Otangel Island expedition, 1921-23.

"In 1921, Inupait seamstress Ada Blackjack joined a a group of four white men who wanted to establish a trading post on Wrangel Island in the freezing Arctic Ocean. The explorers were stranded on the island when their return ship was forced to turn back due to ice. Facing harsh conditions and dwindling food supplies, the men died one by one, but Ada remained. Find out how she alone managed to survive the disastrous expedition"--

Excerpt from The Adventure of Wrangel Island Besides agreeing with my colleagues as just outlined, I had reasons of my own for not going. I had already served in arctic exploration longer than any well-known explorer I had spent ten arctic winters, as against nine for Peary, who had previously held the record for polar service, and as against seven polar winters (arctic or antarctic), the highest record, SO far as I know, for any living commander Of polar expeditions. In a way my length of arctic service was a reason for staying at home; and still not a good one, for he who loves his work, and the field of his work, should not retire till he has become useless. But there were good reasons. If I succeeded in get ting Government Or influential private backing, I wanted to be south to organize a comprehensive arctic expedition, or series of expeditions. But whether I succeeded or failed in that, I wanted to remain south to continue my campaign of education with regard to the arctic regions. I wanted espec ially to try to reform the arctic sections of the geography textbooks, and in general to influence school and university teaching. This seemed to me not only a duty to science but also particularly my duty toward my native land, Canada, whose future depends so much on what the arctic portions of her territory are worth, and on how soon their real nature can be understood and taken advantage of. If I were to write here all my reasons for not going North in 1921, this introduction would turn into a prospectus Of my hopes and plans for 'the rest of my life. That would not interest the reader. What I have said, when coupled with the narrative of the book, will surely make it clear enough why I stayed when my associates sailed away. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

A Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People 2017 In 1921, four men ventured into the Arctic for a top-secret expedition: an attempt to claim uninhabited Wrangel Island in northern Siberia for Great Britain. With the men was a young Inuit woman named Ada Blackjack, who had signed on as cook and seamstress to earn money to care for her sick son. Conditions soon turned dire for the team when they were unable to kill enough game to survive. Three of the men tried to cross the frozen Chukchi Sea for help but were never seen again, leaving Ada with one remaining team member who soon died of scurvy. Determined to be reunited with her son, Ada learned to survive alone in the icy world by trapping foxes, catching seals, and avoiding polar bears. After she was finally rescued in August 1923, after two years total on the island, Ada became a celebrity, with newspapers calling her a real "female Robinson Crusoe." The first young adult book about Blackjack's remarkable story, Marooned in the Arctic includes sidebars on relevant topics of interest to teens, including the use cats on ships, the phenomenon known as Arctic hysteria, and aspects of Inuit culture and beliefs. With excerpts from diaries, letters, and telegrams; historic photos; a map; source notes; and a bibliography, this is an indispensible resource for any young adventure lover, classroom, or library.