stefansson-wrangel-09-28-068

156-H

Well knowing that Knight and Maurer had more experience
of living in the Arctic away from ships or base stations than any
but two or three explorers then living, Mr. Noice frequently speaks
of the entire party as being inexperienced.

Well knowing (or at least having had ample opportunity to
learn) that Knight and Maurer were at the nearly ideal age of
twenty-eight years when they sailed for Wrangell, Mr. Noice never-
theless so words his story as to imply that the whole party were
irresponsible because of their youth. There have been not only
well-known explorers but also famous generals and prime ministers
who were younger.

A sample of the proofs which Mr. Noice uses to try to
show the incompetence of the Wrangell party is the allegation that
they did not know how to make (or at least did not build) a comfort-
able winter camp. Yet the camp was of the type favored by many of
the best native and white trappers of arctic Alaska. We know this
criticism is made by Mr. Noice partly from simple ignorance, but
we feel he should nevertheless have been restrained from making it
by the frequent entries in Knight’s diary (on whichMr. Noice says
he bases his story) to the effect that the camp was very comfort-
able. The reader who remembers this point will find the confirmation
in Knight’s diary entries that are quoted in this book. Ada
Blackjack also says that the winter camps were comfortable.

But most painful to relatives and friends and most
fundamentally misleading is Mr. Noice’s allegation that mismanage-
ment and misfortune gradually led to starvation until a last
desperate effort had to be made to get succor from Siberia. In
his original cable Mr. Noice said that both men and dogs were