The friendly Arctic; the story of five years in Polar regions

Front matter

■Class ^^10 Book.

Copiglit]^°_-

COeVRIGHT DEFOBtn

Preface

By Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who was commander of the expedition

IN reading the books of other explorers I have commonly found tedious the long accounts of how their expeditions were organized. My own inclination is to say nothing about the organization of the expedition that resulted in the story told in this volume, but many of my friends say that an account of the organization is both important and interesting. I shall compromise between their judgment and my own feelings by a short and general account where they advise a long and detailed one.

The plans of this my third polar expedition developed in my mind gradually during the years 1908-12 while I was engaged in the work of the second expedition. Our experience was then showing us day by day the friendliness and fruitfulness of those parts of the Arctic which are either inhabited by Eskimos or which are immediately adjacent to the Eskimo districts. But I was told by the Eskimos, and I had read the same before in geographies and works of exploration, that the vast unknown areas beyond the Eskimo frontier were devoid of animal life. The Eskimos agreed with the rest of us in thinking that no one could live in those regions except for brief periods, and then only by taking along enough supplies to last for the whole period of what must necessarily be a dash into and a hurried retreat out of a region of permanent desolation.

But I am an anthropologist by profession, and the very reason for the beginning of my work in the North was a desire to learn whatever I could about the Eskimos. I had during these five or six years of continuous residence learned that the Eskimos resemble an uninstructed peasantry in possessing a large measure of native intelligence lying fallow, lacking opportunities of instruction and development. The ignorant classes of all countries have positive beliefs about many things, and a large number of these beliefs have no foundation in fact. I had long since learned that the Eskimos are honest and intelligent, but that they have a higher percentage vi PREFACE

of unfounded beliefs than any white people with whom I have associated.

I could see no natural reason why the regions beyond the Eskimo frontier should be devoid of animal life. The fact that the Eskimos said so and the fact that geographies and encyclopaedias continue to make the same assertion, meant little to me. Professionally, I know the foundations of such assertions, and that encyclopsedias do their full share in perpetuating the unfounded beliefs of our ancestors. I satisfied myself, so far as was possible while actually living in the Eskimo country, that the region beyond did not differ from the Eskimo country in any essential respect. I concluded the presumption to be that animal life could be found even in the very center of the icy area. This is a point, as explained elsewhere in this book, which lies about 400 miles away from the geographic North Pole in the unknown region north of Alaska. No one had been nearer to the center of the icy area than Peary when he visited the North Pole. Others had concluded from Peary's evidence that since he had seen no animal life at the North Pole or between it and Greenland, the presumption was that for a greater reason there would be no animal life in more remote (because more distant from navigable waters) ice-covered areas in the region of maximum inaccessibility.*

My conclusion was that animal life had not been seen because it had not been looked for and because it existed under the ice where it would be inconspicuous. Hunting seals under thick polar ice resembles hunting as we commonly think of it less than it does prospecting. Many people had lived for long periods in Pennsylvania, tilling the soil successfully and considering themselves thoroughly familiar with all local conditions, and nevertheless these people were ignorant of the mineral oil contained in the earth below. Seal hunting, as will appear in that part of the book where the methods are described, is analogous to prospecting for oil. No explorer had had that point of view, and it appeared to me that their failure to discover seals when they were not looking for them did not reflect on their intelligence any more than it reflects on the intelligence of Franklin that he lived for a long time in Pennsylvania and died in ignorance of even the possibility of the Rockefeller fortune and of the other things of more consequence that have hinged upon the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania.

I already knew the methods of securing seals, and came south in 1912 firm in the belief that I could go into regions where Eskimos

*See map showing 'Tole of Relative Inaccessibility," p. 8.

PREFACE vii

had never been and into which Eskimos were unwilling to go because they believed them devoid of resources, and that I could in these regions travel indefinitely, carrying on scientific or other work and depending entirely on the resources of the country for food and fuel — food being the flesh of animals and the fuel their fat.

Dr. Anderson and I had just finished, to the entire satisfaction of the American Museum of Natural History, a long polar expedition under their auspices. On that expedition we had already done things which the Museum authorities had supposed to be exceedingly difficult or impossible, and we had done them without special effort, for we had found the conditions far more favorable than they had realized. The Museum authorities were, therefore, in a frame of mind to believe me when I told them that the entire polar area was as easy to make a living in as the district inhabited by the Eskimos, and they were the first to assent to our contention that we could travel where we liked, depending on the country for sustenance.

After securing the support of Dr. Clark Wissler, curator of anthropology in the Museum (under whose direction I had carried out the expedition of 1908-12), I presented the case for the new expedition to Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, the President of the Museum. He declined at first to support the expedition, not because he lacked confidence in its fundamental principles but because the Museum was short of money and because they were already organizing another polar expedition — the Crocker Land Expedition, commanded by Donald B. MacMillan. They wanted me to wait a year or two till other work was off their hands and they were in a better position to support an enterprise of this sort.

Waiting did not suit me at the time, and I accordingly went to the National Geographic Society, presenting my case to the Director, Mr. Gilbert Grosvenor. Later I presented the same case to the Board of Trustees, who were favorably impressed and with very little delay voted to give me $22,500. I now went back to the Museum and told them that, while I disliked severing my connection with the institution, I should have to do so unless they came forward at once to join the National Geographic Society in their support of the present enterprise. Hereupon the Museum made a special plea to one of its chief patrons and we soon had the further promise of $22,500.

In Boston, the Harvard Travelers' Club, of which I had been a member for many years, lent its moral support promptly to the expedition and later on decided to contribute $5,000. In Philadelphia my old friend, Henry G. Bryant, who was then President of viii PREFACE

the Geographical Society of Philadelphia, undertook to raise some money and presently secured from one wealthy patron a pledge to buy a ship for the expedition, and from another the promise that he would outfit the ship.

Had these generous promises from Philadelphia come a week sooner than they did the expedition would doubtless have remained under American auspices, for when you have a ship promised and also the outfitting of that ship, you have taken care of the major expenses of an expedition. The $50,000 secured from the three organizations mentioned above would have been amply sufficient to cover other expenses. However, a week before my receipt of Mr. Bryant's letter I had gone to Canada to lay the situation before Sir Robert Borden, who was then Prime Minister.

My first polar expedition, that of 1906-07, had been paid for jointly by the Universities of Harvard and Toronto. The money given me by Toronto University was actually contributed by Sir Edmund Walker, the President of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. As a result of this. Sir Edmund had continued his interest in my polar work. When I now went to Canada, Sir Edmund Walker lent me warm support in my representations at Ottawa. He did this by letter, while another eminent Canadian, Sir Edmund Osier, President of the Dominion Bank, gave me personal support, for he was then a member of the House of Commons. My second expedition had been under the joint auspices of the American Museum of Natural History and the Geological Survey of Canada. The Director of the Survey, Mr. R. W. Brock, had therefore been in direct touch with my work for several years. He was at once willing to use his entire influence with the Government, and went with me to see the Prime Minister.

My idea at the time was that the Canadian Government might join in the support of this expedition as they had already joined in the support of the previous one. The Prime Minister said, however, that while he was inclined to support my plans, he felt them so important and so directly a concern of Canada that he would prefer that the Canadian Government should undertake the whole responsibility and the whole expense of the enterprise. I replied that I could scarcely make to the American scientific organizations the proposal of transfer, but suggested that in case he should open negotiations I would inform them of my entire willingness to surrender the expedition to the Canadian Government.

Sir Robert Borden then wrote letters to Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, President of the American Museum of Natural His-

PREFACE ix

tory, and to Mr. Gilbert Grosvenor, the Director of the National Geographic Society, offering to take over the expedition. He assured them that the scientific program, as already outlined under their auspices, would be carried out by the Canadian Government, that the expedition would be sent out that present year, and that the entire command of it would remain in my hands exactly as if the work had been under their auspices. In this letter and in the correspondence that followed between these American institutions and the Canadian Government, it was made clear that I was to remain the sole judge of the fitness of all men and all materials and that the scientific direction of the expedition should in every way remain in my hands. That this was made so explicit was due to the forethought of Mr. Grosvenor, who feared that some politician or other at Ottawa might try to influence the course of the expedition, thus interfering with its scientific value.

It was in February, 1913, that the expedition was transferred to the Canadian Government. Before that time I had offered the position of second in command of the expedition to Dr. R. M. Anderson, who had accepted. No other man for that position had even occurred to me, for we had been friends since college days and had already carried out together successfully an expedition on which he had shown himself both admirable as a traveling companion and able and diligent as a field observer and scientific collector.

A man whom I have admired for many years is Captain C. T. Pedersen, commonly known to his friends as Theodore Pedersen. I had known him in the Arctic since 1906. The winter of 1908-09 I visited him frequently when he was wintering in his schooner, the Challenge, in the ''lagoon" at Point Barrow. We had talked over the possibility of an expedition of geographic discovery, where I should be in command while he was the sailing master. In my mind he was self-chosen for master of whatever ship I might have, just as Dr. Anderson was the obvious man for the position of second in command.

Pedersen was now in San Francisco unoccupied. He at once accepted not only my offer to be commander of the ship, but undertook the task of selecting the best available vessel. A few years before this the whaling trade had come to a sudden stop through a drop in the price of whalebone, and there were ten or more whalers laid up in various ports on the Pacific coast that were supposed to be entirely suitable for further navigation in polar waters. Captain Pedersen informed me at once that the choice was between four ships — the Herman, Jeannette, Elvira and the Karluk, All these ships

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were known to me through association with them in polar waters, but I had not the intimate knowledge of them possessed by Captain Pedersen. I authorized the employment of expert ship inspectors, who soon reported that the Elvira was unsound, but that the other three ships were in good condition. They agreed with Captain Pedersen that the best of them was the Karluk. On the strength of the backing secured from the American organizations I had . already concluded the purchase of the Karluk before the expedition was transferred to the Canadian Government, whereupon she was resold at cost to the Government.

With the authority and resources of a nation behind us, we now had the opportunity of organizing the most comprehensive polar expedition that ever sailed, for no expedition in history has been so fortunately situated. In some cases naval expeditions have been sent out by governments, but in those cases the purposes have not been primarily scientific. In expeditions that have been primarily scientific governments have sometimes taken a limited part and have granted lump sums of money. We had a more liberal backing, for Canada decided to stint us in nothing that might contribute to scientific success.

The selection of the scientific staff was the first consideration. The sciences to be investigated were anthropology (archseology, ethnology, somatology), biology (botany and zoology, both terrestrial and marine) , geography, geology, mineralogy, oceanography, terrestrial magnetism. In a scientific staff suitable to carry out investigations in all these sciences there are sure to be men who can accumulate knowledge in other departments also. In that sense such a polar expedition can make all knowledge its province. The sciences named turned out to be by no means the only ones that benefited by the work of our scientific staff.

It appeared at once that, although we preferred Canadians, it was not possible to secure an adequate scientific staff in Canada. In general, we wanted men in whom university training was merely the foundation and who had after graduation settled upon one of these sciences as his life work. Half of our staff had academic training equivalent to that of a Doctor of Philosophy. We were able to secure only five out of our staff of fifteen in Canada. Eventually it was made up as follows: from Canada 5, from Great Britain 3, from the United States 2, from Australia 1, from New Zealand 1, from Denmark 1, from Norway 1, and from France 1.

The following is a partial list of the universities represented in ^ the training of these men, partial because several of them had been

PREFACE xi

in two or more universities: Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, McGill, Oxford, Queens, the Sorbonne, State Universities of Iowa and North Dakota, Toronto, Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, Yale, and technical schools in Norway, Denmark and Australia. Four of the men had previously been on polar expeditions: Mackay and Murray with Shackleton, Johansen with Mylius Erichsen in Greenland, and Anderson with me. Mamen had been on a Norwegian surveying expedition to Spitsbergen.

This list shows that we had to go all over the world to secure our scientific staff. Jenness had just returned to New Zealand from anthropological work in New Guinea, and Wilkins of Australia was in the West Indies. Both of these were secured by cable correspondence. Johansen, the Dane, was engaged in Washington, and Mamen, the Norwegian, in Canada. I made a trip to Europe which resulted in the engagement of Bench at, Mackay, Murray and McKinlay.

This European trip was partly to secure scientific men and partly to get equipment, especially in the field of oceanography. In this work I was greatly aided by Dr. W. S. Bruce, of the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory, by Sir John Murray, and by the Prince of Monaco.

While I was in Europe I received the first bad news of the expedition, the resignation of Captain Pedersen. Some one had induced him to believe that he would have had to change his American citizenship for Canadian in order to be master of the Karluk. How illfounded this belief was is best shown by the fact that we replaced him by Captain Bartlett who, although born in British territory, had become an American citizen and retained his citizenship throughout the expedition. Captain Bartlett had been master of the Roosevelt under Peary, and had extensive experience with ice navigation in Atlantic waters.

Apart from the comprehensiveness of the scientific scope of the expedition and the large number of scientists, this expedition did not in its outfitting differ materially from that of the recent polar expeditions. The outfitting is, therefore, not worth describing. It was most effectively handled by the Canadian Navy Yard at Esquimalt, near Victoria, British Columbia.

The direction of the expedition was under the Canadian Department of the Naval Service, and therefore at first under the Honorable D. J. Hazen, and later the Honorable C. C. Ballantyne. The expedition was directly under the Deputy Minister, the Honorable G. J. Desbarats, who through five years kept in personal xii PREFACE

touch with every detail of it in spite of the cares and labors incident to the rapid expansion of the Department of the Naval Service under war conditions. The material outfitting was in charge of Mr. J. A. Wilson, who was then Director of Naval Stores. In Esquimalt the outfitting was handled by Mr. George Phillips, who accompanied us to Nome, and to whose personal care the expedition owes a great deal.

The equipment of the expedition kept growing and growing under our hands, and for several reasons; especially that for the oceanographic work was more bulky and difficult to operate than we had at first realized. Furthermore, we had a scientific staff who were in the main inexperienced in polar matters, but who, nevertheless, had definite ideas of what outfit they must have in order to get along. In some part their ideas were justified by eventual experience, but to a considerable degree our efforts to please them resulted in the hampering of the expedition. It was one of the few drawbacks of our fortunate situation of ample financial resources that we had continually to yield to the argument that after all we could buy and carry this or that if we only wanted to, and that all we would lose in case the thing were not needed would be its money value and the cost of carriage.

For reasons entirely apart from equipment I had decided to divide the expedition into two sections: one under the charge of Dr. Anderson to operate in the vicinity of Coronation Gulf; and the other under my immediate charge to strive towards the pole of inaccessibility and to have geography for its main objective where the southern branch carried forward more detailed and varied scientific studies. This plan necessitated two ships, the Karluk for the geographic work, and the Alaska to take the scientific men to Coronation Gulf. Later on our outfit grew so that we had to purchase the Mary Sachs in Nome to act as a tender to both sections of the expedition and incidentally to carry on oceanographic work under the command of our chief oceanographer, Murray. Later on the loss of vessels and the diversion of others to work not originally intended necessitated the purchase of further ships. These latter purchases are explained in the text of the narrative, for they form a part of the story in the field.

I know myself fortunate, and suppose myself exceptionally fortunate in having many loyal and willing friends. Many of these have helped with this book and some have forbidden me to attach their names to any printed mention of their doing so. To mention

PREFACE xiii

the others would seem invidious. Grateful as I am, I shall, therefore, refrain from attempting to express my gratitude to persons and shall merely make a formal acknowledgment to institutions.

I am in the first place indebted in general to the Government of Canada and in particular to the Department of the Naval Service for allowing the use of photographs and other material gathered on the expedition. This was provided for in my original agreement with the Government when they assumed all obligations to me which had previously been entered into by the National Geographic Society and the American Museum of Natural History.

The maps were made for the Department of the Naval Service by the Geodetic Survey of Canada. A few of the photographs used in this book were taken on my expedition of 1908-12. These are the property of the American Museum of Natural History and are used by their consent. The photographs of musk oxen under domestication are used by courtesy of the New York Zoological Society. Two photographs used in this volume are reproduced from my previous book, "My Life With the Eskimo," because I had no new pictures which illustrated equally well certain points that had to be brought out.

Most of the photographs used in this volume were taken either by myself or by George H. Wilkins, the ofiicial photographer of the expedition, who was with us by a special arrangement with the Gaumont Company of Great Britain. Some photographs of vegetation and of insect life were taken by Frits Johansen, our botanist, entomologist and marine biologist. Through a defect in my records it is possible that two or three of the photographs were taken by other members. However that be, all the expedition photographs are used not by permission of the original takers, but in a few cases by permission of the Geological Survey of Canada, and in the majority of cases by permission of the Department of the Naval Service, whose property they are.

It is possible that minor alterations will be made hereafter in the maps of the expedition. Those published in this volume should, therefore, not be considered final and authoritative. Those requirements will be filled by the official maps of the Government to be issued from Ottawa probably during the year 1922.

All technical publications except certain preliminary reports published in technical journals will be issued by the Government as rapidly as possible.

Such new place names as appear on the maps included in this book are those of men (and in one or two cases women) who have xiv PREFACE

been directly concerned in polar exploration. Preference has been given to members of the expedition. On the large scale maps as finally published by the Government every member will be commemorated, but in this volume some names have had to be omitted because of the scale of the maps. Next after members of the expedition come polar explorers, and in particular those who have worked in the general region covered by the expedition. There are also the names of a few men who have been resident in the Far North for a long time, as whalers, traders, police, and the like.

The most conspicuous features of the map have been named after those high officers in the Canadian Government who were directly instrumental in having this expedition sent north, or who have done something since then through acts while in office to promote polar exploration.

Foreword

By Gilbert Grosvenor, LL.D.

President of the National Geographic Society

UNDER WHOSE DIRECTION THE ORGANIZATION OF THE EXPEDITION

WAS BEGUN

October 18, 1921.

The Macmillan Company, 64 Fifth Avenue, New York City.

< ( "W" AM sending you enclosed the introduction which you have I requested me to prepare. It may seem to you at first rather -^ long, but I would ask you to note that my own part of it is very short.

"It seemed to me very desirable that the tributes to Stefansson by Admiral Peary and General Greely should be incorporated in this introduction, particularly as this address by Admiral Peary was his last public appearance. Peary had been very sick for months, but I realized his friendship for Stefansson, and so I asked him if he would not come and present Stefansson to our audience. We {Peary and I) knew at the time that it was to be Peary's last public appearance. I hope you can use his address and Greely's, because these tributes were deliberately prepared by them and have great historical value. In fifty years these words of praise by Peary and Greely will be valued very highly, but they will be forgotten unless tied up in a book. They will mean more to the future than any words of mine.

"Yours very truly, (Signed) "Gilbert Grosvenor."

When in the winter of 1913 Stefansson expressed a desire to resume his northern explorations and was seeking financial help, the Research Committee of the National Geographic Society, impressed

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by the quality of his earlier work, by his originality and resourcefulness, offered to subscribe $22,500 to his expedition. The American Museum of Natural History generously duplicated this subscription.

As the plans progressed, it became apparent that more funds would be needed for the expanding program, and Mr. Stefansson, with the approval of the above organizations, approached the Premier of Canada to ascertain if the Canadian Government desired to participate in the work. Sir Robert Borden immediately offered, on behalf of the Dominion, to assume the entire expense of the expedition if the National Geographic Society and the American Museum of Natural History would agree to relinquish their claims. On our cheerfully acceding to Sir Robert's wish, because of our faith in Stefansson and our desire to see his important project adequately undertaken, we received the following very pleasant letter from the Canadian Premier:

PRIME minister's OFFICE, CANADA.

"Ottawa, Ont., 21st February, 1913.

"Dear Sir: Mr. Stefansson has shown me your letter of the 11th instant, stating that you are willing to forego your claims to a share in his exploration of the northern waters of Canada, and to cancel the arrangements which you had so generously made to contribute towards the expenses of this undertaking, and I wish to thank you for your courtesy in withdrawing in favor of this Government.

"We are most appreciative of the valuable results obtained by Mr. Stefansson's explorations in the northern part of the American continent, which have given valuable information as to this comparatively unknown portion of the Dominion of Canada, and have to thank you for the part you took in assisting Mr. Stefansson in that work. The Government of Canada feels, however, with regard to the present exploration, that it would be more suitable if the expenses are borne by the Government more immediately interested, and if the expedition sails under the flag of the country which is to be explored. The Government is, however, desirous that the line of investigation begun by Mr. Stefansson and the members of your Association should be continued and would be glad of the

FOREWORD xvii

scientific co-operation of your members so as to obtain the best results from this expedition. Yours very truly,

(Signed) "R. L. Borden." ''Gilbert H. Grosvenor, Esq., "Director and Editor,

"National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C."

While the National Geographic Society waived its claim, this act did not lessen our interest in Stefansson or the admiration with which we followed his five and a half years' contest against obstacles insuperable to any other man. Our expectation of important discoveries by his original methods were realized to such a gratifying extent that on his return the highest honor in the gift of the Society, the Hubbard Gold Medal, previously won by Peary and Amundsen, was unanimously awarded him by the Society's Committee on Research.

Those members who were present when the medal was conferred will not soon forget that memorable meeting of the National Geographic Society, when Stefansson was presented to the members by the two foremost figures in American polar history — Peary, discoverer of the North Pole, and Greely, who had wrested from Great Britain thirty-seven years before (1882) the record for the Farthest North, held by British explorers for 300 years.

Peary had been seriously sick for many months and really should not have risked the fatigue of addressing such a large audience, but in his eagerness to say a kind word of appreciation of his friend — Stefansson — he overrode his physician's orders. The following tribute to Stefansson was Peary's last public address; a few months later his heroic voice was still.

ADMIRAL PEARY's LAST PUBLIC APPEARANCE.

"Fellow members of the National Geographic Society : "To-day we add another to the long list of Polar explorers, both north and south, whom our Society has welcomed and to whom our members have listened with absorbing interest.

"Six years ago, in the parlor of a hotel in Rome, I said good-bye to a confident young friend of mine who was starting then for home in order to begin one of our latest Polar quests. I met him here to-day for the first time since then. How much has happened to xviii FOREWORD