THE LOST KARLUK STORY OF HER DISAPPEARANCE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 76, 31 March 1914, Page 8

THE LOST KARLUK STORY OF HER DISAPPEARANCE

NEWS OF DR. JENNESS (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, 20th February, Mr. V. Stefansson, the leader^'bf the Canadian Arctic expedition, sends to the Daily a long message from Point Barrow, Alaska, giving fuller details of the disappearance of the Ko/Huk. By 17th August all the ice was tightly packed and the Karluk was never able to stir an inch. Open water was never closer th,an a mile away, and the ship drifted helplessly : — " Our most serious immediate problem was to provide fresh meat. The one contingency we had not provided against was being caught in the ice off shore west of Hersohel. We had on board Beuchaft, Jemiess,, M 'Kinky. Murray, and Wilkins, all of whom were to be transferred to our other ships at Herschel Island. Hero were five extra men to feed and clothe, whose usefulness lay, elsewhere than with us, though Murray' and M'Kinlay could do something in oceanography and magnetism wherever they were. As the only known certain way of preventing scurvy is to get fresh meat, we had to set about trying to provide for out twenty-four white men and seven Eskimos. There seemed to be no wa-y, therefore, but that I should go myself to try to get meat and fish, t alone had experience in hunting and knowledge of the country. In 1908 and 1909 I had shot caribou here and there from Cape Halkett to Flaxman Island 5 I knew all the fishing places and trapping rendezvous of the local Eskimos— few of which are easy to find for a stranger— and I could possibly not only buy meat and fish from any people we mignt find but probably secure the services of useful local hunters and seamstresses when any other member of our expedition might fail to do so, for I know every Eskimo in the country personally. "I took with me Jenness, M'Connel], and Wilkiiis to give them a little experience in sled travel, and the Point Hope Eskimos, Pauyurak and Asatshak. We took two sleds and twelve dogs, and expected to hunt caribou two weeks inland from Beechey Point, and made a trip of forty miles S.W. to the fishing i place at which we had our winter base in 1908." KARLUK BREAKS LOOSE. They left the siiip on 20th September, a.nd it took two days to get ashore on the most westerly of tlie Jonas Islahds, about six miles N.W. of Beechey Point. jl'Connell and Asatshak were instructed to return to the Karluk for certain things, but a gale sprang up and con* CinueS for three days. At the end of Ene gale "there was left a landfloe of perhaps a mile in 'width; outside of this the ocean was as open as .in summer, with here and there an ice caße or a strip of ice, but nothing to interfere with the progress of a steamer or even a sailing ship. The ice which I had thought likely to stay all winter was gone, and with it the Karluk proba&ly, unless the_ ice in which she was embedded may "nave broken so as to allow ncr to get under way." • .' • On 26th September Mr. Stafansson thinks he saw, tnrough Tiis glasses^ the two masts of the vessel on the horizon. Continuing he says : "One might think that upon leaving a well-equipjed exploring ship like the Karluk we would have been properly outfitted for sled travel, but this was not so. We looked upon our shore-going as a two weeks' excursion only. On the ship were 14 excellent new sleds and one old one. I took the old sled with the idea that it was good enough for a mere caribou hunt., We had many dogs, tried anfl found excellent; I took untried dogs to see if they were good. We had the best instruments that money could buy ; I took only the fewest possi> >ble, and cheap ones, with the idea that if they got broken there would be no , great harm done. We brought no proper winter clothes, even though we had ah abundance on the ship. Our whole outfit had been similarly selected, we could get along with what we had,' but not with any domfort. OTHER SHIPS SAFE. "We started west on 3rd October, and on sth October we found a group of three Eskimo familks fishing in Hamson Bay. back of Cape Ha-lkett. All these Eskimos were old friends of mine, and one of them had been my travelling companion for about two months in 1908. They were catching plenty of fish in a small lake, and gave us about 3001b for our dogs. We stayed with them three days, while their women repaired our boots, which were in urgent need of it. Before we left the son-in4aw of one ami the son of another couple arrived from the West. They had gone by boat in the summer to Barrow to trade, and on the return journey the early freeze-up had caught them west of Cape Simpson. They could tell us that both our schooners had come to Barrow, 'and passed lo the east, but they did not know how far east they had been able to go. Proceed' ing, west, we got no further news from tlie Eskimo colony at Cape Halkett, who were congregated there to trap foxes in that neighbourhood and, set meat and oil from two whales that drifted ashore there a year ago. When wo reached Barrow. Mr. Brower was able to tell us that the Ala-ska and Mary Sachs were at Collinson Point, and had fjone into winter quarters there, while Mr. Leffingwell was at Flaxman Island. So two of our three ships seem safe.'' WILL THE KARLUK SURVIVE? There are now on the Karluk six scientists, fourteen crew, and four Eskimos, and the leader &h}'s : "The Karluk is sound, m thorough repair, and strengthened for ice work, not so strong as some other ice vessels. She came through the summer without the slightest mishap. It is. therefore, a matter of good or evil fortune whether she survives' the winter. It seems probable that if the winds and currents keep her at a considerable Histance from the land sho will be safe; if she gets on a lee shore she will be crushed. "If the vessel should be crushed in winter, there will, of course, bo little trouble about the men getting ashore safely; but whether other things can be saved depends upon the distance from shore and the roughness of the ice. If the Karluk should be crushed in the coming summer, tho danger to life will be somewhat increased, although it cannot be considered serious, for the Karluk is equipped with three skin boats, any one of which would carry the entire ships company." During this winter the party on shore will explore the Delta of the Mackenzie River, one of the largest in the world, unmapped and practically unknown.

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