False Confidence
Letter from Stefansson to Mr. J. I. Knight: January 8th, 1923
This letter is essential to the Stefansson narrative because it demonstrates his devotion to protecting his reputation, projecting confidence in his decisions, and avoiding public backlash as the puppet master and architect of the Wrangel Island expedition. In the midst of a cold and harsh winter on January 8, 1923, Stefansson penned a reply to Mr. John Irving (J. I.) Knight, father of the second-in-command Errol Lorne Knight. Mr. J. I. Knight had previously sent a letter to Stefansson on December 20th, 1922, inquiring about the health and well-being of the men on Wrangel Island. This was not the first letter Mr. J. I. Knight had sent; he was in consistent correspondence with Stefansson throughout the expedition (Dartmouth Libraries 2024 ENVS 15 Project). However, Stefansson's extensive lecture tours delayed his response. At this time, he had been traveling the world and publishing numerous books, including “The Friendly Arctic: The Story of Five Years in the Polar Regions” in 1921 and “The Northward Course of Empire” in 1922 (Dartmouth 2017 ENVS 15 Project).
In the letter’s second paragraph, Stefansson soothes J. I. Knight’s fatherly worries, stating, “It is a very healthful climate, the danger of illness is less than it would be in a city…” Due to Stefansson’s built-up credibility as a prominent Harvard-educated author and international speaker, J. I. Knight likely took his comforting words to heart. Similarly, to start the letter’s fourth paragraph, Stefansson writes, “It was undeniably a disappointment not to be able to reach them last fall, but I am looking for nothing more serious to trouble them than lonesomeness.” Despite Stefansson’s reassurances about the low risk of diseases, no shortage of ammunition, and lonesomeness as their greatest trouble, Errol Lorne Knight passed away less than six months later on June 23, 1923 in Wrangel Island due to scurvy. He was only 30 years old.