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Appendix XI

The Contributors to the Wrangel Island Relief of 1923

The relatives of the Wrangel Island party and I are forever
indebted to Mr. Griffith Brewer for his generosity in advancing
against hoped-for public subscriptions the full amount of money
we needed to send the Donaldson to Wrangel Island without delay.
I wrote him asking for the list of the eventual subscribers, and
he sent it so we are able to present it here. I wanted also a long
explanatory letter from him, but with his usual modest reticence
he has written far too little. One thing I hoped he would explain
I must say here—under the formal heading of “The British Wright
Co., Ltd.,” who made the largest single contribution, are hidden
the names of Orville Wright, the inventor (with his brother)
of the aeroplane, and of Griffith Brewer himself who between them
owned 80 or 90 per cent of the stock of the British Wright Company
and therefore gave most of the £550. Mr. Brewer therefore con-
tributed much more than the £570-11-6 which he acknowledges
having supplied as a deficiency.

I have also just secured the reluctant permission of Mr. Orville
Wright to say that he was my “American friend” mentioned in
the body of this book, who loaned me the money which sent the
Teddy Bear on her vain but faithful attempt to reach the party
on Wrangel Island the summer of 1922.

Letter from Griffith Brewer to Vilhjalmur Stefansson.

Dear Stefansson,

I welcome the opportunity of recording the names of those who
contributed to the fund for sending the “Donaldson” to relieve the
four men and the Eskimo woman who had been for two lonely
years on Wrangel Island.

The amount cabled to Alaska for the costs of the expedition was
£2362.8.0., which has been subscribed as follows:

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