Indefinitely on the Ice: Indigenous-explorer relations in Robert Abram Bartlett’s Accounts of the Karluk Disaster

In 1914, the Canadian Arctic Expedition (CAE) attempted to advance Canadian sove-reignty in the Arctic as part of the colonial project, itself propelled by imperialist impulses rooted in complex imperialist ideology. The CAE came to an abrupt end with the sinking of one of its ships, the Karluk, with survivors setting up camp on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean. With the Alaskan Inupiaq Claude Katаktovick1, Robert Abram Bartlett, captain of the Karluk, trekked hundreds of miles over rough ice to and then through Chukchi territory in Siberia. From there, Bartlett was able to mount a rescue of the remaining Karluk survivors. Bartlett’s accounts of his weeks with Kataktovick and the Chukchi serve as a case study of explorer-Indigenous relations in the era of exploration. The Indigenous people of the Arctic were subject to explorers in a hierarchical relationship built around supporting exploration. Despite their often central and sometimes life-saving roles, as actors, Indigenous people are generally invisible in polar narratives. Yet the story of the Karluk demonstrates that, even within the constraints of this context, Indigenous people could emerge as central agents and explorers could move towards more egalitarian relations with Indigenous people.