Evening Star Newspaper, October 29, 1923, Page 11

Dash From Wrangel Island Abandoned in Icy Gloom BY HAROLD NOICE, Leader Wrangel Isiand Rescue Expedition. R was the middle of January, 1922, when Crawford and Knight decided to abandon their dash for civilization and, sick at heart, returned to the main|p, camp on Wrangle Island. Half-starved dogs, a poor old sled, almost impassable ice and Knight's scurvy—all these made 2scape from their ice-bound desolation impossible. They realized that, even &hould they regain their base, it would | impossible to remain there many Weeks. But they belleved the alterna- lives to be death on the ice or a re- turn to an inadequately provisioned headquarters. They cliose the less hopeless of ‘these. In Knight's own JOords, written on January 12 in his| “We will go back to the main camp and lighten the load as much as pos- sible, and Crawford and Galle will start south and make as much time as they | possibly can. It will be impossible for | all of us to stay at the main camp, | for there is just enough grub there for three people (hard bread. blubber and | What foxes we can catch) to last un- til the seals and birds come. 1 wou.d to make this trip. but I really do | not feel able. Crawford has several of | Lis finger tips frozen badiy and_they | glve him considerable pain. Clear, calm and cold. Falirly fresh bear tracks Seen going east.” Start After Three Dayn. It was not urtil three days later that their condition was such that they were able to start back. Even then they Made almost no distance, for they had to fight their way through a blizzard | fnd Doth of them froze thelr faces Under date of January 16, Knight's entrv is brief: A i blowing a howler from the No traveling possible. Craw- ford has a badly frozen cheek from yesterday and my chin is nearly as The following day he writes: Suil @ uowier, with west wind and | driftine snow. Crawford went ont to feed the dogs and sald it was impos- sible to see over a couple of yards.| This camp is a dug-out in a larpe drift, covered with a small tent and tarpaulin. A‘ drift was formed over the | €0 rine and as soon as the Stove is #tarted—drip, drip, drip! Consequently 1y tea. but piot bread and blubber. The next day their quarters became £0 impossible that they had to find a ney. temporary shelter. “This a.m. got out of our under- ground dungeon and found that it was back to camp and the only time all winter that it has blown from the west is now, and so cold that it would be foclish ‘to try and face it. Crawford has some badly frost-bitten fingers and cheeks and my face is sore, so we wish to avold making things 'any worse. Feeding the dogs on sealskin and blub- bty Finally Break Camp. T:IG next emtry is especially signifi- cant: “Broke camp at 9:45 ‘a.m, Very bad going. Soft snow. We camped about two miles east of the o'd trapping’ camp of last winter. Crawford froze the big toe on his right foot rather badly to- day, He is suffering considerable pain. My scyrvy pains were very pronounced today and the only thing fresh we have that T can use as an_anti?scorbutic Is sour seal ofl and I have been eating 1l of that that I can stand, but there re no signs of rellef vet. Both of my heels have cracks in them. which makes walking painful. Of all the trips that T have ever participated in this is the worst for hard luck (or is it in- competence?)” he parutheses are Knight's own. Here we find the first dawning of that most to~menting of all man's realiza- | tions—that he himself. and not fate. is | traps. the author of his misfortunes. What mental snffering must underlie the sim- ple, unemotional words of Knight's a. count! Now they were reaping the bit- ter consequences of their mistakes of the previous summer, when at any cost they should have killed walrus and stored up food. No one who has gone through thelr diaries and followed the day-to-day record of their lives can fail to ad- mit that they had bad luck. Bad luck, however tors’ that every successful explorer must take into account. He must allow an ample margin for misfor- tune. The mechanics of life in a civilized soclety are automatic safety devices. ‘When men go Into the wilderness they are pitting themselves against the elements. Success depends on their ability to anticipate every emer- gency. This demands superior leader- ship—a blending of imagination and experience. There is nothing individ- ualistic about life in the wilds. The members of a group sink or swim together. experience of the hardened exnlorer nor the native Eskimo; they lacked the imagination of genius. To have made a success of their expedition, as poorly equipped as they were, one of the other of these qualities was absolutely essential. Knight's temperament was me; curial, When he and Crawford still blowing a strong breeze from the west and very cold. Decided to erem | & snow ring and cover It with a tent and tarp. Now we are nice and warm | and swallowing tea like a couple of | Englishmen. We are anxious to get | rived In camp the next day hope vived in him. There is a certain exultance in his brief entry: “Home again. Arrived at camp at 12:15 and found the three people com- fortably living in a ten by twelve Is one of those fac-! The boys had neither the, tent. They have only caught one fox since we have becn gone and Maurer got that. Wonderful going all day.” Evidently the party spent most of that night trying to decide what was to be done. The next day Knight records the decision: “It has been decided that Craw- ford, Maurer and Galle will attempt in & few days to go to Nome vis Siberia. 1 will remain here as camp | kecper for the reason that I think I will be unwise to attempt the said irip. 1 am sure that any one looking | at this case clearly will see that there is nothing else to be done. It is I | possible for two men to make |the trip (so I think). And as grub ‘is short here it is essential for the party to split. I+ is very likely that V. 8. (Vilhjalmur Stefansson) will be expecting news from us this spring, for when we left him in Seattle, In August, 1921, he suggested the trip. The woman and I wiil have about six hard breads each a day until the birds | and seals arrive. This is not count- ing on what foxes I hope to catch on the two trap lines that I Intend to take over or perhaps & bear. We will also have about two pokes of seal | blubber and five or six gallons of ! bear oll" The following week was spent in| preparation and the entries briefly recorded reiterate again and agulu: “Galle to the traps. No luck. Maurer to the traps. No luck.” On January 27 comes the last of| these: ! | *"®Xi1 ready to leave and the start 1s! timed for tomorrow. Maurer to the No luck. | On January 28 the three men left | camp for the last time, Knight records the departure, but gives almost no de- tails. 4 ““They're off,” he writes. ‘At ’:lo.i A nice clear day, warmer than usual and all in their favor. They were B -y {ing due south when last seen and wers soon out of sight. * ® Now (9} p.m.) a fresh breeze from the east. Blight drift. Clear overhead." Clear weather was a brief blessing. The following day Knight reporis a howling gale from the east and the two who are left behind see the snow pil» up outside their door and fear for their comrades. The second day after, the departure of Crawford, Maurer and Galle, Knight writes: “Still howling from the east. Ratner hard luck for the travelers, but possibly they are far enough south to be out of the blow. At least it will be a sido wind for them and, though inconven- fent. they will still 'be able to travel.” Poor Knight. As keeper of the camp was doomed mo Ada_Blackjack, who becomes | the man of Wrangel Island. It was on | the very day of the party's break-up. when his companions were scarcely out | of vislon, that Knight noted the swell- | ing in his left leg. which marked the passage of his disease to an advanced | stage. | From now on his diary becomes a | dlsmal record of the progress of the devastating scurvy. Nothing more ter- | rible could well be imagined than his situation after the others had left. No horror tale of Edgar Allan Poe could exceed in pathos and tragedy the spec- tacle of this man, s'owly dying in his {down or fall down. sleeping bag, cut off from the outside world by hundreds of miles of ice, and without the stre: to obtain the fresh meat which would have saved his life. But in spite of all this he was able to maintain a detached attitude. Knight was primarily an adventurer— easy going, a lovable plece of drift- wood, as 1 have sald. Yet he that spark which may come to a man in ex- temity—the desire to leave something tangible behind to knowl- edge he had Something bigger i ms hold of him, giving him the aloofness of the sclentist. n & cool set- ting down of his symptoms. Among the books in the expedition's library was an encyclopedia containing an article on scurvy, In Knight's tent, after his death, I found a th ree-page ! typewritten dissertation, comparin, his symptoms with those given in the , and stating the points on which the two do not agree. ral optimism persists long horeful man would have known himself doomed. On February 1 he writes: “The gale let up last night and T intended going to Maurer's traps today, but did not feel well enoush. Both of my legs are now swollen above the knees and the left s mnch the worse. If it is scurvy it is actine differently than the previous time hen T exert myself T become o short of breath that I have to sit I »m not in the least worrled. but T would like to know what Is the trouble anyhow. 1 have lost my healthy appetite, though T am still able to peck a bit. The best medicine 1 cou'd take wonld be a few feeds of fresh meat, hence my desire to go to the traps. 1f only a bear would walk into camp. The meat would last the two of us (not counting the cat) a long time.” Tn the next day's entry he says: “Parts clear. Light breese from the east. Come on, b As Knight grows weaker and weaker he begins to wish. for Ada's :llle. that his companions might re- urn, “T wish the three fellows would come back. for I can see very plainly that it will be very hard on the wom- an If T get completely laid up.” nd again: “Ada spent some time digging out logs today, which she put in the stormhold. She s quite cheerful and seems to be glad to relleve me of all exertion, which I am sure I appre- clate. If I only had breath. I am puffing like a freight locomotive. In the pokes of blubber that we have is a little meat attached to the blubber I. and T am eating all of this I can. There are only two pokes left and they will soon be cleaned of meat, =0 my fondest hope {s a bear.” rom this time on. life is reduced to' the hope of killing a bear. 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