Precusors to Disaster
Agreement for The Donaldson
Between Stefansson Arctic Exploration & Development Company and Alexander Allen over the purchasing of The Donaldson. Harold Noice is a witness to this exchange.
Before the daring rescue expedition, tension brewed between Harold Noice and Vihjalmur Stefansson. Stefansson notes a strained financial relationship, where Harold Noice owed Stefansson “several thousand dollars at the time” [1].
Stefansson initially approached Noice, who had been a part of Stefansson’s 1913-1918 expedition, about the possibility of leading the Wrangel Island rescue. Noice, anxious to be in the Arctic after spending much time in “civilization” [the States], accepted the opportunity. However, in Harold Noice’s book, With Stefansson in the Arctic, he notes that the interaction was not as smooth sailing [3]:
“Captain Lane tell me you are out in search of adventure?” Somehow I suddenly felt like a schoolboy whose ideals had been shattered.. “Adventure!” he repeated, scowling at me as if I had just committed some heinous crime…”I have absolutely no patience with anyone who seeks adventure–an adventure is a sign of blundering incompetence; and if you are one of those who think of themselves brave because they like to do dare-devil stunts you can’t come with me!”
Stefansson to Noice
The Donaldson
Photo of the Wrangel Island Expedition rescue ship.
Stefansson, after his monologue on heroism in the Arctic, then accepted Harold Noice as a member of the expedition due to this experience. Ironically, he titled his book “The Adventure of Wrangel Island”. Stefansson struggled with raising money to charter another ship for the voyage. There was a pressure for time, as the sailing window was closing and there was a growing concern that the Wrangel Island inhabitants would run out of supplies.
At the last minute, Stefansson was able to raise money from British citizens and through the selling of news story rights to Mr. Taylor from the Toronto Star [2]. Stefansson provided Noice The Donaldson, at a payment of $6,000 [4, 5]. In today’s standards, The Donaldson (pictured to the right) would be worth $185,050.20.
On August 3rd, 1914, Harold Noice departed from Nome, taking an Inuit and White population to inhabit the island [6]. Stefansson writes that communications, specifically negotiations, were carried by cable through the Lomen Brothers (future owners of Wrangel Island) from that point forward. They believed Harold Noice was the appropriate representative so they forward the payments to him. From Stefansson’s point of view, that is where “things now took a very bad turn” [7].
Citations:
[1] Stefansson, Vilhjalmur. "The Adventure of Wrangel Island." In History of the Wrangel Island Documents, Chapter X, p. 175. Retrieved from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89097145130&seq=211
[2] Stefansson, Vilhjalmur. "The Adventure of Wrangel Island." In History of the Wrangel Island Documents, Chapter IX, p. 158. Retrieved from https://fromthepage.com/dartmouthlibrary/wrangelisland/stefansson-wrangel-09-31/display/32461884?translation=false
[3] Noice, Harold. With Stefansson in the Arctic, p. 31. Retrieved from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031457800&seq=42&q1=%22in+search+of+adventure%22 Dartmouth College.
[4] Photo of the Donaldson. Retrieved from https://collections.dartmouth.edu/archive/object/stefansson-slides/stem226_105?ctx=stefansson-slides#?page=stem226_105
[5] From the Page. Retrieved from https://fromthepage.com/dartmouthlibrary/wrangel-island/stefansson-wrangel-09-21-013/display/32407174
[6] Stefansson, Vilhjalmur. "The Adventure of Wrangel Island." In History of the Wrangel Island Documents, Chapter X, p. 160. Retrieved from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89097145130&seq=211
[7] Stefansson, Vilhjalmur. "The Adventure of Wrangel Island." In History of the Wrangel Island Documents, Chapter IX, p. 159. Retrieved from https://fromthepage.com/dartmouthlibrary/wrangelisland/stefansson-wrangel-09-31/display/32461884?translation=false