The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-06
By HAROLD NoICE Commander of the WrangIe Island Relief Expedition)

Ing story IOllOWS.
 By HAROLD NoICE
 Commander of the WrangIe Island
 Relief Expedition)
 NOME, Alaska, Sept. 4-"wrangeI Island or, bust was our slogan when We left Point Hope behind us the 9th of August and headed northwest into the Arctic ocean. Would we get through, what would we find on that forlorn Arctic island, would we riad the little party alive and still wait ing patiently for the succor which had been so painfully long in coming, or would We find nothing but the corpses of the gallant band?
 Crawford and Galee I had never known, but in Toronto last spring l had met Crawford's. parents and a little sister a fine, outrageous fam fly, waiting bravely for word of their brilliant and promising son and brother. Maurer was also unknown to me, but l had heard a great deal of him from Steffenson and others who had been with him on the par ticular branch of the 1913-1S expe- dition of which he was a member. Knight I had known well. He and 1 had been with Steffenson on num- Der of the latter's long sledgines Tn the north, and we were once fellow 1nNal1QS brought us promptly back to health on a rigorous diet of raw caribou meat. 1 could visualize the little party as they landed on the island in September, 1921, full of youthful enthusiasm. I could see them With a well stocked larder comfortably housed for that long winter, tending at intervals their lines of traps. could imagine their relief as the sun returned and later on the snow de- parted from the land and the ocean ice began to move. It was not haru for me to realize their terrible dls appointment as the summer passsu and the ice failed to open. up sutn- ciently for 8 ship to get through.
 Would Hope For Relief.
 Or. perhaps the ice had cleared away for a few days, or maybe longer, and no ship had come. How they would climb tc the top or the rearest hill and gaze out over the ocean for sight of a sailing ship then perhaps the ice had closed n again not to leave for that year. But they would hope for relief, un- til the last. Would their courage suffice for another winter? would their supplies admit of further de- lay, even though their courage might still be high. Beyond this point l must admit my speculations were tinged with fear. But, though ear ing the worst, I still hoped for the best.
 It was hard, moreover, to be gloomy on such a day. The sea was free of ice, the temperature was around fifty degrees, and the Don aldson her deck cluttered with two walrus hide boats, twenty shaggy Eskimo dogs, sleds, hunting gear and all the various impeachment Of an arctic expedition, plugged steadl- ly ahead in spite of stiff westerly wind which we had encountereo shortly before rounding the point.
 The next day, we began to look for ice as we had made considerable progress north and could now ex- pect to meet 1t almost any time. But still, so far as we could see from big green seas without a sugges- tion of the pack.
 Ran Into Ice Field.
 Then during the night the tenn perature dropped to S7 degrees and at 4:30 a. m., August II, we ran into a field of scattered ice, which we began to work through. But as we advanced the ice ahead became more tightly packed and we shortly found ourselves unable to move against it. We squirmed back into clear water and then turned south- west along the edge of the floe in search of an opening which might carry us on our way to Wrangei. Then, almost without warning, down came the fog. Our position was now extremely perilous. There We were within short distance of huge cakes of ice, from 30 to 50 feet in thickness and about an acre or more s,s rearing about in the heavy chop, and any one of which might easily crush our fragile bark like an egg. In clear weather these cakes could have been easily avoided, but here we were, ice, ocean and ship, shrouded In a thick impenetrable mantle of gloom.
 As if matters were not already bad enough, the engines, which had been severely tested in the figh. with the ice floes, gave up the struggle and, with a last despairing rushed to the engine room to see what was the matter while the crew and Eskimos stood by with long nike poles to fend us off from the ghostly shadows which ever and anon ioomed through the fog.
 "What's the matter with the damned thing now" I inquired. Will Hams and Earle. the engineers, were feverishly overhauling the most vul- nerab!e parts of the mechanism. and at length announced that the needle valve had broken. Meanwhile there was much muttered comment from the two engineers which 1 could not distinctly hear, and which l doubt If I could with propriety have trans mitted to had l done so The en- gineers were resourceful, I there fore transferred my attention to the menacing floes again. I was just in time.
 Barely Evaded Iceberg.
 Suddenly vast white mess like a ghostly floating castle with thou sands of tons of green sea water cascading from it's ,,attlcments as it rose and sank ponderoLsly In the swell, bore down upon us We were between it and the line of the pack. and for a few minutes 1t seemed that our craft must be crushed. Then, in a few moments, we heard the thrice welcome chug of the en- zines. The engineers had overcome. Temporarily. the effects of the broken needle valve b. sou!-tng gasoline into the carburator One man stood at the carbuerator and the other at the clutch and in this way we were enabled, just in time, D back out of our dangerous position. With the first officer, Hans Olaf,