"Honeymooners to Spend Two Years on an Island in Frozen Northland," 24 March 1925
Date24 March, 1925
ms numberStefansson Mss-91: Harold Noice Papers, Box 1, Folder 3
abstractCorrespondence, newspaper articles, and other material related to the ill-fated 1921 expedition to Wrangel Island.
Honeymooners to Spend Two Years on an Island in Frozen Northland
New York, March 24.—There was a woman who went to South Africa as a bride and enjoyed a perfectly delightful honeymoon. Taking a bride to the South Sea Islands or the Riviera, or some such impossible place, has become more or less customary to those who are not limited to Niagara Falls—but here’s a man who is going to take his bride on a honeymoon in
the Arctic. And it’s going to last two years at that!
He is Capt. Harold Noice. His bride, who was Miss Frances Allison, once spent a brief time in Nome, Alaska; but she has enjoyed or endured, as the case may be, no other much colder weather than she has experienced in her home on Englewood Cliffs, N. J., or in the
Adirondacks.
Capt. Noice is an explorer, from love and from experience. He returned from Wrangel Island only recently, after he had headed a relief expedition there that arrived just a bit too late to serve its purpose.
Mrs. Noice is a musician of ability and also is well known in society.
She is keen about this honeymoon idea. The prospect of spending two years with her husband, sharing him with no one or nothing but a few scattered Eskimos, is delightful to her. He, too, is keen on the same grounds. And the Eskimos, who have, had nothing whatever to say about it, also are probably certain to be keen, because Capt. Noice expects to benefit them in many ways.
The honeymooners are going to live on an island. A bit of a place it is, hardly more than a blot on the map which shows the northern coast of North America many times magnified from the usual map. It is called King William Island, and it is just at the end of the Northwest Passage.
Speaking of the Northwest Passage
recalls, too, that Mrs. Noice, when she goes north, will have an added distinction. More than being the first white woman to spend a honeymoon on King William Island, she will be the first white woman ever to go there, and she also will be the first white woman ever to attempt to negotiate the Northwest Passage
—itself no harmless outdoor sport.
They will leave New York in a trifling sort of schooner, which is called the Frances for obvious reasons. They will ramble south along the coast and go through the Panama Canal. Then they will go north along Vancouver and , the Canadian shore to the Behring Straits, through
Coronation Gulf, passing Victoria Land, to King William Island. They plan to arrive in summer so as to get settled before the real rough weather comes along.
Busy weeks, have been spent preparing for the voyage. The Frances has been completely overhauled; food and stores of all kinds have been taken aboard. Nearly 20,000 pounds of hard tack have been stored aboard to provide for a crew of eight to last two years.
As unusual and unique as the voyage is, it will, also be one of great importance, for Capt. Noice and his wife expect to record Eskimo life as it really is.
Discussing his plans, he said:
"The Eskimos cling" closer to the Stone Age than any other race, but their numbers are decreasing, and as the hand of civilization reaches out
Captain Harold Noice and Bride. (Below) "Honeymoon" Island.
toward them their life slowly begins to change.
"This is a last chance to reproduce the old life and record the primitive existence of a strange race. It has been said that in one sense the Eskimos have no history, but I have faith in their tradition.
"It is largely with a view of recording their history, of collecting relics of their past, that we set forth on this expedition. Already the evil influence of so-called civilization has reached toward them. Trappers of the Hudson Bay Company are beginning to invade this territory, and soon the Canadian Mounted Police
and white settlers will appear, and gradually the Eskimo race will disappear, like that of , the American Indian. Much of their past is lost in obscurity, and it is the mystery of this we hope to solve."
Capt. Noice called attention to the Eskimo clothing. On gala occasions
men wear a jacket closely resembling our frock coat. This garment was in vogue among the Eskimos hundreds of years before it was a part of our wardrobe. — It is probably 1,000 years old. It is a loosefitting coat, but tightly fitting at the waist ; it has a hood and it lengthy tail reaching to the heels.
The Eskimo tailor never takes a single measurement ; he has a wonderful eye and can so scrutinize a figure as to be able to turn out a well-fitting suit of skins without so much as a single "try-on."
Mrs. Noice intends to make a special study of the primitive music and native songs of the Eskimos. They have a rude drum, and a monotonous chant, consisting only of the fundamental note and minor third, but there is an appealing quality to their music which is practically unknown to the civilized world.
MONDAY, MARCH 24, 1924.
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AGAZINE PAGE F
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