flying overland from Her shel Island to Seattle would travel only 1,700 miles, or 2,000 miles less than the distance to be covered by the Bender Brothers. In this case however the longest way round is literally the shortest way there
 Capt Frank Whitlam, master of the Kuskokwim Fishing Transpor- tation Company's power schooner Ru- by, now. homeward bound from Peru will command the Bender Brothers on the Arctic voyage. He is one of the younger Arctic navigators of Sc attle, but has sailed the icy polar waters many seasons. He will win the distinction of being the first man from the outside to shout greet ings to Stefansson this year. He will have a lot of things to tell Stefan sson and his hardy followers, includ ing the war developments up to July 1. The world famed explorer will be at least seven or eight months behind the times in the matter of war news when he sights the masts of the Bender Brothers.
 The cargo to be taken by the Ben der Brothers into the Arctic is all destined for discharge at the Hudson Bay Companys Herschel Island sta tion, the historic corporations dis tributing point for the eastward re gions. The station is situated in Pauline Cove.
 Crucical Period of Voyage
 If the Bender Brothers is unable to deliver her cargo this year on ac count of the ice, she will deliver il in the summer of 1919, but there f little chance of such a contingency The crucial period of the voyage will come when she sails from the island on her return voy age. She will hasten back toward Boring Strait in the effort to get out of the Arctic before the ice clos es in. She will bring shipments of furs, calling at Teller for orders on the way to Nome.
 The Bender Brothers is now at the West Seattle plant of King & Winge for repairs, overhaul and spec ial preparations for the Arctic ven ture. She will be fitted with new knees and new keelson and her hull will be sheathed in oron bark. while her brow and bows will be ar mored heavily in steel to aid her in bucking the icefields. She will shift