The Voyage
By the end of May, the ship’s guests and passengers had all arrived in Seattle. Newspapers around the world ran front-page stories about the trip. On May 31, 1899, the Elder launched from Seattle. Cheering crowds saw them off (Chowder, 2003).
Their first stop was the Victoria Museum on Vancouver Island. They then traveled farther north to Lowe Inlet, where they stopped to explore and document the wildlife.
On June 4, they stopped in Metlakatla, the European-style settlement that was created by Scottish missionary William Duncan for the Alaskan indigenous people. The scientists visited with Duncan in his home.
In the next two weeks the Elder stopped at several spots on Alaskan soil, including Skagway and Sitka. They saw the results, both positive and negative, of the Klondike Gold Rush. They continued to catalog plants, animals, and marine creatures, as well as geological and glacial formations. Harriman had brought a graphophonic recording machine, and used it to record a native Tlingit song.
By June 25, they had reached the pristine Prince William Sound. They discovered an undocumented fiord in the northwest corner of the Sound. They named it “Harriman Fiord.”
While the scientists had some control over where they stopped to explore, Harriman retained the final judgment. He was anxious to hunt a bear, and he decided to head toward Kodiak Island when he heard that there were bears there.
On July 7, they reached Popof Island in the Shumagins. Four of the scientists, William Ritter, De Alton Saunders, Charles Palache, and Trevor Kincaid (accompanied by Luther Kelly, one of the expedition’s guides), decided to stay and camp on Popof Island while the rest of the scientists continued on to Siberia. This allowed the campers to make much more detailed notes about the area, rather than quick notes on frequent stops along the way.
Edward Harriman’s wife wanted to put her feet on Siberian soil, so the Elder continued northward. By July 11, the ship had put into Plover Bay in Siberia.
Harriman, by this time, was impatient and ready to get back to work. The Elder steamed southward, picking up the party on Popof Island. On July 26, the Elder made one last stop, at an abandoned Tlingit village at Cape Fox. On July 30, the ship pulled into the harbor in Seattle.
Read more about this topic: Harriman Alaska Expedition
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That so many lands had known,
Quiet lands or unquiet seas
Where the Indians trade or Japanese?
He never found his rest ashore,
Moping for one voyage more.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
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