3 of the most disastrous voyages in the arctic

From the 1700s onwards, the arctic has been one of the most profitable places for ships to venture, and for many years was explored to find an alternative shipping route from Europe to the west coast of North America. The main reason people came here was to produce whale oil, which could make a ship’s crew rich from a successful voyage, or dead from a bad one. In 1882, a single whale of record size managed to produce over 6,000 barrels of oil which was worth $11,200, the equivalent of around $250,000 in today’s money. Success stories like these were common and caused countless ships and thousands of people to venture into the arctic and never be seen again.

(An Alaskan whaling station in 1915, these animals were the number 1 reason people came to this harsh environment)

Here are three extreme stories of arctic survival, but they are far from the worst. During certain years of the 18th and 19th centuries, hundreds of people would go missing every year, presumed dead while on whaling or fur missions in the arctic, and their stories will never be known.

The 1897 Whaling fleet

During the summer of 1897, a fleet of 8 whaling ships left the west coast of America and headed up into the Arctic circle off the coast of Alaska. There was a long-term whaling operation taking place, with several whale processing station positioned around the area. The fleet planned to head far north and well away from the coast where the best hunting grounds were, but along the way they ran into an enormous sheet of ice and became frozen solid.

(The USS Bear, the best ship in the US coast guard at the time)

Only 20 years before, a fleet of 20 whaling ships became frozen in the same way and cut off from rescue, causing the deaths of every single person on board, so the crews were understandably scared, but the news of a radio message making it through to the coastguard raised their spirits. The US president at the time, McKinley, heard of the stranding and ordered the USS Bear to rescue them. Even with its mighty 6-inch thick sides and icebreaker ram, it was no match for the gigantic frozen sheets covering the seas, so a three-man team was dispatched to reach the whalers. It to over 3 months for the three men to pull their sleds over 1,500 miles, but they made it and brought much needed food and supplies to the whalers. Several months after their arrival, the USS Bear finally managed to break through the ice and rescued every single member of the whaling fleet.

The Karluk – 1914

Captained by the now infamous Bob Bartlett, the ship called the Karluk was sent on a simple voyage to Herschel island to make a rendezvous with another ship. It was supposed to be a straight forward trip during a time when the seas weren’t too frozen, and Herschel island was only a few miles off the coast of western Canada, so the ship should be close to the coast for the whole voyage. During the trip north through the passage between Russia and Canada, the ship became firmly lodged in an ice sheet and dragged for several hundred miles into open waters.

(Captain Bob Bartlett, awarded the Hubbard medal by the National Geographic Society in 1909 for his achievements)

Eventually the ice cracked the hull and the ship was abandoned, with everything that could be taken moved onto a camp on the ice. The crew of 25 took all they could carry and walked close to 100 miles to Wrangel island, a small piece of land about 90 miles from the Russian mainland. Most of the crew were too weak at this point, so Captain Bartlett took the 3 strongest people and walked almost 700 miles to the west coast of Alaska to a whaling station that could send rescue. They survived the walk, but it would take weeks before someone could send a ship to Wrangel island, and by the time one got there, 11 out of the 23 people stranded on it had died.

The USS Jeanette

This ship was a naval science vessel that left San Francisco on July 8th, 1879. It was supposed to explore and study several areas in the arctic, but it only took about 5 weeks before the ice started to mount up around the edges of the ship and freeze them in place. On the 7th of September, the ship was officially stuck and could do nothing but drift with the ice for the next 21 months. Usually this would be a complete loss, but the ship floated past two undiscovered islands they got to name, the first being called Henrietta island after the ship owners mother, and the second Jeanette island after the ship.

(The USS Jeanette)

After almost two years of floating along with the ice, on the 12th of June 1881, the hull finally cracked under the weight of the ice and the ship was abandoned. They began to walk to the nearest coastline, which was a very remote area of Siberia, pulling small boats behind them like sleds full of supplies. After making it to the mainland, they found themselves hundreds of miles from rescue, so they decided to use the three small boats they brought along and make their way to a large river delta to the east where they would likely find settlements.

The three boats set out along the coast, but a storm capsized one of the boats and all 8 men on board were killed. The other tow boats, one with 11 men and the other with 14, both managed to reach the coast again but were separated. The team of 14 were too weak to go on, so they sent their two strongest people to look for help, which they found, but by the time they came back the other 12 were all dead. The boat containing the 11 men were much luckier and found a small native settlement quite quickly, which saved their lives. Some of these men went out looking for the rest of the crew several times, but next spring on March 23rd of 1882 they found their bodies, and the search was over.