The Last Voyage Of The Karluk

Account of the voyage and drift, July 1913-Jan. 1914, in Beaufort and Chukchi seas; the loss of the Karluk, dogsledge journey across the ice to Wrangell Island, thence to the Siberian coast, the rescue of the survivors.

The Karluk set out in 1913 in search of an undiscovered continent, with the largest scientific staff ever sent into the Arctic. Soon after, winter had begun, they were blown off course by polar storms, the ship became imprisoned in ice, and the expedition was abandoned by its leader. Hundreds of miles from civilization, the castaways had no choice but to find solid ground as they struggled against starvation, snow blindness, disease, exposure--and each other. After almost twelve months battling the elements, twelve survivors were rescued, thanks to the heroic efforts of their captain, Bartlett, the Ice Master, who traveled by foot across the ice and through Siberia to find help. Drawing on the diaries of those who were rescued and those who perished, Jennifer Niven re-creates with astonishing accuracy the ill-fated journey and the crews desperate attempts to find a way home.

Excerpt from The Last Voyage of the Karluk: Flagship of Vilhjalmar Stefansson's Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-16 The other reason was that the winter of 1913 14 was unprecedented in the annals Of northern Alaska. It came on unusually early, as we were presently to learn, and for severity of storm and cold had not its equal on record. The National Geographic Society had originally planned to finance our expedition, and it was only at the urgent request of the Canadian premier, the Right Hon. R. L. Borden, that the Society relin quished its direction of the enterprise. The Cana dian Government felt that since the country to be explored was Canadian territory it was only fitting that the expedition fly its flag and be financed from its treasury. When I returned from the seal-fisheries to Brigus, my Old home in Newfoundland, in the spring Of 1913, I found awaiting me a telegram from Stefansson, asking me to join his expedition and take charge Of the Karluk. I went at Once to New York, then to Ottawa for a day with the gov ernment authorities and direct from there to Vic toria, B. C. It was the middle of May and there was work to be done to get the ship ready to sail in June. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 edition. Excerpt: ... WE DRIFT AWAY FROM THE LAND The last day of September we got another glimpse of the land, seeing distinctly the low shore of Cooper Island, with its Eskimo houses. We were still to the eastward of Point Barrow, drifting slowly along in the pack. Mamen, the doctor and I went out to a ski-jump we had built and in trying a higher jump than usual I heeled over and, instead of landing on my ski, came down with a hard bump on my side. I didn't let the doctor know how badly I was hurt because I didn't want any one to know that I could be such a duffer but I was unable to lift my hand to comb my hair for several weeks. October came in with a snowstorm and a strong northeast wind which drove us fast before it. On the morning of the first there came a crack in the ice about a foot wide, running east and west, two miles from the ship. It was too far away for us to dynamite our way to it even if it had been a likely lead for navigation and besides when you dynamite ice you must have open water for the broken fragments to overflow into or they will choke up around you and you are worse off than before. The heavy wind did not allow this crack to remain open more than a few hours. On the second and again on the third we caught glimpses of the land. On the third the same gale that destroyed part of the town of Nome sent us bowling along to the northwest. Occasionally we saw open water but it was always far away. The weather on the fourth and fifth was delightful, with the temperature up in the forties, and on the fifth we had a beautiful sunset. Mamen, Malloch and I went ski-jumping in the bright sunshine and had a wonderful afternoon of it. We were now fast drifting to the northwest, off Point Barrow, getting outside the twenty-fathom curve. The...

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

CHAPTER I THE EXPEDITION AND ITS OBJECTS We did not all come back. Fifteen months after the Karluk, flagship of Vilh j almar Stefanssons Canadian Arctic Expedi- tion, steamed out of the navy yard at Esquimault, British Columbia, the United States revenue cutter, Bear, that perennial Good Samaritan of the Arctic, which thirty years before had been one of the ships to rescue the survivors of the Greely Ex- pedition from Cape Sabine, brought nine of us back again to Esquimault-nine white men out of the twenty, who, with two Eskimo men, an Eskimo woman and her two little girls and a Hack cat comprised the ships company when she began her westward drift along the northesn coast of AIaska on the twenty-third of September, 1913. Years of sealing in the waters about Newfoundland and of Arctic voyaging and ice-travel with Peary had given me a variety of experience to fall back upon by way of comparison the events of those Gf- teen months, I must say, justified the prophecy that I made in a letter to a Boston hiend, just before we left Esquimault This will have the north Pole trip beaten to a frazzle...

On January 4, 1914, the Karluk was stuck in ice when the ominous sound of the ship's stern being ripped open by pack ice was heard by all on board. It sounded like the firing of a cannon. Bartlett immediately ordered supplies be unloaded on the ice. The Karluk began to break up on January 10, and all on board were ordered to abandon ship. When everyone was safely on the ice, the captain himself went back to his cabin and, all alone, put Chopin's Funeral March on his Victrola. As the water rose in the cabin, he whispered "Goodbye," left the sinking vessel to the mournful sound of Chopin's music and hurried out on the ice. It was to be the beginning of one of the greatest feats of valour in world history. From the foreword by Paul O'Neill

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.