stefansson-wrangel-09-25-003-013

13 Government to overland to the mouth of the Eolvma and to make exped- corner of the supposed continent. 'Grange 11 arrived at the mouth of the Kolyma in 1820. luring the three years following he made journeys northwest, north and northeast over the winter sea ice searching for land. Eis route map shows that one of his parties*at<~o3ao time came within 40 or 50 miles of where we now have Wrangell Island on the chart, hut they saw no land. They picked up once more^however^, the native story that land had been seen. Wrangell laid this doxvti upon his chart "from Kative report" in a position some 40 or 50 miles west of where an island was later discovered. On turning hack from his third and last journey, Wrangell said: "Our return to Tijnei Zolymsk closed the series of attempts made hy us to discover a northern land; which, though not seen hy us may possibly exist." The statement just quoted is found on page 380 of the first English edition (published 1840). fered on pcgc 3C4~ofIJtT!Te Eve*,• i lation^ from an earlier German edition which in turn was based on Wrang- ell's own Russian narrative written in 1825. Since the Soviet Gove in- different sense, it is well to insist here that the above quotation is the more significant because it was not published by the author until fifteen years after the expedition ms over, thus giving him ample op- portunity to modify it if there had been any cause. The discovery of what we now call Wrangell Island was in a sense an accident. Sir John Franklin had been lost in the Arctic for several years and more than a dozen expeditions were sent out in the great "Franklin Search" which resulted in the discovery of so many new Arctic itions out upon upon the supposed ment rf Ruavirlia almost a century later quoted Wrangell in an entirely