stefansson-wrangel-09-25-001-001

MEMORANDUM ON A SERIES OF FOUR FIVE ARTICLES

about the

"ADVENTURE OF WRANGELL ISLAND"

- ** -

The first of the four five articles is printed in the January
number of the Premier Magazine. The Premier has the same editor as the
London Magazine. It had previously been exclusively fiction but the owners
had decided to change to a policy of having one important article in each
number, and they selected the Wrangell Island story to pivot the change upon.

The first article as published in the Premier has been
rather injudiciously edited, two or three cuts being made in such a way that
the continuity is broken. A new revision will be used as the basis for
American publication.

The Premier uses a two-page map of the northern
hemisphere. A map of the northern hemisphere is not obtainable in any
but a few of the largest libraries of the United States and is not on the
market. It is, therefore, essential that any magazine publishing the
story should print a corresponding map, for the fundamental change of world
outlook presented by the article cannot be realized by any ordinary person
without the aid of this new kind of map.

Of the remaining three four articles, two have been written.
The second article tells about the shipwreck of the Karluk near Wrangell
Island and the occupation of the island for six months in 1914 by the ship-
wrecked men. This is an adventure story involving the death of eleven men
and the beginning of the present controversy as to the international status
of Wrangell Island.

The third and fourth The remaining threearticles describe the events that
led up to the Wrangell Island expedition of 1921-23 and tell the story of
that expedition to its tragic end in the death of the entire party of occupa-
tion.

Any number of photographs are available for the illus-
tration of these articles.

The articles have a special timeliness in view of two
things: A telegraphic despatch from Ottawa has recently announced that the
Canadian Government will submit the question of the international status
of Wrangell to the League of Nations, or perhaps to the World Court proposed
by President Harding. The three chief claimants are the United States,