stefansson-wrangel-09-13-042

September 12th 1923.

Dear Taylor,

I have been sending you rather lengthy cables of advice to and about Noice. but it is rather difficult and expensive to be clear. Noice has a fine opportunity now if he handles it right, both for himself and for the cause of exploration. Here in England a bad impression has been produced by only one or two things in his cables. On the whole the impression is very good so far as I can gather. The chief trouble was the last, or second last, paragraph of his long cable. The general tenor of the despatch as edited in New York and interpreted in England was that there was but one explanation of the difficulties in Wrangell Island - the absence of game from Wrangell and other insuperable difficulties of the country aud climate. When, at the end of such a despatch, he said that on starting for the mainland of Siberia the boys had less than one chance in a thousand of getting there, it was open to only one of three interpretations, all undesirable. The experienced polar travellers who had read the despatch carefully and who had seen that Knight had died of illness in June and that the woman had had some food left, saw no logical explanation of the statement by Noice and formed the general impression, which two or three of them expressed, that the whole Noice despatch was so sensational and unreliable that one could form no opinion for the time being. Others, realising the amount of food there must have been on hand when the boys started, said that if the danger of the trip was one in a thousand they had shown complete lack of judgment in attempting it - they should have gone on close rations expecting to replenish by hunting when the daylight came back. The third, and of course far the commonest interpretation, was that the conditions had been so bad that no human being was justified in advocating or undertaking expeditions so dangerous as that of Wrangell Island. This last interpretation had a very bad effect on the raising of funds. Mr. Brewer had loaned us £2,250 with the hope that the public would reimburse him and he made an appeal to them through the press. We have heard from several people who would have given money but for the impression created by the Noice despatch that Wrangell Island was not only as worthless a place as its worst detractors had always said but that the expedition had been

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planned without any semblance of judgment and had, in a sense, richly deserved whatever misfortune came to it.

The later Noice despatches helped a good deal and would have removed most of the original bad impression but for the tremendous excitement about the Italian situation and the Japanese earthquake, which prevented all but a small number from paying much attention to the interview with Ada Blackjack - which got much less space in the papers than would have been the case had it arrived sooner. Those who read it carefully and took special note of what Noice said about the great gale that blew a day or two after the Crawford party started, have said (one or two of them in print) that the death of the boys is now clearly shown to have been one of those accidents so common to polar travel and therefore not reflecting on the character of Wrangell Island or the judgment of the backers of the expedition or even upon the judgment of Crawford and his associates.

I understand, of course, that Noice's motive was to save the feelings of the relatives as much as possible. He could have done that best by emphasising whatever probability there was that the death of the three was due either to their having walked out upon unsafe ice or else to the breaking of the ice by a gale blowing in darkness.

The saving element here is that the most important men have taken close note of all that has been said in the various despatches. They appreciate Noice's motives in the wording of the original despatch and now have as favourable an impression both of Noice himself and of the Wrangell Island enterprise as I could have hoped for.

When you see Noice I think you ought to remind him with reference to both his writings and speeches that he must always keep in mind, as I am compelled to do, that the point of view which we represent has many violent opponents who are not reluctant to remove a statement from its context or even to slightly misquote if they get an opportunity. Of course, it is not possible to prevent such misquotations but one can at least be on his guard not to give any specially favourable opportunities.

Much of the editorial comment in England has either been under the head of "Death from starvation" or has carried a more or less definite implication that this was the only cause.

I have cabled Le Bourdais to make sure that the Affiliated Lyceum and Chautauqua Association of 2443 Prospect

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Avenue, Cleveland, get in touch with Noice on landing. I think they ought to be able to book him pretty well, especially for a lecture tour in the autumn. In one of my messages I suggested that Ellison-White of Portland should send someone to meet Noice in Seattle.

I have talked with Mr. Christy, the leading lecture manager in England. He says the arrangements in England are such that nothing can be done this winter but that he would like to book Noice for next winter if he can know in advance what time he would be over here. The money you get in England is less than half of what Americans are willing to pay, but it might be a good thing for Noice nevertheless.

There are many reasons why no-one connected with our Company must make any money out of the Wrangell Island diaries, eves if they are probably legally our property. I hope Noice will not feel in any way resentful about this - I know he wont. Of course he has to live but he can make a living by lecturing and the prominence will also increase the saleability of his other writings. Besides, I shall doubtless be able to find some way of helping him through next winter in New York on the same basis as last.

I am very glad to hear that the "Star" has invited Noice to Toronto. I think he should make a good impression - I am sure he will unless some untoward accident happens.

I am expecting to leave here some time between the 1st and 10th of October. I do not know yet whether I shall sail for Montreal or New York.

The contributions that have come in to the Wrangell Island Relief Fund now amount to about £600. The original gift by The Wright Company of £550 will come ultimately about £300 from Brewer, £200 from Orville Wright and about £50 from other stockholders.

I did not reply to your cable asking for a statement as to the British having [r]enounced Wrangell Island because the correspondent of the Toronto Star told me he was sending a long despatch to his paper saying, in effect, that he had interviewed the Foreign Office who ridiculed the report that they had made any such announcement. I supposed you would see that in the "Star" as soon as my cable could possibly reach you. We are spending a lot of money in any case in cables. I use them whenever I think necessary but when I feel reasonably certain that the news despatches are carrying the information I want you to get I refrain from sending it myself. In a way such news as the opinions and intentions of the Foreign Office come with more force from a newspaper correspon-

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dent than from me.

So far as I know we have not received £1. from any Canadian in England. I know definitely that some Englishmen, very favourably disposed, have been deterred from doing anything by Canadians. One man, however, has been very friendly - E.R. Peacock, who is one of the Governors of the Bank of England and the head of several large companies. I think he was at Mexico at the time of the bad news from Wrangell. I feel certain if he had been here he would have done something.

Our best friend in the Government has been Amery, The First Lord of the Admiralty. Sir Samuel Hoare has also been very friendly and so has General Sir Sefton Brancker, the Head of Civil Aviation. There are a number of other prominent people over here who have gone out of their way to help. Noone has given so much thought and work as Major-General, the Honble. Robert White, who seems to be an intimate friend of Lord Byng. The Countess of Dudley has also been very helpfel, especially in interesting the King - which may mean something ultimately. I had an audience with the King which was expected to last fifteen minutes but did last forty, for he had no end of questions to ask. With the one exception of Amery, I have talked with no-one in England who was so accurately and definitely informed both about conditions in general and my work in particular. He may have prepared a little for the interview but obviously he must have had a very good background long before that.

The King took special interest in the reindeer and ovibos projects and discussed at considerable length the case of Spitzbergen. He understood thoroughly what the Empire had lost in giving up Spitzbergen and seemed on more than one occasion to have to remind himself rather forcibly that he was a constitutional monarch and must not express too clearcut a disapproval of the actions of his Ministers - the Lloyd George people at Paris at the Peace Conference, when they turned over Spitzbergen to Norway.

I am writing Noice. I think perhaps you had best show him this letter. I know he will not consider harsh what I have said about the English impression made by part of his despatch. As I said, the people that count most in this matter have now come to a pretty clear understanding of the situation and quite appreciate the kind motives which lie beyond such apparent or real contradictions as there are in the despatches.

V. Stefansson.

Mr.A.J.T.Taylor, Toronto.