STEFANSSON’S DEPARTURE
For several days the ship had remained stationary,—that is, the ice
had shown no signs of movement, and the weather had been generally
calm. The Eskimo were becoming more successful in shooting seal for our
fresh meat supply, which we kept in a kind of natural refrigerator that
we had made by scooping out a hole in the ice not far from the ship.
With the ship now apparently securely fixed for the winter, however,
Stefansson came to the conclusion that it would be a good thing for
some one to go ashore and get game.
He talked the matter over with me at some length on September 18.
Kerdrillo was the only one of the Eskimo who had had any experience
at deer-hunting and he knew a good deal about the country to the
back of us. In fact he was more familiar with land hunting than with
ice-travel. I had shot plenty of caribou in Grant Land and Ellesmere
Land, as well as in Newfoundland and elsewhere, and volunteered to go,
but Stefansson was the only one on board who not only knew how to hunt
caribou but also was fully acquainted with the country. He had shot
caribou in 1908 and 1909 along the shore from Cape Halkett to Flaxman
Island and was not only familiar with all the fishing and trapping
places of the Eskimo, not to be easily found by a newcomer to the
region, but also knew every Eskimo there personally and might be able
to buy fish and meat from them. He might even get some of the Eskimo
families to join the expedition, the men as hunters and the women as
seamstresses to make fur clothing for the ship’s company to wear during
the winter which was now upon us. He had heard at Point Barrow that
the carcasses of two whales had come ashore at Harrison Bay; these
would make good food for our dogs. He decided, therefore, that the task
logically devolved upon him. Plans were accordingly made for him to go
ashore on the twentieth. We were off the mouth of the Colville River at
this time, having drifted half way back to Point Barrow since reaching
our farthest east the middle of August.
On the morning of the twentieth I was up early and got things together
for the shore party which, besides Stefansson, consisted of Jenness,
McConnell and Wilkins, the two Point Hope Eskimo, Jimmy and Jerry,
with two sledges and twelve dogs. For supplies they took two Burberry
tents, a stove with piping, two axes, a dozen candles, four gallons of
alcohol, a box of dog-biscuit, six tins of compressed tea-tablets, ten
pounds of sugar, a supply of matches, three sleeping-bags, sheepskin
sleeping-robes, two pieces of canvas for tents, four slabs of bacon,
ten pounds of lard, one hundred and twenty pounds of fish, twenty
pounds of rice, a box of tinned beef, five pounds of salt, a case of
Underwood man-pemmican (we had two kinds of pemmican, one for men,
the other for dogs, equally palatable and nourishing) fifteen pounds
of chocolate, a box of ship’s biscuits or “pilot bread,” a Mannlicher
rifle and a shotgun, with ammunition, six seal-floats and a camp
cooking-set.
We all had luncheon together as usual. There was nothing out of the
ordinary about the trip that was about to take place. Stefansson
expected to be back in about ten days and there seemed no reason to
suppose that the ship would not remain where she was until the next
summer brought a genuine smashing-up of the ice and freed her. We all
went out on the ice, however, to see the shore party off and Wilkins
took some moving pictures.
[Illustration:
Stefansson
STEFANSSON AND HIS PARTY LEAVING THE _KARLUK_]
Before he started, Stefansson left me the following formal letter of
instruction:
C. G. S. _Karluk_, Sept. 20, 1913.
_Dear Captain Bartlett_:
On the trip for which I am leaving the _Karluk_ to-day, I expect to
make land on the largest second from the west of the Jones Islands
(Thetis Island). If the ice is strong enough I expect to cross thence
to near Beechey Point to hunt caribou; if feasible I may go on to
the mouth of the Itkuilik River, known to the Eskimo as Itkilhkpe,
to see if fish can be purchased there from the natives. Should the
_Karluk_ during our absence be driven from her present position it
will be well for you so soon as she has come to a stop again, and as
soon as it appears safe to send a party ashore, to erect one or more
beacons, giving information of the ship’s location. If she goes east,
the beacons should be erected on accessible islands; if west they
should be at Cape Halkett, Pitt Point, or Point Simpson, to facilitate
the finding of the ship in fog or a blizzard by our party coming from
shore or by hunters who are overtaken by thick weather while away from
the ship. It will be well to have established four lines of beacons,
running in the four cardinal directions from the ship to as great a
distance as practicable. There should be some arrangement by which
these beacons indicate in what direction the ship is from each of
them. And some of them should have the distance of the ship marked
upon them. These beacons need not be large, but should not be over 100
yards apart to be of use in thick weather. Flags or other fluttering
things should not be used, for bears might be scared away by them.
On days when an on-shore wind is blowing it might be desirable that
Dr. Mackay run lines of soundings out in various directions from
the ship. If it becomes practicable send off Malloch and Mamen for
surveying purposes. McKinlay should accompany them for the purpose of
establishing magnetic stations in connection with Malloch’s survey,
Malloch locating the stations for McKinlay so as to save unnecessary
duplications of instruments.
Except for some especial reason, the Eskimo woman Keruk should be kept
sewing boots of the winter sea-ice type—deer legs, using ugsug soles.
It is likely that we shall be back to the ship in ten days, if no
accident happens.
V. STEFANSSON.
Stefansson and his party got away at half past one in the afternoon
on September 20. The next day we began preparations for the departure
of Mamen and Malloch, to carry out Stefansson’s instructions, making
a tent on the sewing-machine and getting started on the fur clothing,
of which we had not made any up to this time. This was “tobacco day,”
which at this time came once a month, when the allowance of a pound per
man was given out, but which later on we changed to come around every
twenty-two days.
As the ship was stationary in the ice I suggested to Murray that this
would be a good time to rig up a tidal gauge; he took kindly to the
suggestion and made preparations to carry it out. The day before,
McKinlay had added to our equipment an anemometer for measuring the
velocity of the wind, putting it up aloft on the edge of the crow’s
nest, where the wind blew, if anywhere; the wires ran down the mast and
along the deck to McKinlay’s room where he had the indicator.