Marooned in the Arctic: The True Story of Ada Blackjack
clothing while they were on the island Ada was a superior seam stress and her ability to speak English would be another plus Jordan shared with her what he had heard about the trip north but at that time had no knowledge of the real purpose of the expedi tion Jordan told her that Vilhjalmur Stefansson a noted Canadian and Arctic explorer was organizing and arranging financing for the expedition although he did not plan to participate He would stay behind to continue fund raising through his lecture tours and to seek private backing for another exploration to search for a continent north of Wrangel Island Stefansson personally selected four young men to represent him on the current exploration He used his strong personality reputation and powers of per suasion to convince them to carry out the colonizing expedition while he remained at home The chosen members included Errol Lorne Knight a big 28 year old outspoken happy go lucky American from McMinnville Oregon he had been on a prior north ern expedition with Stefansson Frederick W Maurer another 28 year old from New Philadelphia Ohio had been a member of Stefansson's five year Cana dian expedition Joining Maurer and Knight was their fellow countryman 19 year old Milton Galle from New Braunfels Texas who was Stefansson's secre tary when they traveled on the Chautauqua lecture circuit The fourth member was 20 year old Canadian
Allan R Crawford a student at the University of Toronto An 1867 law classified all Canadians as British subjects so Stefansson named Crawford as leader of the team His British citizenship would be necessary to claim the island for Great Britain Since Crawford had not been to the Arctic his position was only nominal Knight headed the team because of his previous experience Stefansson told the men that he could afford to pay only minimal salaries and noth ing at all to young Galle whom he had not planned to add to the expedition For compensation Galle could have a percentage of any furs that he brought back with him at the expedition's end Despite that all of them could hardly wait to start their trip and felt quite proud that Stefansson trusted them to carry out his mission The Victoria embarked from Seattle with the four young men aboard on August 18 1921 Knight's par ents were at the docks to see them off The men promised they would write when they arrived at Nome a voyage of four or five days Those communi cations would be their last with their families until a relief ship was scheduled to go to Wrangel in 1922 Stefansson swore the young men to secrecy about their true purpose in going to Wrangel Island An excerpt from Galle's letter to Stefansson at that time illustrated the high spirits of the men as they deliber ately misled passengers on the Victoria about their reason for going to the
From the time we left Seattle all those aboard asked as to our whereabouts this winter Knight would answer one place Crawford another and Maurer still another and I said passed sic Point Barrow I had most fun when in a bunch Knight would be asked about some place around Hershall sic Island He answered another question was asked he answered but then it was my turn so I asked questions some of the most foolish imaginable he would look at me and then answer Crawford was not as bad as Knight because he said he was new he didn't know Maurer had the most nerve start answering and soon be talk ing about his shipwreck on the island All in all it has been a great
Portrait of Ada Blackjack before she left for the Wrangel Island expedition Courtesy of Dartmouth College Library Rauner Special Collec tions Stefansson did not want the truth to get out before they sailed because he didn't want anyone else to steal his idea He planned to postpone announcing his true reason for the expedition until the men arrived on Wrangel Then he would state his real objective claiming for Great Britain the 2 000 square mile island about 100 miles north of Siberia After ownership was established through occupancy he hoped to get the Canadian government to assume responsibility for the land Canadian officials had turned down sponsorship of the expedition because of problems Stefansson had had with previous ones Once the island was in British possession he believed it could serve as a stop along future polar air routes of dirigibles and airplanes flying from England into China and Japan over the North Pole He also believed the island could support a mete orological station to study and forecast northern weather and possibly a radio station To protect the mission's real purpose Stefansson let word drift about that the men were involved in a commercial enterprise about which he shared only vague details To add to the confusion the men caused with their differing answers to questions the four spread the word that they were going to make their fortunes in
