stefansson-wrangel-09-26-001-003

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mainly based. Through his laconic narrative, so frank that he
evidently never asked himself whether he was being frank or not,
there stand out clear the personalities of four gallant gentlemen
who remained staunch comrades through two difficult years of
isolation. A record that is complete and frank to the bitter end
shows that not once did even one of them shirk a task or a responsibility.
That this is no mere rhetoric the schholars of the world
will eventually have a chance to see for themselves, for we shall
present photostat copies of Lorne Knight's diary to one or more
leading libraries in Canada, the United States and England, and
copies of all the other records. The general frankness of
the diary is such that the reader is unable to doubt that if there
had been troubles or recriminations they would have been set down.
That there were none to record is nearly, if not quite, unite in
polar exploration. Many expeditions have concealed their troubles;
few have had none to conceal.

I have always had great confidence that the Wrangell
Island Expedition could trust the verdict of anyone who knew all
our actions and motives. With that constantly before me I have
tried in writing this book not only to be frank but also to give
the reader a chance to look deeper if he wants to and convince
himself that we really have been frank. Within the limits set by
my capacity and by the hurry and worry of composing a book before
a certain date while at the same time fighting for the possession
of some of the documents on which the story had to be based - within
these limits I had already done my best to tell the reader the
whole truth, when I got (strangely late) an idea that should have
been in my mind at the very first.

One man now living knows more than any other about the
planning of the Wrangell Island Expedition and the relation to it
of its four members - J. I. Knight, the father of Lorne Knight.
Not only had he heard his son talk for year after year about the
varied experiences of his firat three years in the Arctic and about
his hopes and plans of further arctic work, but he knew also
Fred Maurer and Milton Galle who had visited his home at
McMinville, Oregon, as guests of his son. Although Maurer had
been there for fewer days than Galle had been weeks, I knew that
both Mr. and Mrs. Knight had formed a personal affection for them
both. They knew Allan Crawford only through their son's
enthusiastic report, but even so the relation was personal. He
knew what both his son and Fred Maurer thought of the arctic
expedition of 1913-1918 of which they had been members, and what
they thought of me who had been their commander then and was
planning with them now a new expedition. Here, then, was a man
whose point of view the reader would value more than that of any
other man. And yet I had been planning until the last moment to
get some famous authority on geography or world politics to read
my manuscript and write an introduction for the book!