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Canadian Arctic Expedition Christmas 1915

posted December 31, 2015

When three men from the East visited the Canadian Arctic Expedition headquarters at Bernard Harbour at Christmas in 1915, they too were bearing treasures. Not as gifts for the baby Jesus, but to trade with the men of the Expedition. Kakshavik, Atqaq, and Nauyalowak, and their wives; Manitok, Alaiak, and Tamosoina, had heard about the Expedition from the Inuit who lived around Bathurst Inlet. Dr. Anderson, Expedition biologist, and the other scientists, O’Neill, Chipman and Cox, along with their assistants, Mupfi and Natkusiak, had spent most of  the summer and fall of 1915 exploring along the mainland coast to Bathurst Inlet. They had met and traded with several groups of local Inuit.

Knowing that these “Kablunat” would exchange animal skins and bones for useful items like ammunition, tea and tobacco, the visitors had brought with them dozens of muskox, wolf, wolverine, grizzly bear, and arctic and red fox skins. Anderson selected several skins which showed interesting phases of moult or other variations, plus a number of muskox and bear specimens which he had so far been unable to acquire himself. All of these specimens are still part of the Canadian Museum of Nature collections.

Kakshavik, about 45 years old, was originally from Palliirmutok, west of Hudson Bay, and he had traded at HBC posts. He had not been home for three years. Unlike the local Inuit, he had always had a rifle and had never used a bow for hunting. Nauyalowak was from the area southeast of Bathurst Inlet, south of Arctic Sound, and Atqaq was from the Thelon River area.

Copper Inuit at snowhouse village north of the Coppermine River mouth, November 3, 1915. R. M. Anderson 38962.

Copper Inuit at snowhouse village north of the Coppermine River mouth, November 3, 1915. R. M. Anderson 38962.

As the visitors had arrived just before Christmas day, they took part in the Festivities including outdoor games (sack race, blindfold race, etc.) and a shooting competition. They also performed a dance, using a frying pan as a drum, and sang into the recording machine which Expedition anthropologist Jenness had set up. The Christmas breakfast menu included “Cream of Wheat, Eggs on toast, Arctic wafers and syrup, and Coffee.” The Christmas dinner was bolstered by special items from the 1914 Christmas box, likely prepared by the “ladies of Victoria,” which had only arrived in the summer of 1915!

The travelers from the East left on December 27th to visit the Inuit living at the Ukillik Islands, before heading back to Bathurst Inlet and Arctic Sound to continue hunting for caribou and muskoxen. Atqaq promised to bring Anderson complete skins of a bull and cow muskox in exchange for a new rifle.

Anderson continued working on developing his Kodak films from August, and on bringing the Expedition accounts and stores lists up to date. Then the men and women of the Expedition celebrated with a “Lunch at midnight in honor of the New Year.”

Canada Day 2015 and 1915

posted July 2, 2015

Happy Canada Day! This week I have been busy preparing an application for funds to continue our Canadian Arctic Expedition exploration and filmmaking in 2016-2017. Hoping that Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations will bring the required funds to complete the project! We have had a wonderful day, celebrating our own and Canada’s history. This morning we […]
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Patsy Klengenberg, youngest member of the CAE, with eider ducks, Bernard Harbour 1915

Patsy Klengenberg, youngest member of the CAE, with eider ducks, Bernard Harbour 1915

Happy Canada Day!
This week I have been busy preparing an application for funds to continue our Canadian Arctic Expedition exploration and filmmaking in 2016-2017. Hoping that Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations will bring the required funds to complete the project!
We have had a wonderful day, celebrating our own and Canada’s history. This morning we prowled around an online newspapers archive and found the following three cool stories:
1. “An Address to the King” 1901. Walter Ross, Sally’s great grandfather, then Mayor of Picton, Ontario, presented an address to King Edward VII in Toronto in 1860.
2. “Wounded Warriors Back in Vancouver” 1918. Waryam Singh, one of “my” Canadian Soldier Sikhs, was part of a party of wounded soldiers that were honoured in several cities as they travelled back across Canada. 3. “The Oldtimers” Ottawa Journal – TV 1974. A friend in Sachs Harbour had asked me to see what I could find out about her family history. This 1974 episode of the CBC program, The Oldtimers, features her grandfather, an “Inuit oldtimer.”

And what would Canada Day be without a 100-year-old diary entry from Dr. Anderson, biologist of the Canadian Arctic Expedition?

July 1, 1915 – Bernard Harbour, NWT (now Nunavut)
“Patsy [Klengenberg] shot a female Pacific Eider flying over the ice… Numbers of natives came over from fishing lake – Aksiatak and wife with two children, Attigi and wife (one child), Kokoktok and wife, and old woman Haiyukok. They brought over a quantity of fresh and half-dried fish. It is quite a nuisance to trade fore fish with them. They frequently cache part of their fish before coming to the house, and bring over only a few. When these are sold they produce a few more, and so on. Sometimes they will try to shift fish from a pile which has already been bought, and try to sell it over again. Whenever they come over, they expect to spend all day in trading, whether they bring few or many fish.”

Wolf Bite – One Hundred Years Ago

posted February 10, 2015

It was on February 10, 1915, that CAE ethnologist, Diamond Jenness, was bitten by an Arctic wolf near Bloody Fall on the Coppermine River. One morning the CAE men – Dr. Anderson, Frits Johansen, Aarnout Castel, Palaiyak and Jenness – heard a commotion among their dog team, and burst out of their tent. A wolf was amongst the dogs […]
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CAE camp near Bloody Fall, Coppermine River, Nunavut. Feb 10, 1915

CAE camp near Bloody Fall, Coppermine River, Nunavut. Feb 10, 1915. Photo by R.M. Anderson.

The wolf that bit Diamond Jenness in 1915, at the Cnadian Museum of Nature in 2011.

The wolf that bit Diamond Jenness in 1915, at the Canadian Museum of Nature in 2011. Photo by David R. Gray

It was on February 10, 1915, that CAE ethnologist, Diamond Jenness, was bitten by an Arctic wolf near Bloody Fall on the Coppermine River. One morning the CAE men – Dr. Anderson, Frits Johansen, Aarnout Castel, Palaiyak and Jenness – heard a commotion among their dog team, and burst out of their tent. A wolf was amongst the dogs and Jenness threw a rock to drive it away. The wolf left the dogs and sunk her teeth into his forearm. Jenness wrestled with the wolf until Anderson was able to shoot it. It was a large female, pure white and in good condition. Anderson describes the injury in his diary: “Jenness’s arm was badly bitten and bled profusely, some muscle fibres protruding from the wound, and he was unable to move some of his fingers or turn his hand over, leading me to think that the supinator longus muscle was badly cut.” They remained in camp for a day to allow healing, then carried on with their explorations. Jenness’ arm fully recovered. Anderson skinned the wolf and preserved the skeleton. Later, it was mounted by National Museum (now Canadian Museum of Nature) taxidermists and this wolf has appeared in many Museum exhibits. She was most recently on display at the Canadian Museum of History in the Expedition Arctic 1913-1918 year-long exhibition in 2011-1012.

From the Arctic at Christmas 1970

posted December 23, 2014

Today is exactly 44 years from the day I wrote the attached Christmas poem about our 1970 Arctic Christmas air drop. My friend Don Cockerton and I were spending the winter on Bathurst Island studying the behaviour of muskoxen as part of my PhD work. It was during this long winter that I gained an […]
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Muskoxen at Bathurst Island, early winter 1970

Muskoxen at Bathurst Island, early winter 1970

Today is exactly 44 years from the day I wrote the attached Christmas poem about our 1970 Arctic Christmas air drop. My friend Don Cockerton and I were spending the winter on Bathurst Island studying the behaviour of muskoxen as part of my PhD work. It was during this long winter that I gained an appreciation for what the men of the CAE experienced in their winter stays almost a hundred years earlier.

We had last seen an airplane, and people, in early November. Sun Oil Company, who were drilling a test well on southern Bathurst Island, offered to pick up our Christmas mail in Resolute Bay, and fly over and drop the mail at our camp. It was too dark, dangerous, and expensive to land. We had set out flare pots and a couple of bon fires so that they could see us easily. The last time they had tried this it was snowing and they could not find our camp! Not a problem on this night as it was clear and cold. That pre-Christmas mail drop was a wonderful break in our “isolation.”

From the Arctic at Christmas          

‘Twas four days before Christmas, when across all the snow,

Not a creature was stirring as far as we know.

The flare pots were burning and watched over with care,

In hopes that the aircraft soon would be there.

After waiting for hours we took to our beds,

And visions of muskoxen danced in our heads.

I in my corner, already asleep;

And Don lying restlessly, not quite so deep.

Then out on the tundra arose a new sound.

We sprang from our beds with a single great bound,

And on with our clothes and a dash to the door;

For this was the sound we’d been waiting for.

The moon on the drifts of the hardening snow

Cast a soft glowing light on the valley below.

And then to our wide-searching eyes there was shown,

The lights of the aircraft which from Resolute had flown.

It came to us quickly, lights flashing bright;

So clear from a distance, the red, green and white.

The sound of the engines, like the wind in the trees

And we hoped he’d fly faster so we wouldn’t freeze.

He flew over slowly, low enough for a thrill

Then circled far north, over old Eeyore’s Hill.

Then on the second low pass there came down,

A great canvas bag, which we quickly found.

A dash to the radio to thank him with glee

But to my surprise there should have been three!

Back to the ridge top to search o’er the snow

Looking with lanterns, wondering where did they go?

After searching and searching we gave up in the cold,

And again to the radio when we were told,

“Two bags were too large so we dropped only one!”

We must wait for the next flight and more of this fun.

The Twin Otter departed again through the night,

His merry lights twinkling green, red and white.

As the sound of his engines faded away,

We put out the fires and loaded our sleigh.

Back to the Parcoll, the bag safely secured,

Now a good Christmas was doubly ensured.

The bag was upended and dumped on the floor

And the two of us wondered, “How could there be more?”

Good letters from friends all over the land,

And parcels and goodies and “Boy, ain’t this grand!”

The parcels of course were all hidden away,

To be brought out again on the Christmas Day.

We sat down and read till exhausted it seems,

And all night long kept reading in dreams!

To hear from our families and colleagues and friends,

Was such a great pleasure that time never ends.

With thanks for the letters and messages of cheer

We wish that you all could be with us here.

From the Arctic at Christmas, so peaceful and white,

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!

 

David Gray    December 1970 (From Bathurst Island, NWT)

CAE 100th celebration in Sachs Harbour

posted November 3, 2014

  Today the people of Sachs Harbour and Parks Canada are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Arctic Expedition by unveiling a new plaque honouring the Expedition members and acknowledging the continuing ties between the people of the Expedition and the people of Sachs Harbour. It would have been a great experience to be […]
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Natkusiak, known as Billy Banksland, with his big dog, Mike, north of Banks Island, 1916.

Natkusiak, known as Billy Banksland, with his big dog, Mike, north of Banks Island, 1916.

Today the people of Sachs Harbour and Parks Canada are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Arctic Expedition by unveiling a new plaque honouring the Expedition members and acknowledging the continuing ties between the people of the Expedition and the people of Sachs Harbour. It would have been a great experience to be there for this event, but at least we can celebrate it from wherever we are by remembering the men and women who were working and travelling with the CAE on Banks Island 100 years ago.

November 3, 1914   Banks Island

In mid November of 1914, George Wilkins and Natkusiak spent several days at a hunting camp north of Sachs Harbour. They had shot over 60 caribou and had begun transporting the meat back to the base camp at Mary Sachs. This was a week of fog which hampered their hunting and on the 3rd of November they were confined to camp by the weather.

From Wilkins’ Diary:

November 2, 1914: “As I was cooking breakfast, Billy [Natkusiak or Billy Banksland] went out to see what the dogs were barking at. Two deer were near the camp, and he shot them. I kept them both for specimens [now in the Canadian Museum of Nature collections]. The fog prevented us from hunting far afield. Billy caught three foxes today, making a total of thirty-seven since we started out.

November 3, 4, and 5, 1914: “These three days were foggy with more or less wind, and we were unable to hunt with any success.”

During that week, Stefansson, Charlie Thomsen and Storker Storkersen had established another hunting camp on the west coast. Leaving Jennie Thomsen and Elvina Storkersen, with their two children, at the coastal camp, Stefansson and the others sledded east to Wilkins’ camp to plan their winter travels north. Unfortunately none of the men mapped the locations of these hunting camps and so it is difficult to discover where they actually were one hundred years ago.

Franklin’s Lost Ship Found and the Links to the CAE

posted September 23, 2014

The discovery of one of Sir John Franklin’s ships this month was an exciting event for anyone interested in Arctic history. For me, aside from my great interest in Arctic ship history in general, the discovery of HMS Terror or HMS Erebus has important links to the Canadian Arctic Expedition. It also has personal ties to our […]
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Terror Island from North Star Harbour, Banks Island, August 2013.

Terror Island from North Star Harbour, Banks Island, August 2013.

An old cigarette card from a painting by Albert Operti.The discovery of one of Sir John Franklin’s ships this month was an exciting event for anyone interested in Arctic history. For me, aside from my great interest in Arctic ship history in general, the discovery of HMS Terror or HMS Erebus has important links to the Canadian Arctic Expedition. It also has personal ties to our 2013 CAE expedition to Banks Island. Why? One, because the mainland Arctic coast traversed by the CAE’s Southern Party was also charted by Franklin on his 1815-27 British Arctic Land Expedition and many of the places visited by the CAE were named by Franklin’s expedition (e.g. Herschel Island and Prudhoe Bay). Two, because in 1851, during the search for the missing Franklin Expedition, Captain Robert McClure on the HMS Investigator, sailed up the west coast of Banks Island, and named many of the main coastal features. Some examples:

Terror Island was named by Captain Robert McClure in 1851 and undoubtedly named for Sir John Franklin’s ship HMS Terror. McClure had been mate on the Terror in 1836 under Captain Back (on the British Naval Exploring Expedition), and it was obviously one of the ships McClure was searching for in 1851. During the CAE, Storker Storkersen established his “Half-Way Station” here in the winter of 1914-1915. In 2013 we reached the coast opposite Terror Island on our overland trip by ATV. Terror Island was one of our objectives, but the ice did not cooperate.

Richard Collinson, Captain of the Enterprise, named the prominent hill at the southeast tip of Banks Island “Erebus Point,” after Sir John Franklin’s other ship, in 1852. However, since McClure had already named it “Nelson Head” in 1851, the name Erebus Point was disallowed.

The Gore Islands, another of our primary objectives for the 2013 Expedition, were also named by McClure in 1851. Graham Gore was a mate on HMS Terror on Back’s 1836-37 expedition, and was 1st Lieutenant of HMS Erebus on the Franklin Expedition. He died with the other members of the expedition in the winter of 1847-48.

During the CAE, Natkusiak (Billy Banksland), established a hunting camp on the Gore Islands to provide food for Stefansson and the others as they headed north to Melville Island and beyond in 1915-1916.

Captain Francis Crozier, Captain of HMS Terror on the Franklin expedition and leader of the expedition after Franklin’s death, died with the others in 1847-48. His name is honoured by the naming of Cape Crozier on the north coast of Banks Island. In 2002, we flew by helicopter over Cape Crozier, while looking for the grave site of Charles Thomsen, who died there in the winter of 1915-1916 during the CAE.

So I hope the Franklin ship discovered this month turns out to be the Terror, simply because of the closer connections to Banks Island and the CAE.

 

 

Banksland: 100 Years Ago with the CAE

posted September 2, 2014

  Banks Island, September 2nd 1914 From the diary of George Hubert Wilkins: “As the men were unloading the schooner [Mary Sachs] this morning, a bear made its appearance at the foot of a bluff a few hundred yards from the ship. Three of them went after it and shot it. After lunch Captain [Peter Bernard] […]
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Unloading the Mary Sachs, September 2, 1914. G.H. Wilkins

Unloading the Mary Sachs, September 2, 1914. G.H. Wilkins

Banks Island, September 2nd 1914

From the diary of George Hubert Wilkins:

“As the men were unloading the schooner [Mary Sachs] this morning, a bear made its appearance at the foot of a bluff a few hundred yards from the ship. Three of them went after it and shot it. After lunch Captain [Peter Bernard] and I went and hauled it out of the water with dogs and skinned it. I took pictures of this and also of the unloading with both cameras, but I am doubtful if they will be of much interest.”

Wilkins was wrong about the photos he took 100 years ago today! The movie footage of the CAE men unloading the schooner, Mary Sachs, is some of the most fascinating, and the most northern of the moving images he captured during the Expedition. The location is just west of the community of Sachs Harbour. We clearly see the name of the ship and the men working hard to unload and prepare for the coming winter. One of them, Natkusiak, later known as Billy Banksland, is a star in the documentary film we are creating on the CAE, using Wilkins’ images as a foundation.

 

CAE, China, and the Komagata Maru

posted May 23, 2014

  May 23, 2014   CAE, China, and the Komagata Maru Strange how my two main research interests came together in Shanghai this year. In China to present the story of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, I had a unique opportunity to make another Canadian connection, through my interest in early Sikh immigration history. Today is the […]
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On the Huangpu River, Shanghai, where the Komagata Maru anchored in April 1914.

On the Huangpu River, Shanghai, where the Komagata Maru anchored in April 1914.

The former Sikh Temple in Shanghai where men waited for the arrival of the Komagata Maru in 1914.

The former Sikh Temple in Shanghai where men waited for the arrival of the Komagata Maru in 1914.

May 23, 2014   CAE, China, and the Komagata Maru

Strange how my two main research interests came together in Shanghai this year. In China to present the story of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, I had a unique opportunity to make another Canadian connection, through my interest in early Sikh immigration history.

Today is the 100th anniversary of the infamous Komagata Maru incident. On May 23, 1914, the Komagata Maru, a chartered Japanese freighter, arrived in Vancouver with 376 would-be immigrants, mostly Sikhs from the Punjab. They had come to challenge the Canadian restrictions on immigration from India imposed in 1908. After a two-month standoff, the ship and passengers were forced to sail back across the Pacific to Calcutta, where about 20 of the men were killed in a conflict with the local British Indian Army.

While in Shanghai, I was able to visit the last remaining Sikh Temple (now used only for a medical clinic and housing) where the men from India probably stayed while waiting for the Komagata Maru. With friends from the Shanghai Community International School, we also found the place on the Huangpu River where the ship had anchored, waiting for the last of the passengers before setting sail for Vancouver.

While this unfortunate immigration conflict was taking place in Vancouver, the men of the Canadian Arctic Expedition were busy surveying and collecting in northern Alaska, and preparing for their voyage into northern Canada. The two Expedition ships, Alaska and Mary Sachs, left their overwintering site in Alaska, bound for Canada, on July 25, two days after the Komagata Maru left Vancouver for India.

For more information on the Komagata Maru incident, visit our website: www.disimmigration.ca

Taking the CAE to China, Part 2

posted March 26, 2014

After the events in Shanghai and Wuhan, I flew west again to the city of Chengdu. Known primarily for the Panda breeding center, Chengdu is another very large, very modern city with little left of its past history. I did have an opportunity to visit the Pandas and it was wonderful to see them in […]
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David with the young girl who won the CAE coins.

David with the young girl who won the CAE coins.

Professor Dong Lei's photo of Chinese Takins.

Professor Dong Lei’s photo of Chinese Takins.

After the events in Shanghai and Wuhan, I flew west again to the city of Chengdu. Known primarily for the Panda breeding center, Chengdu is another very large, very modern city with little left of its past history. I did have an opportunity to visit the Pandas and it was wonderful to see them in moderately large enclosures, looking very healthy and content. The young ones were of course the most amusing with their playful antics and tree-climbing. I enjoyed making the comparisons with polar bears, though it was quite different, watching the adult pandas chewing on bamboo branches with their impressive canine teeth.

In Chengdu I talked with a group of entrepreneurs, who were all members of the “Boss Club,” associated with the Boss Media group. They were an interesting group, asking about everything from global warming to the possibility of taking pandas to the arctic!  The next day I spoke to students and teachers at the Chengdu Technology and Engineering Institute. They too were asking about the impact of global warming, but also about the kinds of Arctic research and the potential for collaboration with Canada. Many of them were in the filmmaking section and so were very keen about the Fading Footsteps video and the difficulties of Arctic filming. At a public gathering at Sichuan University, the audience was more concerned about Arctic wildlife and loved the photos of Arctic hares and foxes and learning about the different breeding behaviours. I had challenged the audience to tell me why Arctic hares were white in the snow-less summer, and the youngest person there (about 8 years old) gave me the best answer and won a set of the Canadian Arctic Expedition coins.
The last event in Chengdu was a gathering of wildlife photographers and outdoor enthusiasts at a recreated Chinese village. I shared my Arctic wildlife photos and stories, and a local photographer shared his photos and stories of the wildilife of south-west China. It was a great experience for me to see the Takin, the closest living relative of the muskox in its natural habitat. I had seen many photos of the Takin over the years, but these were by far the best. And, he showed a short video which convinced me that these two intriguing mammals were indeed related.
Next, on to Beijing…. a capital city known for its Forbidden City, and for terrible air pollution.
David

Taking the CAE to China

posted March 17, 2014

I am now half way through my 2-week visit in China. I was invited by the Canada Consulate in Shanghai to bring the story of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, and the Canadian Arctic in general, to the people of China; four cities, two weeks. In Shanghai, I spoke to 400 students at the Shanghai Community International […]
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I am now half way through my 2-week visit in China. I was invited by the Canada Consulate in Shanghai to bring the story of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, and the Canadian Arctic in general, to the people of China; four cities, two weeks. In Shanghai, I spoke to 400 students at the Shanghai Community International School, staff at the Polar Research Institute of China*, students and researchers at the Tongji University’s Polar Research Center, and the Shanghai International Literary Festival. (* This is the group that operates China’s icebreaker that was in the Antarctic news this winter.)

In Wuhan, west of Shanghai, we had a good exchange with the researchers at the Polar Center of Wuhan University. The Chinese are very interested in exchange programs, the Northwest Passage, and global warming. I also spoke to a great group of enthusiastic students there and we had lots of fun with questions about everything from mating habits of Arctic hares to Canadian coins with animals on them!

At each venue I have been showing our new 10-minute video, “Fading Footsteps,” about our 2013 expedition to Banks Island, and one of three presentations on the Arctic; The Arctic Year (about wildlife through the seasons), Across the Arctic (northern communities and people), and CAE 2013 (more about our expedition goals and achievements).

The next two stops are Chengdu (Panda bear country) and then Beijing. It has been amazing so far. Some culture shock in comparing Sachs Harbour’s population of 130 people, to the many millions who live in these immense Chinese cities. And the air pollution seems an insurmountable problem. But, the people have been very welcoming, greatly interested in Canada’s Arctic, and grateful for the opportunity for learning. So I am really pleased to be part of all this….

David

David Speaking to an International School in China

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David speaking ___in Shanghai Mar 14, short of his 2013 CAE film behind.

David speaking to an international school in Shanghai about the 2013 expedition and about the Arctic in general.

My Arctic: Mid February 1915, 1932, 1971

posted February 19, 2014

During this week in February 1915, Wilkins was traveling north from the CAE camp at Mary Sachs, Banks Island, (where we spent much of August 2013) to establish an advance camp for Stefansson who was heading north to look for “New Lands.” Wilkins was right where we need to be this coming summer in order […]
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Arctic Fox, Bathurst Island, February 1971.

Arctic Fox, Bathurst Island, February 1971.

During this week in February 1915, Wilkins was traveling north from the CAE camp at Mary Sachs, Banks Island, (where we spent much of August 2013) to establish an advance camp for Stefansson who was heading north to look for “New Lands.” Wilkins was right where we need to be this coming summer in order to finish off our own Arctic Expedition and find the remains of the CAE camps, and the “Desperate Venture” camp left behind by Nap Verville and Sandy Austin in 1932.

These 3 diary entries give an interesting set of views of the joys and hardships of traveling in the Arctic winter. It is a lot easier when you have a comfortable camp to return to!
Sir Hubert Wilkins Diary, February 19, 1915. NW corner of Banks Island
(-40 degrees, clear,light breeze).
“When the fog lifted we found that the land I had been heading for was an island and that two or three more extended from here to the northward. The coastline was soon obscured again by fog, so we headed for the foot of a high hill, whose peak we could see above the drift. This is probably Cape Alfred, but the drift was too thick to see tonight. I hope it is fine tomorrow for I want to get a look to seaward, for there seems to be more islands about here than those charted as the Gore Islands. It has been frightfully cold travelling today. I have frozen all one side of my face and my nose and one wrist. Thompson and Natkusiak have frozen their faces also. Billy the dog has frozen his flank, poor beggar. He works too hard and is getting very thin.”

Napoleon Verville’s Diary, February 17, 1932. Southern Banks Island. “On the 17 we had not eaten since the 10, so Sandy killed Lady, one of my dogs for food for our self, and killed another for the dogs that were left. On the 18 we pulled out for David’s again, with the intention of waiting for lots of sunlight and we would try another route. The sun was with us now. We had seen it through the drifting snow on the 17 of Feb. I told Austin that we had to make it to Cape Kellet in one forced march, for we had only 1 Primus stove of coal oil left, 1 American qt. He said, ‘I will make it or bust.’ So we pulled out on a 75 mile forced march. With the body weakened by diminished nourishment and the spirit bowed down by the stark relentless winds, plus the severe cold. From the whole of the trip the thermometer registered around 34 below. I told him when we left that I would forge ahead and go on to Cape Kellet, gather wood and have things ready when he arrived.”

David Gray’s Diary, February 18, 1971. Polar Bear Pass, Bathurst Island. “No radio traffic. Another fine morning. Watched the muskoxen down near the river cliffs beyond Obloomi Lake. Herd of 13 became 25 and nearby 18 moved together during noon and became 44 +? I took pictures of the igloo and inside to finish off roll of HSE film. Cold on the nose! In afternoon I went for a ski into the hummock area NW of camp. Saw hare and caribou and much fox sign. A beautiful place – hummocks and owl mounds rearing up through the snow with the dried grasses almost luxurious. Saw no actual life all day except muskoxen, despite several long horizon scans.  Saw the Northward Aviation Twin Otter flying over near camp headed north again today. It was good skiing, and my back and knee felt fine. We listened to Radio Canada International and heard about David Anderson and the Alaska Pipeline fight in Washington D.C. Also the London to Victoria air race. After supper I did a summer dull day painting of Eastwind Point.”

 

Back to blogging the Canadian Arctic Expedition

posted February 11, 2014

After a long gap, I am re-starting the CAE blog. This week I am posting a February diary entry from three different Arctic expeditions that are close to my heart. The first is from the CAE southern party’s 1916 trip up the Coppermine River. The second is from my Desperate Venture book manuscript about the […]
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Arctic Wolf at Polar Bear Pass, Bathurst Island

Arctic Wolf at Polar Bear Pass, Bathurst Island

After a long gap, I am re-starting the CAE blog. This week I am posting a February diary entry from three different Arctic expeditions that are close to my heart. The first is from the CAE southern party’s 1916 trip up the Coppermine River. The second is from my Desperate Venture book manuscript about the two trappers who went Banks Island in the winter of 1931-32. And the third is from my own overwinter adventure when I was studying muskoxen on Bathurst Island in 1970-71 with Don Cockerton. I plan to do this on a weekly basis as a daily blog is just not possible at the moment.

MY ARCTIC – FEBRUARY

1916. COPPERMINE RIVER, N.W.T. [now Nunavut] (at Bloody Fall creek). Feb. 12, 1916.           Dr R.M. Anderson’s Diary:  “Caribou – Ambrose, Adam, and Ikey went over the hills to the south, for several miles, between camp and the Escape Rapid and saw one herd of 21 Caribou. They shot six – five females (all with small embryos), and one young bull, all with antlers. They said they saw some bulls that had shed their antlers. Adam found a long copper arrow-head inbedded in the throat of one of the caribou”. [Ambrose Agnavigak, Adam Ovayuak, and Ikey Bolt]

 1932. Crossing Amundsen Gulf, NWT (from Banks Island to the mainland) February 6 to 9, 1932.  Napoleon Verville’s Diary: “When the ice broke between the shore and our position, I headed east, keeping the wind on our side. We traveled all that day. Built a snow house about 1 mile from open water. At the time we had 2 gal of coal oil left, 20 lb. of roll-oats. Austin had five dogs in harness and one running loose. I had the same. The next day the ice worked more west and driving us North East towards Victoria land. Another field of ice broke loose from the main ice and joined the field we were on. We got on that and continued till we hit open water on the other side. That was the 8 day. There I built a snow house and shot two seals, but could not get them. The next day, 9 of Feb., the ice drove us N west from where we were the day before. We could see Nelson Head in the distance, a little North of our position, also water smoke between us and it. So we swung west and traveled for 2 days.” 

 1971. Polar Bear Pass, Bathurst Island, NWT (now Nunavut). February 10, 1971. David Gray’s Diary:         “Saw muskoxen briefly and then we started to build our “domed snow house.” We located it just below the observation drum on a hard smooth drift and where the hill itself could be used as concealment if muskoxen, wolves etc. were approaching from either east or west.  Started by digging out crust in a circle. Used some very large blocks for bases and started going around. The sun was up along the ridge for some time during midday and it sure was great. The snow gleamed pink in the sunlight. Started having problems with the blocks on the third level and as it got duller in light, more caved in on me and we gave up for the day. Had supper and lunch together quite late. Had a relax with music. Worked all the sun long. “ [The next day we checked the “Northern Survival” book and got the angles right and the three bearing points for each snow block, and finished the iglu with no problems].

 

 

 

Excursions in Ice – 1914

posted September 25, 2013

September 24th 1914, on the west coast of Banks Island “The wind had changed during the night and the ice was once more tight up against the beach. So much for waiting for a better opportunity. Yesterday with a deal of trouble we may have been able to take the launch and dory home [to […]
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September 24th 1914, on the west coast of Banks Island

“The wind had changed during the night and the ice was once more tight up against the beach. So much for waiting for a better opportunity. Yesterday with a deal of trouble we may have been able to take the launch and dory home [to Cape Kellet], but today it is impossible, and we hauled them out and cached them on the sandspit beside the freight.”  Diary of George Hubert Wilkins

From the distances and landforms mentioned in Wilkins’ Diary, it seems that they had landed at what is now called Sea Otter Harbour, where we camped on our overland excursion on August 6 and 7, 2013. It is interesting to speculate on whether the CAE camp and cache left here had any bearing on the later use of this site by the Bankslanders who established their own little settlement here in the 1930s.

Sea Otter Harbour, Banks Island, August 7, 2013.

Sea Otter Harbour, Banks Island, August 7, 2013.

Some people have been enquiring about Captain Bob and the Bernard Explorer. They are still in Nome, Alaska, where Bob has taken on a job in the gold mining industry. The Explorer may be pulled up in Nome for the winter.

Our Evening in Banksland on Saturday the 28th, will also be something of a reunion as both Mitzi Dodd and Mack MacDonald will be there too. It is going to be a good evening of Arctic stories, photos, and connections. Feel free to invite anyone interested. Trinity Bible Church, 4101 Stagecoach Road, Osgoode at 7pm.

David

An Evening in Banksland

posted September 23, 2013

An Evening in Banksland. A reminder to all of our Ottawa area friends and colleagues. David’s presentation on the 2013 Arctic Expedition to Banks Island will be on Saturday, September 28th at 7 pm at Trinity Bible Church, 4101 Stagecoach Road, Osgoode, Ontario (south of Ottawa). All are welcome, no admission charge. David will share […]
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An Evening in Banksland. A reminder to all of our Ottawa area friends and colleagues. David’s presentation on the 2013 Arctic Expedition to Banks Island will be on Saturday, September 28th at 7 pm at Trinity Bible Church, 4101 Stagecoach Road, Osgoode, Ontario (south of Ottawa). All are welcome, no admission charge. David will share the highlights of the expedition with photos and some video. Please RSVP to David & Sally at 613-821-2640 or grayhound@xplornet.com

Back to the CAE Blog! (After a great little canoe trip: bright sun, cold swims, whippoorwills, loons, Bald Eagle, and millions of whirligig beetles whirling by the light of the full moon!)

On September 22nd, 1914, George Wilkins, with Crawford and Storkerson, set off around Cape Kellet, and headed north up the west coast of Banks Island using the small motor launch to establish a camp at Terror Island. Today they would have made it as the ice chart shows that the west coast is still clear of ice up to Storkerson Bay.

Terror Island from North Star Harbour, Banks Island, August 2013.

Terror Island from North Star Harbour, Banks Island, August 2013.

 

“What Storkerson thought to be Terror Island could be seen about ten miles ahead, but the ice had solidified last night, and we were not able to make much headway against it, and it was with some difficulty that we managed to get the boat within a few yards from the beach in order to unload the freight and cache it on a sandspit…. The ice in the lagoon was solid enough for us to walk on, but was partly covered near the edges with water.” George H. Wilkins CAE Diary

Ancient Houses at Cape Kellet

posted September 16, 2013

September 16, 1914. Cape Kellet, Banks Island “Thomsen and I went to Cape Kellet for a sled-load of wood today…. The ruins of an Eskimo village were noticed on the tundra a hundred yards from the beginning of the sandspit. More than twenty houses can now be distinguished. The village may have originally consisted of […]
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September 16, 1914. Cape Kellet, Banks Island

“Thomsen and I went to Cape Kellet for a sled-load of wood today…. The ruins of an Eskimo village were noticed on the tundra a hundred yards from the beginning of the sandspit. More than twenty houses can now be distinguished. The village may have originally consisted of many more, for some of those that remain are right at the edge of the beach. The frames of the houses were of whalebone…” George H. Wilkins Diary

Today there are even fewer of these Thule Inuit houses at Cape Kellet. The archaeologists date these ruins at about 1000 years ago, a time when bowhead whales were probably more abundant in the Arctic.

The stub of a bowhead whale bone house post at the Cape Kellet Thule Inuit village, 2013

The stub of a bowhead whale bone house post at the Cape Kellet Thule Inuit village, 2013

There will be a gap in the CAE blog for a few days as Sally and I go for a short canoe camping holiday, to enjoy the last swimming of the year, with no fear of Polar bears!

David

Staging the Arctic – September 14, 1914

posted September 15, 2013

September 14, 1914, Sachs Harbour, NWT When Wilkins returned on September 12, from a trip inland to hunt caribou and to continue the search for Stefansson and his two companions, he found the “missing” men comfortably sleeping at the camp. On the 14th Wilkins, the official photographer for the CAE, attempted to re-create their arrival, […]
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Ole Andreasen just after his arrival at the Mary Sachs camp, Sept. 1914. Note the sod-walled house behind.

Ole Andreasen just after his arrival at the Mary Sachs camp, Sept. 1914. Note the sod-walled house behind.

September 14, 1914, Sachs Harbour, NWT

When Wilkins returned on September 12, from a trip inland to hunt caribou and to continue the search for Stefansson and his two companions, he found the “missing” men comfortably sleeping at the camp. On the 14th Wilkins, the official photographer for the CAE, attempted to re-create their arrival, staging the shot he had missed. “I got out the cameras and tried to take a picture representing the men’s arrival at the camp, but I am afraid the result will be a miserable failure, for they are not good actors. I was getting impatient with their clusmy attempts and by the time I was ready to take individual portraits, I am afraid that some of the party at least were not looking their pleasantest.”

 

Kyle Wolki re-creating Ole's pose in front of the CAE house remnants at Mary Sachs, July 2013.

Kyle Wolki re-creating Ole’s pose in front of the CAE house remnants at Mary Sachs, July 2013.

Meanwhile, the men of the Southern Party were also still engaged in establishing their winter headquarters on the Arctic mainland….

September 14, 1914. Bernard Harbour, NWT

“I was cook, so turned out before 6 a.m. and cooked cornmeal and fried a seal liver. …The others continued work on the house. The temperature was fairly low – about 33oF (0oC).” Diamond Jenness Diary.

Dr Anderson was on board the CAE schooner, Alaska, making their way back through the ice to Bernard Harbour from Herschell Island, Yukon, with fuel and supplies…

September 14 , 1914. Shingle Point, Yukon

“Sailed at 5 a.m. Worked some slack ice near Sabine Point and reached Shingle Point about 9:00 a.m. Saw R.N.W. M.P. tent there on beach – the only tent, and went ashore. …Thought of taking on some spars here from the immense piles of driftwood here, and pulled out a few, but as breeze was freshening when we got on board, decided not to delay here, but to get across the Mackenzie delta at once while the wind was fair. Sailed at 10:10 a.m., all sails set.” R. M. Anderson Diary

 

Winter is Coming

posted September 12, 2013

Banksland. Saturday, September 11th 1914 “The harbour is all frozen over, and it is hardly conceivable that we will ever be able to move the schooner [Mary Sachs] again this season, so we started to unload and get things ready to build a house. For this we will have to use the oil drums, every […]
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Mitzi and Kyle at the Mary Sachs site with the old house sod foundation in the foreground. July 2013

Mitzi and Kyle at the Mary Sachs site with the old house sod foundation in the foreground. July 2013

Banksland. Saturday, September 11th 1914

“The harbour is all frozen over, and it is hardly conceivable that we will ever be able to move the schooner [Mary Sachs] again this season, so we started to unload and get things ready to build a house. For this we will have to use the oil drums, every available stretch of canvas, and all the spars and beams from the boat. …For a raised platform to serve as a bed we used the cases of canned goods and floored the remaining portion with batten from the hold of the schooner. It makes a cosy place. The least fire [in the SUCCESS stove?] heats to a desirable warmth, and when cooking is being done it is almost too hot. But of course, like all canvas structures, it gets cold as soon as the fire is out.” George H. Wilkins Diary.

The men and women of the CAE worked on the house for the next week and put up sheds and tents for storage as well. The “living room” was 11 by 11 feet and 6 feet high at the ridge. The signs of these structures are all still visible on the ground at the site. Though there is no new ice forming at Sachs Harbour today, most of the west coast of Banks island is still blocked by fairly heavy ice. It would have been a frustrating wait for that ice to clear!

David

Laying the sod foundation of the house at Mary Sachs, September 8, 1914. G.H. Wilkins photo.

Laying the sod foundation of the house at Mary Sachs, September 8, 1914. G.H. Wilkins photo.

CAE Pyjamas and Chocolate

posted September 10, 2013

Ottawa, September 10, 2013 Last week I spent some time in the records of the Canadian Arctic Expedition files at Library and Archives Canada, looking for purchase orders and bills that might cast some light on some of the artifacts we found at the Mary Sachs site on Banks Island. I was hoping particularly to […]
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Ottawa, September 10, 2013

Last week I spent some time in the records of the Canadian Arctic Expedition files at Library and Archives Canada, looking for purchase orders and bills that might cast some light on some of the artifacts we found at the Mary Sachs site on Banks Island. I was hoping particularly to find mention of the “SUCCESS” stove and the spent ammunition shells we found. I am also trying to find records relating to the Woods Arctic Parkas supplied to the CAE. However, just as in the Arctic field research, you often don’t find quite what you are looking for, but do find other things of interest. The CAE purchase and ordering files that are at LAC almost exclusively deal with bills that were not paid on time, or for which there was some problem of delivery etc.  Among the colourful correspondence files are letters from Jaeger’s Sanitary Woollen System in Montreal (underwear and pj’s); The Gaumont Co. Ltd. Office in Piccadilly Circus, London (cinematographic  supplies); The Liebes & Company Manufacturing Furriers in San Francisco (freighting services); Hibbard-Stewart Co., Furs,

A. Taffe, Monaco, manufacturers of Appareils Scientific and almost anything else!

A. Taffe, Monaco, manufacturers of Appareils Scientific and almost anything else!

Whalebone & Ivory, Seattle, Washington (new schooner); Taffe’s Appareils Scientific, Monaco (special oceanographic equipment); and The Kootenay Jam Company, Mission City, British Columbia (1000 lbs of chocolate!). This week I will re-search the CAE files at the Canadian Museum of Nature where there are many files relating to items ordered for the 1913 Expedition in documents kept by Dr. Anderson, zoologist and Head of the Southern Party of the CAE.

We are also busy viewing the last few hours of the HD video tapes which have generally been better than I expected due to the conditions. Our evening presentation on the 2013 Expedition will be on Saturday, September 28th, at 7 pm, at Trinity Bible Church in Osgoode (on the south side of Ottawa). I’ll post the invitation soon.

David

Labour Day 1914

posted September 3, 2013

CAE North and CAE South – Labour Day, 1914 So what were the members of the Canadian Arctic Expedition labouring at on Labour Day 1914? The Northern Party Wilkins and the others had established their camp east of Cape Kellet on Banks Island, and had tried to haul the Mary Sachs on shore without success. […]
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Sally Gray checking the site of the CAE Southern Party headquarters house at Bernard Harbour in 2011

Sally Gray checking the site of the CAE Southern Party headquarters house at Bernard Harbour in 2011

CAE North and CAE South – Labour Day, 1914

So what were the members of the Canadian Arctic Expedition labouring at on Labour Day 1914?

The Northern Party

Wilkins and the others had established their camp east of Cape Kellet on Banks Island, and had tried to haul the Mary Sachs on shore without success. When the ice moved offshore, Wilkins went “out dredging for specimens about a mile off shore, but there seems to be but very little life in the water…. “Captain Bernard, Thomsen, and Billy [Natkusiak] went to the two small island at the bottom of the bay [these islands have now disappeared] and brought home a dory load of wood. They also shot a large seal…”

Stefansson, with Andreasen and Storkerson, tired of waiting for Wilkins and a ship that did not appear, had decided to walk south from Norway Island, where they had landed after crossing the ice of the Beaufort Sea. On the way they discovered Storkerson Bay, and passed Terror Island. After killing four caribou, they cached the meat in a hole and covered it with stones. Could it be that the rock pile we found on August 7, just south of Storkerson Bay was one of their caches?

The Southern Party

Diamond Jenness and Frits Johansen were digging sod to bank up against the walls of the Expedition house they were building at Bernard Harbour on Coronation Gulf. A group of Copper Inuit paid them a second visit bringing boots and copper implements to trade. Among the visitors was Ayalit, who had lost his thumb to a grizzly bear he had wounded earlier that summer. Jenness and O’Neil dressed the old man’s hand again and Jenness made sketches of the pattern of the women’s tattooed faces.

Dr. Anderson, with Sweeney, Castel, Blue, Ikey and Mike Siberia, was on board the Alaska, heading back west to Baillie Island to pick up coal, fuel and other supplies. Navigation was difficult with poor visibility: “Passed dark bank, a thick fog bank, or Cape Parry headland at 10:00 p.m.”

A rock pile? a cache? just south of Storkerson Bay, Banksland. August 7, 2013

A rock pile? a cache? just south of Storkerson Bay, Banksland. August 7, 2013

A wolf on the Hill

posted September 1, 2013


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Arctic wolf howling at the Kellet River. August 10, 2013

Arctic wolf howling at the Kellet River. August 10, 2013

Ice and Wolves 99 Years Ago

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August 31st, 1914 “The wind continued all night, but had not the least effect on the pressures ridge at the Cape. The young ice was still thicker, but now in the form of “slob” because of the wind. It looked as if we were to be held up here for the winter, so we prepared […]
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August 31st, 1914

“The wind continued all night, but had not the least effect on the pressures ridge at the Cape. The young ice was still thicker, but now in the form of “slob” because of the wind. It looked as if we were to be held up here for the winter, so we prepared to take some of the things off the deck [of the Mary Sachs] so as to start unloading tomorrow.

A wolf made its appearance on a hill near the ship at noon, but we did not succeed in getting it.

I have been preparing ornithological specimens most of the day, and Mrs. Storkerson and Jennie [Thomsen] found an old knife with a bone handle and an iron blade.”

Diary of George Hubert Wilkins 1914

"Slob" ice at the shore near Cape Kellet. August 5, 2013

“Slob” ice at the shore near Cape Kellet. August 5, 2013

99 Years of Waves

posted August 30, 2013

Metcalfe, Ontario. Friday August 30, 2013 In George Hubert Wilkins’ CAE diary for August 29, 1914, he describes finding the site where he and his crew eventually set up the Northern Party headquarters. This is the site where we recently spent a week documenting what we now call the Mary Sachs site. “I had noticed […]
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Eroded beach and turf below the Mary Sachs site in August 2013.

Eroded beach and turf below the Mary Sachs site in August 2013.

Metcalfe, Ontario. Friday August 30, 2013

In George Hubert Wilkins’ CAE diary for August 29, 1914, he describes finding the site where he and his crew eventually set up the Northern Party headquarters. This is the site where we recently spent a week documenting what we now call the Mary Sachs site. “I had noticed a small creek [now named Mary Sachs Creek], now dry, and a small lagoon, which although connected to the sea in exceptionable high tide, was now separated. Between the lagoon and the sea was a low sandy beach for about 200 yards, which would be suitable for the hauling of the schooner should we have to winter here.”  He goes on to describe the ice conditions: “….the ice in the bay appears not to have moved out at all this summer, but to have been carried from side to side. However, no two seasons seem to be alike in these latitudes, and one never knows what the ice conditions may be like next year.” Wilkins was concerned that they had found no signs of Stefansson and his men and was planning a trip farther north if the ice would permit. They brought the Mary Sachs to this new site. On the 30th of August he noted: “…the sea has at some time been high up on the tundra, and now at high tide the waves lap the turf.” Now in 2013, the waves could only “lap the turf” in a wild storm as the sand and gravel beach below the site has been washed away.

David

August 28, 2013 Video Viewing Starts

posted August 29, 2013

Metcalfe, Ontario. Wednesday August 28, 2013 Today I viewed the first of eight hour-long DVD copies of the HD video I shot during the Expedition. I was very pleased with the results, and it was encouraging that many shots were actually better than I had visualized.  I have some good sequences of Snow Geese, Sandhill […]
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John Lucas Sr inspecting a broken schooner rudder at Sea Otter Harbour

John Lucas Sr inspecting a broken schooner rudder at Sea Otter Harbour

Metcalfe, Ontario. Wednesday August 28, 2013

Today I viewed the first of eight hour-long DVD copies of the HD video I shot during the Expedition. I was very pleased with the results, and it was encouraging that many shots were actually better than I had visualized.  I have some good sequences of Snow Geese, Sandhill Cranes, and Old Squaw Ducks in the wildlife area, and a good selection of travel incidents (like getting out of bogs) from the trip north to Sea Otter Harbour. The scenes of the historic sites are good and will really help to tell the story. I also viewed the results of the GoPro underwater camera that was so kindly donated by Henry’s of Ottawa. There are some extremely beautiful underwater shots taken in shallow water pools and tundra ponds, some showing small marine creatures, others with rusty artifacts from the historic sites.

Also today I met with colleagues at both the Canadian Museum of Nature and the Canadian Museum of Civilization and was quite moved by the amount of interest and encouragement still being offered. People want to know if they can still donate to the project! With the extra costs of accommodation in Sachs Harbour due to the non arrival of the boat, I am happy to say that donations are still welcome. They can be accepted through the Museum of Nature if a tax receipt is needed, and through Grayhound if not. Check our website contact and sponsor pages for details.

Sachs Harbour NWT – 99 Years Ago Today

posted August 27, 2013

Thursday, August 27th 1914 “The ice had moved a few miles further on during the night, and the way was clear as far as the river before mentioned. We were now approaching the lower land, and I thought that on this point would be a good place to leave a cache of supplies. We therefore […]
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Thursday, August 27th 1914

“The ice had moved a few miles further on during the night, and the way was clear as far as the river before mentioned. We were now approaching the lower land, and I thought that on this point would be a good place to leave a cache of supplies.

We therefore placed the following articles in an iron drum and set them on the top of the bluff: flour, 200 lb, sugar, 50 lb, tea, 51 lb, a .30-30 carbine and 200 rounds of ammunition, a primus stove, cooking pots and matches. Five gallons of kerosene were also cached and on the top we placed a wooden cross….

We proceeded to the mouth of the river [Sachs River] and anchored. Since leaving the first river we passed, this is the only place where it would be practical to haul the schooner [Mary Sachs] on the beach, and hauled she must be this year if we want to use her again next summer.

I followed the cutbank for a mile or so towards Cape Kellet, which place could now be clearly seen. The ice is moving slowly to the west, and we should be able to advance a little further tomorrow.

There is a little wood lying about on the beach, and while I was away the others had gathered a dory load of it. They had seen three old camp sites and I went to have a look at them. They appear to be winter camps of hunting parties, for chopped wood is scattered about and a quantity of bones. The camps appear to be many years old, and the wood seems to have been cut with a sharper edged tool than a knife of copper. Several muskox skulls were seen and numerous deer antlers.” Diary of George Hubert Wilkins 1914

Charlie Thomsen, his daughter Annie, Natkusiak, and Peter Bernard caching supplies just east of Sachs Harbour, August 27, 1914

Charlie Thomsen, his daughter Annie, Natkusiak, and Peter Bernard caching supplies just east of Sachs Harbour, August 27, 1914

Success Stove at Mary Sachs site. August 3, 2013

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Success August 26, 2013

posted August 26, 2013

Metcalfe, Ontario. Monday August 26, 2013 It has been a busy week! I have been putting a selection of photos together for a power point presentation on our expedition. We are planning an open event here on September 28th, so save the date if you are in the Ottawa area. We started dropping archival sounds […]
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Metcalfe, Ontario. Monday August 26, 2013

It has been a busy week! I have been putting a selection of photos together for a power point presentation on our expedition. We are planning an open event here on September 28th, so save the date if you are in the Ottawa area. We started dropping archival sounds and images onto the hard drive dedicated to the CAE documentary film on Saturday, in preparation for production work. At the same time, I have begun the process of finding additional sponsors for the film production costs. I have a few meetings next week which I hope will produce some new leads.

People have been asking, in view of the obstructing ice, if I consider the trip to have been a success. To that I answer, unhesitatingly, YES! We did everything, and more, that we hoped to at our major objective, the Mary Sachs site. We also reached four other different historic sites on the west coast of Banks Island, which were at least somewhat related to the CAE, and documented them as well. We documented several previously unrecorded sites not related to the CAE as well. The crew of the Bernard Explorer, though they didn’t get to Banks Island, did document CAE sites in Alaska at Barter Island (especially Pipsuk’s grave), Collinson Point (where the CAE overwintered in 1913-1914) and Cross Island (the last CAE ice party). They also photographed the Baillie Islands, Cape Bathurst and the Smoking Hills, all sites important to CAE history. Incidentally, the Bernard Explorer has now left Nome for southern Alaska, hopefully ahead of the Fall storms.

The attached photograph of one of our finds at Mary Sachs sums up my feelings! This is the door of a wood-burning stove that was in the sand on the ATV trail that goes along the beach below the site.  I have been checking the CAE purchase records to see if the stove was purchased for the CAE or came with the Mary Sachs.

David

Success

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Metcalfe, Wednesday, August 21, 2013

posted August 22, 2013

There will be another radio interview about our Arctic Expedition tomorrow (Thursday August 22) on CBC North at 07:40 MT/09:40 ET. I have now seen a small portion of the underwater shots we did with the GoPro camera that Henry’s of Ottawa provided. It worked really well for close-ups of marine invertebrates and some rusty […]
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There will be another radio interview about our Arctic Expedition tomorrow (Thursday August 22) on CBC North at 07:40 MT/09:40 ET. I have now seen a small portion of the underwater shots we did with the GoPro camera that Henry’s of Ottawa provided. It worked really well for close-ups of marine invertebrates and some rusty “treasures” on the sea bed. I can’t wait to see the rest of the HD video images!

Attached is a photograph of Samantha and John Lucas taken on the day we tried to get around Cape Kellet by small boat (August 3, 2013). The sea was unusually calm, but you can see the ice blocking our way in the background. Samantha’s grandmother, Violet Mamayuk, was hired by the CAE in 1916 to help out in camps and as a seamstress for making winter clothing. Both Samantha’s and John’s families lived in the villages on the west coast of Banks Island in the 1950s.

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Ottawa, August 20, 2013

posted August 21, 2013

The CBC Ottawa Morning interview went ok today. It seems I missed an opportunity to do some fund-raising for the production of the documentary, but I have difficulty keeping all those practical thoughts at the forefront once I get talking about the experience! I was on earlier than expected because the Premier of Ontario, Kathleen […]
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The CBC Ottawa Morning interview went ok today. It seems I missed an opportunity to do some fund-raising for the production of the documentary, but I have difficulty keeping all those practical thoughts at the forefront once I get talking about the experience! I was on earlier than expected because the Premier of Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, was another guest. I had a chance to speak with her after the interview and she wanted to know everything about our Expedition and the original CAE as well. So now she is on the list of those who want copies of the film.

I have now downloaded all of my still images and have dropped off the 9 hours of video tapes for conversion to DVD. Hoping to get started on the documentary editing this weekend.

David

Attached is a photo of a female Rock Ptarmigan, making herself conspicuous, as her chicks hide from us intruders. South of Hill 1936, Banks Island, August 8, 2013.

Attached is a photo of a female Rock Ptarmigan, making herself conspicuous, as her chicks hide from us intruders. South of Hill 1936, Banks Island, August 8, 2013.

Monday, August 19. 2013

posted August 20, 2013

Metcalfe, Ontario. Catching up with everything today and downloading images. I will be doing an interview on CBC Radio 1 tomorrow morning (August 20) at 07:40 Ottawa time, to report on the Expedition accomplishments and highlights. Attached is a photo of our farthest north at Meek Point, Banks Island. The pile of rocks that may […]
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Metcalfe, Ontario. Catching up with everything today and downloading images. I will be doing an interview on CBC Radio 1 tomorrow morning (August 20) at 07:40 Ottawa time, to report on the Expedition accomplishments and highlights.

Attached is a photo of our farthest north at Meek Point, Banks Island. The pile of rocks that may be associated with the CAE is in the right foreground, John Lucas Jr and Mack MacDonald are recording the location on GPS, and Terror Island, site of a CAE camp and cache, on the horizon in the left background, behind the Polaris Ranger. August 7, 2013.

David

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Metcalfe Ontario, August 18, 2013

posted August 19, 2013

Safely home again. Sachs Harbour to Inuvik on the 15th, Inuvik to Edmonton on the 16th, and Edmonton to Ottawa on the 17th. In Inuvik I was able to meet with the Western Arctic Field Unit of Parks Canada. I briefed them on the research we accomplished, the places we documented, and the incredible events […]
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Safely home again. Sachs Harbour to Inuvik on the 15th, Inuvik to Edmonton on the 16th, and Edmonton to Ottawa on the 17th.

In Inuvik I was able to meet with the Western Arctic Field Unit of Parks Canada. I briefed them on the research we accomplished, the places we documented, and the incredible events and adventures of the trip. We also discussed the next phase of producing the documentary film on the CAE. Parks Canada seems very much interested in the CAE anniversary and may be able to support the film production once I get other commitments in place. They have an Inuvialuktun version of the CAE banners that are flying in Ottawa for distribution to the northern communities.

Over the next days, I will be adding photographs and content to the blog and our website. I have over 8 hours of videotape to view, plus a thousand or more still images to sort through. There will be a CBC interview on Tuesday and a few other invitations to respond to. It is a different excitement to launching the expedition, but an exciting time nevertheless. Stay tuned!

David

Sachs Harbour, August 15, 2013

posted August 15, 2013

Well, the polar bear that was headed to the wedding yesterday, hung around on the other side of the harbour all night, closely watched by some. But the bear managed to sneak in un-observed this morning and showed up on the beach right below town. I was at the RCMP office when the call came […]
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Well, the polar bear that was headed to the wedding yesterday, hung around on the other side of the harbour all night, closely watched by some. But the bear managed to sneak in un-observed this morning and showed up on the beach right below town. I was at the RCMP office when the call came and had my video camera with me. Sometimes it’s a pain to carry cameras everywhere, but sometimes there is a reward! I did get a nice shot of the bear walking along the beach before they chased it off. The bear was also poking around the boats on the beach and part of one shot looks like he is driving the boat. He looks in good shape and has big feet, half again as big as an RCMP boot!

I am now packed and just about ready to go to Inuvik where I will catch up with Mack. I just phoned my mother, Annie, who still is the major contributor to our Expedition. She is 94 years old today, and still excited to be an Arctic Expedition sponsor! I was able to look out the window and describe what the polar bear was doing as I wished her a Happy Birthday!

David

Sachs Harbour, NWT, August 14, 2013

posted

The last full day in Sachs Harbour! A lot of running around, saying goodbyes, packing, trading stuff I don’t want to bring home, getting game export permits for muskox horns for carving, checking a few low priority items off my list. I visited the little building at the west end of town which still bears a […]
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The last full day in Sachs Harbour! A lot of running around, saying goodbyes, packing, trading stuff I don’t want to bring home, getting game export permits for muskox horns for carving, checking a few low priority items off my list. I visited the little building at the west end of town which still bears a sign “MUSEUM,” but which is actually a storehouse full of old mildewy clothes, furniture, and junk. But buried under the garbage I found the broken frame of a small home-built kayak or “open water boat” used in winter in the old days for retrieving seals from between the ice floes. It seems when the museum was disbanded, the boat was accidently left behind. Now that it has been re-discovered, I hope it will be restored and put on display at the Parks office.

Twice I have attended funerals here in Sachs Harbour. Today I was pleased to attend a wedding. It was pretty much the same as any wedding in the south except that virtually everyone in the community was there. The post-ceremony car-honking drive around the community was different! No cars, two trucks and a small flotilla of quads, ATVs, and Rangers. Oh yes, and someone spotted a polar bear heading towards town from the school gym door during the wedding “feast.” So of course half the crowd was out the door to look and a few left the feast to jump on ATVs for a closer look and to insure that the bear turned back the other way (which means by now it would be at our Mary Sachs site).

I have been having discussions here about how we can turn the results of this year’s research project into a product that can help the community by telling the story of the CAE, the Mary Sachs, and the schooner days. And hopefully increase the numbers of tourists wanting to come here.

The latest ice charts are still showing the heavy ice pushed against the west coast of Banks Island, from our farthest north at Terror Island, all the way up to the NW tip, the Gore Islands and Cora Harbour. No-one is finding the northern bones this year!!

Tomorrow will include a meeting at 9am, final packing and farewells, and a plane trip to Ulukhaktok (used to be called Holman; the name means place where you get ulu making material) on Victoria Island, before turning back to head south to Inuvik.

Next blog from Inuvik… if the weather holds!   David

Sachs Harbour and Mary Sachs. Tuesday August 13, 2013

posted August 14, 2013

This morning the sea was calm so John and I headed out to Mary Sachs to do some underwater video from the boat. Though calm, the swells were rolling in and the waves were crashing onto the beach when we arrived off Mary Sachs. We did several passes along the site, being careful not to […]
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This morning the sea was calm so John and I headed out to Mary Sachs to do some underwater video from the boat. Though calm, the swells were rolling in and the waves were crashing onto the beach when we arrived off Mary Sachs. We did several passes along the site, being careful not to get in too close and get beached by a wave. The water was clear at first, but began clouding up as the waves disturbed the sand. We didn’t see any artifacts but it was good to be able to see the bottom and know we were not likely missing anything. We had a close, but short look at a young bearded seal.

The wind and waves were rising so we came back to Sachs Harbour and did some more searching underwater below John Sr’s house. He had lost an anchor from the old schooner Cora there when mooring his boat. It was a good day to look, but we did not find it. In the harbour John spotted a small circular school of what looked like capelin, a minnow-like fish that seems to be moving north.

I spent the afternoon walking east of town and working at a site where a family lived before Sachs Harbour was established. I measured and photographed the site, then followed the coast for a while and did more water photography in the shallows. I found a fox skull buried in the mud that was almost entirely stained black from the mud. I have seen living blue foxes (a dark colour phase of Arctic or white fox), but this was the first black fox for me. I had another fox encounter that was either goulish cool or coolish goul. I found a fox carcass lying on the ocean bottom close to shore and it seemed almost intact, as if it was just sleeping underwater. It too was basically black, being in the summer fox colours of dark brown to black with lighter legs and tail.

Tonight I will get a start on packing. It doesn’t seem possible that I only have one full day left. I will get to Inuvik Thursday, to Edmonton Friday, and to Ottawa on Saturday.

David

Northern Venture Part 3: North Star Harbour to Sachs Harbour. August 8, 2013

posted August 13, 2013

Having spent 1/2 hour swatting mosquitoes in the cabin before going to bed, we managed to have a good sleep, though it seemed too short. While John and John packed up the gear after breakfast, Mack and I spent more time at the old “village” site, mapping and photographing, and checking the beach for eroded […]
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Having spent 1/2 hour swatting mosquitoes in the cabin before going to bed, we managed to have a good sleep, though it seemed too short. While John and John packed up the gear after breakfast, Mack and I spent more time at the old “village” site, mapping and photographing, and checking the beach for eroded artifacts. It is interesting that there is an old water or fuel tank here, almost exactly like the one at the Mary Sachs site. So we assume it came from one of the schooners. Many artifacts show signs of traditional Inuit/Inuvialuit ingenuity; many things repaired with materials from other sources. The ice had moved considerably with the strong winds during the night. Now Terror Island was ice-free on one side. The seaward side, like so many places, is eroding badly. It was hard to leave Terror Island behind, knowing that the CAE caches that may be there now, may not be there in a few years. So I took more photos and video and climbed aboard our “taxi” for the long trip south. We followed the high ground eastwnards to avoid the wet areas and the uncertain coastline.

We still had a lot of rough ground to cover, but there was also some wide expanses of open, flat tundra. Somewhere along the way, our path crossed that of Stefansson and his two companions, who in 1917 haid to walk across Banks Island from the northeast corner to the southwest corner where the wreck of the Mary Sachs awaited them. They had come south from their northern island explorations by dog team, floated the sleds across McClure Strait from Melville Island on the melting ice, and then abandoned them when they reach Banks Island, as there was no more snow. They also had to abandon the souveniers they had picked up from various British Navy depots left during the search for Franklin. The sleds and some of the souveniers survived, and were picked up by the icebreaker HMCS Labrador in 1954. They were featured in the Expedition Arctic 1913-1918 exhibition, now traveling across Canada.

The major highlight of the trip home was a stop at the row of hills known locally as “The 1936 Hill.” On the highest hill with a grand view in all directions, we could see back to Terror Island, over to Sea Otter Harbour, and south to the hills that would guide us back. On the hill top is the date “1936” outlined with rocks. Who knows who placed these rocks here? In the 1930s there were no tourists, no scientists, and few travelers from the outside. Was it someone who lived at Sea Otter, just leaving his mark? Was the date significant? Another question to pose to the Elders who remember those times. But the hill was also interesting from an earlier perspective. Two small rock piles, the rocks covered with the orange lichens we associate with old sites, appear to be markers for people of long ago. Near one pile we found two small flakes of what seemed to be the same quartzite that is associated with archaeological sites farther north. A material not found on Banks Island, it was traded as a valuable material for making tools; arrowheads, spear points etc. Is this site a known archaeological site? It will be fun to find out when I get home. For now we were just happy with our discoveries and our vewpoint. The wind was up to 40 rplus km/hr and the temperature an incredible 23 degrees. Au hot hill indeed!

We saw a Rough-leggedo Hawk soaring the hills, surprised cranes as we cambe over the ridges, saw a lone calf caribou later joined by its mum, and paused on the crest of Lucas Hill to reflect on family history. Our last crossing of the Kellet River, in sight of the Sachs Harbour airport and weather station, proved that focus is important at the end of a long day. One last winching out of a soft, deep, trench hiding in the riverbed.

It was a great trip, but pleasant to be back in one piece with 3 cameras and a notebook full of history and memories of expeditions across the ages.

David

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David in Blue Fox Harbour using Henry's GoPro underwater HD videocamera

David in Blue Fox Harbour using Henry’s GoPro underwater HD videocamera

David filming at Blue Fox Harbour historic site

David filming at Blue Fox Harbour historic site

Mack, John Jr, and David wearing "Bernard Expedition 2013" T-shirts at Blue Fox

Mack, John Jr, and David wearing “Bernard Expedition 2013″ T-shirts at Blue Fox

Artifacts at Blue Fox (fox traps, bullets, G-clamp)

Artifacts at Blue Fox (fox traps, bullets, G-clamp)

Arctic weevil on cigarette box at Blue Fox

Arctic weevil on cigarette box at Blue Fox

Inukshuk above the mouth of the Sachs River, Banks Island

Inukshuk above the mouth of the Sachs River, Banks Island

Northern Venture Part 2: To North Star Harbour, August 7, 2013

posted

Sorry that I am running a little behind here. This is the second part of the story of our major overland trip. Part 1 ended in the wee hours getting a reasonable sleep in the tent of snores. The morning of the 7th started with a return to the graves on the hill to video in […]
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Sorry that I am running a little behind here. This is the second part of the story of our major overland trip. Part 1 ended in the wee hours getting a reasonable sleep in the tent of snores. The morning of the 7th started with a return to the graves on the hill to video in the fog. The moisture in the air helped us decipher more of the inscriptions. On the return to camp, we encountered Snow Geese in the fog which provided an interesting shot of one wavy line of walking geese joining another standing line of motionless geese. With camp packed up we headed to the coast and the site of the Sea Otter Harbour village. This site is an incredible testimony to the life style of the Inuvialuit “Schooner Days” of the 1930s to the 1960s. The first thing I saw was a massive iron rudder from one of the schooners. Artifacts representing the trappers’ life were everywhere: fox traps, primus stoves, tools, food containers, parts of boats, and wooden tent doors small enough for hobbits. Most items were either broken or rusted beyond use, and it seemed clear that when the inhabitants moved from here, they took what was useable, and left what was not. John Sr told us about the use of some items, and related stories of the people who lived here. John Jr sat in the outline of his maternal grandfather’s tent-house, where someone had laid out some interesting objects on the house door, which we called “The Museum.” Just as we were about to leave John Sr found a piece of freighter canoe that had been repaired with two strips of thin brass. Ten minutes earlier I had found a brass primus stove with two strips cut from the tank. I have to believe the pieces were from the same stove, but there was no time to go back and check!

And then it was on to our next objective, Meek Point and Terror Island, both named by McClure during the search for Franklin. Terror Island, named for Franklin’s ship, was used by the CAE as a site for caching supplies on their way north. Storkersen established his “Half-Way Station” here in the winter of 1914-1915. This last leg of the journey was not as rough, with some fast travel along the beach toward North Star Harbour, with Terror Island visible in the distance. We did have to back track around a major lake/lagoon as the outflow river had broken through the beach and was too deep to cross. At Meek point, the Sachs Harbour Hunters and Trapper Committee has built a cabin for use in winter mainly as people come here to hunt wolves and polar bears.

We had a quick look and survey of the historic camping site at North Star Harbour before going to the cabin for a late meal and the night. North Star Harbour is not actually named for the schooner North Star which was part of the CAE, but is named for a later schooner purchased in the mid 1930s, which was named after the first North Star. Now named the North Star of Herschel Island, she is still a working vessel based in Victoria, BC.

After setting up camp in the cabin and another great meal of caribou, potatoes and doughnuts (thanks Brenda), we drove up to the high ground where we could overlook Storkerson Bay, named by Stefansson for his most able assistant and traveling companion. It was a wonderful time for me. A cool breeze blowing from the icy sea, Terror Island shining in the sun and encircled by ice, Storkerson Bay completely ice-choked, and two Arctic hares who ran then stopped and looked at us long enough for a quick video. Looking out at all that ice, we knew for certain now that no boat was getting to the north end of the Island by this coast, this month!

Having read about these places in Expedition diaries for years, and now being here, after the disappointment of realizing we would not be going up this coast by boat as planned, was pretty impacting, to say the least. To top it all off, over on the next knoll I spotted a pile of rocks that looked man-made. I walked over to the rocks realizing that this pile could have been a cache or simply a signal made by men of the CAE. These things are hard to date. It could have been older than CAE times, or more recent. In any case, it was a suitably moving end to another historically adventurous day on Banksland.

David

Blue Fox Harbour

posted August 11, 2013

We started the Blue Fox Harbour trip by boat, hoping to get around Cape Kellet, but once beyond the shelter of the Sachs Harbour sandspit, the wind and waves increased and we could feel the “ocean” swell as well. So we turned back and once again climbed into the Ranger for another overland journey instead. […]
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We started the Blue Fox Harbour trip by boat, hoping to get around Cape Kellet, but once beyond the shelter of the Sachs Harbour sandspit, the wind and waves increased and we could feel the “ocean” swell as well. So we turned back and once again climbed into the Ranger for another overland journey instead. There is no trail as most people go to Blue Fox in winter or by boat. So we had the same bouncy, crazy, boggy, winchy, twisty, hill-climbing trip we experienced on the previous trip north. After one major bog-down, we made it across the Kellet River and up onto the hills leading to the coast. John has an order for 25 sets of muskox horns for a carver in the south so we were on the lookout for dead “wildlife” as well as living.

And why are we interested in Blue Fox Harbour? In the days of the CAE there were no people living year-round on Banksland, so this place was not occupied or named. But the CAE men would have passed by this point many times on their way north and may have camped here and collected driftwood for burning. Also, this was where Fred Wolki spent many years. This is where he constructed a building with materials salvaged from the wreck of the Mary Sachs and brought here probably by dog team in winter. Fred was also a young member of the Canadian Arctic Expedition’s last ice trip in 1918 when Storkersen headed out from Cross Island, Alaska, to drift on the moving ice for several months. Fred was considered too young to join the “Drift Party,” but was part of their support team.

We made it to Blue Fox Harbour in decent time and found the place where we think Fred Wolki built his “workshop/house/warehouse” with materials from the Mary Sachs. There was no conclusive evidence though. Blue Fox was used extensively by people up to the 1950s, so there is a lot of fairly recent “stuff” on the ground. One unusual item was a broken gramophone record lying amongst the tin cans, fox bones and polar bear jaws.

On a low hill above the site we found Fred’s grave. One of two at the location, Fred’s grave has the original wooden marker, now weathered, and a relatively new marble headstone placed there by his family, which will last forever. An amazing coincidence: while we were visiting Fred’s grave, Bob Bernard and Paul were visting Pipsuk’s grave in Alaska. These two men were both working for the CAE at the same time in 1918!

Farther along the coast was another site with no house outline but several places where tents had been used. There we found many artifacts: live ammunition, parts of fox traps, stoves and lanterns, broken bottles and Coleman stove parts labled “Toronto.” On the beach below the site were some rusty objects, so I decided that this would be a good place to use the GoPro underwater camera that Henry’s of Ottawa had generously donated to our Expedition. I put on the full immersion suit (thanks John Green!) and pulled on my size 12 chest waders overtop and waded out into the sea. At the level where the water was just below my chest waders, I did not see anything, but closer in shore I was able to get some good video of objects on the sea floor; more bullets, large spikes and parts of a ship’s tank of some sort. Some say that the schooner Blue Fox sank here in the harbour, but I have not yet confirmed that. So these bits could be from her wreck.

On our way back to Sachs Harbour we saw the usual Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese, then ran into a single bull muskox who was torn between threatening us with his aggressive behaviours, normally shown to other males, and wanting to get away from this intruding, noisy, man machine. We nearly went for a swim in the Kellet River but managed to escape with just wet feet. We had two other bog downs, but with the help of Mack’s great experience with driving military vehicles in similarly crazy conditions, and John’s knowledge of the vehicle’s capabilities, we did get out and home safely.  The highlight of the return journey was spotting a pair of Arctic wolves. We had stopped to dig out a muskox skull partially buried in the river gravel, and heard a wolf howling in the distance. We watched them trot along the river flats heading west, too far away for photography, but wonderful to see wolves again!

Update on our Southern Party: Bob and Paul on the Bernard Explorer have been again visiting the little town of Kaktovik, Alaska, where they have been given honourary resident status. The people there are keenly interested in the CAE history and so pleased to know about Pipsuk. They have carefully looked after his grave without knowing who he was or the circumstances of his death. (He drowned in 1918 while tending fish nets for the CAE). They are heading back west now, in communications with other boats on the same route and will contact us again from Point Barrow. They have been photographing and video-ing sites where the CAE travelled, including Cape Bathurst and the Smoking Hills near the Horton River, their easternmost point achieved while trying to get through the ice.

David

Northern Venture, Part 1: to Sea Otter Harbour, August 6, 2013

posted August 10, 2013

We headed north on Tuesday the 6th with Mack and I riding in the Polaris Ranger, known here as a “side by side,’ with John Lucas Jr driving, and with John Lucas Sr riding his “Quad” ATV towing a trailer. The route north is an established trail for only a few km, after that you […]
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We headed north on Tuesday the 6th with Mack and I riding in the Polaris Ranger, known here as a “side by side,’ with John Lucas Jr driving, and with John Lucas Sr riding his “Quad” ATV towing a trailer. The route north is an established trail for only a few km, after that you choose your own trail. The Lucas family go this way mainly in winter by snowmobile to hunt wolves and polar bear at the north end of the Island. It is a rough ride! The machines are amazing in what they can do and the drivers are incredibly good at driving them. I would not want to be in the driver’s seat. As the backseat driver, with the best view and opportunity for videography, I found myself totally involved in reading the tundra, watching the immediate foreground and “planning” the moves so that I could be braced for the jars and bumps and sudden stops or swerves. Two hands hanging on, always, and the camera safely stowed on my lap, but ready to use at any stop.

On the way to Sea Otter Harbour, we travelled on the high ground inland rather than the coast because of the myriad rivers, streams, gullies and “swamps” nearer the coast. Though travel on the beaches is fast and possible for long stretches, you can regularly be forced to backtrack for miles when faced with an unexpected break in the beach where a river has chosen a new channel to the sea.

We stopped for smokes and snacks, and at interesting sites like Moses’ Knoll which seems to be a collapsed pingo, and a hill with an old tent ring and small hearth, proof that people have travelled this way for thousands of years. The “Aulavik” in Aulavik National park (on the north end of the Island) means, “the place people travel to.”

The major rivers all flow west to the sea; Kellet River, Lennie River, Big River, and Sea Otter River. We passed Lucas Creek named for John Sr’s Dad, Bertram Knoll for John Jr’s maternal grandfather, Nasogaluak River for a local traveler and hunter who died in a plane crash. So much history just in the place names!

Wildlife sightings: lots of Snow Geese as this is a major nesting area, hence the Banks Island Bird Sanctuary (for which I had to get a permit to enter); several pairs of Sandhill Cranes, a brownish version of the Whooping Crane, whose calls are wonderfully wild and carry great distances; two Peary caribou bulls, curiously curious; lots of Snowy Owls hanging around the flightless Snow Geese (the geese are moulting their wing feathers now and run across the tundra with their still flightless young, away from us; and a herd of 15 muskoxen, too concerned about the courtship behaviour of the herd bull to pay much heed to us (we did not try to get close); and an Arctic fox who high-tailed it as soon as we appeared over the horizon.

We had one long forced stop to replace the main drive belt on the Ranger, another when both machines got bogged down in a bog at the same time. We had to un-hitch the trailer and use it as anchor to winch the ATV out, then use both trailer and ATV, plus a lot of heaving, to pull the Ranger out. Once on the “road” again we had a fast drive down the sandy banks of the Sea Otter River to our first destination at Sea Otter Harbour. I think the place is named after a schooner called Sea Otter. As we arrived and set up camp, the fog rolled in from the sea. I was able to investigate a small old camp site close by, where old tin cans, bones of seal, foxes and polar bear were numerous. After a supper of caribou and potatoes, and “Eskimo doughnuts” prepared by John’s wife Brenda, Mack and I went up the hill in the fog (Mack was the gun bearer as our wildlife monitors were fixing mechanical problems).

It was a moving experience to visit the lonely graves on a hill top in the fog and realize that somewhere nearby was a village once occupied by only half a dozen familes, on an open Arctic coast with only a once-a-year contact with the mainland. The five grave markers are all of weathered wood and mostly unreadable. Muskoxen rubbing their shedding wool have knocked over four of the five wooden fences and grave markers. At least two of the graves were children. We could make out “RIP” on all five, a few words on others, the dates 1931 and 1932, but names on only two; “NAKITO” and “BABY GIRL… CHICSICALUK.” We hope that this information has been recorded by the familes somewhere.

The Canadian Arctic Expedition passed this way many times preparing the way for Stefansson’s quest for new northern lands. Although I have not been able to pinpoint their use of this particular spot, it was very satisfying to finally be on the west coast, to see the ice that held them up 100 years ago, and to know now for sure; that we could not have made it in the small boats, and that the Bernard Explorer or any other ship, short of an icebreaker, could not have made it either.

The long eventful day ended after midnight, with a cold wind, heavy fog, a comfortable tent, a cool sleeping bag, a leaky therma-rest on rocky willow roots, and lots of snoring, but at Sea Otter Harbour! I couldn’t ask for more!

David

posted August 8, 2013

Hi! Inland to avoid swamps and rough river crossings. Now at 1936 hill enroute south. Sunny and hot, but very windy. Muskox, caribou, geese. Aulavik – travel. View the location or send a reply to David Gray: https://enterprise.delorme.com/textmessage/txtmsg?mo=9247b52558134240a136f6875b1167e34285814&adr=grayhound%40xplornet.com David Gray sent this message from: Lat 72.529807 Lon -124.526467
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Hi! Inland to avoid swamps and rough river crossings. Now at 1936 hill enroute south. Sunny and hot, but very windy. Muskox, caribou, geese. Aulavik – travel.

View the location or send a reply to David Gray:

https://enterprise.delorme.com/textmessage/txtmsg?mo=9247b52558134240a136f6875b1167e34285814&adr=grayhound%40xplornet.com

David Gray sent this message from:

Lat 72.529807 Lon -124.526467

posted

There are three bites out of the west coast of Banks Island. The first most southerly small bite is very close to Rabbit Island. On the shore they investigated the old Lucas house remnants and graves. Then they headed north to the next bite, North Star Harbour near Terror Island, en route stopping for caribou […]
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There are three bites out of the west coast of Banks Island. The first most southerly small bite is very close to Rabbit Island. On the shore they investigated the old Lucas house remnants and graves.

Then they headed north to the next bite, North Star Harbour near Terror Island, en route stopping for caribou and becoming fascinated with Inuit “schooner days.” Below is their most recent message:

At North Star Harbour. Terror Island icebound. Cabin tonight. Saw Musk oxen today. Ice all over.

This morning we heard that the Bernard Explorer had tried again and made it as far as the Horton River again, part way between Tuktoyaktuk and Paulatuk, but had to turn back again because of heavy ice.

They are now back at Barter Island, Alaska.

posted

Relieved to hear from Bob!  Will continue work from Sachs. Long days, amazing to be here. Good filming opps. Bugs stil bad when no wind. Summer tundra flowers. View the location or send a reply to David Gray: https://enterprise.delorme.com/textmessage/txtmsg?mo=a306a416c7d0435b8a92591e1bf76fa54277165&adr=grayhound%40xplornet.com David Gray sent this message from: Lat 72.864633 Lon -125.125415
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Relieved to hear from Bob!  Will continue work from Sachs. Long days, amazing to be here. Good filming opps. Bugs stil bad when no wind. Summer tundra flowers.

View the location or send a reply to David Gray:

https://enterprise.delorme.com/textmessage/txtmsg?mo=a306a416c7d0435b8a92591e1bf76fa54277165&adr=grayhound%40xplornet.com

David Gray sent this message from:

Lat 72.864633 Lon -125.125415

posted

Stork Bay last night. Our far north. Hares, ice moving. Site work at North Star Harbour this am. Head for Sachs after, via inland avoid rough terrain? Clear, windy. View the location or send a reply to David Gray: https://enterprise.delorme.com/textmessage/txtmsg?mo=c1d4409a838e4bfb86829cb49fc5257a4277041&adr=grayhound%40xplornet.com David Gray sent this message from: Lat 72.864687 Lon -125.125587
[ read more... ]

Stork Bay last night. Our far north. Hares, ice moving. Site work at North Star Harbour this am. Head for Sachs after, via inland avoid rough terrain? Clear, windy.

View the location or send a reply to David Gray:

https://enterprise.delorme.com/textmessage/txtmsg?mo=c1d4409a838e4bfb86829cb49fc5257a4277041&adr=grayhound%40xplornet.com

David Gray sent this message from:

Lat 72.864687 Lon -125.125587

posted August 7, 2013

Stop for caribou. Warm & sun, mosquitoes. Lots of ice off shore. Bays ice free, schooner days history fascinates. Sites need status.
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Stop for caribou. Warm & sun, mosquitoes. Lots of ice off shore. Bays ice free, schooner days history fascinates. Sites need status.

posted

From shore near Rabbit Island. Today visited old Lucas family house remnants. Huge historic site trapping days 1930s. Graves children died. Now heading to North Star Harbour.
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From shore near Rabbit Island. Today visited old Lucas family house remnants. Huge historic site trapping days 1930s. Graves children died. Now heading to North Star Harbour.

Tuesday August 6, 2013

posted

At Sea Otter Harbour camped near old site, north side. Tonight visit grave, other sites. Atv stuck, winch out ok. Fog wind cool, great place to be. Many geese. The above message is thanks to inReach and I-phone combination. They have struck out overland with John Lucas Sr and Jr. on ATVs. See map. Tomorrow […]
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At Sea Otter Harbour camped near old site, north side. Tonight visit grave, other sites. Atv stuck, winch out ok. Fog wind cool, great place to be. Many geese.

The above message is thanks to inReach and I-phone combination. They have struck out overland with John Lucas Sr and Jr. on ATVs. See map.

Tomorrow they will aim for Meek Point in Storkersen Bay across from Terror Island. Mack’s wife Marilyn said the Coast Guard had told her that Bob Bernard was in Sachs 2 days ago – not so!!

You can see from the photo how impossible that would be right now.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Sachs Harbour, Monday August 5, 2013

posted August 5, 2013

When the Northern Party under George Wilkins had established their camp at Mary Sachs Creek in September 1914, they wanted to head north up the west coast of Banks Island, to look for Stefansson and his 2 companions who had planned to cross the Beaufort Sea ice from Alaska. Wilkins tried to get around Cape Kellet with […]
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When the Northern Party under George Wilkins had established their camp at Mary Sachs Creek in September 1914, they wanted to head north up the west coast of Banks Island, to look for Stefansson and his 2 companions who had planned to cross the Beaufort Sea ice from Alaska. Wilkins tried to get around Cape Kellet with the Mary Sachs and could not. They tried with a smaller boat and could not, so Peter Bernard devised a wheeled “dog cart” from a dog sled and off they went! Does any of this sound familiar? We can’t get around the same Cape by sailboat (it hasn’t arrived yet), we tried with smaller boats and could not, and tomorrow we are headed north with two wheeled contrivances. Actually these wheeled vehicles are tested and true, a 4-wheeler ATV and a Polaris Ranger “side-by-side.” We will go to Sea Otter Harbour tomorrow, camp and explore there, then head for North Star Harbour the next day. From the HTC cabin at Meek Point we will be able to see Terror Island and Storkerson Bay, both localities important to CAE history.

Today we drove out to Cape Kellet in the Ranger to see how the rough ride would be for my back. It really is an amazing vehicle, traveling easily over the rough tundra, and I am confident that I can handle the ride. Cape Kellet itself is a magical place, even in the fog. A long low curving sandspit disappearing into the fog. Ice floes gently moving back and forth in the slight swell, an old Thule Inuit site with bowhead whale bones poking up through arctic daisies, fresh polar bear tracks in the sand, a cold foggy wind blowing, and three crazy men on hands and knees searching the windrows of fossil wood and tree fragments for the illusive Arctic “walnuts” that I know must be there because I saw one in 1998! The fossil trees that erode out of the banks here are about two to three million years old.

On the way back we searched for a small team of “geologists” who had flown into Sachs yesterday from the north end of the Island. John’s son Steven was working with them and I knew Clayton Kennedy from the Canadian Museum of Nature was likely there too. We found them in a gully close to the beach. It was one of the many “cool” connections we have experienced because Clayton, as well as being a former colleage when I was at the CMN, is also one of the many people from the Museum who contributed to our crowd-funding campaign.

I always take great joy in telling everyone what a wonderful bunch our funders are, and that this Expedition is 100% people funded. THANKS!

David

Sunday, August 4, 2013, Sachs Harbour, NWT

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Today was a day of rest for us here in Sachs Harbour. Mack and I walked along the hills to the east of town this afternoon. We had a good look at the ice from the hills above town and really wonder what will come next. Now we can not even get to the Mary […]
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Today was a day of rest for us here in Sachs Harbour. Mack and I walked along the hills to the east of town this afternoon. We had a good look at the ice from the hills above town and really wonder what will come next. Now we can not even get to the Mary Sachs site by boat. However, it looks like by tomorrow, it will be possible for Captain Bob to get into Sachs Harbour, if he can get across the strait. The wind was blowing from the east for a while, then back to south east, and now it looks like a north wind. So who knows where the ice will be tomorrow.

This morning I had a great interview with Ron Klengenberg who is here until Monday’s Aklak Air flight takes him back home to Ulukhaktok on Victoria Island. Ron is the great-grandson of Patsy Klengenberg, who was an important assistant to the CAE scientists in 1915 and 1916, in spite of his young age. Ron too seems wise beyond his years. Though 44 years old, he talks like an Elder, with a keen desire to preserve traditional ways of life, while at the same time recognizing that life has profoundly changed and there has to be a balance, a balance that many have difficulty reaching. Ron works as a wildlife monitor, for different research companies, as a hunter, and carves muskox horn for a hobby! We had lots of interests in common. His grandmother, June Klengenberg, I met and interviewed in 2002 in Kugluktuk. I had purchased a Copper Inuit dancing cap in Ulukhaktok that she made, before I met her. This same hat/cap was featured in our Expedition Arctic 1913-1918 at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in 2011.

Tonight I spent some time working on making Inuit snow goggles out of a piece of muskox horn. They won’t look as cool as Anavik’s because I ran into a problem with the horn core and had to change the design.

We have been treated this week to some great meals of “country food” including Arctic char and roast snow goose. Today we added the delightful sour taste of Arctic sorel, that we collected on our walk, to our last and fading lettuce.

David

Collinson Point

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The CAE lived at Collinson Point, (where Bob Bernard sailed back to because of ice) between September and June 1913-14. It is just west of the Alaska Yukon border. There they built a wood frame house with sod turf walls, taken from the tundra. Captain Bob and Paul visited the site while marooned. Now they […]
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The CAE lived at Collinson Point, (where Bob Bernard sailed back to because of ice)
between September and June 1913-14. It is just west of the Alaska Yukon border.
There they built a wood frame house with sod turf walls, taken from the tundra.
Captain Bob and Paul visited the site while marooned.

Now they are attempting to get to Sachs Harbour and even hope to meet David and Mack at Terror Island, depending on ice.
At the moment though they have a northern party and a southern party, just like the CAE!

posted August 4, 2013


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Mary-Sachs-Creek

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Mary Sachs site - Block and tackle

Banks Island, August 3, 2013

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Well, it was a wonderful day on the sea and the land, but we encountered the same problems that the Mary Sachs ran into 99 years ago in exactly the same place. We had clear skies and calm seas when we set out this morning for our trip to the west coast. Mack and I […]
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Well, it was a wonderful day on the sea and the land, but we encountered the same problems that the Mary Sachs ran into 99 years ago in exactly the same place. We had clear skies and calm seas when we set out this morning for our trip to the west coast. Mack and I were in John Lucas’ Jr’s boat, and John Sr and his wife Samantha in the other. Samantha was as eager as the rest of us to get up to the west coast. She was appointed the official “Expedition Seamstress” ready to make our winter clothes from caribou skins if needed! Same role as her grandmother on the CAE!

Unfortunately the ice was just too much. We got as far as the end of the Duck Hawk Bluffs, just before the beginning of the Cape Kellet sandspit.There the ice had pushed right into the beach and extended out as far as we could see. We landed, climbed up to look at the distant ice situation, then reluctantly agreed that there was no chance of getting through at the shoreline, nor by circling way out to sea. The ice was thick and well-packed as far as we could see. Just too risky any way we looked at it.

So, it was plan B once again. We cruised around in the ice, watching for seals, both ringed and bearded seals were common. We watched as John Sr. shot a seal for food, then retrieved it from the sea bottom with a hook sinker made from the propeller shaft of the schooner Cora (John had brought it back from Cora Harbour years ago). We climbed up to the top of the bluffs, saw Sandhill Cranes on the horizon, King Eider ducks flying by, and a pair of Peregrine Falcons with flying young along the bluffs. Lots of flowers still in bloom.

The crew of the Mary Sachs also climbed the bluffs back in 1914, hoping to find a way through the ice, then retreated back to establish their camp at Mary Sachs Creek. So we did the same. It was a rewarding day of historical research. We focused on the beach area where we had found the 3rd engine head earlier, and found a part of the same engine, then discovered a cast-iron wood-stove door. So the day was a success. We met the RCMP guys on an excursion, and the Lucas family came out on their vehicles to warn us the the wind and waves were building near Sachs. So we reluctantly returned for an evening meal and a re-booking into the guest house. Not exactly where we had hoped to end our great day, but happy with our observations and accomplishments.

David and Mack

inReach message from David Gray

posted August 3, 2013

99 years ago the Mary was stopped at this point by ice and we are stopped as well. View the location or send a reply to David Gray: https://enterprise.delorme.com/textmessage/txtmsg?mo=fad3a1d2061240b2952ed002a28f53cf4170824&adr=ian%40mountainstudios.ca David Gray sent this message from: Lat 71.951158 Lon -125.685933
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99 years ago the Mary was stopped at this point by ice and we are stopped as well.

View the location or send a reply to David Gray:

https://enterprise.delorme.com/textmessage/txtmsg?mo=fad3a1d2061240b2952ed002a28f53cf4170824&adr=ian%40mountainstudios.ca

David Gray sent this message from:
Lat 71.951158 Lon -125.685933

Saturday August 3, 2013

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Well, today Mack and I are off to head north with the John Lucas father and son team in their 18-foot aluminum outboards. We will have to do some sneaking around the ice floes, going between the ice and shore, just like Tom Manning did in 1951-52 when he circumnavigated Banks island in a freighter […]
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Well, today Mack and I are off to head north with the John Lucas father and son team in their 18-foot aluminum outboards. We will have to do some sneaking around the ice floes, going between the ice and shore, just like Tom Manning did in 1951-52 when he circumnavigated Banks island in a freighter canoe in two summer seasons. The ice is supposed to be miles off shore, like in 2012 and 2011!

We hope to at least reach Terror island where CAE members established a cache in 1917. The island was named after Sir John Franklin’s ship, the Terror, (which was lost in 1847 or so), by Captain McClure who managed to get his ship up to the north end of Banks Island in 1851 (where it got trapped in the ice and eventually sank).

If the ice and wind cooperate we will go as far north as is practical and safe, and who knows, we may still reach the Gore Islands, our original goal. We are still hoping the ice will allow Bob and the Bernard Explorer to get through to Banks Island and meet us along the coast.

We will be sending inReach messages each day with a brief update on our progress and observations, so keep checking the CAE website.

David

Sachs Harbour, August 1st

posted August 2, 2013

This small village was not established until the 40s and 50s, yet it is rich in history. In less than a half hour east and west, 1000 year old Thule Inuit archeological sites can be found. Later the nomadic Copper Inuit hunted throughout Banks Island. They also hunted and lived on Victoria Island, and the […]
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Aerial view of Mary Sachs site: Square remnant foundation was the CAE headquarters house, about 20 metres squared. Circular mark in front of it may have been an ice house. Rectangular foundation before that, near coast line, may have been another outbuilding. Note erosion on cliff to left side of photo.

Aerial view of Mary Sachs site: Square remnant foundation was the CAE headquarters house, about 20 metres squared. Circular mark in front of it may have been an ice house. Rectangular foundation before that, near coast line, may have been another outbuilding. Note erosion on cliff to left side of photo.

This small village was not established until the 40s and 50s, yet it is rich in history.

In less than a half hour east and west, 1000 year old Thule Inuit archeological sites can be found.

Later the nomadic Copper Inuit hunted throughout Banks Island. They also hunted and lived on Victoria Island, and the Arctic mainland.

Sachs Harbour was first described by members of the Canadian Arctic Expedition. They briefly anchored their Expedition schooner Mary Sachs behind the sand spit in August of 1914. People used the Mary Sachs Creek site after the Expedition left in 1917, but also established camps on the west coast. David, Mitzi, and Mack have spent several days documenting and mapping what is left of the little camp.

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The saw found at Mary Sachs, Manny and Mitzi

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John sr and David planning trip

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Sachs Harbour, August 2nd

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The traditional name Ikaahuk means ‘where you go across to’ and refers to the movements of people from Victoria Island to Banks Island to hunt, and later to trap foxes. In the 40s and 50s the good harbour and beech was used to safely harbour Inuvialuit schooners. In the 50s an RCMP post was built […]
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Not quite the Bernard Explorer, but David and Mack are grateful to attempt the first CAE site on the west coast in this boat belonging to John Lucas, now dubbed ‘The Lund Explorer’. They will take another similar one as well.

The traditional name Ikaahuk means ‘where you go across to’ and refers to the movements of people from Victoria Island to Banks Island to hunt, and later to trap foxes.

In the 40s and 50s the good harbour and beech was used to safely harbour Inuvialuit schooners. In the 50s an RCMP post was built and two years later a post office and a weather station. The creation of Aulavik National Park has added to the village’s new tourist industry.

Today David and Mack explored one of the last surviving schooners, The Fox, now hauled up above the beach at Sachs Harbour. Tomorrow they head up the west coast in two aluminum outboard boats with John Luca Jr and Sr. They hope to meet Captain Bob and the Explorer (they are heading to Sachs harbour once again) at Terror Island (about 100 km north), ice and wind permitting.

Terror Island is named after one of Franklyn’s ships. CAE used that camp as a half way point when freighting supplies north.

Tuesday July 30, 2013

posted July 31, 2013

A beautiful day in Sachs Harbour! This morning Mack and I visited Elders Lena Wolki and Edith Haogak, sisters, daughters of Susie Tiktalik, who visited the Expedition camp with her parents in 1915 or 1916. She traveled all over the Island on foot with her family. Edith told us some stories of the local people […]
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A beautiful day in Sachs Harbour! This morning Mack and I visited Elders Lena Wolki and Edith Haogak, sisters, daughters of Susie Tiktalik, who visited the Expedition camp with her parents in 1915 or 1916. She traveled all over the Island on foot with her family. Edith told us some stories of the local people who worked for the CAE when they were here. It was especially interesting because I knew these people from Expedition diaries. Then we went out to the Mary Sachs site again with John Lucas in his boat. The ice was beautiful in the bright sun, and scattered enough that we had no trouble getting there. We found a few more spikes from the Mary Sachs and searched the remaining areas on the beach below the main sites. On the way back we saw a young bearded seal and male King Eider ducks. After a great supper of whitefish and Arctic char, supplied by Roger Kuptana, our host, we went to a community meeting held by the Archaeologist team here from Western University. It was very useful to see the sites they are working on and to compare notes on what we are finding. To finish off the day we met at John Lucas Sr.’s house to make plans for the small boat trip up the west coast, if it happens that Captain Bob can’t make it here with the boat. We had a great time making plans B and C, and sharing our excitement in the possibilities. Both John and John Jr are just as excited as we are at the prospect! We will talk to Captain Bob in Alaska again tomorrow. Bob and Paul are immersed in the Alaskan drum-dancing culture at the Barter Island community dance tonight. Stayed tuned for the next adventure….

David

Monday July 29, 2013

posted July 30, 2013

It is another foggy, rainy, cool day in Sachs Harbour. Good thing the plane snuck in yesterday as it didn’t even leave Inuvik today. Mack and I checked in with the RCMP to see what radio frequencies are monitored here. Discovered that they both know Mack’s son Adam and shared some training courses. We visited […]
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It is another foggy, rainy, cool day in Sachs Harbour. Good thing the plane snuck in yesterday as it didn’t even leave Inuvik today. Mack and I checked in with the RCMP to see what radio frequencies are monitored here. Discovered that they both know Mack’s son Adam and shared some training courses. We visited Lena Wolki, Kyle’s nanak (grandmother) who I stayed with when I first came here in 1998. Her mother was just a little girl when the CAE was here and is mentioned in a few of the CAE diaries. Tomorrow we will head out again to the Mary Sachs site and do some more searching and GPS work.

We just had a phone call from Captain Bob, and the news from the boat is not good. The Bernard Explorer is back in Alaska at Barter Island, just west of the Alaska-Yukon border. They had made it all the way to Pullen Island which is quite close to Tuktoyaktuk. However, the ice was so bad that even after getting that far, they had to go all the way back to avoid being trapped by ice. Even with all the talk of global warming and an ice-free Northwest Passage, now we are hearing that this may be the worst ice year for 10 years! Some things are just not predictable anymore.

So they are going to wait there, and see if the winds blow favourably in the next few days. Bob and Paul are hoping to do some CAE related work as they are near Collinson Point and can get back there and do some searching for the CAE house. Also they will visit Pipsuk’s grave. He was the last member of the CAE to die, when he drowned while tending a fish net in 1918.

Mack and I will go out to the Mary Sachs site tomorrow if the weather improves, otherwise will visit and interview more Elders. We will watch the wind and ice, keep checking the ice charts, and talk with John about heading north in two small boats if the Explorer can’t make it. Never a dull moment!

David

Sachs Harbour, July 28, 2013

posted July 29, 2013

Well, our new crew member, Mack (Alex) MacDonald is finally here! The Aklak plane from Inuvik made it in by the skin of their teeth. The weather was getting worse by the minute, with fog and ceiling lowering. The plane made two passes, didn’t land and the word was he was going back to Inuvik. […]
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Well, our new crew member, Mack (Alex) MacDonald is finally here! The Aklak plane from Inuvik made it in by the skin of their teeth. The weather was getting worse by the minute, with fog and ceiling lowering. The plane made two passes, didn’t land and the word was he was going back to Inuvik. So everyone grabbed their bags, and re-loaded them back onto the truck. I put my video-camera away and was in the truck, when suddenly people started waving and yelling, and the plane appeared out of the fog on the runway! So Mack is here, Mitzi has gone home, and we are on to the next phase of the adventure. Now we need a good strong east wind to blow the ice back away from the west coast of Banks Island, and away from the mainland coast so Captain Bob and the Bernard Explorer can get through! On our afternoon excursion along the coast we saw King Eider ducks, more wolf tracks, some semi-fossil wood, and the old community ice house, dug down into the permafrost, a natural freezer.

David

Sachs Harbour, NWT, Saturday July 27, 2013

posted July 28, 2013

The day started with a short interview with Roger Kuptana, who with his wife Jackie, runs the Polar Grizz Guesthouse where we are staying. Roger’s father, William, was a member of the CAE as a young boy. He was either “traded” or adopted to William and Annie Seymour, who were on the CAE ship, Polar […]
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The day started with a short interview with Roger Kuptana, who with his wife Jackie, runs the Polar Grizz Guesthouse where we are staying. Roger’s father, William, was a member of the CAE as a young boy. He was either “traded” or adopted to William and Annie Seymour, who were on the CAE ship, Polar Bear. William Seymour was from Australia, Annie from Alaska. Roger has travelled to the northwest corner of Banks Island where we are headed, but only in winter. It will be so exciting to get there!

The wind and waves had settled down enough that Mitzi, Kyle and I were able to go back out to the Mary Sachs site. It was a different place with all of the ice floes drifted in to the bay and along the shore. We made sure that Kyle was extra alert as polar bears can move in with the ice too. Today we used the metal detector to search along the beach where the historic site has eroded away. As we suspected, there was not much to find as the waves just carry anything small away. Just in the last 2 days, because of the waves, the beach has changed a lot and we never would have found that new old engine block today. We did find a few rusty bits of chain, stove parts and bolts in the sand below the mound where the Mary Sachs’s wheelhouse was placed.

It was cool in the wind, 0 degrees C, and a few snow flurries, but nice when the sun was out. I photographed each of the sites with Henry’s wonderful mini-camera at the end of a telescoping pole to give an overhead view.

Riding back in the boat was a joy with seals and ice floes keeping John alert at the wheel.

David

Sachs Harbour, Friday July 26, 2013

posted July 27, 2013

A foggy day in Sachs Harbour, with a strong west wind blowing ice in from the Beaufort Sea. There is more ice piling up on the shore all the way from here out to Cape Kellet, beyond Mary Sachs. Today was a mix of waiting, visiting and walking. Had a good visit with John and […]
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A foggy day in Sachs Harbour, with a strong west wind blowing ice in from the Beaufort Sea. There is more ice piling up on the shore all the way from here out to Cape Kellet, beyond Mary Sachs. Today was a mix of waiting, visiting and walking. Had a good visit with John and Samantha Lucas, John’s parents. Samantha’s grandmother was Violet Mamayuak, who was part of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, and traveled on the schooner Polar Bear to Victoria Island. She married Henry Gonzales, who became the ship’s captain, and seems to have been responsible for wrecking the Mary Sachs. He did not stay in the Arctic after the Expedition and she re-married.

We had hopes of the Aklak plane coming today, but the fog and uncertain weather led them (eventually) to postpone the flight until Sunday. So Mack has more time in Inuvik and Mitzi will miss her Mum’s 90th birthday party (which she organized!).

I walked out along the beach to the east, but didn’t see much. A few Glaucous Gulls, parts of muskox skulls, waves and many flowers still blooming in spite of the low temperatures and snow flurries.

Bob Bernard called this morning from the boat. They were just passing Herschel Island, Yukon, and making good progress. They were held up by ice near the US-Canada border, but the silver lining was that they were at Collinson Point, where the CAE over-wintered in 1913! They were able to visit and photograph the remnants of the CAE house there. So many good things on an un-planned day.

David

Sachs Harbour, NWT, Thursday July 25, 2013

posted July 26, 2013

It was a rainy and foggy day in Sachs Harbour today, and now it’s snowing. It was a “hurry-up-and-wait” day as the scheduled Aklak Air flight from Inuvik was supposed to take Mitzi Dodd (Peter Bernard’s great-great-niece) out and bring Mack (Alex) MacDonald in. Now we have to wait for tomorrow to see if the […]
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It was a rainy and foggy day in Sachs Harbour today, and now it’s snowing. It was a “hurry-up-and-wait” day as the scheduled Aklak Air flight from Inuvik was supposed to take Mitzi Dodd (Peter Bernard’s great-great-niece) out and bring Mack (Alex) MacDonald in. Now we have to wait for tomorrow to see if the weather cooperates with our crew turnover. It was mostly an inside day today, a good opportunity to work on mapping the CAE camps. I have been talking with Elders here trying to relate the place names used in 1915 and 1930 with the names on the maps today. It is difficult to locate the old camps and caches because the Expedition journals often refer to places whose names have changed, and give distances from unknown places too. There were only a very few official place names on the old British Admiralty charts the CAE men were using. But with input from three different eras, I think I now have figured out where all the places we need to find really are!

We heard today via the old Inuit telegraph system (Facebook) that there is a sailboat in Tuktoyaktuk. But it may be the one boat that is ahead of our Bernard Explorer. But it is good news, if one boat has made it through, Bob can’t be far behind.

David

Wednesday July 24, 2013 (Cool wind, no mosquitoes, no snow flurries yet)

posted July 25, 2013

Sachs Harbour, NWT Today we continued with our visits in the community. First stop was at Joey and Margaret Carpenter’s home. Joey’s father was Fred Carpenter who was one of the first to establish a permanent home here. He was also the first to open a store in Sachs Harbour in 1954. Margaret’s parents lived […]
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Sachs Harbour, NWT

Today we continued with our visits in the community. First stop was at Joey and Margaret Carpenter’s home. Joey’s father was Fred Carpenter who was one of the first to establish a permanent home here. He was also the first to open a store in Sachs Harbour in 1954. Margaret’s parents lived at Baillie Island and she was born there. Margaret’s mother was Cora Kemiksana, and her step-Dad was was Silas Palaiyak, who worked for the CAE scientists in 1915-1916. Cora told Margaret that Silas Palaiyak’s schooner “CORA” which we hope to visit and document next week, was named after her. This was something I had long suspected, and the personal confirmation today was one of those special little shared moments that make historical research so exciting. Tomorrow I will give Margaret photos of both Palaiyak and the CORA, which she has never seen.

Our next stop we thought was just to buy a local history book, but it turned out to be hidden treasure! Earlier this summer a young man from Sachs was hunting geese out at the Mary Sachs historic site. Right on the ATV travel route they use he found a large cross-cut saw which had just appeared on the sandy beach. It had already been run over by an ATV so he brought the saw home. Knowing our interest, he took us to see it and now wants us to find the proper home for this old CAE saw. We photographed it and captured the story. The saw would have been used to cut driftwood for use at the CAE camp for heat and cooking.

Update on the Bernard Explorer: The boat was held up by ice just west of Point Barrow Alaska for a couple of days, but they are now on the way and expected to arrive on Friday the 26th.

David

Tuesday July 23, 2013

posted July 24, 2013

It is a sad day in Sachs Harbour today. A young woman who grew up here, and who died in BC recently, was buried in the Sachs Harbour cemetery up on top of the hill above our lodgings. We went to the funeral along with virtually everyone in the community. At the community supper afterwards […]
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It is a sad day in Sachs Harbour today. A young woman who grew up here, and who died in BC recently, was buried in the Sachs Harbour cemetery up on top of the hill above our lodgings. We went to the funeral along with virtually everyone in the community. At the community supper afterwards we met many of the people from Sachs who know about us and our Expedition. They are so pleased that someone from the outside knows their background and is excited about their local history. Earlier today we met with the RCMP officers stationed here (both from Ottawa), the Mayor, Betty Haogak, and the Postmaster, Joey Carpenter, who also are delighted about our project, and shared many local history connections with us. Almost everyone in town is related to the CAE in some way or another. We met Alex Kudlak who is related to Stefansson on one side of his family, and to Billy Banksland (Natkusiak) on the other! The Mayor and her family used to camp at the Mary Sachs site we have been working on. It is a traditional site for hunting geese in the spring. So today was as rewarding in its own way as were the previous days, the new treasures being family stories of the people and their love of the land.

We think the mosquitoes are done! It is rainy and going down to -1 tonight with possible snow flurries tomorrow. Hurray!

David

Monday July 22, 2013

posted July 23, 2013

Back to the CAE historic site at Mary Sachs Creek today for our third day of research. We travel out and back by boat which is the best way to travel here. We have seen an Arctic fox patrolling the shoreline, and a Tundra Swan flying over as we travel. The shores are sandy or […]
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Back to the CAE historic site at Mary Sachs Creek today for our third day of research. We travel out and back by boat which is the best way to travel here. We have seen an Arctic fox patrolling the shoreline, and a Tundra Swan flying over as we travel. The shores are sandy or light gravel so John Lucas, our driver, just runs agound where we want to be. He picks us up again at the end of the day. John will be going with us on the boat trip up the west coast.

Today our main chore was to get GPS locations for each of the sites and for the major artifacts. For that we used the great little inReach device. We also completed a few measurements so that we can tie everything together for the Map. Highlights were making rubbings of the raised letters on some glass bottle fragments and a cast iron “Success” stove, finding a wooden box probably from the CAE partially buried in the creek bed, and filming insects slowly walking on the ice floe. There were several large weevils (beetles) which I suspect are new species for Banks Island. We also walked up the lake formed by the ocean damming Mary Sachs Creek with a sand bar at the mouth. Saw relatively fresh polar bear, arctic wolf and arctic fox tracks all together on the sand, plus sand hill crane and snow goose tracks.

The down side of the day was that the mosquitoes were actually worse still! There was little or no wind, it was hot (well 12 +) with layers of anti-mosquito clothes. You just can’t believe how “buggy” they are until you experience them. Several times today we retreated to the shoreline, hoping to find a little breeze, or some respite on the grounded ice floes, but there wasn’t much. Picture Mitzi and me snuggling up to opposite sides of an ice floe, me sticking my head into an icy hole and still not able to get away from the bugs! Kyle, our wildlife monitor, has no control over bugs! Imagine. He just lies out flat on the beach gravel with his hoodie over his face! It was so refreshing to be in the boat on the way home, with a cool breeze and no bug jacket over our heads. Another great day in the Arctic.
David

posted July 22, 2013

It was a good day today out at the MARY SACHS site. The mosquitos were terrible , even worse than yesterday. The street of Sachs Harbour is empty because the kids can’t go out and play. Today we measured and made rough maps of each different feature of the site, trying to figure out what […]
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It was a good day today out at the MARY SACHS site. The mosquitos were terrible , even worse than yesterday. The street of Sachs Harbour is empty because the kids can’t go out and play. Today we measured and made rough maps of each different feature of the site, trying to figure out what each foundation or ground detail means, comparing what we see with the photos from 1915 etc. Also listing and photographing the artifacts in each feature. There are six major and obvious features, one being the house which was the Headquarters, and another where the wheelhouse of the Mary Sachs was used as a home, even as late as the 1930s. And the 2 Desperate Venture guys stayed in one of these too. Then there are the Inuit tent rings or tent platforms as well, plus the two engine blocks (now 3 as we found one buried in the beach sand). I tried to photograph individual artifacts with a close-up lens today and got my hands well-bitten. We found a neat little glass/ceramic/stone bead today, a beautiful, teardrop shape of pale green colour. Not sure how old it is, but my feelings is that it is from the CAE, so 100 years. Kyle and I also moved the 3rd engine block up the sand slope from the eroding beach to a safe place. It was heavy work as it had to be rolled or flipped uphill in sand and it is way too heavy to lift. So now it is safe. We heard from Captain Bob Bernard last night. They are in Point Barrow, Alaska, still a little behind schedule, but all is going well. Point Barrow is where the ice hangs in the longest, so it is great that they made it. I have to check the ice charts now and see what challenges they still face. The people from Sachs saw 3 Orcas earlier this week just off Sachs Harbour and 3 bowheads this weekend in the ice off Cape Kellet. So we hope we will see the whales later as well. There are 5 cute little husky puppies across the road.
David

Saturday, July 20, 2013

posted July 21, 2013

An emotional day for David and Mitzi, just being at Mary Sachs Creek (see inReach map), base camp for the Northern party of the CAE, Captain Peter Bernard’s home for two years (Mitzi’s great, great uncle, who was lost trying to deliver mail at the north end of Banks Island). Incredible erosion happening. David was […]
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DSCN5961An emotional day for David and Mitzi, just being at Mary Sachs Creek (see inReach map), base camp for the Northern party of the CAE, Captain Peter Bernard’s home for two years (Mitzi’s great, great uncle, who was lost trying to deliver mail at the north end of Banks Island).

Incredible erosion happening. David was there in 2009 and sketched a building foundation. A corner of that foundation is about to fall into the ocean. The drop from the land turf to the beach was about a metre in 2009, now it is about 3 metres because the beach under it has been washed away, as well as about a ½ m of turf.

Found a second major chunk of the Mary Sachs engine block, its tip just visible in the sand. Also found a wooden pulley block, probably used to pull the Mary Sachs up on the beach, or to raise sail. They are not allowed to remove anything. On the ground lots of bits of pottery, glass, and a brass nail, probably from the Mary Sachs. They also established where the Mary Sachs wheel house was by a couple of upright tongue and groove boards. It had been left as a house for trappers.

Saw one Arctic fox, three loons (yellow-billed?), three ringed seals.

10 degrees and wind from north. Some photos ruined because so many mosquitoes in front of lens.

Two new members on the expedition! Kyle Wolki, bear monitor, and John Lucas, guide; both men have family connections to the CAE.

Tomorrow they will go back to measure and map the site, about 30 km west of Sachs Harbour.

Just arrived…

posted July 19, 2013

David and Mitzi have arrived in Sachs Harbour! It is about 13 degrees and the sun is bright, and there are BILLIONS of mosquitos, more than there have ever been before. People are staying inside. Tomorrow they meet with Elders. They expect the Bernard Explorer on Saturday. The ice looks clear along the mainland, though […]
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David and Mitzi have arrived in Sachs Harbour! It is about 13 degrees and the sun is bright, and there are BILLIONS of mosquitos, more than there have ever been before.
People are staying inside. Tomorrow they meet with Elders. They expect the Bernard Explorer on Saturday. The ice looks clear along the mainland, though there is still some in the Passage.
They flew in under cloud but just as they passed over Baillee Island the clouds opened and they had a good glimpse.
They hope to blog every few days – it depends where they are. Through their inReach device we can at least track them daily, and they can send a simple, “everything is fine” message. Whenever they can they will send more.

The Bernard Explorer

posted July 13, 2013

Captain Bob Bernard beside his boat as he prepares to leave Cordova.
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Captain Bob Bernard beside his boat  as he prepared to leave Cordova

Captain Bob Bernard beside his boat as he prepares to leave Cordova.