IN TOUCH WITH THE WORLD AGAIN
On the morning of May 19 an Eskimo whom we had sent over to John
Holland Bay came back and said that the _Herman_ had been there, but
had left for Cape Bering, so I sent word there to see if I could catch
the captain. While he was on his way there, however, he heard through
the natives of my being at Emma Harbor and on the afternoon of the
twenty-first I was delighted to see the _Herman_ come steaming in.
I did not need to be told that she was there for me and went aboard at
once. The captain greeted me hospitably and made no demur when I told
him how anxious I was to be set ashore at Nome as soon as possible. I
cannot express too strongly my warm appreciation of the kindness of the
captain and his crew, for it meant a considerable delay in his trading
voyage and consequent loss to the men who, according to the established
custom, were working entirely on shares. He told me that ever since he
had been on this coast the weather had been bad. He had got the natives
aboard again and again, to trade with them, only to have the wind
spring up and make it necessary for him to up-anchor with all speed and
put to sea again.
I bade good-by to the baron and to my other kind friends at Emma Harbor
and we started for Alaska. The distance across Bering Sea at that point
is about 240 miles. When we reached the edge of the ice off Nome on
the twenty-fourth we found that we could not steam in near enough to
the land for me to get ashore. There was nothing to do but to lie off
shore about twelve miles and hope for the ice to break up enough to
enable the ship to be worked in nearer the town. There is no harbor at
Nome; it is simply an open shore, unsafe for vessels in any kind of
bad weather, and conditions have to be exactly right before a ship can
venture in. For three days we lay there, while my patience underwent a
severe test; all I could do was to read the magazines and gaze at the
shore, twelve miles away.
Finally, during the afternoon of the twenty-seventh the captain decided
to go to St. Michael’s, and we got under way again and steamed across
Norton Sound. Early the next morning we arrived off St. Michael’s, but
on account of thick fog had to anchor and wait. At six P. M. the fog
lifted and we steamed in to a point about a mile off shore. The harbor
ice was still frozen solid, but we got out a boat and rowed to the edge
of the ice and then made our way ashore on foot. It was about eight
o’clock in the evening when, with a feeling of great relief, I set foot
at last on American soil. Captain Pederson had given me some American
clothing to take the place of the furs I had been wearing for so many
months. He accompanied me to the wireless station, but when we got
there we found that the office was closed.
We walked on in the direction of the town of St. Michael’s and on our
way I was overjoyed to meet Hugh J. Lee, the United States Marshal. I
had met him in Nome the previous summer, which was the first time I had
seen him since 1896. He had been with Peary on his Greenland ice-cap
trip in 1892 and had been on the _Hope_ in 1896 when she touched in
at Turnavick on the Labrador, my father’s fishing-station, where I
was spending a summer vacation. He was astonished to see me in St.
Michael’s and wanted to know what on earth I was doing there. A few
brief explanations put him in touch with the situation and I felt that
I was in the hands of a good friend.
[Illustration: THE NEWS OF CAPTAIN BARTLETT’S ARRIVAL AT ST. MICHAEL’S
REACHES NOME]
Lee took me to the agent of the Northern Commercial Company, which
has a large trading-house at St. Michael’s, and I was given a good
room in the winter hotel where the company’s employees are quartered.
The summer hotel was closed. Lee and I sat up until late that night,
talking over the _Karluk’s_ drift and the subsequent adventures of
our ship’s company.
Early the next morning I was at the office of the wireless, which is a
military station of the Signal Corps of the United States Army. I had
very little money and as he had to follow the regulations the sergeant
in charge refused to send my message to Ottawa unless I could pay
for it. This was an unexpected obstacle. I had travelled a good many
hundred miles to reach this spot and I am afraid that I almost lost my
patience with the red tape that could stand in the way of a message
that had to be sent. About that time Lee came in and explained matters,
and the sergeant finally concluded to send the message, which I had
written:
ST. MICHAEL’S, ALASKA,
May 29, 1914.
_Naval Service, Ottawa, Canada_:
_Karluk_ ice pressure sank January 11, sixty miles north Herald
Island. Preparation made last fall leave ship therefore comfortable on
ice. January twenty-first sent first and second mate two sailors with
supporting party three months provisions Wrangell Island. Supporting
party returned leaving them close Herald Island. They expected land
island when ice moved in shore. February fifth Mackay, Murray,
Beuchat, Sailor Morris left us using man power pull sledges. Sent
again Herald Island three sledges, twenty dogs, pemmican, biscuit,
oil. Open water prevented their landing. Saw no signs men, presumed
they gone Wrangell. Returning left provisions along trail. Shortly
after their return east gale sent us west. February twenty-fourth I
left camp. March twelfth landed Munro, Williamson, Malloch, McKinlay,
Mamen, Hadley, Chafe, Templeman, Maurer, Breddy, Williams, Eskimo
family Wrangell eighty-six days’ supplies each man.
March seventeenth Munro two men fourteen dogs left for supplies
Shipwreck Camp. Plenty of driftwood game island. March eighteenth I
left island Eskimo landed Siberia fifty miles west Cape North. May
twenty-first Captain Pederson Whaler _Herman_ called for me Emma
Harbor going out of his way whaling to do so. Soundings meteorological
observations dredging kept up continually. Successful. Twelve hundred
fathoms animal life found bottom.
Need funds pay bills contracted Siberia and here. Wire Northern
Commercial Company, San Francisco, five hundred dollars. Instruct them
forward by wire St. Michael’s.
BARTLETT, CAPTAIN, C. G. S.
My own special task was done. The responsibility for what remained to
be done would be shared with others; means must be devised for the
rescue of the men on Wrangell Island.