WITH STEFANSSON IN THE ARCTIC 
A BRIEF HISTORY OF STEFANSSON’S MOVEMENTS FROM SEPTEMBER 20, 1913, 
WHEN HE LEFT THE “KARLUK” ON A HUNTING TRIP INLAND, UNTIL APRIL 
7, 1914, WHEN HE WAS LAST SEEN ON DRIFTING ICE, OVER 180 FATHOMS 
OF SEA AT THE EDGE OF THE CONTINENTAL SHELF IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN 
By Burt M. McConnell 
Of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-1914 
HEN early in September, 1913, 
the drifting ice-field in which 
the “ Karluk”’ was frozen be- 
came stationary about eighteen miles 
off the mouth of the Colville River in 
149° W. longitude and remained in that 
position for ten days, Stefansson and 
Captain Bartlett concluded that the 
ship was in safe winter quarters. Our 
four Eskimo, although excellent marks- 
men, had been unable to hunt seals suc- 
cessfully because the animals were not 
at that season covered with a layer of 
blubber sufficient to keep them afloat 
after being killed, and as fresh meat is 
the only known preventive of scurvy in 
the Arctic, Stefansson decided to take 
ashore a party, consisting of Jenness, 
Wilkins and myself, to hunt caribou 
forty miles inland on the Colville River. 
The “ Karluk,” as is probably known 
to most readers of the JOURNAL, was 
carried to the westward by a gale a few 
days after our departure, and four 
months later, on January 10, 1914, was 
crushed by the ice at a point about 
eighty miles northeast of Wrangel Is- 
land which is in 180° W. longitude and 
71° N. latitude. She sank the next day, 
leaving her company of twenty-five 
marooned on the ice. Under the leader- 
ship of Captain Bartlett, sixteen mem- 
bers of the expedition succeeded in 
reaching Wrangel Island on March 12. 
Here they maintained themselves in two 
camps until September 7, 1914. On this 
date they were rescued by Olaf Swenson 
in the power schooner “King and 
Winge,” word of their plight having 
been brought to the outside world by 
Captain Bartlett. Eight of the original 
company, including two of the world’s 
foremost scientists, James Murray, 
oceanographer, and Henri Beuchat, an- 
thropologist, became separated from the 
main party and have never been heard 
from since. George 5S. Malloch, geolo- 
gist, Bjarne Mamen, his assistant and 
George Breddy, a fireman, perished on 
Wrangel before aid could reach them. 
The story of the rescue of the survivors 
from Wrangel Island was told in the 
February number of Harper’s Magazine, 
and in the April issue of the same maga- 
zine, will be told the story of Stefansson’s 
various activities after reaching shore 
and of the trip over the ice from which 
he and his two companions have not 
returned.— Anyone who knows Stefans- 
son, who is familiar with his singular 
psychology, his resourcefulness and _ his 
determination, would understand that 
he would let nothing, not even separa- 
tion from the “ Karluk” and the larger 
part of his scientific staff, interfere with 
the accomplishment of one of the main 
objects of the Canadian Arctic Expedi- 
tion — which was the exploration of as 
much as possible of the unknown area 
north of Alaska and western Canada. 
There could be no surprise therefore at 
his plan to go northward with dog teams 
over the ice in search of the group of 
islands or the hypothetical continent 
which students of tidal phenomena have 
argued exists in that area, although the 
123 
