Ada blackjack
Ada Blackjack (born May 10, 1898 in Solomon , Alaska , † May 29, 1983 in Palmer , Alaska) was the only survivor of an expedition to Wrangel Island in the early 1920s .
On September 9, 1921, an expedition to Russian Wrangel Island began from Alaska . Its initiator and sponsor, Vilhjálmur Stefánsson, hoped that Canada or the United States could claim control of the island, which had always been part of Russia. Four men took part in the expedition and Blackjack was the only woman. An earlier attempt to colonize the island sponsored by Stefansson had failed.
The expedition team consisted of Allan Crawford, Lorne Knight, Fred Maurer. Milton Galle (three Americans and one Canadian) and blackjack. The original plan was to take several Inuit families with them, with the women making boots and clothing and the men taking over the hunt. But when the expedition ship “Silver Wave” began to sail on September 9, 1921, Blackjack was the only Inuit. The widowed 23-year-old got involved in the project anyway because she wanted to earn money for the medical care of her son.
The “Silver Wave” reached Wrangel Island on September 16, 1921. The team initially stayed in a tent, then in a snow house. It was planned to stay on the island for two years. The supplies brought with them were only sufficient for half a year, they were supposed to be fed by the island's resources. That worked at the beginning, but in late autumn 1922 the conditions deteriorated. A supply ship could not reach the island because of the ice drift and Knight had caught a permanent cold while swimming through a river. Nevertheless, on January 8, 1923, he and Crawford set out with the dogs for Siberia to get help. They returned a few days later, Knight too sick to be exerted. On January 28, Crawford, Mason and Galle set out for Siberia. They have been missing since then.
Blackjack, who had no experience of hunting and fishing, was left with Knight, who was bedridden from February and died a few weeks later. She spent half a year alone on the island, where she was always threatened by polar bears. On August 19, 1923, she was rescued by a supply boat.
literature
- Jennifer Niven: Ada Blackjack. A True Story Of Survival In The Arctic . Hyperion Books, New York 2003, ISBN 0-7868-6863-5 .
- Peggy Caravantes: Marooned in the Arctic. The true story of Ada Blackjack, the "female Robinson Crusoe" . Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-613730-980 .
Web links
- Ada Blackjack papers, 1923-1983 , Dartmouth College Library.
- Tessa Hulls: Ada Blackjack, the Forgotten Sole Survivor of an Odd Arctic Expedition , Atlas Obscura.
- Alexandra J. McClanahan, The Heroine of Wrangel Island , LitSite Alaska, University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Unless otherwise stated, information is based on: Alexandra J. McClanahan, The Heroine of Wrangel Island , LitSite Alaska, University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Blackjack, Ada |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American expedition member |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 10, 1898 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Solomon , Alaska |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 29, 1983 |
| Place of death | Palmer (Alaska) |