National Park After Dark - Last One Standing: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (Part 2)

Episode Date: December 5, 2022

In part 2 of this series, Ada and the rest of the expedition team struggle to find food and are all growing weak. Lorne develops a terrible case of scurvy and when the ship they are expecting doesn't show up, the group becomes desperate for survival.For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!Reel: Use our link and code NPAD at checkout for 30% off your first order plus frere shipping. BetterHelp: National Park After Dark is sponsored by BetterHelp. Get 10% off your first month of online therapy by using our link.Apostrophe: Use our link and code NPAD to get for first visit for only $5.Skylight Frame: Get $15 off a Skylight Frame with promo code PARK.For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Limitless. Now open your eyes. Go to Monday.com. Start for free and finally. Breathe. Girl, winter is so last season. And now spring's got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders.

That perfect hang on the patio sundress. Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope? It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. Hi everyone. Welcome back to National Park After Dark. We are on our part two of our last episode.

And as promised, Cassie's telling it to me the very next day. So it's so fresh on my mind, but I'm sure you have a recap for everyone, right? I do, especially since it's been a week for everybody else. I know we left off in a very precarious situation with the polar bear. We did. But I'll do a quick recap of the whole episode, just really quick. But if you have not listen to part one yet. Go back, listen to part one because it's really important, but I'll give a little brief overview. So, Ada, who has been a big character in the episode, it started out with her husband, left her and her son who had tuberculosis abandoned in Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. And they had no money and they had very little food. So she walked 40 miles back to Nome, Alaska to find work. She had

worked as a seamstress and a housemaid, but it wasn't making enough money for her to care for her son Bennett, and she eventually had to put him into an orphanage. Stephenson, an explorer, had put together a crew to lead an expedition to Rangel Island with the intention of colonizing it. He gathered Fred, Alan, Lorne, and Robert to go on this expedition, and they arrived in Nome, and they advertised for a job for Inuit peoples to join them. And when it came to the day to leave, Ada Blackjack was the only Inuit person who showed up. Reluctantly, she did join the expedition as a seamstress and a cook for the crew, but when she arrived to Wrangel Island, she struggled a lot. She was extremely homesick

and she was suffering from Arctic hysteria. Meanwhile, back in Nome, unknowingly to them, the U.S. had deemed their expedition useless and Rangel Island was territory of Russia. The entire crew was struggling with weather conditions and finding proper food. Alan and Fred separated into their own camp to expand their hunting area, but ultimately decided it was too much to supply two camps. So one morning, when they were getting ready to pack up all their stuff and go back to their original camp, they get interrupted by a polar bear charging into their house. And that is where we left off. A salivating, hungry polar bear. And before we get into like exactly the story, I did last time you had a question and you asked me, what do you?

do in a polar bear attack and I had no idea. So I researched it. Oh, perfect. Okay. Enlighten me. Yeah, I was like, I, you know, I've never actually thought about being in this position before, but they do, polar bears do exist and they are in places that people go sometimes. So it is important to know. So the first part I wanted to touch on was how to first avoid a polar bear attack. And if you are somewhere where this polar bear knows that you are there, I read that it, It is important to quietly back away and leave the area. You're not supposed to run or make quick motions, and you are supposed to make sure that you keep the polar bear in sight at all times.

Because for polar bears, they kind of sound a little bit like mountain lions, where they're really fast. And if you're their prey, you don't see them until it's too late. So they're like ambush hunters, predators, stalking you and showing up. Rely on that. Okay. And if the bear is acting aggressively towards you, like in this story that's happening, such as huffing, jaw popping, moving towards you, staring directly at you with a lowered head and ears back, you are supposed to make sure that you are acting non-threatening. Unlike a black bear where you're supposed to make yourself look big, you're supposed to seem very non-threatening to a polar bear. So you're not supposed to shout, make loud noises, don't make yourself really big. It's also important. to be aware that polar bears rarely bluff charge like grizzly bears do. So if you are getting charged

by a polar bear, you're about to be attacked. Okay, so the men are not doing it right. Is that right? No, they're yelling. They're throwing stuff at it. They're doing pretty much everything I read that you're not supposed to do. Okay. But at the same time, like, I can understand. They're also backed into a corner. And they're backed into a corner or two. They're not, they don't really have anywhere to go. So I don't really know what other choices they probably have. Right. Also, just like with grizzly bears and black bears, bear spray is just as effective.

So if you are in polar bear country, if you can get some bear spray, it's very effective. And also another option, the same with black bears. And grizzly bears is you could have a firearm on you. Okay. Another thing that I read about polar bears is that they're actually very, easily distractible. So if you have things, you can throw like around it or in front of you, it can be enough to distract the bear to like pay attention to that. And I actually read this really funny. I thought it was a really funny article. It said that if you remove your clothing and throw it

around the area, the smells will distract the bear. And they'll actually stop long enough to play with your clothing and roll around with it and sniff it. And it will be curious enough. And it will give you time to get away. But my thought with that was, if you're stripping all your clothes off in the Arctic, you might just escape a polar bear, but now you have to face the elements that are around you. So I don't really know if that's the best recommendation. But it was an article. But that's also thinking, like having the line of thought of this polar bear is not ravenous. Because I feel like if there's a ravenous polar bear that's coming at you, they're not going to stop to sniff your sock. You know what I mean? They're going to be like, all right, like whatever.

They might glance at it, but I don't know. I guess it depends how variable. It is. Yeah. But they did say that they're really distractible. So maybe if you have something that would be of interest to them to throw it in their general vicinity, not at them, not to like piss them off or anything, but just something, it might work. Okay.

I don't know if I would really rely on that. I think bear spray and backing away is probably a better scenario here. But in the event that you are attacked, it is important. that you fight back because polar bears, if you pretend that you're dead, especially if they're hungry, they're just going to eat you. So do not pretend you're dead. Awful way. There's to go. I feel like I just have like all of these tables in my mind, like black bear, grizzly bear, polar bear. And all these like yeses and nose, do this, don't do that, etc. You know what I mean? I think the first thing kind of goes back with our last episode that we did with tooth and claw where Wes had said,

just slowly back away and get out of the area is your best situation. But if you are attacked, you have to fight for your life with a polar bear. But it is important I did read a lot of this, is that polar bears are very unlikely to attack humans. But they will defend their food and they will defend their cups. So it's best to avoid them entirely. There's no situation where you should try and get close for a photo, no situation where you should try and touch them, especially if their cubs are around. or especially if they're in a feeding ground area.

But in general, it's best to just stay very far away from a polar bear. Sound advice. Sound advice, yes. So if anyone finds themselves with a polar bear, this is my advice to you. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories,

and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L. Every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Okay, so now we'll get back into where we were, where we left off with Fred and Allen and their polar bear encounter. Fred and Allen had grabbed whatever they could find near them and they were throwing it at this bear.

They grabbed firewood, pots and pans. They grabbed dishes that were. shattering on the ground. They were creating all sorts of recus. They had really good aim, so they were hitting the bear each time they threw something at it. But this bear did not care. It was very determined and it was growling. It was grunting. There was saliva pouring out of its mouth and it was trying to get inside their snow enclosure. Now with it only a few feet away from Fred and Ellen in a last stitch effort, they grabbed some driftwood. They held it into the fire long enough for it to catch. And then they started throwing the hot on-fire sticks at the bear.

With this, the polar bear swatted the sticks away, but with the sparks and hot flames, it was starting to slowly back up. So they continued to grab these hot sticks and throw it at him. It continued to back away, and as it retreated faster, Alan followed him out. And as soon as he got outside of his snow enclosure, he grabbed his gun. Inclusion. A house. His snow house, his little igloo, I don't know if you want to call it, but he gets out there and he grabs his gun.

The bear was now hundreds of yards away, but Alan raised his gun, took a breath, and he pulled the trigger. But nothing happened. The cartridge of the gun was frozen from being left outside. Oh my God. In this moment, the bear took off. Fred grabbed his gun and he tried to chase after it, but it was much too fast for him. and Fred soon gave up his chase. With this, they were shaken, they were terrified, and they wanted to get out of there as fast as they could.

So they packed up the remainder of their things, and they got out quickly, and they hiked the 15 miles back to camp where everyone else was. Is this shortly before they decided to merge camps again? I forget. Yeah, so what had happened in the last one is they had decided that they were going to merge their camps together, and this was their last morning alone without the others. Oh, right. Now when they got back, luckily for Alan, Ada's Arctic hysteria had passed. And while she still did have feelings for Alan, she now kind of understood that the feelings weren't mutual and that she needed to chill a little bit.

And she couldn't be like whaling outside of his tent or professing her love for him. So she kind of just let it be. She had repicked up her duties. She was working really hard again. And over time, she earned her place back. with the men and they began to respect her. They were much more kind to her and they were genuinely concerned for her safety. And they even started looking after her a little bit more. They started becoming concerned that she wasn't wearing the proper clothing. And at that time, it was more

custom for women to be wearing these long skirts. But they were like, hey, it's just us out here. Let's give you these military pants. They gave her some of their gear. It's like, here, take these military pants, take these layers, there's no reason for you to be wearing a skirt out in the Arctic with just us. So they really started paying more attention to taking care of her, especially now that she was actually helping and they weren't chasing her through the Arctic. They always cared about her safety, but now they cared about her safety in more of a respectful way. And Ada formed really close friendships with Robert. Because Robert spoke several languages, he was also interested in learning Ada's language. So he asked to hear stories from her culture and was really really,

invested in understanding her life and would learn different words. She would test him on different words that she would teach him. And it became a real friendship. And then she would happily tell all these tales and she would laugh and joke with him. So it wasn't just a working relationship anymore. They did become friends. By February, the temperatures had dropped to negative 47 degrees Fahrenheit, which is negative 43.9 degrees Celsius. And storms had regularly stormed through their camp, leaving snow as deep as their waste. They spent much of their time in their shelters together. And while they were struggling with this weather, if you remember, there is one more person here with them, who is Vic, their cat. She was doing just fine. She would often explore,

she'd try to hunt, she'd come home, she'd snuggle up in one of their sleeping bags and stay warm, and she was having a ball. She didn't really care about the Arctic at all. She was healthy, she was well fed, doing very well. By the time April came around, the weather had warmed up, the winds were stronger than ever, and there was no life to be found around the island. It seemed that all of the animals had left for this time of year. They still had supplies, but they were beginning to worry about the lack of game in the area. They didn't have enough supplies to last without finding food. In June or July, a supply ship with Stephenson on board was supposed to be arriving to the island

to bring them more food and to take them home. At this point, two of their sled dogs had died over the winter, and they had used their carcasses to bait other animals and capture a few foxes. But besides that, and a few bears months prior to this, they had not caught enough food to sustain themselves for the time that they had left on the island. I was going to ask briefly about the polar bear situation just because I forget the timeline of what's going on right now,

but is there a certain time where the polar bears are in hibernation? So polar bears don't hibernate, and they are active year-round, and specifically on Rangel Island, they would be eating seals. That was a big part of their hunting. They would come to Rangel Island for their babies, and they would come there because there's plenty of food there. They would nest there. And then they actually follow the ice to other neighboring islands

and to other areas in the Arctic. So while there's times that they're everywhere on the island, there's also times where there's almost none there. Okay. They did hunt them, and for a while, they actually had no worries about food at all because they had tons of supplies with them. They had bears everywhere. And then they suddenly are looking around and they're like, hey, where's everyone going?

The birds are gone. The seals are gone. The walruses are gone. And a lot of this was because when April came in May and June and we'll get into it a little bit more is the ice would start to melt. And the currents would actually take the ice into other parts of the ocean far away. And with it, it would take the seals. and the walruses and everything. So everything would go away.

And a lot of their food sources would leave, which we'll get a little bit more into as the episode progresses. But the idea that Stephenson had that this island was like full of life all year round, it would be super easy to live here. They find out very shortly that that is not the case. What they also couldn't have known was that Stephenson had run into problems of his own with the expedition back at home. When Canada, Britain, and the U.S. governments declared that they were not supporting his expedition, it led to serious financial issues for Stephenson.

He was broke, and his entire plan was he had hoped that the governments had realized that they were colonizing this island, that they would be really excited about it, that they would help support this expedition financially. But the complete opposite had happened. So now, Stephenson had to use his own money to employ a ship back to Rangel Island. He ended up having to appeal to the Canadian government on a humanitarian level because he stated that he needed funds to relieve the people on the island and that they could be in danger and they could be in need of medical attention. And he didn't believe that. He referred to the Arctic as the friendly Arctic.

He thought that they were just fine, but he wanted to get out there. But because he said this, they finally agreed to give him some money. It wasn't as much as he needed, but it was a start. And then he began to raise the rest of the money on his own. Despite not being backed by any form of government, Stephenson was set on completing his mission and proving that the Arctic was inhabitable. Eventually, he did find a ship called the Teddy Bear that agreed to make the journey, along with three white men and a group of Inuit men as well,

that were meant to come join the expedition. His idea was he would bring these men to the island as more people to try and colonize the Arctic, along with a supply ship. And even though they agreed to go, they were about to face another. issue because at this point in the season, the island would be surrounded by ice and it would be almost impossible to reach them. The teddy bear left gnome on August 20th, 1922 without Stephenson on board. Instead, the crew was on their way bringing a letter from Stephenson with instructions because he decided he did not want to go. I see your face. Why? Like, yeah, why? He is not

interested in actually spending time in the Arctic. So he, I don't know, to me, he feels like he's a lot of talk and not a lot of action. I was just going to ask, what is his angle? I'm trying to figure out what he's all about. Like, he's so into the Arctic for what reason? He's so into, like, spreading this message that the Arctic is this wonderful place to live in, but he doesn't actually want to live there. Right. That's why it's so confusing to me. Yeah. And I think a lot of people, when we get further into it, lot of people are like, what are you doing? Why is this? I mean, even the governments already are like, why are you doing this? What is going on? And with the ship that's going there, he just sends a letter that says his instructions and his wishes. And he is a very respected Arctic explorer because he has

explored the Arctic. He gives all these speeches. So explorers do respect him a lot and respect his word a lot. So he just thinks, I'll send a letter and I'll tell you what to do and everyone will follow. Okay. And in his letter, he wished to add new crew members to the expedition, and he wanted at least one of the guys who were already on Rangel Island to stay for an additional year. Oh, with the new set of people. Okay. Yeah, who the hell is going to volunteer to do that? Yeah, I'm like, he doesn't even know how it's going out there. And he's like, oh, by the way, like, I know you signed up for a year, but I'd like you to stay for another year on this remote island in the middle of nowhere with nothing. And like you just said, I have no idea how it's even going.

Yeah, he's just assuming that everything is all like dandy and wonderful. The ship did hit problems, though. When it left, it hit rough waters when extreme winds came and storms hit. It had to dock and wait out the weather before it could continue towards Rangel Island. While they waited, another ship came in and bring news that Rangel Island and all of the islands surrounding it were iced in and it was impossible to get to. They were undeterred though, and the captain of the ship was optimistic. when weather allowed, they continued their journey. But as they got closer, the ice was thicker

than they could have imagined, and by August 28th, they had to dock the ship again, and they decided to wait until the ice melted. But it was the iciest season the Arctic Ocean had seen in almost 25 years. On September 22nd, the ship returned to Nome, Alaska, and they brought news that their mission had failed. They met too much ice pack, and some of the propellers of the ship were damaged in their attempts. Now with this news, people became very worried. A lot of families, their families, and people of know Alaska were like, wait a second. So these people are just stuck out there what's going on. And Stephenson, who I've said a few times refers to the Arctic as the friendly Arctic, he reassured everyone that there was no need to worry. He said that the Arctic was a safe

and easy place to survive and that everyone on Rangel Island was more than likely fine and that they would be able to last a whole other winter without them coming in with any supplies. He is so bold. So bold. So bold. So bold. And he just, he's like, oh, yeah, it's fine. It's just one more year. Well, and the other thing that I was thinking of is he's speaking to people with experience in difficult conditions. He's not talking to people in Florida that have no experience with harsh winter conditions. Like he's talking to people who have a grip on... They live in Nome, Alaska. Right. It's not like the Caribbean. You know what I mean? Like I feel like maybe he would have had an easier time influencing people with no real world experience

and conditions that are similar to those that they may be experiencing on the island. So I'm just having a hard time understanding how people are taking his word for it. Yeah. And, And people are, like I said, he's very respected, but people are now like, hold on a second. What's going on? Are you sure he's okay? People are sending him letters, especially their families, being like, hey, what's going on? When are we going to get out there? How do we know they're okay? And he's like, no worries. It's a friendly Arctic. It's like living in New York City. They're good. Right. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I forgot that comparison. That gem. Now, everyone on the island had no idea what was going on at home. And they had no idea what had gone on with the ship. had no idea that there was an attempt. As far as they knew in the middle of the summer, they thought

that the ship was on its way. And the spirits of Fred Allen, Lauren, Robert, and Ada were lifting as the summer came in because they thought, you know, with this warm weather coming in, the ice is drifting away, they're going to be leaving soon. And now the days were filled with sunlight. They had gotten better at trapping and hunting, and they had high hopes that they were able to get enough food until the ship came. They were enjoying their time there more than they had been before. They started photographing what they were doing. They even took a group photo together that included Vic the cat, and Ada was less homesick than before. She still very much Miss Bennett and she was worried about him, but she was enjoying the piece that she had on the island and the routine that they had gotten into.

But as the weeks went by and their supplies dwindled, there was an unspoken concern. It was obvious that the ship should have been there by now. They were still eating okay with walrus, bear, seal, and birds. But as August came and the summer was beginning to fade, so was the abundance of wildlife. They began to ration their food, something that they had not done really much of since they started their time there. Their tea and sugar was gone, but they still had coffee. Their bread was dwindling, and they went down to offering two. two slices to each person per day, which would last them only about 20 more days.

They started storing the meat from seals and rationing how much each person could eat per day. To keep themselves distracted from the fact that the ship was still not arriving, they took up activities around the island. They'd often go for walks. They'd look for different fossils and bones. Often they would find different mammoth tusks and bones from their skeleton that had been revealed after the ice had melted. They collected animal skins that they planned to take back with them for money. And while they were trying to keep themselves busy, it was becoming very hard to ignore the fact

that the expedition had taken a toll on all of their bodies. They had all lost a lot of weight, but Lauren was the most noticeable. He had started the expedition stout with round rosy cheeks, but now his jawline and his cheekbones were showing, and he was suffering from severe hip pain, which he thought might be arthritis.

Fred was constantly complaining about how tired he felt. Ada was suffering from, from a very painful lower back, and Robert had an ulcer in his mouth that was getting bigger and more painful, and Alan had one hand that was so painful, it was practically useless. When September arrived and brought back the snow, ice, and wind, the team realized, finally, that the window for any ship to come get them was over, and that they would be stuck on Rangel Island for another winter. In preparation for this whole new winter that they were about to spend on the island, they moved their camp to a better location that they found to withstand

the weather. By November, the group was living on only walwark skins, tea, and stale bread. Much of the wildlife was gone. Seals weren't hard to kill, but they often sat on the ice off the shore, and they were hard to get to if they did, because they didn't have that boat that they were supposed to get in the first one. Right. Yes. They could shoot them and kill them, but there was no way to go out and get them, so it was pointless. They occasionally killed a bird or a fox, but they were really struggling for food at this point. Temperatures sat around negative four degrees. and they were constantly in wind and snowstorms. As their food situation became more dire,

the team decided they were not going to be able to wait for another ship to arrive in the summer. They needed to get off the island much sooner to get help and get more supplies. Lauren and Allen devised a plan to get back to Nome, Alaska. The ice shifted and moved throughout the wintertime. Their plan was to take their sled dogs and enough supplies to cross over and follow the ice all the way to Nome. The journey would take them 70 days and it would be very dangerous, but they didn't see any other options. The ice wouldn't be solid all the way across. There would be open water in places and the weather would be very unpredictable.

But with all of their health slowly declining and the real possibility of them starving to death before the following summer, they needed to do something to find help. Which I think is just a wild thing reading it in the book, thinking of the fact that you're going to take sled dogs across an entire ocean, on ice. It's just wild. It's wild. I'm like, what do you mean? Yeah, and because there's also the unpredictability of if something happens to your sled dog team, what do you now all of a sudden, you have a giant curveball that you weren't prepared for, adding onto the trip, now physical exertion you weren't planning on, you know, having to go through. And all of that. It's a lot. It's a lot. And being on open ice for 70.

days. Yeah. And then you just, I mean, I just, you're on an ice cube and then a winter storm winds come in and 40 miles an hour winds and you're in the middle of the ocean. It's just, there's so, there's so much that can go wrong here. Yeah, a recipe for disaster for sure. But I do understand the situation too of the alternative also being poor. It's like you either just sit there and wait and die or you get up and try and do something. Right. So with this new plan, Ada helped sew together furs and winter gear to aid their journey before they headed out in January and helped together all of their supplies. Before the two of them left, they realized how dire and dangerous this situation was. So they wrote letters to be given to their loved ones in the event that they died on their journey.

And they also wrote a letter that if somehow Stephenson had showed up to the island while they were gone, they could explain where they were what they were doing and how he could find them. essentially. P.S., what have you done to us? Yeah. P.S. Stephenson's not coming. He's sitting on a couch at home. Right. Yeah. P.S., the Stephenson was never coming. Yeah. On January 7th, 1923 at 1 a.m., Alan and Lauren headed out with their five weekend, but relatively okay sled dogs, and they pack their sled with 700 pounds of supplies. Oh my God. For five dogs. And you have to remember, These dogs were... They've been through it.

They've been through it. They've been through it. And part of the issue with making these dogs carry 700 pounds of supplies where they had been sitting through winter for a while. And when winter came, everyone holed up inside of their little snow shelters, including the dogs. So the dogs were now exercising, carrying a bunch of weight every day. They were inside staying warm and fed and alive.

So they're not these beefy dogs anymore. Yeah, they're not conditioned. They're like, all right, out of retirement, let's go. Yeah, 700 pounds. Let's go. Oh, God. Uh-uh. But of those supplies, they brought food for themselves.

They brought food for the dogs. They also brought along with them four seal skins that they planned to eventually feed their dogs because a big portion of this is they had to keep the dogs healthy and well-fed to get across. So that was a big thought to them was they needed to make sure that they had food for the entire journey. Obviously, though, their trip was quickly. filled with a lot of struggles. While their dogs were okay health-wise, they were a lot weaker due to

inactivity, and carrying 700 pounds of supplies, plus the two of them, was very challenging and draining for them. Also, at this point in time, they were in 24 hours of darkness, which often led the dogs to misstep, which would then turn over their sled entirely. On top of that, over the next several days, they were hit by winds that were so severe that they had to build shelters and stay in place. The sled was also not in great shape. It was weak and it seemed like it was about to break at any moment. And they weren't making as much distance as they had hoped they would. On top of all of that, Lauren had also been keeping a secret.

He had been suffering with significant pain and lethargy for the past several weeks, but he had decided not to mention that to anyone. It was noticeable that his work had suffered and he was not doing as much as the other team members, but he had not mentioned a word of it to anyone. He had felt this way before and he could take it. tell what was happening from the same thing happening on a previous expedition that he had been on. He could tell that from his symptoms, he was suffering from scurvy. I was just going to say that. I was like, is it scurvy? It's scurvy. He was weak, tired,

lightheaded, and in some instances, his gums were really hurting. If people listening don't know what scurvy is, scurvy is a disease that occurs when you have a severe lack of vitamin C and malnutrition. Lorne knew that the cure would be to get some better nutrition. And which was partly why he wanted to go on this voyage, because he would get food sooner if he went. But his symptoms were now becoming too much to bear with this strenuous journey and this terrible weather. So they're in the middle of the ice somewhere,

and he makes the decision to tell Alan what was happening to him. After this, Alan said we have to turn back. We can't keep going. And he agreed, so they made the joint decision to return to camp. Their plan was they would return lighten the amount of supplies that they would bring, because it was clear that the dogs were struggling to carry that much and have Robert make the journey instead. He was the youngest and the strongest of the group, and he would be more likely to

survive the trip. Returning was not easy. They were hit with extreme winds and snowstorms. They had to build shelters and stay in for the night, and there were moments where Lauren did not think he could advance any further. But after five excruciating days, on January 20th, they made it back to camp. Lauren decided he still did not want to mention to the others that he had scurvy, but Ada noticed almost immediately how much weaker he was when he returned. It had been a shock to the group when they did return, but almost immediately they began to devise another plan. They would try again this time. Lauren would stay home, and they decided not only Robert would join Allen, but Fred would go as well. This decision was made pretty simply after a discussion because they realized that there was not enough food left to sustain more than two people.

especially if it was going to take another year for a boat to get there. Plus, Ada needed less food than the men, and Lauren could tend to the camp while Ada continued to do her duties. Robert and Fred, although they agreed to do this idea, they didn't like it at all. They both had very little experience traveling over ice, and to them it sounded terrifying and extremely dangerous, but they agreed that it was probably the best option.

Ada fitted the men for their journey. She sewed clothing together for them, and at this point she had fallen very much into her role. And even though she was really worried about this, she worked really hard to get them all of the gear that she needed. And she sewed everything. She sewed all the furs together. And she was working very efficiently to be able to get them out as quickly as possible.

And it wasn't long before she finished everything that she needed for them to go. Only nine days later on January 29th, they were better packed than before, not with 700 pounds on their dog sled. The three of the men set up. off with their five sled dogs, leaving Ada, Lauren, and Vic the cat to fend for themselves. So there's two people in a cat? Yeah. Okay. Well, they're all stranded on the island now and there's no one else with them. And they also have no idea when or if the three other men are going to return or when and if a supply ship or any ship is going to come get them. Despite how ill Lauren was

feeling, including the fact that his left leg was severely swollen above the knee, he spent the next few days working hard to make sure the camp was more suitable for two people. He stacked lots of wood and organized things in such a way that would make it easier for them to get to everything that they needed. Both of them were pretty unhappy to be stuck with each other. Ada was still fearful of Lorne. Out of all of the men, she had never gotten close to him and found him to be particularly cold towards her. Lorne, on the other hand, didn't think that Ada was particularly useful for survival, at least not useful enough for only two people. She had done. She had done. done well with cooking and sewing, but now it was up to the two of them to survive and hunt for food,

which he knew that Ada had almost no experience in. Regardless, they fell into a routine and divided their portions of food. They could each have six pieces of hard bread per day until the seals and birds returned to the island. They also had some seal blubber and six gallons of bare oil that they could eat with it to help sustain them as well. Which I think sounds disgusting. I just don't eat well. It sounds like, Sounds like a delicacy when you're there. I mean, six pieces of bread and some seal blubber, like, sign me up. I imagine them, like, dipping it into, is blubber is, how do you eat blubber?

I don't know. I picture it being, like, gelo-y and, like. Right, jellowy, for sure, but do you chew it, do you boil it down, so it's, like, softer. I think you, like, pretend you dissociate from the experience and then you just swallow it. That's how I imagine, like, anytime I see someone eating oysters. I'm like, you've got to mentally detach from that experience. That's disgusting. Like the way they like, like slurp it down.

Yeah. And I remember just like being like, how do you, I don't know who I was talking about. I was like, how do you just do that? And they're like, you just open the back of your throat and like do it. I'm like, oh, kind of like when you were learning in college to like do a beer bong or a funnel, like a funnel. Oh my God. Yes. And they're like, I remember being a freshman and people trying to explain to me because I have so many questions with things of like how logistically things operate and how it works. They're like, you just open the back of your throat. I'm like, what the fuck do you mean? They're like, it'll just happen. And they're right. It just happens. Like, and I was a great funnaller. I nailed it. But I imagine it's somewhat like that experience.

You got to do some. I don't know. Yeah. You got just, well. Or like you're dunking the bread into the blubber that's kind of melted, kind of like oil and vinegar. Yeah, or you rub the bare oil on your bread. What's the difference between bare oil and blubber? A blubber, I think, is like jelly.

The insulate. I feel like oil is oil. Yeah, but where does the oil come from? I don't know, maybe they're scared. I don't know. I don't know how you get these things. I just know that I don't know how to eat them, and I don't want to learn. And I hope I never have to learn.

Okay. Another reason why I would never survive on alone. I don't think anyone has eaten Blubber on alone. Well, I take that back. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe they haven't been in a location where they were able to eat Blubber. Yeah, I'm not sure.

I haven't seen all the episodes, so I don't know either. All the seasons. Yeah, me either. Yeah. Anyway, that's what they're eating. And we feel for them. One morning, when Lauren had gone out to chop wood and hadn't returned, Ada began to worry about him. When she went outside to check on him, she suddenly saw him

lying flat on the ground completely still. When she ran over to him, she thought that he was dead, but soon realized that he was breathing. She shook him and yelled at him to wake him up, and what felt like five minutes of yelling at him, he finally opened his eyes and came to. His voice was very quiet, and he stated that he was okay. He was very weak and leaned heavily on Ada until she was able to help assist him back into bed inside their shelter. He then revealed to her what he had been dealing with and that he had scurvy for a long time, but he had been trying to hide it and over the past several days he was feeling weaker. Ada told him to stay in bed and promised that she would finish chopping the wood. She chopped the wood, collected snow for their drinking

water, and checked on the fox traps that they had around the camp. All things that Lauren would have normally been in charge of. She prayed that he would be better soon, but for now she was planning to take care of him. And her going out and checking on all of these fox traps is a really big deal because she is terrified of polar bears. And when she goes out to all of these traps, she is risking seeing a polar bear. Right. Mm-hmm.

Lauren was showing most of the signs of scurvy now. He was exhausted. His mood was often irritable and sad. His gums were spongy, and he had two loose teeth in his mouth. His breath was horrendous, and he had no appetite. He had black and blue marks on his legs,

and he wasn't urinating as often as he should be. He knew that his body needed meat. If they were able to kill a phyllic, fox or better yet a bear, it would carry the nutrition that his body needed to start mending. But Ada was deathly afraid of bears, and not only was she was afraid of bears, she was also afraid of rifles. She only carried a knife on her when she went outside, and she often prayed that she just wouldn't run into a bear. As the days passed, Lauren grew weaker, and he didn't leave his bed. He was angry and he was frustrated with Ada for not catching any food for them. His temper

was short with her and he would often call her stupid and lazy and accused her of not trying hard enough to get them food. Oh, I thought this was going to take a... I thought he was going to have an epiphany of like, wow, she really stepped up to the plate when I really needed support. No, he's like, I need meat and you're not catching a bear, you haven't brought a fox home, you're the only person here who can bring us food and you're not bringing anything. Okay. Well, there's two ways to look at everything, I suppose. Yeah. And I mean, despite this, Ada was a really kind person and she tried to still have a cheerful attitude towards him. She continued to work as hard as she could and she was trying. She went out every day to set up traps and look for foxes and she herself was dreaming about getting a bear, but she was just so

terrified of them and she didn't know how to use a gun well. If she tried to shoot at one and angered it and then it attacked her, it just didn't seem like a good option for her. And also, she wasn't 100% either. She wasn't feeling well. She was very tired. She was malnourished and she didn't know it yet, but she was also showing signs of scurvy as well. Finally, after almost a month since the others on the team had left, on February 20th, Ada caught a fat female fox in one of her traps. And she was so proud of it. She was so proud to bring it home that day. And the three of them, including Vic, the cat, was included in this, went to bed with full stomachs that night. After this, A.m. After this, Ada's luck seemed to be getting better.

She caught several foxes in her traps and some mice, and she found her own way to hunt. Since she was still uneasy with a gun and wanted nothing to do with polar bears, she found many of the creatures on the island were curious and would allow her to get kind of close to them. When they would get close, she would hit them over the head with some driftwood, and while they were stunned, she would snap their necks. Whoa. Ada. She's pulling out the big guns here.

That's personal. I was going to say that's arguably scarier than using a rifle. Yes, for sure. But she's like I would rather, I mean, there's smaller things. I mean, she's doing a list of foxes and different rodents around the island. But, okay, but imagine whacking a little fox over the head. Like, they're so cute. Cute.

I know you're starving and don't come at me. I understand. I get it. She's in survival situation. But yeah, you know, it just, it is personal. It's very personal. Yeah. But she's got to do what she's got to do.

With this influx of food, however, Lauren was still showing no signs of improvement. In fact, he was getting worse. He was an excruciating pain and the left side of his body wasn't functioning properly and he felt weak. He had lost multiple teeth, which made it hard to eat. And the skin in his throat was so soft that he couldn't eat fox meat without it cutting the inside of his throat. And the only way that he could eat was if things were put into like really thin soup. Oh. I didn't know that part about Scurvy is that it makes your gum spongy and your throat soft.

Yeah. I knew the teeth and the lethargy and all of that, but. Oh, God. It expands your capillaries. It makes you bleed a lot of what you'll go into too, too. But scurvy's a nasty, not a good way to go. So he's not improving at all with the influx of meat at all. No.

declining. No, because on top of all of this that he's feeling, the seal blubber that he had been eating or trying to eat, he wasn't holding down anymore. So now he's vomiting up a lot of the food that he's trying to eat. Oh, shit. Okay. So Ada's taken pretty much up all the duties of camp. She's gotten into a routine where she's trying to catch these animals because Lauren was completely bedridden. Each day his health became worse and Ada began to really fear that he was going to die. And this was an awful thought to her. Even though they didn't get along really well, Lauren had always been the one who had been taking care of her.

Prior to this, he caught all the food, he got all the firewood, he knew survival skills much better than she did. And it was terrifying for her to be stuck out there alone. So she wanted her old duties back. She wanted to be cooking and sewing, and she wanted to do anything she could to try and make him better. So she's out trying to catch all this food for him. She's trying to bring it back.

really difficult. And as this time is passing, she's really fearing that Al and Fred and Robert aren't going to be coming back. How long has it been now? A month, you said? Yeah, it's been over a month now. Okay. And they estimated originally around 70, 75 days. To get to gnome, not to come back. Right. Yeah. So this is concerning. Yeah. We're in the middle winter. There's no boats coming in. And Ada was so terrified of Lauren's declining health that she actually began giving him a larger portion of her food rations in hopes that it would make him better faster. Even though she found herself, she was starving herself. She was hungry. She was tired.

But she thought it was so important and that he needed the food more than she did. She tended to him often. She made makeshift pillows to help keep his painful joints more comfortable. She was cleaning up after his bowel movements and when he urinated because he never got out of all. bad. Despite everything that she was doing, Lauren didn't feel like it was good enough. He criticized her for not killing a bear. He told her that she deserved the way her husband had treated her because it was clear by how she was treating him that she must have been a bad wife. He told her that it was her fault that two of the three children that she had had died because she wasn't a good caretaker.

And for Ada, these words were unforgivable. One excerpt that she wrote in her diary was, he never stops to think how hard it is for a woman to take four men's place to woodwork and hunt for something to eat for him. And she was extremely hurt by these words. I mean, to say that it was her fault that her children died was really a tough point for her. And she spent hours crying over it. Yeah, well, words carry a lot of weight, especially when you're in such a precarious situation. You're already mentally strained. You're already having a difficult time. Like, you're just kicking someone when they're down to say hurtful and spiteful things. Mm-hmm.

You know, even if you just say it offhandedly or just out of frustration or something else that is going on internally within yourself, that really can affect someone else. Obviously, what you're saying is hurtful, but just compounded with everything else that's going on, it's even worse. Yeah. And not to say, I mean, Lauren's going through it too, but she's doing her best in a situation. that she didn't really ask for. And I mean, she's not, she wasn't geared to be the survival expert here.

She was told she was going to be cooking and selling in the wintertime. And she's being nothing but kind to him. Yes, he's bedridden and yes, he's going through it. But arguably, he would have already been dead long before this. Without her. Exactly. Yeah. And Ada, despite all of these harsh words, she didn't falter at all in caring for him.

Even though she was starving, she continued to give him more meat. And not only was she giving him more meat that she caught, she was also giving him the best parts of the meat with the most nutrition and the most fat. Because she really believed that Lauren needed more of it. And she really was worried that he was going to die. And not only was she worried if he died, but she was worried about the idea of what would happen to her if he died. And she had a son to get back to.

I mean, in the forefront of her mind for all of this, is she needs to get back to Bennett. And with this fear that she might not be able to make it back to her son, she did write in her diary, if I'm known to be dead, I want my sister Rita to take Bennett my son as her own son and look after everything for Bennett. She is the only one I wish to take my son. Do not let his father, Blackjack, take him. Which really shows how much her husband was awful because her dying wish in a diary is do not put my son with his father.

Right. morning of Ada's 25th birthday on May 10th, so this is a few months forward of doing all this, she woke up to Lorne holding a teapan under his nose as blood poured out of it and his face was an awful shade of blue. Ada jumped up and tried to help him, but he was sick of her having to help him all the time and he insisted that he was fine. But as I had said before, your capillaries when you're suffering from scurvy expand and you start bleeding from all different areas. Now with this May weather, the birds had returned to the island and Ada taught herself how to use a gun and become a good shot, which helped her massively in getting more food. But even with influx

of birds, the nutrition from them, because it was still kind of small amount of meat comes on birds, Lauren was not getting any better. She spent the days outside hunting. She caught birds, foxes, and she was collecting eggs from geese on the island, which was something that Lauren really needed. She was working during all day late hours to find food for Lauren, but there's just wasn't enough there. And the stuff that she was bringing home to Lauren, he had a really hard time swallowing. He got to the point where the only thing that he could eat easily were raw eggs. All of their diet just makes me, I wouldn't have survived to this entire diet. By June, Lauren was still alive, but barely. Scurvy had made his capillaries weak, which we talked about before with his nose,

but now he was bleeding constantly from everywhere. His nose was bleeding, his skin was bleeding, he would easily get cuts, his mouth was bleeding. He was stick thin. He was skin and bones, which made him very cold. But with all of this, he was still breathing. However, he would often slip in and out of consciousness, and each time it seemed that it would last longer than the time before. Ada struggled to wake him up at times.

When Lorne was up for it and his voice worked well enough for it because his voice was going in and out, he would give Ada advice on how to hunt, where to stand, what time a day to go, how long to be there for, and she took all of his advice. She was doing her best, but he wasn't getting any better, but she was. She was learning a lot of survival skills during this time. On June 21st, Lauren slipped into an unconsciousness that Ada struggled to wake him out of.

When he did, he awoke to Ada crying over him. Genuinely concerned, he asked her what was wrong. Ada explained to him that she was afraid that he was going to die, and she could see that it was going to happen soon. Lauren at this point had known how hard that she had been trying to save him and had become more kind to her over the past few weeks. He consoled her and told her he was thankful for everything that she had done and was proud of all that she had learned. He told her that she needed to stay strong and that she must do everything in her power to fight for her life and to hang on without him for the ship to come and save her. He then gifted her his Bible.

On June 23rd, she woke up to check on Lauren like she did every morning, but this time he wasn't breathing. Ada went to her journal and wrote down the date. She knew Stephenson and his family back. She knew Stephenson and his family back home would want to know when he died. Although she didn't know the time of day, she knew it was June 23rd, 1923. She didn't have the strength to move him from where he died, and frankly, she didn't want to. If he was physically gone, it would really be. mean that she was alone. So instead, she left him in his bed and built a barricade around his body

to protect him from any wild animals. She then moved her belongings and vick the cat into their storage tent to escape the smell of the decay. She sat outside and looked over the horizon. The weather was warming now. The other men should have made it to gnome by now, and there should be a ship coming soon. But Ada was alone, except for the cat, and she would now be stuck surviving alone on Rangel island with no telling of when that ship would get there to rescue her. And that is where I'm going to leave us for part two. Wow, that was a good one. I'm glad there was a come to Jesus moment at the end for Lorne. Yeah, I'm glad at the very end, Ada got that recognition that she's so much deserved because she is working so hard to not only keep herself alive, but to try and keep him alive.

and she is genuinely concerned. It's not like, you're not that kind to me. I'm just going to let you go. No one's going to know out here. She really, really tried and she really wanted him to survive. He made it a lot longer than I thought he was going to with all of those. He was literally falling apart. Mm-hmm.

I mean, it was like five months. Yeah, that's a long time. And I think a lot of it probably did have to do with her because he did need nutrition and she was giving it to him. But they were both starving. She was just giving as much as she could without starving herself completely. Right. Wow. Okay.

I got it. I want to know that did the other guys make it? Is she just going to be rescued by chance? What's going on here? Well, luckily you'll get all of those answers in part three. Which is the end, right? You're only doing three parts? I'm only doing three parts, yeah.

And the good thing about part three is we're not going to make you all wait until next Monday. This episode is going to come out on. Thursday of this week. So we have less time between the two of them. But I do think it, I mean, I feel like it has come and we'll get into part three and we'll talk about it too. But this episode really needed to be three parts because there's just three different sections. Like I feel like the first episode was so different than this episode and part three is going to be so different than this one. So it really does need to be in three parts. Okay. Well, I'm not complaining. I'm looking forward to it. So thanks for sharing. So she's on her own. Well, she got Vic. She got a little,

I can't even believe a little kitten survived. Yeah, the kitten's just doing her thing. She doesn't care. It's just the two ladies are left now on the island. All right. Well, we'll see everyone on Thursday. In the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch your back. Bye. Bye. Bye. Thank you for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale you'd like to share, send us an email at NPAD Stories at gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD podcast. Become an outsider by joining our Patreon

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