Anderson would carry out surveys and anthropological studies in the islands off the northern Canadian coast. The Northern Party's ship, Karluk, would proceed north from the Canadian coast until it either found land or was stopped by ice. It would explore any land it encountered; otherwise it would follow the ice edge eastward and attempt to winter at either Banks Island or Prince Patrick Island. If the ship was trapped in the ice and forced to drift, the party would study the direction of Arctic currents and carry out oceanographic research. Meanwhile, Rudolph Anderson's party was expected to continue with the anthropological studies of the "blond Eskimo", to collect varieties of Arctic flora and fauna, to carry out geological research, and to seek open-water channels in the hope of establishing new trade routes. Organisation and personnel Stefansson's plan was to take the expedition to the old whaling station at Herschel Island off the Canadian Arctic coast, where the final composition of the Northern and Southern Parties would be decided and where equipment and supplies would be divided among the different strands of the venture. The haste to meet the NGS deadline led to concerns among the expedition's members about the adequacy of the provision of food, clothing and equipment. Stefansson, who was largely absent in the hectic weeks immediately before sailing and who revealed few of his plans to his team, dismissed such concerns as "impertinent and disloyal". There were disputes between Stefansson and the scientists over the chain of command; the Canadian Geological Survey, which had provided four scientists to the expedition, wanted these men to report to them rather than to Stefansson. Southern Party leader Rudolph Anderson threatened to resign over Stefansson's claim to the publication rights of all private expedition journals. The scientific team, made up of some of the most distinguished men in their fields, included representatives from the United States, Denmark, Norway and France, as well as from Britain and its Empire. Only two, however, had previous polar experience: Alistair Forbes Mackay, the expedition's medical officer, had visited Antarctica with Sir Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod expedition in 1907–09, and had been one of the party of three to discover the location of the South Magnetic Pole. Another Nimrod veteran, the 46-year-old James Murray, was Stefansson's oceanographer. Among the younger scientists were William Laird McKinlay (1889–1983), a 24-year-old science teacher from Glasgow who was recommended by the