IN THE ARCTIC

Grey River Argus, 16 June 1919, Page 4

IN THE ARCTIC

• «*T A NEW ZEALA-ND 3X)CTOR!S EXPERIENCES. (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Juno 12. Dr. Diamond Jenness, a New Zealander who hafc just returned from Canada, had thrilling experiences with the Canadian Government's Arctic anc\| Stefansson's expedition. Dr. Jenness, after three years in the fro- , zen waters of the north, was a year ; with the Canadian troops in France, j In the beginning of 1913 Dr. Jenness, i who then was in New Zealand, receiv- j ed a cable from the Canadian Govern- 1 ment asking him to join the expedi- < tion to the Arctic. He, accepted andi \ the expedition" left Esquimault ihj £ Juno, 1913, and proceeded via Nomo, ( a mining centre on the Alaskan coast, t At Nome two gasolene schooners and < a vessel named the Karluk were pur- I chased ancij equipped with Arctic par- I aphcrnalia. The expedition had aj * twofold purpose, to explore Beaufort, " Sea in search of new land and carry, out detailed scientific mapping of the , coastline and making a study of zoology, biology, etc., in the almost unknown regions .of Coronation Gulf. * The expedition, therefore, divided into| •♦ a northern party under Stcfansson to x explore Beaufort Sea and the southern r party, of which Dr. Jenness was a r member, and whose work was to make j a special study of the Eskimos. Stefansson sailed north in the Karluk, leaving the schooners with the southern party for the time being. The Karluk, however, was fated not to re- r turn, for she was jammed in the ico. \ Of the six scientists with that party ] three perished during the terrible jour ncy over the ice, and two more succumbed to disease after the island had been gained. Of the; crew of twentythree two men died, one on the ice aha the other on the island. The Karluk being lost Stefansson resolved to carry on his exploration by sledge, therefore he organised a new party and set off for Beaufort Sea, where he remained four yeaTS to the west ana north of Prince Patrick Land. Meanwhile the remainder of the party, maroonerj. on Wrangell Island, were experl encing terrible hardships. The- food supply, scant at first, dwindled to practically nil. Captain Barlett, one of the party, who had been Peary's captain when the American explorer reached the North Pole, set out across the ice to the shor6 and then made his way to an isolated Russian settlement with newte of the terrible plight of the remainder of the party. Nothing more could be done till the following' summer, when the icefields broke up. Help then was dispatched by sea and the shipwrecked men on WrangelL Island were rescued in the summer ox 1914. The vessels went on their way to Coronation Bay where, says Dr. Jenness, "we 'Spent two fairly peaceable years, a little cold at times.' There specimens, plants, annimals and insects were collected and Dr. Jenness took up the study of Eskimo life and customs. The geologist with that party discovered enormous deposits of copper, not copper ore, but 99 per. cent, pure copper, somewhat similar to the great Lake Superior deposits. Dr. Jenness made a comprehensive collection of specimens in the Coronation Gulf region, taking back some eighty cases to Canada. No news was received that war had commenced till JNovember 1916;