The Karluk drifted strongly to the northwest, and they were now only 140 miles from Wrangel Island's longitude. They had been carried hundreds of miles off course, far to the west of Alaska and Herschel Island, and they were still faithfully following the route of De Long's Jeannette.

Karluk in the Ice -- Bartlett.

The ship was leaking alarmingly and it took them at least an hour and a half each day to pump her dry. The men pumped with their own physical power because the steam was still shut off while engine repairs continued.

The Karluk vibrated and shuddered continuously from the force of the winds and the movement of the ice. Outside, it was dark as pitch, and the only solace they found was sitting before the dim glow of the saloon stove. They piled as much fuel into the stove as they could.

****

Stefansson was also in no hurry to reach Collinson Point, Alaska, where the Southern Party of his Canadian Arctic Expedition was camped. When he finally did arrive on December 15 [1913], he found the Alaska with a hole in her side and the Mary Sachs frozen in the gravel of the beach. No one knew anything of the missing Karluk. No one even knew that she was lost or that Stefansson had broken away from the Northern Party [abandoning the Karluk as expedition leader].

****

There was a beautiful aurora that night. It began in the northwest and stretched across the sky in a broad S-shaped curtain, patterned like a kaleidoscope with patches of brightly changing lights that grew and moved with the blink of an eye. ... The sky was brilliant, colorswept, and alive. Refraction caused the moon to look three times its normal size, and as it shone down ... its light transformed the nearby ice floes and blocks into "the weirdest possible figures which boggled the imagination".

****

The cracking of the ice was like a gunshot, blasting through the silent blackness of their frozen world. They heard the report at 10:00 a.m. on December 16. It was the unmistakable rupturing of the ice. The sound was ominous and everyone rushed above deck to investigate.

The ice was pressing in so tightly around the sides of the ship -- even breaking through the gangway -- that the men were afraid she would be crushed that very moment. 

Early in the morning of January 2, somewhere in the distance, there was a strumming sound, like a banjo, faint, yet very distinct. It was a thrum-thrum-thrum, at times quite musical, and then there was a loud noise followed by silence.

****

On January 11, 1914, at 4:00 p.m., the Karluk went under into thirty-eight fathoms of water. The only remaining signs of her existence were the two umiaks, a whaleboat, and other gear from the deck floating in the water above her grave. 

She sank foot by foot, a slight puff of steam showing that the water had risen over the galley fire. Soon they saw the barrel on the foremast, and then the stern rose The Karluk seemed to straighten with great dignity as the stern sank lower. She disappeared rapidly and gracefully after that, her flag fluttering to the last.

****

The ice between Wrangel Island and Siberia was always shifting and breaking up beneath their feet. Great leads of water surrounded them on all sides, and each step required thought and caution. It was the most treacherous kind of Arctic travel, and [Captain] Bartlett and Kataktovik [Inuit shipboard hunter/companion] quickly developed a routine to get through it. 

It was lane after lane of open water and uncooperative ice, and it slowed down their journey immensely. So many times, the sled plunged through the young ice, soaking various provisions, including their sleeping gear. Whenever this happened, the dogs would huddle, terrified, in a pack, which was too much weight for the fragile ice beneath them. Bartlett was taxed, calling on all the experience he had ever gleaned as a Newfoundland sealer and an Arctic explorer.

****

They held [seaman] Clam down, a man on either side to grip his arms, and one to hold his head turned away so that he couldn't watch. The shears were sharp, but not meant for cutting bone, and McKinlay could tell Williamson was struggling with them. He leaned into them more and finally had to kneel against the shears to cut his way through. It was a gruesome sight. 

They were a party of cripples, Munro observed, and it was true. Those who weren't frostbitten or maimed were still bedridden and swollen from the mystery illness. McKinlay, recovering from the sickness, was also suffering from frostbite, his nose and hand inflamed and beginning to peel. 

Hunger became a hard fact of daily life. They still had no game, except for a couple of bears shot by Hadley and Kuraluk at the beginning of the month.

From: The Ice Master, The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk by Jennifer Niven

These are exerpts from the story of the Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913 - 1918, a scientific expedition in the Arctic funded by the Government of Canada, initially led by the intrepid, self-promoting, Vilhjalmur Stefansson.  Who abandoned the lead ship -- caught in the sea ice with early onset of an Arctic winter -- of the expedition he led, unwilling to share the travails of those whom he was responsible for. In his stead, Captain Bob Bartlett took command of both crew and scientific community on board the ship to attempt to lead them to safety.

William McKinlay who had signed aboard as a magnetician and meteorologist, was one of the survivors of the doomed expedition. He wrote afterward single-mindedly, obsessively, about the expedition, the ship, and its initial leader who never took responsibility, and the man who did, Captain Robert A. Bartlett, whom he believed by his heroic leadership and action had saved as many lives as he  possibly could.

The author of The Ice Master, Jennifer Niven, has written a movingly detailed, extremely well researched description of the dreadful and heart-breaking events that took place as natural elements gathered to threaten the lives of the entire crew and scientific contingent. A story of courage and selflessness, tremendous feats of human endurance, and as well competitive envy, selfishness and dreadful tribulations that ensued.

All in the theatre of enveloping Arctic daytime darkness, horrendous storms, frigid conditions not meant for survival, and the determination of men to survive against all odds.