The last voyage of the Karluk

by Bob Bartlett; Ralph T. Hale

CHAPTER VI

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.

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.