Stefansson Returned After Four Years 

 of Arctic Exploration 



By CLARK W I S S L E R 



THE Arctic explorer, Vilhjalmur 

 Stefansson, visited New Yorlc 

 and lectured at Carnegie Hall 

 for the benefit of the American Red 

 Cross, October 31, on the experiences 

 and results of his 1913-1918 Canadian 

 Arctic Expedition. One object of this 

 expedition was the discovery of new 

 land above the known Arctic Archi- 

 pelago. It had been thought that per- 

 haps a large body of land lay off the 

 north Alaskan coast and the seeking of 

 this land was the main purpose of the 

 ISTorthern Section of the expedition, the 

 Southern Party making scientific ex- 

 plorations of the country around Coro- 

 nation Gulf. 



New land was found by Stefansson, 

 but in the form of three new islands on 

 the upper border of the Arctic Archi- 

 pelago. This discovery adds a consid- 

 erable area to the known land surface 

 of the earth, about three thousand 

 square miles. On the other hand, the 

 position of these new islands indicates 

 that they are the outer edge of the great 

 archipelago just off Hudson Bay, and 

 Stefansson's soundings offshore seem 

 to indicate deep water, thus suggesting 

 that no new land is to be expected in 

 the unknown area north of Alaska. 



The First New Land, of about the 

 size of Ireland, discovered June 15, 

 1915, was fully surveyed in 1916. It 

 lies between Prince Patrick and Ellef 

 Ringnes islands, with its western tip at 

 77° 55' N. latitude and 114° 30' W. 

 longitude, its extreme northwestern 

 corner at 79° N. and 113° W., and its 

 eastern tip approximately at 78° 30' N. 

 and 108° W. The various prominent 

 land angles, capes Murray, Malloch, 

 Mamen, Beuchat, and Mackay, have 

 been named in honor of scientists on 

 the "Karluk" who lost their lives. 



The Second New Land was discov- 

 ered on June 13, 1916, between Ellef 

 600 



Ringnes and Axel Heiberg (its north- 

 ern tip lying in 80° 12' N. latitude 

 and 100° W. longitude) — with several 

 smaller islands off the east shore be- 

 tween the new land and Axel Heiberg. 

 The Third New Land, discovered on 

 August 3, 1916, occupies with the First 

 Land the sea north of Melville Island. 

 By looking at the map it will be seen 

 that these new islands lie in a line with 

 Prince Patrick Island, Ellef Ringnes, 

 Axel Heiberg, and Grant Land, forming 

 what would seem to be the abrupt edge 

 of an archipelago platform. Stefansson 

 reports that all the new lands as well as 

 Ellef and Amund Ringnes islands show 

 clear evidences of extensive elevation of 

 coast lines, which is still in progress. 



Of very definite scientific value will 

 be his tidal observations, with instru- 

 mentally determined local time at Cape 

 Isachsen, Hassel Sound, and the south- 

 ern tip of the Third Land, tied up with 

 observations at the historical Parry 

 Rock at Winter Harbor on the south- 

 eastern coast of Melville Island, where 

 tidal observations were made in the 

 summer of 1820. Tide records were 

 kept also at Cape Kellett on southwest- 

 ern Banks Island, and in Prince of 

 Wales Strait. 



Another important work of the ex- 

 pedition was the mapping and correct- 

 ing of formerly delineated coast lines 

 and surveys in the Arctic Archipelago. 

 A stretch of about tifty miles was 

 charted along the eastern coast of 

 Prince Patrick Island, that McClintock 

 and Mecham did not cover when work- 

 ing in the region sixty-five years ago. 

 The northeast corner of Banks Island, 

 at John Russell Point, was found to be 

 mapped a full degree too far east. The 

 coast of northeastern Victoria Island, 

 which the work of Hansen and Ristvedt 

 had left incompletely explored, was 

 mapped by a party under Storker Stor- 



