Robert Bartlett | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1875-08-15)15 August 1875 |
| Died | 28 April 1946(1946-04-28) (aged 70) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupations | Maritime explorer, navigator |
| Title | Captain |
| Awards | |
Robert Abram Bartlett (August 15, 1875 – April 28, 1946) was aNewfoundland-bornAmericanArctic explorer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[1]
Born inBrigus,Colony of Newfoundland, Bartlett was the oldest of ten children born to William James Bartlett and Mary J. Leamon, and heir to a family tradition of seafaring. He grew up in Hawthorne Cottage in Brigus. By the age of 17, he mastered his first ship and began a lifelong love affair with the Arctic.
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Bartlett spent more than 50 years mapping and exploring the waters of the Far North and led over 40 expeditions to the Arctic, more than anyone before or since.
Bartlett was captain of theSS Roosevelt and accompaniedUnited States NavyCommanderRobert Peary on his attempts to reach theNorth Pole. He was awarded theHubbard Medal of theNational Geographic Society for breaking the trail through the frozenArctic Sea to within 150 miles of the pole,[2] yet was excluded from the final exploring party (possibly due to a rivalry between the two men).[3] Bartlett took a ship and was the first person to sail north of 88° N.
In 1914, Bartlett's leadership in the doomedKarluk Expedition helped save the lives of most of its stranded participants after leaderVilhjalmur Stefansson abandoned the expedition. After being stranded for several months, Bartlett andInuk hunter Kataktovik walked 700 miles fromWrangel Island over the ice of theChukchi Sea and acrossSiberia and then mounted an expedition fromAlaska to rescue his surviving companions on Wrangel Island. He received the highest award from theRoyal Geographical Society for his outstanding heroism. However, despite his popularity among the press, the public, and those he had rescued, he was later censured by an admiralty commission for takingKarluk into the Arctic, and for allowing a party of four (the expedition's medical officerAlistair Forbes Mackay, biologistJames Murray, anthropologist Henri Beuchat, and seaman Stanley Morris) to leave the main group—despite a letter that Mackay and the others had signed, absolving the captain from responsibility (all four subsequently died).[4][5]
In 1917, Bartlett rescued the members ofDonald Baxter MacMillan's ill-fatedCrocker Land Expedition, who had been stuck on the ice for four years.[6]
From 1925 to 1945, at the command of his own schooner,Effie M. Morrissey, Bartlett led many important scientific expeditions to the Arctic sponsored by American museums, theExplorers Club and the National Geographic Society. He also helped to survey the Arctic for the United States Government duringWorld War II.
In 1931, Bartlett starred as Captain Barker in the filmThe Viking about a sealing ship in Newfoundland. The film was shot on location and during the filming of several action scenes, the ship on which filming was taking place exploded, killing 28 men. Despite this, the film was still released. In it, Bartlett plays the captain of the sealing vesselThe Viking who is proud of his reputation for never having lost a man.[7]
Bartlett was ateetotaler, saying that he didn't drink alcohol "because God gave me my body and I propose to take care of it."[8]
Bartlett died when he was 70 in aNew York City hospital frompneumonia and was buried in his hometown of Brigus, Newfoundland and Labrador.Hawthorne Cottage, Bartlett's place of residence in Brigus, is aNational Historic Site of Canada.
In 1909, Bartlett was awarded theHubbard Medal by the National Geographic Society which is awarded for distinction in exploration, discovery, and research. In 1927, theBoy Scouts of America made Bartlett anHonorary Scout, a new category of Scout created that same year. This distinction was given to "American citizens whose achievements in outdoor activity, exploration and worthwhile adventure are of such an exceptional character as to capture the imagination of boys...". Among others who were awarded this distinction were includedRichard E. Byrd,Charles Lindbergh, andOrville Wright.[9]
He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from theAmerican Geographical Society in 1918, and itsDaly Medal in 1925.[10] In 1944, he was awarded thePeary Polar Expedition Medal. The Canadian Coast Guard vesselCCGSBartlett is named for Bartlett.Canada Post featuredBartlett on a Canadian postage stamp released on July 10, 2009.[11]
Robert “Bob” Bartlett is a major character in the novel The Big Why by author Michael Winter (published 2004). AuthorEric Walters documented some of the aspects of his journey to find Arctic islands in the historical novelsTrapped in Ice andThe Pole. Bartlett and Kataktovik's journey throughChukotka, Siberia is recounted as an episode in Chukchi authorYuri Rytkheu's novelA Dream in Polar Fog.[12]
Although an admiralty commission later criticized Bartlett for agreeing to take the Karluk into the Arctic and allowing a group of four to travel south on their own, the press and public celebrated him as a hero. The Royal Geographic Society gave him an award for outstanding bravery and many survivors credited him with saving their lives, particularly William Laird McKinley, who later wrote: "there was for me only one real hero in the whole [Karluk] story – Bob Bartlett. Honest, fearless, reliable, loyal, everything a man should be" (Niven 366).
