stefansson-wrangel-09-16-029-002

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I did not know what ship it was and suspected least of all that it was
from Wrangel Island.

I went aboard and was ushered to the cabin of the "Head
of the Expedition," B. V. Davidoff, and Captain Voyeykoff. After the
greetings, I was questioned about ice conditions at and around Cape North,
the nature of winds, and my opinion on the possibility of getting out of
the ice. The trouble was that they were getting short of coal and the
ice was impassable. Finally, not to endanger the ship and the lives of
eighty men on board, they decided to wait for the offshore winds that
would drive the ice away.

But as the northern winds prevailed, packing the ice
against the shore, with no leads in sight, they were obliged to prepare
themselves for spending the winter at Cape North.

In the meantime, on finding that I was Canadian, the
heads of the expedition took quite an interest in me. Only Commisar, an
ex-sailor, regretted that"it wasn't Stefansson instead, as he (Commisar)
would show him whether Wrangel Island belongs to Canada or Soviet Russia."
Captain Voyeykoff introduced me to Charlie Wells. I was very glad of the
acquaintance and was very much interested in the man that had spent a
year on Wrangel Island.

I have expected Charles Wells to be a man of middle
age and robust, but was rather disappointed in that. He looked rather
too old and frail (not strong) to spend his time on Wrangel Island, although
he was well built. One of his eyes was bandaged, and he told me later
that while on the Island he began to lose the sight of one eye (and did
not know what was the cause of it) until he could not see at all.
Nevertheless, he was a pleasant man to meet and to talk to.

He told me of the tragedy of four men on the Island
(in 1923) and his own experience there.

All that I am setting down here he did not tell me in
one continuous story, but in disjointed extracts.

He did not have a very successful winter, as the
Eskimos that were with him were a lazy bunch, and as long as they had
plenty for their stomachs refused to go to the traps. Game was plentiful
throughout the winter. He kept a diary and meteorological observations.

He was very angry at Harold Noice for not discharging
from his ship everything he had for his (Wells')party. One article that
Wells spoke of, and I remember it well, was woolen underwear, which was
put on shore by Wells himself and later it disappeared, and the party
was in bad need of it. He actually accused Noice of appropriating many
things of the cargo, and said that as soon as he came back to the U. S.