stefansson-wrangel-09-26-001-035

The report of our deaths appeared in the press in September, 1914, and
was universally accepted even by arctic explorers. But we got in
touch with ships again in August, 1915, and the press
reports of our being alive appeared in September, U. S.

Belvedere, which carried freight and additional supplies for him, was lying, and
fitted out a dog sled expedition to make a dash for the unknown land which he
believed lay somewhere in the uncharted area to the north of Alaska. He started
with dogs and sleds taking with him two Norwegians, Storkerson and Andreasen, both
experienced arctic travelers, on March 22, 1914. Up to the present time nothing
further has been heard of him. (June May, 1915)

We must have passed Point Barrow some time before Stefansson arrived
there, as we drifted rapidly between Camden Bay and that point, making as much as
three knots an hour, or about forty miles a day, and we had probably seven or eight
days the statt of him. It seems that when he lost his ship he was seized with a
desperate determination not to be balked in his attempt to reach an unknown land
which he believed to exist. Returning to the Belvedere, he made the dash which in
its very nature was little short of suicidal. The icepack to the north of Alaska
is known to be the most treacherous of in the arctic seas.

When we began drifting the sun was above the horizon about ten hours
each day. By the time we passed Point Barrow we had only five hours of sunlight,
and on November 15 the sun disappeared below the horizon altogether and we entered
upon the|long Arctic night.

In the meantime Capt. Bartlett set about taking measures for our
safety. He first had us bank up the sides of the ship with ice for the purpose of
forming a kind of cushion against the lateral pressure of the floe that held us.
Then we blew down the boilers and began repairing the engines. This we did by
taking them apart piece by piece and replacing each as soon as it had been gone
over and repairs made if needed. Capt. Bartlett had us remove all the sacked
coal that we had no on deck and place it on the ice beside the ship; also all the
biscuits, kerosene, alcohol, sleds and skiis. We then put the ship and the portion
of the cargo that remained on her in good and snug shape and made her our living
quarters. Keeping us at work as much of the time as he could was the best thing
Capt. Bartlett could have done for us. As long as we were working it seemed that