Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-08-06

| chased their supplies and 1t is evil
4 dent from the invoices that they in
| ton OF their food by hunting. for
! they took with them only enough
provisions for one years sojourn and
ammunition for two years hunting.
Hire Eskimo Woman.
Upon arrival in Nome they secured
a dog team and after engaging an
i Eskimo woman. Ada Blackjack. as
! seamstress. chartered the power
schooner Silver Wave, in command
| of Capt Hammer, to land them on
| Wrangel Island
The season 1921 was an exception
| ally open one. Although they were
| expected to hunt together during
| the fall and spring months 1t was
! their intention to separate during
trapping. and so they purposed build
| ing several different cabins along
| the beach at intervals of ten miles.
| During their stay they were to ex-
| plOre the unknown interior Of the
island and to correct the present
| charts.
! This is all know about them.
| for. due to personal financial Difficult
| ties and 10 the slowness Of the Cana
! dian government in extending sup
(
outfit a supply vessel until August
is. 1922. and as the ice conditions
| were very bad that year this date
| proved too late and the supply ship.
| meeting massed ice foes about 100
| miles from Wrangel, returned to
Nome. Now another year has passed:
| still we have no news from Wrangel.
No News From Siberia.
We thought for a while that If the
| party had found 1t impossible to Sc
cure a living on the island they would
have crossed the ninety miles to 81
IBERIA during the winter. where they
| could have found shelter with the
| natives who inhabit the coastal terri
| tory. Capt Hammer OF the Silver
| Wave, whose ship was frozen in the
| north coast Of Siberia. last year
managed to get out and return to
| Nome a few days ago. He reports
| that he has heard nothing from the
natives of Siberia to indicate any one
had crossed over from Wrangel dur
| ing the winter.
There is a possibility that the
| Wrangel party made the attempt to
cross and failed. for, according to
| Capt. Bartlett, the only white man
| who ever made this trip, this crossing
is an exceedingly dangerous one. due
! to the rapid motion OF the ice noes
1 even in midwinter
| But / am optimistic enough TO ex-
! pect to find that nothing serious has
| happened to the Wrangel Island par
! ~. / believe they have been able to
| make their living off the country. but
| after carefully checking over their in
| voices | am convinced that they will
| have little or no ammunition left by
| the end of the present season of navi-
! cation. Therefore. / have spared no
| effort to insure the present relief ex-
| pedition against any possible failure.
Dimcult to Find Ship.
Upon arrival at Nome, July II. I
| found only two ships with hulls of
sufficient strength to buck through
the ice packs. One of these. the
| Gladiator, was hauled UP on the
beach and after a thorough exami-
nation It was found she could not be
repaired in time. The other one,
the motor ship Donaldson. a very
stanch craft Of seventyfour tons
| burden and seventy-two feet long.
had only a forty horsepower engine.
| which would not furnish sufficient
power. so I had one engine replaced
by q new sixty-five Acme engine.
I I have had men working through
| out the twenty-four hours of con-
| tinuous daylight during the past
| two weeks equipping the vessel for
her tussle with those Arctic packs
| which we may have to fight through
| on our way to Wrangel.
| Yesterday after the engineers had
| finished tuning up the engines the
! Donaldson on trial trip made q
! speed of ten knots per hour. / have
engaged Ludwin Hansen, who has
sailed the arctic seas for the last forty
jyears, as captain and Hans Olsen,
pioneer arctic whaler. as mate: C. H.
! Wells of Nome, second mate: Joseph
Earl and Jack Williams. experienced
mechanics. for engineers.
/ Two of Crew Disabled.
| I have had considerable difficulty
in securing a crew of Eskimos. as
many fear that we will be caught or
crushed in the ice and carried off
by the pack. and to make matters
worse, that night. while loading car
go from the lighter to the Donaldson,
two OF my Eskimos were disabled. one
/ with smashed foot. the other with
entire Eskimo crew refused to sail.
However. as l had already made ar
engagements with others to cover
such contingency. this has not seri-
ouSly affected my plans.
We sail today at 3 o'clock with a,
complete outfit sufficient for one year
Our first port of call will be Kotzebue
sound. where We will pick up a crack
team of dogs and a supply of rein
deer meat. which the Lomen Reindeer
placed at NV disposal. From Kotze-
bue we sail to Point Hope. Alaska,
where we will take on additional
Eskimos, and then set a direct course
for Wrangel island.
In the event of our meeting i'm
penetrable ice we will take that
route which brings US closest to
Wrangel and northward along the
eastward edge of the pack or west
ward along it's southern border until
we find an opening leading to Wran-
gel In case we cannot reach Wran-
gel by ship I shall then take four
Eskimos and make a dash across the
ice pack to Wrangel island. For this
signed for carrying a walrus-hide
boat. which will be dashed on top
so that when we encounter open
leads between the ice foes 1t will be
necessary. only to unharness our dogs,
put them into the boat and paddle
across to the next ice foe.
VIII Bring Party Back.
As this walrus- boat has a
carrying capacity Of fifteen people, it
will be large enough for the trans
portation of the Wrangel island party
from the island back to the Donald
son, provided, of course, the Inter-
vening distance is not so great as
TO make 1t impossible to locate the
position of the ship.
In the event of my making this
trip l shall instruct Capt. Hansen to
with the Donaldson until the close
Of navigation, when he will steam
south toward the Siberian coast, land
ing supplies for us at specified places.
After that he will endeavor to reach
, Nome before the final freeze-up.
The reasons for the above instruc-
tions are that upon leaving the DON
aldson 1 will be able to haul over the
ice sufficient food and ammunition to
sustain the Wrangel island party and