IN ARCTIC OCEAN

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 37, 13 February 1930, Page 22

IN ARCTIC OCEAN

ICEBOUND ISLE DECLARED A COLONY Wrangel Island, which lies in the Arclic Ocean, north of the Chukhotsk Peninsula, which represents the northeastern tip of Siberia, has been the scene of an interesting experiment in i?olar colonisation, says an American journal* Three years ago the Soviet Government, desiring to placo its theorotical title, to the possession of the island beyond questkm, established a colony of 60 persons/ nine Bussians, and 51 Eskimos on tho island. Since no radio station was installed, little was heard of the*olonists until the relief ship Litke, passing through Bering Straits and ploughing through the heavy Arctic ice, reached Wrangel Island last summer, bringing foodstuffs and other necessities. A Soviet aviator visited the island in 1927, and brought back alarming reports of food shortage at that time. Since it was calculated that the supplies would last only three years, there was somo apprehension on board the Litke that the colonists might bo found in a starving and desperate condition. An actual view of tho island, howover, dispelled this fear. While tho first winter on this remote Polar island, with its icy cold, was difficult for the settlers, •especially in view of the fact that the ship Stavropol, which brought them to the island, departed before they were adequately, housed, the commander of the colony, Ushakov, displayed excellent qualities of leadership and administration. He placed the distribution of- the stores on a rational basis, which left a reserve for the eventuality that the relief ship would not arrive in 1929. Ushakov organised hunting as a means of varying and supplementing the diet of the colonists. During the summer months such animals as tho bear, the walrus, and the wild goose furnished an. abundance of ganio. As Ushakov said: "No one with weapons need suffer from hunger on Wrangel. Island." The Eskimos of tho neighbouring Clmkhotsk Peninsula are in the habit of obtaining food, warmth, and fuel from the most typical Polar animals, the walrus and the seal.

The original location of the settlement, on Rogers Gulf, which is probably named after some seafaring Briton or American who found temporary refuge on the island, was poor from the standpoint of hunting possibilities, and Ushakov finally scattered the colonists over various parts of the island. Besides obtaining the means of their own subsistence the colonists turned in the proceeds of their hunting expeditions, seal skins, walrus tusks, and mammoth tusks, which are found in considerable quantities on tho island, and received payment in money or in goods. Wrangel Island is rich in vegetation during tho short season, from early June until the middle of August. In curious contrast to the cold and stormy winters th'i island at this time blooms out with poppies and Arctic willojvs. There is no grass; but Mr. Ushakov expressed the belief that it would be possible to introduce such crops as potatoes and radishes in the southern valleys of the island. Uninhabited before the establishment of the Soviet colony, Wrangel Island has at times been visited by Beal and whale hunters of various nationalities, and it waa with a view to preventing possible attempts to occupy tho island that the colony was established.