After the rescue: Ada Blackjack's account of the expedition in the Noice papers
In addition to Ada Blackjack’s personal diary, we find more context about Ada’s life on Wrangel Island in her dictated accounts in the Noice papers, a collection of writings and other print sources by Harold Noice, who was one of Steffanson’s associates and men involved in the rescue of the expedition. It is important to note that Noice was among those who harbored negative feelings about Ada, believing later on that she contributed to Knight’s death. But Ada’s own words about her time on Wrangel Island, as seen documented in a typescript by Harold Noice, are a testimony to the great effort and care she leant Knight as he was ill.
After beginning her account explaining how she came to join the expedition, she proceeds to recount the group’s adventure into the ice, in the process identifying Knight’s first negative health experience by contracting scurvy on an expedition with Crawford towards Siberia. Ada explains that after Knight and Crawford returned, Crawford, Galle, and Mauer all left again with the intention of returning with a “boat” or “dogteam” to rescue her and Knight as the group’s food was running very low. And although she notes Knight “was not bad sick” when he first returned to camp, after the other three men left, she says, “Knight got very sick.” Although he tried to continue different tasks, he kept fainting with most movement he took so she pleaded with him, saying “Insay to him I'll do the work if hell let me do it and he lie in bed.” From that point on, she devoted her time to caring for him, from doing the “wood work,” to trapping animals to keep him fed. But beyond these clear efforts that Ada undertook to keep Knight alive, in this account Ada also describes the emotional toll that Knight’s severely declining health had on her, saying “I had hard time when he was dying, I xxxnever will forget that allmy life. I was crying while he was living. I tried my best to save his life but I cant quite save him.” So although people, including Noice, tried to brand Ada in a negative light - suggesting that she could have done more to help Knight or even that she purposely let Knight die - Ada’s own words as recorded by Noice offer a clear picture of the lengths Ada went to - physically and emotionally - as she tried to save Knight.