Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-08-06
MAY SOLVE ARCTIC MYSTERY.
Noice's Expedition Also Has Big
International Significance.

Noice's Expedition Also Has Big
International Significance.
Harold Noice has set his hand to
the task OF solving one OF the Dig
mysteries of the arctic regions. In
1921 four white men, two OF them
without previous arctic experience.
made their way to Wrangel Island.
Have they survived? On the answer
import. possibly including jurisdic.,
ton over a potential gold field said
TO be of tremendous value.
On Noice's ability to reach the
island there hinges also the answer
to a question which will be Of prime
importance in that future period
when mail carrying airplanes encir-
Gle the globe. Wrangel lies on the
meridian OF Greenwich and has al
ready been semi officially indicated
as an airplane point of vantage IN
a contemplated route from EI,Siand
TO Japan-a route lying over the top
of the earth. because the meridian
of Greenwich offers the shortest path
between the two island nations.
Fur and Meat Resources.
A point secondary only TO this is
the importance Of Wrangel Island as
stressed by Vilhjalmur Stefanssen.
He predicts polar submarine
freight service. In his present eff
forts 70 induce the British authori-
ties to assert jurisdiction over
wrangel Island Stefanssen enlpha-
sizes also the value of walrus ivory
production and the future value of
walrus and other arctic meat. whose
use he foresees at a time when the
cattle producing regions of the earth
have become more restricted
Noice. an American citizen. claiming
Seattle as his home, in his present ex-
petition is acting as the agent of
Stefanssen. The four white men. who
have been marooned on Wrangel since
1921. are:
Allan Crawford OF Toronto. Canada,
q university student who was not yet
twenty years Of age when he under
took to become nominal head of the
party. Although without arctic eN-
perience he became commander. as he
was the only Canadian in the party.
and the purpose OF the expedition was
| to claim the land for Canada.
Mnurer Has Experience.
Frederick Maurer of New Phila-
delphia. Ohio. who was with one of
| the two divisions of the Stefanssen
expedition Of 19lS191s. Maurer was
| on the expedition steamer karluk
when the latter was crushed by the
ice sixty-nine miles off wrangeI in
| the winter of 1913-14. Maurer was in
| the handful of men who spent the
| summer of 1914 on Wrangel Island
after eleven Of their companions had
| been lost trying to reach land. and
three had persisted from exposure or
| the island itself. OF the four in the
party Of 1921. Maurer alone knew
what Wrangel Island was like:
| Lorne Z. Knight Of McMinnville
Ore who had seen arctic service with
| WranEel Island. He spent six months
! in 1918. floating on ice in the Beau
| fort sea, near Wrangel. he and his
companions subsisting chiefly on seal:
| killed along the edges OF the foes
! These drifters of 1918 were command
! ed by Stefanssens lieutenant. Storkel
! Storkerson. and previously in Stefens-
sens personal party, Knight pene-
| trated to Stefanssen's farthest north.
Texan Makes Trip.
Milton Gale of New Braunsfels
! Tex. had travelled in the United
! States as Stefanssen's secretary, IT
/ the capacity learning Stefanssen'
philosophy and theory of exploration
| Gale. however. a young man scarcely
older than Crawford. had had nc
practical experience in the arctic.
Noice. himself. a veteran subordi'
nate of Stefanssen. knows the chances
run by himself as well as by those
| Gently emerged from a New York
hospital when. he received a cable
! from his chief to proceed to Wrange
Island. Several years ago. while or
Victoria Island in the arctic. he fel
and dislocated his shoulder. and this
/ summer he decided to have the join
cut open and the bone set back If
| place. Thus it was that when he
| set of for his polar destination he
carried his arm in a plaster cas-
J which also inclosed the greater par
| Of his chest.
! Fresh from high school, Noice went
north first in 1916. He was one OF
| the first to greet Stefanssen in Prince
| Patrick Island after the explorer haC
| been believed dead for over a year
( he was a crew member sailed south
Noice remained as one of Stefanssen'.
| party.
| Learns Eskimo Tongue.
| In the next two years he gained mucl
arctic experience and grew so en-
/ amoured of the arctic that when Stef
| anssen returned to civilization in 191,
+, Noice remained and spent the next foul
| years among the Eskimos of Victoria
much Of the time being the only white
man among them. He was adopted into
| the native communities and learned
| their language.
| He had finished his first book and wa.
| buSily engaged upon his second wher
he received the call to go to the relief
| OF the mar0oned party on Wrangel one
member of whom, Knight. was with
him in 1917-1s on Stefanssen's farthest
| northern sledge trip.
| Wrangel Island was discovered in 1874!
| by Capt. Kellett of the British navy
| while engaged in the search for the i'll.
! fated Franklin expedition, of which II
| was discovered later that all hands
| comprising over 100 men, had starved te
! death. Kellett did not make landing
but reported his discovery to the Brit
| ish admiralty, and the island bears his
name on the admiralty maps Of that
| date and for some years later. He gave
| at the same time the name of his ship
! the Herald, to a nearby rock, which still
bears that name.
Sighted by Americans.
| In 1867 Capt. Long of San Fran
| cisco, a whaler, also sighted the is
i land. Thinking that he had discov-
cred new land. he named 1t after
/ Baron Wrangel, a Swede, who had
/ for many years been conducting ex-
i plorations In the arctic for the Rus.