Chicago Boys Work With Crew on MacMillan Cruise in Arctic

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7412, 20 December 1930, Page 5

Chicago Boys Work With Crew on MacMillan Cruise in Arctic

CHICAGO,

Eight Chicago boys have returned to school after a vacation such as few youths would dream of. They can talk like veteran seamen about the mainsails and rigging' of an arctic schooner. They have made friends with Eskimos and have walked the streets of Iceland. They know how it feels to sight 30 icebergs at one time and to steer a course among ice floes. They understand how to anchor a ship in ice and how to disembark on an ice pan. As for geography, they can tell plenty that isn’t in the school books.

In short, they cruised through the arctic with Commander Donald B. MacMillan.

It was the youngest crew the explorer ever took on his famous ship Bowdoin. The boys who made up about half the entire list were between the ages of 15 and 20.

All, that is, but William A. Thomas Jr. William was only 11, just a little fifth grader. He was allowed to go because his father, Dr. William A. Thomas, was a member of the party.

William, whom everybody called Buddy, told his adventures in an interview. Interviewing, of course, is a main part of a reporter’s job, but seldom does a newspaper -writer have occasion to put cjuestions to a person of 11 years who has just come in from play.

Buddy looked very small indeed when he opened the door. It was easy to believe that he was the youngest cabin boy that ever sailed the arctic. Ho wore white duck trousers and a blue dernin shirt, just as you would expect a fellow to dress who had made a 3000-mile cruise and had got used to a sailor’s life.

Eleven-Years-Old Buddy Thomas Tells of ThrillingAdventures With Famous Explorer on Ideal Vacation Trip.

A Comfortable Ship.

Shows His Trophies. Boylike, Buddy started by showing his trophies. Postage stamps from Iceland, antelope skins from Labrador, tusks, harpoons, carved ivories, coins, Eskimo children’s garments —a collection to thrill a small boy—or a big one. But when it came to questions, Buddy answered ably. He had been a remarkably alert observer, and,. except for a little difficulty in spelling out the names he spoke so glibly, he was accurate. Most of the incidents of the trip the writer learned from conversation with Buddy, but John Post and James Markham, two older boy members of the crew, kindly supplied other details out of their own experiences.

It all started when Buddy’s father remarked one day last April at the table, “I think I’ll take Buddy and sail to Iceland this summer. Captain MacMillan has invited us.” It was a complete surprise to the boy. His father had sailed with MacMillan two years before, but he. hadn’t even lffnied he was thinking of going again. Dr. Thomas was to select seven other boys to go with them. Commander MacMillan had said. The Commander was going to Iceland to attr.fid the 1000th anniversary celebration and he thought he would tube boys as a crew instead of older men as he usually does. It would be such a fine opportunity for them to learn navigation as well as to see something of tho North.

On June 21 the schooner Bowdoin set sail from Wiscassct, Me., with a crew of 15, no passengers. Tho other boys were Robert Potter, Edward Hoffman, Prank Elliott, Clarence Grulec and Paul Davis, radio operator.

The description of‘the ship was given to me by John Post. ‘‘She’s an 88foot schooner with a knockout rig. That means sho had no bowsprit to

break against the ice. She’s stub masted with no topsails or rigging because she’s designed for the arctic.” The boys agreed she was a comfortable little ship. They cruised from Wiseasset across the Bay of Pundy, past Cape Breton Island and St. Johns, Newfoundland, then across the ocean. The boys were all put to work, even small Buddy, who had to polish up tho brass and wipe dishes. They learned the language of the ship by doing tasks assigned. ‘‘Make fast the rope to the cleats,” an officer would command and pretty •soon tho boys would know what cleats were. The commander was serious about having the boys learn navigation and he gave them typewritten questions to study. Before they landed, all were able to pass the examination. After eight days’ sailing, part of the time by engine, part by wind; the ship anchored at the foot of a mountain in Iceland and the boys Trent to the capital, Reykjavik. They were surprised at the country. Tlsey expected to see sod houses; instead They found a European city. ‘‘The people dress the way we do, only better,’’.John Post said. The crowning surprise was to find that a member of the Iceland police force was a former Chicago policeman who had walked the beat where Robert .Potter lived.

After leaving Iceland they crossed tho arctic circle. Prom now on that imaginary line of the geographies will seem pretty real to the boys. They crossed it at about 6 a.m., but early as it was they celebrated.

The Bowdoin could not anchor at Greenland as Commander MacMillan had intended, because ice lay 150 miles out from tho shore. So they went on to Labrador, where the Captain has a

research station. They spent eight days at Nain and here Buddy had the novel experience of sleeping in an Eskimo hut.

A small group from the Bowdoin had taken a launch and sailed inland, Buddy said. When night came they sought shelter with an Eskimo friend of the commander’s, Ponteguniak by name. The house was made of driftwood, with'just enough bunks for the little family. So the visitors slept on the floor in their duffle bags. Eskimoes have some strange customs. Buddy observed, but he got to know them as friends—Ponteguniak, Simeon and others. “They have black hair beardless faces and puggy noses,” Buddy described them. He showed some of their ivory carvings, explaining that they were natural artists. While in Nain the boys did some work for the natives. Commander MacMillan, remembering how much they needed good lights in their long winters, had brought an. electric light system with him. Tho boys installed it in a churcß, a . school ' and two mission stations. Buddy’s. diary, which he kept throughout the trip, tells of their six-day stay in Nain.

They stopped at other points.on th* Labrador coast, then cruised down to Marblehead, Mass. On September 10 the Bowdoin was back at Wiscassct, Me. The boys were sorry to leave the ship. Buddy’s grandmother came to meet’them and wanted him to come to the hotel and sleep in a good bed, but he preferred his narrow bunk in the Bowdoin. The boys were packed in pretty tightly, but they liked it. They came home with so many treasures and so many memories that it is hard for them to say \yhat was their best adventure. They had no mishaps but the most thrilling moment, according to .Tames Markham, was when they anchored the ship to a floating ice pan and went down on the floe to get water. While on the ice they had a snowball fight. All the boys were warm in their appreciation of “tho Captain.” “Ho was never high-hat,” James Markham said. “He would come down in tho cabin and tell us stories he learned at NanTucket,” Buddy said. They thought it, was pretty fine of him to teach them to be sailors. If he wanted another crew to-day the lads say he would find eight Chicago boys ready to re-cnlisl.