Defying the Ice: Shipwreck and Rescue of the Karluk

Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum & Arctic Studies Center Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum & Arctic Studies Center

Exhibition: Defying the Ice: Shipwreck and Rescue of the Karluk

Dates:

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Arctic Museum main galleries
This exhibition features documents never before seen by the public relating to the drifting and sinking of the Karluk, and the amazing rescue of many of its passengers. On August 3, 1913, the Karluk, carrying members of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, headed east when it was caught in thick ice off the north coast of Alaska. In late September the ice moved, carrying the vessel north and west -away from the American continent. The Karluk and the 25 people on board remained locked in the ice for five months before the vessel sank. The ship's captain, Robert A. Bartlett, documented the ship's drift and sinking, the desperate walk across the ice to Wrangell Island, as well as the heroic walk to and down the coast of Siberia in search of help. The documents are reunited here for the first time, having been scattered for nearly one hundred years.

Pictured above: The Karluk in Ice. August, 1913. Gelatin silver on glass. In memory of Reginald Wilcox and Captain David C. Nutt.