stefansson-wrangel-09-31-105r

THE SUMMER OF 1923 AND THE TRAGIC NEWS 167

Wrangel Island the following main impressions: the
theory upon which the expedition had been planned had
broken down through the absence or scarcity of game;
the outfit carried had been inadequate, the provisions
insufficient, the men inexperienced, and the undertaking
as a whole had been ill advised. The despatch seemed
to say that, because game was scarce, the party had gone
on short rations until they and their dogs alike were weak
with hunger. Three of the men had then made a last
desperate attempt to reach Siberia so as to fetch assist-
ance. It said specifically that because they had been so
weakened by hunger they had not had when they left
“one chance in a thousand” of reaching Siberia. I dis-
liked this, both because it seemed obviously a situation
that could not have happened, and because it by implica-
tion criticized Allan Crawford for taking “one chance in
a thousand” in attempting a journey that would have
been useless, even if it had been accomplished, for ade-
quate supplies cannot be hauled back from the Siberian
mainland to Wrangel Island. Most persons whose views
of the Arctic were at all similar to mine would consider
that if rations were low and if the party were already
weakened thereby, the thing to do was to stay quietly in
camp during the midwinter darkness, conserving strength
by being at least warm (there was plenty of driftwood for
fuel) while on short rations, and taking every opportu-
nity when daylight returned in February to secure game.
My view from the first was that the fatal journey
must have been undertaken for some other purpose than
that of securing assistance and that the men when they
set out must, therefore, have been in their full strength,
and probably the dogs also. Doubtless they had been