stefansson-wrangel-09-32-076r

Appendix III

The Report of Captain Joseph Bernard on the
Relief Operations of 1922

Nome, Alaska,
Sept. 22, 1922.

Mr. Ralph Lomen,¹
Nome, Alaska.

Dear Sir:

I wish to give you a detailed report of the attempted voyage
to Wrangel Island.

We left Nome [in the auxiliary schooner Teddy Bear] on August
20, 1922, at four o’clock P. M. There was a southeasterly wind,
which was in our favor, which continued all that night.

The next morning we ran into a heavy northwestern wind and we
had to pull into shelter at Cape York, where we stayed all day.

On the 22nd we left Cape York at eleven o’clock A. M. and got
as far as Cape Prince of Wales. It was my plan to go to Point
Hope and take what is known as the “Outside Passage” to Wrangel
Island, but the northerly wind delayed us—we could not “buck” it.

While we were at Cape Prince of Wales the schooner Sea Wolf
came down from Kotzebue and reported that all of the ships that
had gone North on the Cape side were in the ice most of the summer
at Point Hope and around there and that the ice conditions were
unusually bad.

On the evening of the 23rd, at eight-thirty P. M., the north-
western wind was still blowing and I decided to cross the Straits

¹ This report was addressed to Mr. Lomen because he had acted on behalf
of the Stefansson Arctic Exploration and Development Company, Ltd., in
engaging Captain Bernard. Most of the statements in the body of the book
regarding the voyage of the Teddy Bear towards Wrangel Island in 1922 are
made on the basis of this report. There are some, however, which are based on
another longer report which Captain Bernard dictated in answer to questions
asked him when he visited New York the following winter. We are not pub-
lishing the second report because it is longer without being more complete and
unavoidably repeats itself a great deal because of the questions to which the
replies were being made.

351

Appendix III

The Report of Captain Joseph Bernard on the
Relief Operations of 1922

Nome, Alaska,
Sept. 22, 1922.

Mr. Ralph Lomen,¹
Nome, Alaska.

Dear Sir:

I wish to give you a detailed report of the attempted voyage
to Wrangel Island.

We left Nome [in the auxiliary schooner Teddy Bear] on August
20, 1922, at four o’clock P. M. There was a southeasterly wind,
which was in our favor, which continued all that night.

The next morning we ran into a heavy northwestern wind and we
had to pull into shelter at Cape York, where we stayed all day.

On the 22nd we left Cape York at eleven o’clock A. M. and got
as far as Cape Prince of Wales. It was my plan to go to Point
Hope and take what is known as the “Outside Passage” to Wrangel
Island, but the northerly wind delayed us—we could not “buck” it.

While we were at Cape Prince of Wales the schooner Sea Wolf
came down from Kotzebue and reported that all of the ships that
had gone North on the Cape side were in the ice most of the summer
at Point Hope and around there and that the ice conditions were
unusually bad.

On the evening of the 23rd, at eight-thirty P. M., the north-
western wind was still blowing and I decided to cross the Straits

¹ This report was addressed to Mr. Lomen because he had acted on behalf
of the Stefansson Arctic Exploration and Development Company, Ltd., in
engaging Captain Bernard. Most of the statements in the body of the book
regarding the voyage of the Teddy Bear towards Wrangel Island in 1922 are
made on the basis of this report. There are some, however, which are based on
another longer report which Captain Bernard dictated in answer to questions
asked him when he visited New York the following winter. We are not pub-
lishing the second report because it is longer without being more complete and
unavoidably repeats itself a great deal because of the questions to which the
replies were being made.

351