Letter from Vilhjalmur Stefansson to Loring Cheney Christie, 25 September 1920

Author Stefansson, Vilhjalmur, 1879-1962

Date25 September, 1920

ms numberStefansson Mss-98, Box 9, Folder 1

AbstractCorrespondence, newspaper articles, and other material related to the ill-fated 1921 expedition to Wrangel Island.

Persistent Identifier
September 25, 1920.
Sir:
With further reference to my letter of September 16th to the Prime Minister, of which I have given a copy in my other letter to you enclosed, I want to take up separately the case of Wrangel Island.
In 1849 or 1850 (I have no reference books here to verify the date) Captain Kellett of the British Navy discovered Wrangel Island when on a voyage partly exploratory and partly in search of Sir John Franklin’s lost expedition. It was later given the name of Kellett Land, which it bore on the chart for some time.
In 1867 Kellett Land was sighted by Captain Thomas Long, an American whaler. He was ignorant of the discovery by Kellett and the existence of this land, so he reported that he had discovered a new land. In this connection he advanced the suggestion which was considered by many reasonable, that the island should be named after Baron Wrangel, who had made two exploratory expeditions by sledge over the ice westward of Wrangel in search, of land, the existence of which had been reported by Siberian natives. Or at least that is what some consider it. Others think that the land told of in Siberian folklore is a pure figment of the imagination and that the existence of this land is a mere coincidence.
However, the name Wrangel Island came into general use in the large American whaling fleet which annually frequented those waters and it eventually displaced Kellett’s name on the map.
Long did not land upon the island, nor did any American whaler after him. At least this is generally conceded, for the landing made by the Corwin (Captain Calvin L. Hooper, U.S. Navy) in 1881, is generally considered the first landing by white men (and probably by any men) on the island. This was from the Revenue Cutter Corwin when she was in search of De Long’s expedition.
Later the same year a landing was made on the island by Lieutenant R. M. Berry (now Admiral Berry), whose ship "Rodgers" lay for several days where now we have Rodgers Harbor. They made a rough and very inaccurate survey of the island — it does not pretend to be anything but the barest approximation.
About the only account, we have of Wrangel Island so far is in the notes of John Muir, who accompanied the Corwin as naturalist. The book was published in 1917 under the title, "The Cruise of the Corwin" by John Muir, Boston. This account is based on half a dozen hours spent on the island.
- 2 -
The captain and crew of the Rodgers, although they were several days on the island, do not appear to have published any narrative. At least that is the statement made in the preface to the "Cruise of the Corwin."
The next visitors to Wrangel Island were the officers, scientific staff and crew of the C.G.S. "Karluk" after she was broken in the ice in January, 1914. They remained on the island for several months (February to September). When their narratives are published, which will be within the next year or two in the report of the expedition, we shall have for the first time a real, although still inadequate, description of the island.
It has been assumed and it is frequently stated that there is a treaty between the United States and Russia by which the United States relinquishes all claims it may have to Wrangel Island in favor of Russia. Professor William Frederick Badé has gone into all the documents in the case and has published the statement that there is no such provision in any treaty between the United States and Russia, nor any provision from which an abandonment of claims to Wrangel Island can be logically deduced.
The case, then, stands as follows:
No country has recently made any formal claim to Wrangel Island. The right of discovery is with Great Britain, dating from 1849-1850. Eighteen years later a party of Americans landed on the island and made a rough map. I think they may have raised a flag and taken possession, although of this I am not sure. The only people who have lived on the island and can give us a coherent account of it are the members of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, who spent six months there in 1914.
I should suppose then that if we have the wisdom to realize the value of Wrangel Island a little earlier than other countries, and if we follow up our original discovery by exploration and preferably commercial development, such as the placing of a Hudson's Bay Company's post, for instance, or other trading enterprise, we would be conceded to have the best claim to the island.
Wrangel Island is very valuable for at least two purposes that we already know. It is an excellent location for trapping furs, and it is an excellent base for walrus hunting. At present walrus are utilised only for ivory, hides, and to a lesser extent for oil. Later their flesh is certain to become a commercial meat, for even should we not care to adopt it in our food we can sell it to other nations who like it. With the world gradually approaching a meat shortage, as every food authority concedes, islands that form a good base for cultivating the resources of the sea will get an increasing value.
It is to be remembered, too, that with the development of air navigation and other improved transport, the inaccessibility of every part of the earth is being rapidly lessened. Those countries will have in the next century invaluable resources who know enough now to take possession of them while they are still undervalued.
A further consideration is that there may very well be other undiscovered lands north of Wrangel Island. We are the country most logic-
- 3 -
ally situated for the development both of lands now known to exist and of others that may be discovered to the north of us. It is no more inevitable that every land north of Alaska shall belong to Alaska than it is that the strip of coast from the vicinity of Skagway to the vicinity of Prince Rupert shall belong to us, which it does not.
The countries to the north will belong to whoever appreciates their value and cultivates them.
Mr. L. C. Christie, Legal Adviser, Department of External Affairs, Ottawa, Ontario.
Loading...