stefansson-wrangel-09-31-079v

120 THE ADVENTURE OF WRANGEL ISLAND

detail of a successful enterprise. But it had started a
ferment in Alaska which was to bring signicant far-reaching devel-
opments. Until the flag-raising, it does not seem to have
occurred to the crew of the Silver Wave that there were
any motives other than fur trapping or gold prospecting.
Apparently also they felt that the hoisting of a flag had
a magic effect, suddenly changing or establishing sover-
eignty—the much more important landing of an outfit
a few hours earlier appears to have had no such meaning
in their eyes. On the voyage back to Alaska they wor-
ried a good deal, probably not so much for the fate of
Wrangel Island in itself as for their own share in the
enterprise, wondering whether their fellow Alaskans
might not consider them renegades, since they had indubi-
tably, if unwittingly, taken part in such momentous
doings.

I should judge that when the party landed in Nome
the more important citizens of that city took the flag
story rather calmly, realizing that the hoisting of the
Union Jack did not do much to add to or detract from the
general effect of all the other things that had been done
by ourmy expeditions between 1914 and 1921. But the
incident was enough for a journalist with a keen news
sense, and the Nome Nugget printed a long “story” under
a “scare head.” The gist of it was that here had been
this valuable island lying right under the nose of Alas-
kans these many years, and now some Britishers had come
and run off with it. Apparently no one in Nome had, up
to that time, thought much about the ownership of the
island, but now it seemed clear to a good many that it was
an obvious and logical part of the territory of Alaska.
The legend even grew up that it had been included in
the Alaska purchase. Alaskans and other Americans had