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THE SECOND WINTER AND THE TRAGIC END 265

August, 1923; she says that Galle was especially explicit
in telling her he would come back. Galle’s intention to
continue in the Arctic is also shown by Crawford’s letter
to me in which he recommends Galle as an exceptionally
good sledge traveler (this was written by Crawford when
he was leaving Galle behind and when he feared his party
and mine might pass each other on the ice between
Wrangel and Siberia).

That Crawford and Knight were going to continue we
know from Knight’s letter to his parents, in which he tells
them that he and Crawford are planning an expedition to
Melville Island when the Wrangel work is over.

There has been considerable discussion among polar
authorities as to why Crawford and Knight many months
in advance fixed on the middle of January as the time to
start for Nome, when the middle of February would
have been so much safer and easier. We have been able
to think of three reasons. (1) They wanted to cross
Bering Straits by sledge and that would become very
dangerous after March—Knight estimated sixty or sev-
enty days for the journey (see entry for ). They would, therefore, have to leave in January
to be able to cross the Straits in March. (2) They
wanted to get in touch with me so early that I would
still have part of the winter for organizing a new arctic
expedition or altering old plans. (3) Crawford and
Knight wanted to get out early enough so they could
finance and organize an arctic expedition they had
planned to Melville Island. Of this last we know only
that Ada Blackjack says she often heard them planning
this Melville Island expedition, and that Knight says
in the above-mentioned letter to his parents: “Crawford
and I have a trip all planned out to spend a winter on

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