Abandoned

In March 1917 the Northern Party dog sleds again headed north from Melville Island to Borden Island and out into the sea ice. The four-man ice party reached a latitude beyond 80° north before scurvy forced a return in late April. Stefansson's support parties returned south to the Polar Bear at Victoria Island and prepared for their return south. Storkerson extended the mapping of the north coast of Victoria Island beyond his farthest point of 1915. The ice party reached Banks Island in August 1917. After walking across the Island, Stefansson found the Mary Sachs had been re-launched after three years on shore, but had then been abandoned by Captain Gonzales, and badly damaged, leaving the last group with no means of getting south until after freeze-up.

	Camp on rough ice, 1916?, northern Banks Island, N.W.T. GHW 51105. Source: Canadian Museum of Civilization

	Martin Kilian standing alongside the stone monument that he built at the northernmost locality reached by Storkerson, on northern Victoria Island. July 14? 1917. STS 51683. Source: Canadian Museum of Civilization

Retreat from the North  Storkersen's Camp, Version I  Storkersen's Camp, Version II

On to Alaska

When a trading schooner, the Challenge, arrived at Kellett Camp, Stefansson bought it and set out after his men. Stefansson caught up to the Polar Bear and reached the mainland in September 1917. Challenge was sold and several men dismissed, allowing Stefansson and the remnants of the Northern Party to depart on the Polar Bear. When the schooner ran aground on Barter Island, Alaska, on the way out to Nome, Stefansson took the opportunity to remain for another winter. His plan was to make another ice trip, drifting across the Beaufort Sea towards Siberia. When illness prevented him from this undertaking, Stefansson put Storkerson in charge of this last ice party, and headed south to recuperate.