Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic
By Jennifer Niven
Hyperion
HC, 431 pg. US$24.95/C$36.95
ISBN: 0-7868-6863-5

A journey to the end of the world

By Steven Martinovich
web posted January 5, 2004

The desire to find out what is over the next hill has long been a
fetish for human beings. By the dawn of the 20th century much of
the world had been explored and mapped, leaving only the most
inhospitable terrain as the stage for further exploration. In 1921 a
small party ventured to one of those places -- the Arctic --
looking for adventure and finding only death. It's hard to believe
that their story, which once gripped the world for several years,
has almost been forgotten. It is a story compellingly told by
Jennifer Niven in Ada Blackjack: The True Story of Survival in
the Arctic

As bizarre a theory as we might be inclined to believe it today,
during the 1920s famed explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson
proposed what he called the "Friendly Arctic". Despite being a
member of a doomed Arctic expedition a few years earlier,
Stefansson believed that the Arctic was no more dangerous than
the average city street for those adequately prepared, "a friendly
place to live in for the man who used common sense." In an
attempt to prove this notion, he put together a small team and
sent them off to Wrangel Island, a small island located off the
coast of Siberia. With this expedition he hoped to prove that the
Arctic was worthy of development and -- known to only a few
people -- to claim the island for either Canada or Great Britain.

The crew was composed of Allan Crawford, Fred Maurer,
Lorne Knight and Milton Galle. Joining them as a seamstress
was Inuit Ada Blackjack, a reluctant member who only went
along to raise money to take her son out of an orphanage and get
him treatment for his tuberculosis. Not making the trip himself,
Stefansson gave command of the expedition to Crawford, a
University of Toronto student who had never ventured into the
far north. Equipped with six months of provisions and promised
a relief ship during the summer of 1922 they were sent on their
way.

So confident where they in Stefansson's belief of the Friendly
Arctic, one filled with plentiful game throughout the year, that
they did little hunting during their first few months on the island.
That proved to be a poor decision when a buildup of ice
prevented the relief ship from landing with new supplies, party
because of Stefansson's inability to raise enough money to send
the ship until August. By January 1923, the party was running
critically low on food. After an aborted attempt by Knight, who
by then was suffering from scurvy, Crawford, Maurer and Galle
went off in an attempt to reach Siberia.

Niven then focuses the story on Blackjack. A resident for most
of her life of Alaska's mining communities, Blackjack had no
experience in Arctic living. With the ravages of scurvy, which
Niven chronicles in detail, forcing Knight to stay in bed,
Blackjack is forced to learn how to hunt to keep the pair alive.
Eventually Knight succumbs and she is left alone to fend for
herself, waiting for either the return of Crawford, Maurer and
Galle or the long promised supply ship.

Back in the United States Stefansson tries to calm the fears of
the men's families who haven't heard word from their sons in two
years. He attempts to calm them by telling them that the men are
in no danger and that another relief ship will be sent in the
summer of 1923. At the same time he attempts to convince the
Canadian and British governments to claim Wrangel Island, a
move which prompts an angry response by the Soviet Union. To
add to his problems, he has difficulty raising the money necessary
to send another ship to re-supply the expedition.

By the time a relief ship reaches Wrangel Island, Blackjack is the
sole survivor of the expedition. Although occasional reports of
white men along the coast of Siberia reach North America,
Crawford, Maurer and Galle have long since disappeared, likely
dead not long after leaving the island. Blackjack and the men
become pawns in a battle by Stefansson to protect his zealous
belief in the Friendly Arctic and by his detractors who want to
destroy his reputation. Blackjack simply wants to get on with her
life after the horrors of Wrangel Island, reclaim her son and live
in peace. The vivid imagery Niven paints of the desperate
struggle for survival on the island gives way to the less compelling
-- though still quite interesting -- story of personal politics
surrounding the aftermath.
 
Although that last third of the book is somewhat less exciting,
Ada Blackjack remains a fascinating story. Throughout most of
her life Blackjack was reluctant to discuss what happened on
Wrangel Island, leaving a sensationalist press, Stefansson and
others to use her for their purposes. Showing extraordinary skill
in storytelling and research, Niven convincingly brings to life the
doomed expedition's tale. Blackjack, Crawford, Knight, Maurer
and Galle would be pleased to know that someone as talented as
Niven told their story, someone capable of bringing them back to
life and restoring their names to us.

Steven Martinovich is a freelance writer in Sudbury, Ontario,
Canada.

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