Copy of a letter from Harold Noice to Griffith Brewer, 03 December 1924

Brewer

(Copy of Noice's letter)

COPY

City Club,

55 West 44th Street.

New York City

December 3, 1924.

Mr. Griffith Brewer,

Wright Airplane Company, Ltd.,

London, England,

Dear Mr. Brewer:

Upon my return from Brazil where I have been convalescing
from an illness which was imminent when you were here last fall, I have con
ducted an investigation on certain charges made against me by Mr. Stefansson
which I am told resulted in your demand that I be put under arrest. Believ
ing you to be an honest man I am going to tell you in detail of my financial
relations with Stefansson Exploration & Development Company, with the assur
ance that if you find my story contradicts Mr. Stefansson's you will not stop
until you have satisfied yourself which is the true one.

I was in New York in the winter of 1922-23 planning to go
north in the summer in charge of a moving picture expedition to Coronation
Gulf. I had heard that the Crawford party then on Wrangel Island had left
Alaska in 1921 with a rather meagre outfit conspicuous for its lack of an
umiak and other walrus hunting equipment, that two of the four men were but
boys without Arctic experience and that the party was without Eskimo hunters.
This knowledge was disquieting to say the least. When Captain Bernard
arrived in New York I heard more about the unfortunate expedition and I also
had a very long talk with Mr. Taylor, the Vice-President of the Stefansson
Company, who was here also, and I convinced Mr. Taylor of the absolute
necessity for a relief expedition which should be equipped for serious
relief work to leave Nome the following summer with instructions to get to

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Wrangel Island at all hazards. And I advised Mr. Taylor to engage Captain
Bernard and his ship for the trip and therefore avoid the danger of not being
able to get another ship later on when time would be an element of importance,
and when, perhaps, money would be difficult to get. Mr. Taylor agreed with me
absolutely and wired Mr. Stefansson, who was then on a lecture tour, urging
him to grant authority to engage Bernard. But Mr. Stefansson wired back that
it was too early to make definite plans and that he was expecting the Canad
ian Government to finance the expedition, so the thing fell through and
Bernard left New York.

Matters dragged on until spring and still no definite plans
had been made for the relief expedition. I had been unable to finance
Coronation Gulf project and had agreed to take command of the relief expedi
tion. Mr. Stefansson tried to get money from the Canadian Parliament, then
went to England to try his luck there. Not having received any word from
Stefansson I began to got alarmed and at last wired Mr. Taylor informing him
that if the company wanted me to take charge of the expedition they would
have to give me time enough to get to the Pacific Coast in order to catch the
S.S. Victoria scheduled to leave Seattle on July 5th. It was then June 21st.
On June 24th I finally got word to come to Toronto for a conference and then
proceed west. At our conference in Toronto Mr. Taylor asked me what arrange
ments I had made with Stefansson concerning pay for my services and I told
Mr. Taylor the question of money had never been discussed but that inasmuch
as the money was at that time hard pressed for money I would donate my ser
vices gratis, especially as my chief interest was to save lives, if possible,
and not the colonization of an island for England, but I agreed, however, to
do everything in my power to further the interest of the company provided it
did not interfere with relief work. I told Mr. Taylor I expected to earn money
by writing a series of articles on my trip and asked him to try to secure a
contract for me, and that I would reimburse him for any money expended on

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telegrams or office work when I returned. Mr. Taylor was delighted with this
arrangement and assured me he would endeavour to secure the most advantageous
contract possible.

In regard to the expedition plans I agreed to endeavour to
secure colonists for Wrangel Island and make the best possible contract with
them for the division of their furs, but in the event of the company not being
able to finance the expedition by the beginning of the navigation season we
agreed to broadcast an appeal for help through the papers of the United States
and Canada on a purely relief basis for then the question would have become
one of life and death. We knew such an appeal would not only injure Mr.
Stefansson's chances of getting England to take over the island but would
injure his reputation as well for he had stated from the lecture platform that
the boys were in no danger, that one of them might get an occasional toothache
but they would never die of scurvy because it was so easy to get fresh meat.
However, we agreed to wait as long as possible and give Stefansson every oppor
tunity to get funds from the government.

Then I arrived in Nome in the middle of July there were
only two ships which could be used for the Wrangel expedition. Both were
badly in need of repairs which would take time and time was an element of
vital importance for the Arctic navigation season is short and every day's
delay would mean a diminution of the chances of reaching Wrangel Island. By
bent of rather forceful telegrams to the company I succeeded in getting $1,000
and the promise of sufficient funds to carry on the work. This enabled me to
start repair work on the Donaldson and begin working on equipment. Then I
received communications from the Russian Government concerning their claims
to Wrangel and threatening me with confiscation of company furs. Under these
circumstances I did not care to assume responsibility for landing supplies and
men on Wrangel Island so I wired the company for further orders. I received
a reply forwarded from Stefansson to the effect that everybody in London

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considered fear of Soviet interference ridiculous, that the main purpose of
the expedition was to continue trapping and other company business and that he
ms forwarding $10,000 that day. I accordingly organised the expedition on a
business basis, securing a very favourable contract with the professional
trappers I had engaged whereby in return for transportation and supplies they
were to turn over to the company one-half of the furs caught during their first
two years on the island. The company's share in these furs would more than
cover the entire cost of the expedition. That the company has since disposed
of their interests in the Wrangel colony is no fault of mine. I do not know
the financial details of this transfer and I have never had any financial
interest in the company.

In the meantime I had received telegrams from Taylor report
ing the progress he was making in regard to my newspaper contract and event
ually received word that he had closed a contract for me for $3,000 and asked
me to wire approval. This contract provided for the purchase of a 20,000 word
story which me to be merely an account of my personal experiences, such as
adventures in the ice pack, hunting experiences, observations made on the
island, conversations with the Crawford party should I find them alive, etc.
It was contingent on my reaching the island but was unaffected by anything
else. It did not include any stories I might write on the basis of documents
found on the island, but named me as one of the parties possessing a claim
to use such material and bound me to give the Newspaper Alliance the first
opportunity of purchasing further stories based on such material. This con
tract and telegrams relating to it clearly prove Mr. Taylor's good faith with
respect to his agreement with me. If Mr. H.G. Wells had been sent to Wrangel
Island instead of me the Alliance would have probably offered him considerably
more than $3,000 for 20,000 words, because Mr. Wells has written ten books to
my one. On the other hand, if Captain Bernard had been sent to Wrangel the

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Alliance would probably haw offered him considerably less than $3,000
because the Captain has had no literary experience. Mr. Stefansson’s claim
that because I had been sent to Wrangel to do certain definite work for the
company I was morally bound to turn over to the company any money I might
make through my ability as a writer is absurd. It would have been equally
absurd if the American Museum who sent Mr. Stefansson north to collect ethnol
ogical specimens had demandedthat he give them the money he received from the
sale of articles based on his experiences during the expedition.

Upon my return to Nome I sent out detailed information
concerning the tragedy, clearly showing that all themen of the party had
perished but that the tragedy was not due to the inherent inhospitality of
Wrangel Island, either in severity of climate or lack of game resources, and
that I had, therefore, established the new colony of professional trappers com
pletely outfitted with all things necessary for the maintenance of a happy
existence for two years and ammunition for three years, I received, congrat
ulations from Stefansson and the company stating that high personages in
the British Government were delighted with my action. Then six days after I
had returned to Nome I received a cable forwarded from Stefansson instructing
me to purchase the Donaldson outright and leave her at Nome to be used by the
company the following year. I was unable to do this for obvious reasons and
I was also considerably annoyed and astounded because the cables also stated
that Mr. Stefansson hoped the impression could be created that both the
establishment of the colony and the purchase of the ship were for the sole
purpose of being useful to the survivors of the Crawford party. I refused
to perjure myself but when I met Mr. Taylor in Toronto upon my return from
Alaska he explained the matter by saying that doubtless it was only a
political move on Stefansson's part to please the British authorities who for
diplomatic reasons wanted the idea to get abroad that the colony had been
established for humanitarian rather than for Imperialistic reasons, but who

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would nevertheless take formal possession of the island later on. Mr.
Taylor was delighted with my management of the expedition and said that if
I had refused to establish the colony in the face of such a tragedy as most
other men would have done, the whole project would have been ruined, but now
his cable from Stefansson indicated that it would be only a few weeks now
before the government would take over the island and the company would be reim
bursed for the total expenditures shown on its books an amount in excess of
$30,000. Not only this but the facts that the contract I had secured with
the trappers would write off the total expense of the expedition made Mr.
Taylor exceedingly grateful for my services. I turned over all the effects
I had found on the island, records, diaries, documents, etc. to Mr. Taylor
who examined them with me, and I asked his permission to use the information
contained therein in writing additional articles which I felt certain the
Alliance would purchase from me. Mr. Taylor thought it was the
least the company could do to repay me to my services and it meant no money out of
their pockets. He very gladly gave his permission with the understanding,
of course, that as soon as I had used what I needed I would return the
diaries to the company.

With this understanding I came down to New York
and had a long talk with Mr. Pickering of the Alllance, the afternoon of the
day I arrived. Mr. Pickering thought that instead of my writing a second
series of articles on the information contained in the diaries it would be
better to include the new materiel in the original 30,000 words and then
expand the series, if necessary, agreeing to pay me an additional $1500. for
this new material. This was satisfactory to me. Mr. Pickering asked me if
I had thought to secure written permission from Taylor because he would have
to have confirmation in order to legalise the second agreement. I told him
I had not thought of this angle at all but for him to write or telegraph

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Taylor for the desired confirmation. Mr. Pickering got in touch with his
representative, the editor of the Toronto Star, and asked him to see Taylor
and have the agreement ratified which he did, and I began work on the articles.
I did not receive my first payment until the work was underway and in the
meantime Stefansson had sent no money to the company which being short of
funds wrote me a letter on October first, asking me to send them a check to
cover the cost of the telegrams and their stenographic work,as I had agreed
to do which I did as soon as I got my first payment from the Alliance, and on
October 8th the company having received the check wrote me a letter of thanks
and acknowledgment, also saying that they had just recreived a letter from
Mr. Stefansson which gave them,and also me, our first intimation that Mr.
Stefansson was expecting me to give the company the pay I received from the
Alliance and states that a Mr. Griffith Brewer, the gentleman in England
who put up all the money for the relief expedition was coming over with
Stefansson for the purpose of going into the accounts of the expedition. This
was all very interesting but it was an outrageous presumption on Stefansson's
part, especially in view of what I had done for him and his company. If
Stefansson had got into trouble with Brewer it certainly was no fault of
mine. Stefansson had written me previously implying that in my account of
the tragedy I had not blamed the men who perished for mistakes which, if
known, would remove the feeling that Wrangel Island Itself was ill-suited
for habitation, and he had also given out the suggestion that it was his view,
presumably a move made for publicity, that no one connected with the company
should make any money out of stories but should donate such money towards
building a monument. Now if anyone should put up a monument it should be
Stefansson himself or the company. They were the ones who benefited by the
work of the boys who died and who, thanks to my work, had continued in
possession of an island inhabited by a colony of professional trappers. The

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commercial value of this colony on a basis of the fur catch alone was an
asset worth in the vicinity of $15,000 to the company, and the value of the
island itself was not less than $50,000. Now it appeared that Stefansson
was actually trying to get possession of my money, not for a monument but
for some purpose best known to himself and I quite naturally resented it very
much indeed. I had unfortunately mislaid the letters I had received from the
company and had only the contract with the Alliance to support my case where
upon Stefansson claimed that it had been necessary to draw up a contract in
my name because I was the one to write the articles, but that I had agreed
orally to turn over the money to the company. Stefansson's great reputation
and the testimony of his officers convinced people that I was a crook and
had taken advantage of a legal technicality.

Since my return from Brazil I have unearthed the letters and
telegrams which clearly prove all of the foregoing contentions and I intend
to bring suit against Mr. Stefansson for the recovery of the $1500 which he
has prevented me from getting for over a year.

One of the many stories Stefansson has put into circulation
with the apparent intention of discrediting me is that when I first arrived
in New York I was penniless and that he fed me for two years. As a matter
of fact I had made $4,000 in fur on my expedition of 1918—1921 to Coronation
Gulf and when I returned from the Arctic in 1921 I met Stefansson who was
then in financial difficulties and loaned him a considerable amount of money.
Later on when I sold one of my Ethnological collections to the Heye Museum
I again loaned him money. Stefansson eventually paid back the money in
small checks. The only foundation for this story was that during the winter
previous to my departure for Wrangel Island I had borrowed funds from him
for the purpose of finishing a book I was writing about his Canadian Arctic
Expedition and had agreed to pay him out of the royalties of the book. Mr.

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Stefansson was very anxious that I should finish the book and unless he
loaned me money for this purpose I would have to discontinue that writing.
The other day I met Stefansson and charged him with these lies he had been
circulating. At first he denied that I had ever loaned him any money and
then apparently realizing that as my lawyer and another very well known
scientist were present, and would remember his assertions, admitted that he
didn’t know whether I had loaned him any money or not, but would have to ask
his secretary.

Now, Mr. Brewer, I should be very glad to meet you and show
you personally any documents you would like to see and if you have heard
any other stories which discredit me I think you should give me a chance to
state my side of the case.

Yours very truly,

(Signed) Harold Noice