Ships of Wood And Men of Iron: A Norwegian-Canadian Saga of Exploration in the High Artic

160 Pages·2005·8.57 MB·English

by  Gerard Kenney

S H I PS OF W O OD
A ND M EN OF I R ON
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S H I PS OF W O OD
A ND M EN OF I R ON
A Norwegian-Canadian Saga of
Exploration in the High Arctic
Gerard Kenney
NATURAL HERITAGE BOOKS
TORONTO
Copyright © 2004 by Gerard Kenney
Second edition 2005
All rights reserved. No portion of this book, with the exception of brief extracts for the purpose
of literary or scholarly review, may be reproduced in any form without the permission of
the publisher.
Published by Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc.
P.O. Box 95, Station O, Toronto, Ontario M4A 2M8
www. naturalheritagebooks. com
Design by Brian Danchuk Design, Regina
Edited for 2nd printing by Jane Gibson
Production for 2nd printing by Norton Hamill Design
Printed and bound in Canada by Hignell Book Printing
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Kenney, Gerard I., 1931-
Ships of wood and men of iron : a Norwegian-Canadian saga of exploration in the
high Arctic / Gerard Kenney. — 2nd ed.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-897045-06-9
1. Sverdrup, Otto Neumann, 1854-1930. 2. Fram (Ship). 3. Canada, Northern-
Discovery and exploration—Norwegian. 4. Canada, Northern—Discovery and exploration—
Canadian. 5. Arctic regions—Discovery and exploration—Norwegian. 6. Arctic regions—
Discovery and exploration—Canadian. 7. Canada—Boundaries—Arctic regions. I. Title.
FC3963.K45 2005 917.1904'2 C2005-90449: 40YEARS
Canada =™
Canada Council Conseil des Arts
for the Arts du Canada
Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc. acknowledges the financial support of the Canada
Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We acknowledge
the support of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development
Corporation's Ontario Book Initiative. We also acknowledge the financial support of the
Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP)
and the Association for the Export of Canadian Books.
D E D I C A T I ON
For my daughters, Amanda and Jessica
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C O N T E N TS
Photo Credits viii
Maps ix
Foreword xiv
Acknowledgements xv
Introduction xvii
Part I: The Norwegian Expeditions, 1893-1902
The Man and the Ship 3
Sverdrup's Second Arctic Expedition 7
The First Winter 17
The Second Winter 35
The Third Winter 59
The Fourth Winter 75
Home To Norway! 85
Part II: The Canadian Expeditions, 1903-48
Canada Is Not Amused 91
Albert Low and the Neptune, 1903-04 93
Joseph Elzear Bernier, 1904-25 103
The Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 115
The Twenty Years of the St. Roch, 1928-48 119
Canada and Norway Negotiate 125
Epilogue 129
Endnotes 133
Bibliography 134
Index 735
About the author 139
— V I I —
PHOTO C R E D I TS
Page 4: A picture of Otto Sverdrup, taken in mid-life. Source: Otto Sverdrup's New Land.
Page 8: The crew of Sverdrup's second Arctic expedition, prior to departure from Oslo, 1898.
Source: Otto Sverdrup's New Land.
Page 13: Four of the expeditions dogs. Source: Otto Sverdrup's New Land.
Page 29. The Fram in Fram Haven. Source: Otto Sverdrup's New Land.
Page 30. Inuit visitors, spring 1899, Fram Haven. Source: Otto Sverdrup's New Land.
Page 31. Johan Svendsen's cross, Fram Haven. © Jerry Kobalenko.
Page 37. Ove Braskerud. Source: Otto Sverdrup's New Land.
Page 38. Ove Braskerud's cross in Harbour Fiord, 1899. Source: Otto Sverdrup's New Land.
Page 38. Ove Braskerud's cross, c. 1965. Canadian Geographic.
Page 42. On the trail with an odometer. Source: Otto Sverdrup's New Land.
Page 55. Isachsen and Hassel. Source: Otto Sverdrup's New Land.
Page 73. The Fram, frozen in ice, winter of 1901-02. Source: Otto Sverdrup's New Land.
Page 78. Starting off on a dogsled exploration trip, spring 1901. Source: Otto Sverdrup's
New Land.
Page 95. The Neptune. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 96. The Neptune's crew in winter dress. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 97. A.P. Low and officers, 1903-04. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 100. A.P. Low and crew at Beechey Island cenotaph. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 106. The Arctic. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 107. Inuit woman in traditional dress. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 108. Inuit women at Fullerton Harbour, 1904. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 108. Inuit of Fullerton Harbour, 1904. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 109. Captain Bernier and crew at Winter Harbour. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 112. Captain Joseph E. Bernier, 1923. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 117. The Karluk. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 118. Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 1914. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 120. The St. Roch on patrol. Library and Archives Canada.
Page 121. Henry Larsen. Canadian Parks Service/Environment Canada.
Page 124. Henry Larsen. Library and Archives Canada.
- V I I I -
MAPS
The maps included here represent that area of the Arctic visited by Sverdrup and
his crew. This first map (base) shows the entire region; the remaining maps corre-
spond to the inserts on the base map. Maps are based on material provided by Rafael
Valenzuela of Ottawa.
— I X -