stefansson-wrangel-09-30-004

- 5 A -

new "sea ice [is] several inches [thick] enough to walk on. "

There is no part of Lorne Knight’s narrative that is so clearly confirmed by Milton Galle as the absence of worry during the summer. We have already quoted entries showing that on the best days most or all of the party usually remained in camp instead of hunting energetically as they certainly would have done on the good days had they been seriously concerned about a food shortage. But more convincing still is the record of the hours of sleeping and waking. The nights were already beginning to be dark late in August and in September the dark periods were rapidly lengthening, for by the 20th of that month the nights are almost as long as the days. Yet we find that the habit of sleeping in the daytime and being awake at night, which is common in the Arctic and logical during the perpetual daylight, is still being kept up when that logic is gone. Sample entries are the following: September 12th, "We go to bed about 6 A.M., thick fog then. Stayed [in campJ rest of the time. Shortly before midnight fog lifted and could see the mountains." September 14th, “To bed about 1:30 A.M., Maurer at 3:30 . . .Lit lantern about 6 [P.M.] to-day on account of darkness." September 15th, "I copied diary into loose-leaf with Corona, sat up till 1 P.M. I got up at 9 P.M., others up also." September 16th, "I go to bed at 4:30 P.M., others have been in bed since 7 A.M. All get up at 6 P.M." September 18th, "I go to bed 8:30 A.M, up at 12:30 . . . all stay in to-day." September 21st, "Bed 4 A.M. , up shortly after noon."

- 6 -

new "sea ice is several inches thick, enough to walk on."

Galle seems to have been more interested than Knight in the cooking and in the rationing of the food. Consequently we get more information about that from his fragmentary notes than we do from Knight's fuller diary. This does not mean that xx Galle was any more particular about what he ate or more given to complaining. The only complaint is in the entry for August 24th. It is to be inferred that up to that time the main drink of the party had been tea. On that date Galle says, "Coffee has taken place of tea; I don't like it." This cannot have been because the tea had really given out, for Knight mentions the use of it by himself and Crawford the following January. Perhaps they saw an approaching shortage and wanted to save it for traveling, using the coffee when at home in camp.

It seems that from the arrival of the party on the island until August 14th of the second summer the cooking of meat had been uniformly in the Eskimo style - boiling. Even without records we would infer that this was so, for Knight and Maurer had be4n thoroughly converted to boiled meat on their previous journeys. Most people who live mainly or exclusively on meat in the Arctic come to the same conclusion, as has been shown by the experience of dozens of men on our various expeditions. But in August, as recorded also by Knight, Galle had been engaged in trying out the fat of polar bears and putting it in cans. On the 14th he thought he would try frying bear steaks. Evidently the party had tried this before, for Galle says that these steaks tasted a great deal better to them than those they had tried previously and that the entire party was

 -7-

converted to the excellence of bear steaks. The text of the entry which records the eating of the first fried meat is as follows: "Bet with Knight that President of U.S. gets a salary of $75,000. a year plus traveling expenses of $25,000. - $5. bet. Weather fair with variable winds. All stayed in camp to-day. The bear meat I boiled for breakfast and fried for myself and Ada did not xxxxx taste like the previous bear meat. All had the boiled meat, even Knight, and all agreed to the taste. Crawford boiled some bear blubber which tasted good."

But the unanimous favor of the steaks which resulted from the initial experiment did not last long, for on August 19th they had an argument about the comparative merits of boiled and fried meat. "Am tired of fried meat already; suggested boiling again. Maurer wants same but Knight, Crawford and Ada still want the fried." There was vacillation for some time but the last mention of steaks is August 31st when they tried them again after several days of boiled meat.

Knight’s diary tells us nothing about the rationing of any items of groceries to make them last longer as tidbits with the meat. But Galle has several notes on this subject. It seems that up to August 16th hard bread was eaten as freely as anyone desired, both at meals and between meals. At that time one box of hard bread was lasting five days. "Crawford and I have been dipping hard bread in grease all day long and seem never to get filled. " It may have been that this was the time when the party first began to plan a journey away from Wrangell Island the following winter. At any rate, something led them to the saving of hard bread, which is an excellent

 -8-

element of a sledging ration. However, we have no explanation from Galle but only the note, "Have decided to stop eating hard bread after this box." From that date they evidently kept their resolution until September 11th, "Make the suggestion to Crawford to break out one box hard bread and to issue each day two to each [person]. . . making ten a day, one box lasting about twenty days. Advised frying [them] in [bear] oil. Crawford approves and we start to-day." Evidently Galle was anxious that the rationing should be strictly adhered to, for on September 29th he complains that Crawford opened a box of hard bread two days in advance of the complete twenty-day period for which each box should have lasted at the rate of ten biscuits a day.

Although Galle’s interest in the diet was greater than that of Knight as shown by the records left, it was not as great as we might wish who are anxious for every scrap of information. About the only other thing we know is that they made candy several times. Apparently any one of them made candy wherever he felt like it and made it in his own way. Galle records two occasions when he tried it and when the results were not satisfactory.

On August 18th Galle tells us about salting seal meat. The eating of the salted meat the following winter is mentioned in the diaries both of Knight and Ada Blackjack.

It can be clearly inferred from Milton's Galle's notes that through the period from their beginning, the middle of July, until the last on September 30th, there was no rationing of any food element except hard bread. This is only in accord with every other line of evidence we have and shows further that the party were not

- 9 -

feeling any worry on the score of food. Crawford's letter to me shows that he had thought of the difficulty of feeding the dogs during the dark days but he had solved that in his own mind by the plan of taking them to be fed on the Siberian mainland where food could be easily secured as a gift from the hospitable natives or purchased with money.

The notes tells us what we also know from other sources, that as late as the end of August the party were not very particular (although more particular than they had been) to save all the meat they secured. The entry for August 30th, for instance, includes: "I bring up one side of bear ribs this morning, pelvis and head, all that is left," of some bear meat they had killed a little before, leaving the meat as they frequently did at the place of killing. Elsewhere in the notes we find that the seagulls and ravens were eating the meat that had not been promptly brought home.

Galle has more numerous references than Knight to the appearance of walrus on the ice. He speaks of them or the noises made by them nearly every day of the latter part of August and first part of September. He also gives us more details of the killing of the walrus. I had understood from Knight’s diary that a large part of the walrus meat had been lost. The reason for the misunderstanding seems to be that Knight tells in full only about the meat which they were able to save at the time of the killing. Much of the two animals they then left on the ice, and the rest of the story came some days later and failed to be recorded by Knight as fully as that of the first day. Galle records it as follows:

September 6th, "About 4 Maurer sees something on the ice