July 7, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



11 



Such a division of forces would probably defeat 

 the object of sending out the Southern Party by 

 weakening it and the results to be obtained by 

 the exploration of Banks Land and Prince Patrick 

 Island would not compensate for the sacrifice. 



It has therefore been decided that the Southern 

 Party should as far as possible be kept intact and 

 that the program laid out for it should be carried 

 out as far as circumstances will admit. 



Your proposal that you should lead a northern 

 party along the coasts of Banks Land and Prince 

 Patrick Island is approved and you are authorized 

 to engage the men of whom you spoke as being 

 available for this expedition. Details of the ar- 

 rangement must necessarily be left to you and 

 will depend largely on developments in the Arctic 

 regions. But the main point to he borne in mind 

 is that the worh of the Southern Party should he 

 carried out as originally proposed and that it 

 should not he wealcened for the purpose of organ- 

 izing another northern party. 

 Yours truly, 

 (Signed) G. J. Desbakats, 



Deputy Minister 



Charge S. — Dr. Anderson, the leader of the 

 Southern Party, is accused of failing to forward 

 to the government a copy of a very important 

 letter of instructions from Mr. Stefansson out- 

 lining his plans and projected movements during 

 and after his ice-trip of 1914 and to inform the 

 press of Mr. Stefansson 's movements ("The 

 Friendly Arctic," p. 382). 



Ml'. Stefansson is clearly in error. Dr. Ander- 

 son forwarded copies of this letter by the first 

 mail to the Department of the Naval Service 

 and to the Geological Survey, Department of 

 Mines. The copy sent to the Department of 

 Mines is still on file in that department; that 

 sent to the Naval Service was acknowledged by 

 the deputy minister of the Naval Service, a 

 copy of which acknowledgment is also on file 

 in the Department of Mines." 



Charge 3. — Dr. Anderson is accused of disobe- 

 dience in the summer of 1914 because he failed to 

 send the schooner North Star to Banks Island, as 

 ordered by Mr. Stefansson. The North Star, Mr. 

 Stefansson states, was bought especially for the 

 explorations around Banks. Island, the schooner 

 which was actually sent there, the Mary Sachs, 



' See also Dr. Anderson's despatches to N. Y. 

 Times; of May 16, 1914, published September 1; 

 August 21, published September 23; and Septem- 

 ber 14, published March 5, 1915. 



being unsuitable for the work ("The Friendly 

 Arctic," pp. 271-2). 



Now on March 10, 1914, six days before set- 

 ting out on his northern explorations and nearly 

 three months after the purchase of the North 

 Star ("The Friendly Arctic," p. 103), Mr. 

 Stefansson gave the following instructions to 

 Dr. Anderson:* 



The work of the Mary Sachs as planned at pres- 

 ent has two main objects — (1) the carrying for- 

 ward so far as resources permit of the scientific 

 and exploratory work of the Karluh and (2) 

 establishing beacons and depots along the west 

 coasts of Banks and Prince Patrick Islands 

 against the possible landing there of either ship- 

 wrecked men or exploration parties from the 

 Karluh . . . 



A supply depot for the Southern Party shall be 

 established from a portion of the supplies bought 

 from M. Anderson [a local trader]. The North 

 Star shall take these to some place agreed upon 

 that is uninhabited and therefore safe — probably 

 Listen Island — and leave them there to be picked 

 up later by the AlasTca. After that the North 

 Star shall go about work later to be decided upon 

 — probably either oceanography or establishing a 

 depot on the west coast of Banks Island for the 

 Sachs or against the possible arrival there of men 

 from the KarluTc. 



Evidently Mr. Stefansson at this date con- 

 sidered the North Star less suitable than the 

 Mary Sachs for his northern explorations. This 

 is hard to reconcile with his statement ("The 

 Friendly Arctic," p. 272) that "the Star was 

 purchased especially for the Banks Island trip 

 and the Sachs, through her twin propellers, was 

 particularly badly suited to those more north- 

 erly and icy waters." 



In his later instructions ("The Friendly 

 Arctic," p. 158; the letter is dated April 6) 

 Mr. Stefansson ordered both the North Star 

 and the Mary Sachs to proceed to Banks 

 Island. Dr. Anderson sent the Mary Sachs 

 alone with a launch, for the following reasons : 



(o) One of these schooners was required to 

 carry the supplies of the Southern Party to Cor- 

 onation Gulf. Mr. Stefansson had already issued 

 orders to this effect. 



(b) The Mary Sachs was the larger vessel, and 

 Mr. Stefansson 's original choice. 



8 Copy of letter on file in the Department of 

 Mines, Ottawa. 



