stefansson-wrangel-09-11-066-001

SUN
1/5/23

RESCUE VESSEL
TO SAIL NORTH
WITHIN A WEEK

TACOMA, April 30.—Rescue of
members of the last Stefansson
expedition to the Arctic, 1915 to
1919, supposed to be marooned on
Wrangell island, about 100 miles
north of Siberia, is an objective of
Captain W. W. Putta, skipper of
the power schooner Iskum, which
is being fitted out here for its an-
nual trading journey to the far
north. Captain Putta, who has
visited Wrangell island in the past,
says there are supposed to be from
four to six of the Stefansson ex-
pedition on the island, where they
were located when the last word
came from them in 1921.

The Iskum will leave for the
north within a week, and Captain
Putta said a race may result with
a ship fitting out in Vancouver,
B.C., to see which boat shall first
carry relief to the stranded explor-
ers.
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Officials of the Hudson’s Bay com-
pany stated last evening that the
Lady Kindersley is the only boat
[f]itting out in this port for the Arctic
but this boat is not going to Wran-
gell island, but is on her regular
trip to the Arctic ocean ports.

One mariner of experience in the
north stated that he doubted that
Captain Crawford and the men on
Wrangell island would be alive now,
as no boat was able to get near the
island last summer, and white men
could hardly exist through last
summer and winter on the island
without supplies from the outside
[w]orld.
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