Expedition
In November 1897, the Bear, commanded by Captain Francis Tuttle, sailed from Port Townsend, Washington. It was too late in the year for the cutter to push through the ice, so it was decided the party must go overland, enlisting the help of natives, stopping by a reindeer station to purchase a herd of reindeer.
The overland trek left from Cape Vancouver, Alaska on December 16, 1897. The expedition was led by First Lieutenant David H. Jarvis, the executive officer of the Bear; the second-in-command was Second Lieutenant Ellsworth P. Bertholf. They were accompanied by Samuel J. Call, the ship's surgeon of the Bear, and for part of the way by the enlisted man F. Koltchoff. They were also assisted by William Thomas Lopp, the Superintendent of the Teller Reindeer Station, and Charlie Antisarlook, a native reindeer herder. They traveled and carried the provisions using dog sleds, sleds pulled by reindeer, snowshoes, and skis.
After 1,500 miles, the group reached Point Barrow on March 29, 1898. The expedition brought 382 reindeer to the whalers, having lost only 66. The following summer, the Bear reached Point Barrow and the expedition officers could rejoin their ship.
Read more about this topic: Overland Relief Expedition
Famous quotes containing the word expedition:
“Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the factories, the streets, the cathedrals of the imagination.”
—Janet Frame (b. 1924)
“It is a sort of ranger service. Arnold’s expedition is a daily experience with these settlers. They can prove that they were out at almost any time; and I think that all the first generation of them deserve a pension more than any that went to the Mexican war.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)