xii PREFACE 



touch with every detail of it in spite of the cares and labors incident 

 to the rapid expansion of the Department of the Naval Service 

 under war conditions. The material outfitting was in charge of 

 Mr. J. A. Wilson, who was then Director of Naval Stores. In 

 Esquimalt the outfitting was handled by Mr. George Phillips, who 

 accompanied us to Nome, and to whose personal care the expedition 

 owes a great deal. 



The equipment of the expedition kept growing and growing under 

 our hands, and for several reasons; especially that for the oceano- 

 graphic work was more bulky and difficult to operate than we had 

 at first realized. Furthermore, we had a scientific staff who were 

 in the main inexperienced in polar matters, but who, nevertheless, 

 had definite ideas of what outfit they must have in order to get 

 along. In some part their ideas were justified by eventual experi- 

 ence, but to a considerable degree our efforts to please them 

 resulted in the hampering of the expedition. It was one of the few 

 drawbacks of our fortunate situation of ample financial resources 

 that we had continually to yield to the argument that after all we 

 could buy and carry this or that if we only wanted to, and that 

 all we would lose in case the thing were not needed would be its 

 money value and the cost of carriage. 



For reasons entirely apart from equipment I had decided to 

 divide the expedition into two sections: one under the charge of 

 Dr. Anderson to operate in the vicinity of Coronation Gulf; and 

 the other under my immediate charge to strive towards the pole of 

 inaccessibility and to have geography for its main objective where 

 the southern branch carried forward more detailed and varied 

 scientific studies. This plan necessitated two ships, the Karluk for 

 the geographic work, and the Alaska to take the scientific men to 

 Coronation Gulf. Later on our outfit grew so that we had to 

 purchase the Mary Sachs in Nome to act as a tender to both sections 

 of the expedition and incidentally to carry on oceanographic work 

 under the command of our chief oceanographer, Murray. Later 

 on the loss of vessels and the diversion of others to work not 

 originally intended necessitated the purchase of further ships. These 

 latter purchases are explained in the text of the narrative, for they 

 form a part of the story in the field. 



I know myself fortunate, and suppose myself exceptionally 

 fortunate in having many loyal and willing friends. Many of these 

 have helped with this book and some have forbidden me to attach 

 their names to any printed mention of their doing so. To mention 



