Evening star., 1923-09-08
BY HAROLD NOICE.
Commander of the wranEeI Island
relief cxpcdftion.)

by North American Newspaper Alliance.
All Rights Reserved.)
NOME, Alaska. September As
far is I've been able I've solved the
mystery which for two years has
enveloped Wrangel Island. Poor
Knight is dead and Ada Blackjack
Is safe once more in Nome. But
three young men set out into storm
last January to cross the grinding
ice foes to Siberia, distance Of
little over 100 miles. l have been
asked whether / think there Is any
chance they may still be alive.
After what l have seen of the
north. / would be the last person to
say that hope should be abandoned.
remember when the whole world
believed my chief, Steransson, to be
dead FOR more than a year. Yet l
happened to be a member of the
crew OF the ship which found him
alive and we'll on Banks Island, bliss
fully Unconscious of the fact that he
was either dead or suspected of
being dead.
Sees Different Conditions.
But in this case conditions are
master in the north and his COM
panions on that particular trip were
experienced men. Crawford and Gale
were entirely without experience in
travelling over sea ice and Maurer's
was confined to only one trip when
the responsibility was on the shoul-
ders of veteran arctic traveller.
Then, again. they started out at the
most dangerous time of year-at a
time when there is no sun and when
n Il, IL.
Ice with treacherous blanket.
The danger of falling into assures
or breaking through thin ice is al
ways present in travel over sea ice.
but II is increased at least d hundred
told when the journey must be un-
dertaken under such circumstances
as that which faced the boys on
Wrangel Island last January. If they
succeeded in gaining the Siberian
coast, however. in spite of those many
obstacles. they should be safe even
though no word has been received
from them
The Siberian coast is inhabited by
friendly and hospitable natives. and
they would not have to proceed very
lar in either direction. after strik-
ing the coast, before they reached a
settlement of some kind. These ma
tIVeS-the ChukcheeS-generall are
we'll supplied with food. and some
distant back from the coast are great
Much Travel Along Coast.
Unfortunately for this theory there
is d considerable amount of travel
along the Siberian coast and it is al
most in, onCeivable that three white
men could he anywhere along that
EoaSt without word getting through
in this length of time to one of the
larger settlements. Still. stranger
things have happened, and at any
rate II they are in Siberia one thing
may be taken for granted: they are
perfectly safe far as shelter and
1000 are concerned.
With regard to the value of
Wrangel Island | must say that after
hearing the story of Ada Blackjack
the sole surviving member so far as
we know. and after; investigating
matters for MYSELF I am not inclined
TO change my previous view. Ger
talnly there was no lack of potential
food supplies. From all appearances
Wraneel Island is about as well sup
piled with game as any part of the
Arctic, The trouble was that the
boys were neither properly equipped
nor sufficiently experienced to get it.
The boys worked hard trying to
get seals. But seal-hunting is not
TO be learned in one season. Craw-
ford and GalleA had never worked
in the ice pack before. They did
their best, but not many seals were
their efforts. Knight. bg-hearted
and jovial one of my own trail
mates. had had a number of years
experience in the north. but he was
nearly always accompanied by Eski-
mo hunters or white men, expert in
northern hunting. He apparently
never learned the secret of successful
seal hunting for in his diary he
declares that he never could under
stand why the seals would go down
into their holes whenever they saw
him approaching. =
Listed Pathetic Statement.
Poor old knight. this is to me
one of the most pathetic statements
In the whole story. for every seal
hunter knows that the most i'm
portant point in hunting seals is to
avoid being seen. Thus most of