Free The Ice Master by Jennifer Niven Page A

cabins dripped with water from evaporation, and the men held no hope whatsoever of being released from the ice. On September 10, there was an aching in Mamen’s bones that meant a storm was coming. He often suffered from rheumatic pains in his arms and legs, which was the most accurate way he had ever found of predicting bad weather. “Soon,” he wrote, 3 “we will be enveloped in the darkness of the winter, so infinitely long.”
    At Bartlett’s request, Murray had continued charting the ship’s drift, and now it appeared that she was in the vicinity of Thetis Island, 140 miles or so east of Barrow, but still a good deal west of the desired goal, Herschel Island. They could just spot Thetis to the west.
    On September 17, Stefansson sent Dr. Mackay and Jenness out on the ice to search for land to the south. Mamen saw them from the ship, obviously lost and wandering off in a northwesterly direction. He started after them, and when he was close enough, he shouted to them, asking in what direction they were headed.
    â€œDue south 4 ,” they replied.
    â€œYou must have 5 a screw loose,” he yelled and raced to catch up with them and set them on course. They returned after traveling six or eight miles, not having seen any sign of land.
    Stefansson dispatched Mamen and the doctor again to look for land on September 19. Murray had estimated they were eighteen miles offshore of Beechey Point, sixteen miles east of Oliktok Point, on Alaska’s northern coast. Mamen and Mackay walked for twelve miles in a westerly direction, and once again returned having seen nothing.
    After supper that night, Stefansson sent for Mamen, Malloch, and McKinlay and met with them in his cabin. They were to leave the Karluk, he told them, and go ashore where they would be better able to conduct their work. Malloch and Mamen could expect to be on land for at least six weeks, mapping the coast, while McKinlay would make magnetic observations.
    But Stefansson had even bigger plans. He was leaving the ship himself. He summoned Bartlett, Wilkins, Jenness, and McConnell to his cabin and told them of his news. He asked for the assistant steward, Chafe, to be present as well, since he would be in charge of outfitting the party. Stefansson would take Wilkins, Jenness, and McConnell with him. No one was more surprised about Stefansson’s plans than Bartlett. It was a hunting trip, said Stefansson. They would also take Jimmy and Jerry, the first two Eskimo hunters he had hired. They would head southwest toward Thetis Island where they would hunt caribou up the Colville River to supplement their fresh meat supply.
    Stefansson left the ship immediately after dinner on September 20. It seemed odd, noted McKinlay, to leave so late in the day. But Stefansson was anxious to be on his way. He took with him a bounty of food supplies and ammunition, guns, two sledges, and a dozen of the very best dogs, handpicked by himself and Hadley. They loaded the sleds with tents, candles, an alcohol stove, sugar, tea, matches, sleeping bags, skins, biscuits, rice, bacon, and pemmican. To each man traveling with him, Stefansson issued winter boots, socks, deerskin shirts, compasses, rifles, knives, and watches. As planned, his secretary Burt McConnell, anthropologist Diamond Jenness, photographer George Wilkins, and the hunters, Jimmy and Jerry, accompanied him.
    Most of the crew and staff climbed down onto the ice to see the team off. Getting them ready to go had been quite a feat. As Mamen observed, it was like “Jerusalem’s destruction; they 6 didn’t know what they had or what they should have.” But, at last, they were equipped. Stefansson shook hands with all of the remaining scientists and crew and then was off across the ice, without a look back. He strode ahead, breaking the trail for the first sled while Jenness broke trail for the second, and Jimmy and Jerry drove the sleds.
    Stefansson was only going hunting. He