The Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913–1918 was a scientific expedition in the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

organized and led by

Vilhjalmur Stefansson Vilhjalmur Stefansson (November 3, 1879 – August 26, 1962) was an Arctic explorer and ethnologist. He was born in Manitoba, Canada. Early life and education Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Arnes, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. ...

. The expedition was originally to be sponsored by the (US)

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

and the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

. Canada took over the sponsorship because of the potential for discovery of new land and Stefansson, who though born in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

was now an American, re-established his Canadian citizenship. The expedition was divided into a Northern Party led by Stefansson, and a Southern Party led by R M. Anderson.

Northern Party

The objective of the Northern Party was to explore for new land north and west of the known lands of the

Canadian Arctic Northern Canada (), colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada, variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories a ...

. At this time the possible existence of large undiscovered land masses, comparable to the

Canadian Arctic islands The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland (an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, which is, by itself, much larger ...

or even a small continent, was scientifically plausible. The approach of the Northern Party, besides simply going out and looking for land, was a program of through-ice depth soundings to map the edge of the continental shelf. Meteorological, magnetic, and marine biological investigations were also planned.

Southern Party

The objective of the Southern Party was scientific documentation of the geography, geology, resources, wildlife, and people of the

Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uːkpɑk literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...

delta and adjacent regions of Canada between Cape Parry and the Kent Peninsula, for about inland, and southern and eastern

Victoria Island Victoria Island () is a large island in the Arctic Archipelago that straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the eighth-largest island in the world, and at in area, it is Canada's second-largest i ...

. Copper deposits and trade routes were of particular interest.

Expedition

1913 was a particularly bad year for

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

navigation. All of the expedition ships were frozen in before they could reach their initial destination of Herschel Island. The principal ship of the expedition, the '' Karluk'', was carried off and eventually crushed by the ice, leading to the loss of eleven lives before a famous rescue. Most of the Southern Party had travelled in other ships of the expedition, and Stefansson left the ''Karluk'' with a party of five before the ship was carried off. Stefansson promptly purchased a small

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

, the ''North Star'', reconstituted the Northern Party with local hires and resumed exploring. Only one of the fourteen ''Karluk'' survivors rejoined the expedition. The expedition purchased another ship, the ''Polar Bear'', in 1915. The Southern Party remained in the North through the summer of 1916, exploring and mapping as far east as

Bathurst Inlet Bathurst Inlet, officially Kiluhiqtuq, is a deep inlet located along the northern coast of the Canadian mainland, at the east end of Coronation Gulf, into which the Burnside and Western rivers empty. The name, or its native equivalent ''Kingo ...

. Some members of the Northern Party continued exploring through 1918.

Results and legacy

The expedition discovered land previously unknown even to the Inuit Gray, D
New Lands: explorations of the Northern Party
/ref> (including Brock,

Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal ...

, Borden, Meighen, Lougheed and Stefansson Islands), produced valuable data, and launched the careers of several explorers and scientists. The controversies it engendered persisted for decades.

References

Sources

* * Bovet, John A. (1979) ''Archivaria 9'' pp. 254–255 eview ofStefansson and the Canadian Arcti

* Diubaldo, Richard J
''Stefansson and the Canadian Arctic''
McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP, 1998 * Gray, David
The People of the CAE. Northern Party
with a contribution from Jette Elsebeth Ashlee. Canadian Museum of Civilization * Gray, David
Canada's little arctic navy. The ships of the CAE.
Canadian Museum of Civilization * Gray, David
New Lands: explorations of the Northern Party
Canadian Museum of Civilization * Gray, David
New knowledge: Science and the Southern Party.
Canadian Museum of Civilization * Jenness, Stuart Edward. ''The Making of an Explorer: George Hubert Wilkins and the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913–1916.'' McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP, 2004
accessed April 26, 2009.
* * ''New York Times'' September 18, 191
Stefansson's quest to test a theory
* Stefansson, Vilhjalmur (1921
''The friendly Arctic; the story of five years in polar regions''.
Macmillan, New York

External links

An extensive and detailed online exhibit from the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Particularly strong on the roles of local Inuit, and other Arctic residents hired for the expedition. Specific sections of this website are cited above as references attributed to David Gray, the principal researcher and writer of the exhibit. * Anne Meas
Explorers and Northern Exploration
Northern Research Portal, University of Saskatchewan. A multi-part article including a section on Stefansson.
Karsten Andersen Manuscripts
at Dartmouth College Library
The Papers of Harold Noice
at Dartmouth College Library
The Papers of Burt McConnell
at Dartmouth College Library
James Crawford Diaries and Photographs
at Dartmouth College Library
The Papers of Storker T. Storkerson
at Dartmouth College Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913-16 History of Nunavut History of the Northwest Territories Maritime history of Canada Arctic expeditions History of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region 1913 in Canada 20th century in the Arctic 1914 in Canada 1915 in Canada 1916 in Canada Events of National Historic Significance (Canada) History of science and technology in Canada