Four Degrees Celsius (18 page)

The People Involved

A. Cruickshank's Search and Rescue Party

Western Canada Airways Ltd.:

Andy Cruickshank
(pilot) and
Alf Walker
(mechanic) flying the G-CASQ ('SQ).

Roy Brown
(pilot) and
Paul Davis
(mechanic) flying G-CASO ('SO).

“
Bertie” Hollick-Kenyon
(pilot) and
Bill Nadin
(mechanic) flying G-CASL ('SL).

Pat Semple
(mechanic) accompanied Cruickshank when he joined the search at Stony Rapids.

Tommy Siers
(head mechanic for Western Canada Airways).

Northern Aerial Mineral Exploration:

Jim Vance
(pilot) and
B.C. Blasdale
(mechanic) flying G-CARK ('RK).

Dominion Explorers:

Guy Blanchet
(surveyor), field worker for Dominion Explorers.

Bill Spence
(pilot) and Graham Longley (mechanic) flying CF-ACZ ('CZ).

Secondary personnel who joined in the last week (December 4) because of planes out of commission:

Ken Dewar
(pilot) and R. Niven (mechanic) flying CF-AAM ('AAM), owned by Consolidated Mining and Smelting.

Charles Sutton
(pilot) flying CF-AAN ('AAN), owned by Dominion Explorers.

B. The MacAlpine Party

Dominion Explorers:

Colonel Cyril MacAlpine
, president of Dominion Explorers, flew in G-CASP until it sank, then flew in G-CASK. Leader of the expedition.

Major Robert “Bob” F. Baker
, base manager who joined group at Baker Lake, flew in G-CASK.

E.A. “Brodie” Boadway
, pilot and mining engineer, flew in CF-AAO.

Stan “Mac” MacMillan
(pilot) and
Alexander “Alex” Milne
(mechanic) flying CF-AAO ('AO).

Richard Pearce
, editor of
The Northern Miner
, observer and writer to record prospecting advances made by Dominion Explorers, kept a daily diary. Flew in 'SP then in 'SK.

Major G.A. “Tommy” Thompson
(pilot) and
Don Goodwin
(mechanic) flew G-CASP then G-CASK.

C. Inuit “Saviours”

Awordiwo

Bunnuck

Helika

Kena

Keninya

Olga

Otoogo

Penukta

Tepinna

Tigalook

Tigatook

Unani

Foreword

1.
Eugenie Louise Myles,
Airborne from Edmonton
(Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1959), 144.

Chapter 1: Leaving for the Barrens

1.
June Lunny,
Spirit of the Yukon
(Prince George, British Columbia: Caitlin Press, 1992), 60–61.

2.
Guy Blanchet,
Search in the North
(Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada, 1960), 20.

3.
Gwyneth Hoyle,
The Northern Horizons of Guy Blanchet: Intrepid Surveyor 1884–1966
(Toronto: Natural Heritage Books/Dundurn Press, 2007), 106.

4.
Ibid
., 123.

5.
Thayler Lindsley was born in 1882, in Yokohama, Japan. When the family returned to the United States he attended Harvard University and received a civil engineering degree in 1924. Described as a geological genius, he is known as the greatest mine developer and finder of all time. When Lindsley flew over the Barrens he saw mineral wealth and set in motion the development of the Canadian mining industry. See
www.mininghalloffame.ca/inductees/j-l/thayer_lindsley
.

6.
Guy Blanchet,
Search in the North
(Toronto: The MacMillan Company, 1960), 148.

7.
Stanley MacMillan, “Recollections of a Dominion Explorers Pilot,” University of Guelph Library, Archival & Special Collections, XM1MSA129, File 1, 16.

8.
Ibid.

9.
Ibid
., 17.

10.
Inuit Traditions & History,
www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/inuit_culture.html
.

11.
K.M. Molson,
Pioneering in Canadian Air Transport
(Altona, Manitoba: D.W. Friesen and Sons, Ltd., 1974), 40.

Chapter 2: Preparations for the Search

1.
Andy Cruickshank's personal diary,
The MacAlpine Search
, 3.

2.
Canadian Press
, quoting the Rector of St. John's Church, Fort McMurray, July 1932.

3.
Excerpt from a letter to Mrs. Andrew Cruickshank Sr., August 15, 1923, sent from “Depot Division” RCMP, Regina.

4.
The Bulletin
, Vol. 4, No.1 (1932), 24. Published by Canadian Airways Limited.

5.
Lunny,
Spirit of the Yukon
, 87.

6.
Frank Ellis,
Canada's Flying Heritage
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1954), 259.

Chapter 3: Grounded by Weather

1.
H.C. “Pat” Semple's Recollections, 2. His recollections, about five pages in length, located in an unsorted box at the Aviation Museum in Winnipeg and made available by Pat Semple's daughter, Trudie Terpening, Semple Family Collection.

2.
Cruickshank's personal diary,
The MacAlpine Search
, 3.

3.
Richard Pearce,
Marooned in the Arctic: Diary of the Dominion Explorers' Expedition to the Arctic
(diary, 1931), 24.

4.
Ibid
., 27.

5.
Ibid
.

6.
Ibid
., 30.

7.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 162.

8.
Ibid.
, 163.

9.
Ibid
., 164.

10.
Roy Brown, “The Origin & Growth of WCA as I have Seen It”, MHS Transactions Series 3, Number 14, (1957–58), 9.

11.
Pearce,
Marooned in the Arctic
, 33.

12.
Ibid
., 34.

13.
Ibid
.

14.
Ibid.
, 35.

15.
Ibid
.

16.
Révillon Frères, established in 1793, was a French fur and luxury goods company with stores in New York, Paris, and London. In 1903, with furs becoming high demand in the fashion industry, the brothers set up posts in northern Canada and the Arctic for fur trading with the Native people. Révillon Frères were direct competition with the Hudson's Bay Company. See GeoTourism Canada,
www.geotourismcanada.com
.

17.
Molson,
Pioneering in Canadian Air Transport
, 80.

18.
Gord Emberely, email message to author, December 6, 2010.

19.
Andy Cruickshank's personal diary,
The MacAlpine Search
, 5.

Chapter 4: Moving Northward

1.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson,
The Friendly Arctic
(Toronto: Macmillan Company of Canada, 1921).

2.
Pearce,
Marooned in the Arctic
, 42.

3.
Ibid
., 42–43.

4.
Molson,
Pioneering in Canadian Air Transport
, 80.

5.
Ibid
., 80.

6.
H.C. “Pat” Semple, “Recollection,” 2.

7.
Countries and their Cultures,
www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Inuit.html
.

8.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 73.

9.
Pearce
, Marooned in the Arctic
, 44.

10.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 75.

11.
Ibid
., 76.

12.
Ibid
., 114.

Chapter 5: Crash of G-CASQ

1.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 126.

2.
Ibid
., 166.

3.
Philip H. Godsell,
Pilots of the Purple Twilight
(Calgary, Alberta: Fifth House Ltd., A Fitzhenry & Whiteside Company, 2003), 140.

4.
Pearce,
Marooned in the Arctic
, 47.

Chapter 6: Peril on Ice

1.
Andy Cruickshank's personal diary,
The MacAlpine Search
, 8.

2.
Molson,
Pioneering in Canadian Air Transport
, 81.

3.
Archives of Manitoba, “Search in Connection with the Lost MacAlpine Party,” Western Canada Airways Ltd., MG11, A321, Box 37.

4.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 170.

5.
Molson,
Pioneering in Canadian Air Transport
, 81.

6.
Lunny,
Spirit of the Yukon
, 119.

7.
Ibid
.

8.
Molson,
Pioneering in Canadian Air Transport
, 81.

9.
Ibid
.

10.
Semple, “Recollections,” 7.

11.
Lunny,
Spirit of the Yukon
, 119.

12.
“One of the boys is in bad shape. His arm is numb, and his finger and eye muscles contracted. The Colonel felt that strain was at the bottom of the attack and that the boy was at the breaking point. He was given strong emergency dope. The Colonel slipped out to the other igloo several times, to see how the patient was breathing in his sleep….” Richard Pearce,
Marooned in the Arctic
, 49.

Chapter 7: Arrival at Cambridge Bay

1.
“Marooned in the Arctic,”
The CAHS Journal
, Vol. 15, No. 3 (1977), 83. Published by the Canadian Aviation Historical Society.

2.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 171–72.

3.
Tom Avery,
To the End of the Earth
(New York: St. Martin's Press, 2009), 111.

4.
Ibid
.

5.
Ibid
., 259.

6.
Frederick B. Watt,
Great Bear: A Journey Remembered
(Yellowknife, Northwest Territories: Outcrop Ltd., 1980), 85.

7.
Frank Ellis,
Canada's Flying Heritage
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1954), 257.

8.
Canalaska was a trading company in direct competition with the Hudson's Bay Company. As part of their business, they loaned traps to the Inuit.

9.
Godsell,
Pilots of the Purple Twilight
, 93.

10.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 172.

11.
Andy Cruickshank's personal diary,
The MacAlpine Search
, 11.

12.
Ellis,
Canada's Flying Heritage
, 261.

13.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 172.

Chapter 8: Evacuation Planning

1.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 175.

2.
Pearce,
Marooned in the Arctic
, 55.

3.
Ibid
., 56.

4.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 174.

5.
“The MacAlpine Search Concluded,”
The
CAHS Journal
, Vol. 15, No. 3 (1977), 86.

6.
Ibid.

7.
Pearce,
Marooned in the Arctic
, 57.

8.
Molson,
Pioneering in Canadian Transport
, 78.

9.
Andy Cruickshank's personal diary,
The MacAlpine Search
, 12.

Chapter 9: Airborne to Fort Reliance

1.
Andy Cruickshank's personal diary,
The MacAlpine Search
, 14.

2.
Richard Pearce, “Marooned in the Arctic: A Northern Rescue,”
Altitude
, Vol. 33, No. 1 (2007), 10. Published by Western Canada Aviation Museum.

3.
Man Vs. Wild, Iceland
, Season 1, Episode 11, Discovery Channel. (November 2010). Television series about men surviving in extreme climates.

4.
Semple, “Recollections,” 9.

5.
“Marooned in the Arctic: A Northern Rescue,”
Altitude
, 10.

6.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 180.

7.
Pearce,
Marooned in the Arctic
, 63.

8.
Sir George Back (1796–1878) was a British naval officer, Arctic explorer, and artist. He was selected by John Franklin for the overland Arctic Expedition of 1819. After this experience, Back continued to explore the frozen lands of Canada's North, surveying the Arctic Ocean coastline. During one of the later trips he set up a wintering station at the eastern end of Great Slave Lake called Fort Reliance. The Back River was named for him. The new Fort Reliance, established in the general vicinity of a Back's 1833 fort, was a community with a RCMP station, some fur traders and buildings that were part of the Domex base. See Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.

9.
Andy Cruickshank's personal diary,
The MacAlpine Search
, 15.

10.
Ibid
., 16.

11.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 181.

12.
Ibid
.

13.
Semple, “Recollections,” 9.

14.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 192.

15.
“Marooned in the Arctic: A Northern Rescue,”
Altitude
, 10.

16.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 183.

17.
Ibid
.

18.
Ibid.
, 184.

19.
Ibid
., 185.

Chapter 10: Two More Planes Down

1.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 190.

2.
Andy Cruickshank's personal diary,
The MacAlpine Search
, 20.

3.
Ibid.
, 21.

4.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 185.

5.
Ibid.
, 186.

6.
Ibid
., 187.

7.
Ibid
.

8.
Ibid
., 186.

9.
Ibid
., 189.

10.
Andy Cruickshank's personal diary,
The MacAlpine Search
, 23.

11.
Pearce, “Marooned in the Arctic: A Northern Rescue,”
Altitude
, 10.

12.
Ibid
., 11.

13.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 191.

14.
Ibid
.

15.
Ibid.

16.
Andy Cruickshank's personal diary,
The MacAlpine Search
, 24.

Chapter 11: A Crowded Journey Home

1.
Pearce,
Marooned in the Arctic
, 68.

2.
Andy Cruickshank's personal diary,
The MacAlpine Search
, 24.

3.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 194.

4.
The modern-day Iditarod race runs between Anchorage, in south-central Alaska, and Nome, Alaska, on the western Bering Sea. It has been called “The Last Great Race” and takes the musher between ten and seventeen days to complete the 1,150-kilometre distance. The dogs and their musher cross mountain ranges, frozen rivers, through dense forests, and across the desolate tundra. The trail the teams travel was the one used by miners in the 1920s. See the Official Site of the Iditarod:
www.iditarod.com
.

5.
Excerpt written by Andy Cruickshank to his mother, Mrs. (Emily) Andrew Cruickshank, Sr., Y Division Yukon Territory, dated March 30, 1926. Karram family Collection.

6.
“First of Arctic Explorers' Party on Way Home — Hard Luck on Way Out,”
The Northern Miner
, December 5, 1929, 1.

7.
Blanchet,
Search in the North
, 194.

8.
“Second Contingent of MacAlpine Party Will Reach Winnipeg Today,”
The Manitoba Free Press
, December 5, 1929, 1.