Evening star., 1923-09-01
WOMAN RECOUNTS
EXPLORERS DEATH
Eskimo Only Survivor of
WrangeIl Island Party Found
by Noice Expedition.
BY the Associated Press

By the Associated PreSs.
NOME. Alaska. September Am
Eskimo woman. the sole survivor of
the Crawford expedition, which left
here for Wrangell Island. off the
northern coast of Siberia, in the fall
of 1921, described today the fate of
the four white men composing the eX-
pedition. The trip was arranged by
Vilhjalmur Stefansson, with the prin-,
cipal object of raising the British
flag over the island which had been
ella aiHed .syr the soviet government.
Three of the party. Allan Crawford
of Toronto, Ont, leader of the expe-
dition; Frederick Maurer. New Phil
adelphia, Ohio. and Milton Gale. New
Braunfels. Tex, perished the second
winter. the Eskimo woman, named Ada,
said. They went out on the ice seek
ing the mainland and never returned.
The remaining man. Lorne +.
scurvy. June 20, 1923. and his body
was brought back by the relief ex-
pedition headed by Capt. Harold
Noice, which left here August 3. Capt.
Noice said his power schooner, the
Donaldson. had little trouble reach
ing the island.
Found Claim to Island.
The first evidence of the missing
party found by Capt. Noice's eXpedi-
tion was a bottle in a deserted camp,
containing the names of the party
with the declaration that they claim
ed Wrangell Island in the name of
King George of Great Britain.
The Eskimo woman's husband. Black
Jack, died here while she was gone.
The Donaldson arrived at Wrangell
Island August 20, and left last Sun
day. She was forced to halt nine
days when fifty-five miles north of
the island on her way to IL, and,
after the weather cleared, bucked her
way through the ! ,e for the f1fty-five
miles.
While bucking the ice the Donald
son stove a hole in her bow. This
was repaired by placing a large
walrus hide around the aperture.
The journey was completed in
heavy fog, the Donaldson lying near
Herald Island, east of Wrangell Is
land, while the party went ashore
on Wrangell.
The camp in which the bottle was
found was at Rogers Harbor, Doubt
full Bay, on the south side of Wrangell
Island.
Faints ON Seeing Party.
Ada was frightened when she saw
the men of the Noice party approach
ing and the Donaldson nearby. She
tainted, but on recovery told the
tale of the disaster.
Directed by Ada, Noice found Knight
dead in his sleeping bag. Ada said
that she had done all the hunting
and had cared for knight for two
months before his death. and that
after he died she left him in the
sleeping bag and put up another tent
for herself about fifty feet away.
Last December. Ada said, Knight
and two other men started for the
mainland. but through some mistake
landed near Herald Island, and after
two weeks returned to Wrangell
Island.
knight was then too ill to travel,
and Crawford, Maurer and Gale
started for Siberia with dog feed
for seventeen days. and very little
other provisions. Ada said that they.
too, took a wrong direction, moving
to the southeast as they passed for
ever from her vision.
When Noice found Ada on the Is
land she was down to her last pack
age of pilot bread, all that was left
of the food stores taken to the island
when the Crawford party landed.
She had laid her plans to endure
another winter of exile.