stefansson-wrangel-09-24-002-007

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abandoned at the end of the third winter, dying to the
last man.

But a ship has sailed at last. The Donaldson, under
command of Harold Noice, one of the veterans of my last
polar expedition, has left Nome, Alaska, for Wrangell
Island, 500 miles to the north-west. We did not announce
her sailing date and we cannot announce her route, for we
have had communications from the Soviet Government at
Anadyr, North East Siberia, which made caution advisable.
They notified Noice that before sailing from Nome he would
have to send a wireless message asking permission from the
Anadyr Government. This permission, the message stated,
would be granted on condition that he would call at East
Cape, Siberia, on the way to Wrangell Island, to pick up a
contingent of Red Guards to take to the island, where they
were to confiscate all property of the British party. This
message is especially extraordinary since it is clear (as
we have shown in the articles published in the Spectator of
June 9th and June 16th) that the British claim to the island
is strongest, the American second and the Russian a very
bad third. Had Noice agreed to carry the Red Guards to
Wrangell they would probably have been the first Russians
who ever set foot in that island.

Upon the transmission to me of the Russian message I