was at last able to send a radio message to Ottawa informing the government of Karluk's fate. He also made enquiries about the whereabouts of the United States revenue cutter Bear, which he saw as a possible rescue vessel for the stranded party. On Wrangel Island The landfall from Shipwreck Camp had been on the north side of Wrangel Island, at a spot which they named "Icy Spit". Before his departure, Bartlett asked the party to set up several camps around the island, which would increase the hunting areas. The captain also felt that separation into smaller groups would assist general harmony by keeping incompatible characters apart. He wanted all groups to reassemble at Rodgers Harbor, on the south side of the island, about the middle of July. However, dissension broke out almost immediately after Bartlett's departure over the sharing of food. It had not been possible to drag all the supplies from Shipwreck Camp, and the trek had taken longer than expected; consequently there were shortages of biscuit, pemmican (a compound of dried meat, fat and sugar) and dog food. There was little prospect of augmenting supplies by hunting birds and game until the weather improved in May or June. When Hadley and the Inuit, Kuraluk, returned from a seal hunt on the ice, Hadley was widely suspected of concealing the proceeds of the hunt for his own consumption; the same pair were also accused of wasting scarce cooking oil. McKinlay records that the circumstances depressed morale and destroyed comradeship: "The misery and desperation of our situation multiplied every weakness, every quirk of personality, every flaw in character, a thousandfold." Two attempts were made to travel back to Shipwreck Camp to pick up extra food, but both failed, the second resulting in further losses of dogs and equipment. Chafe, whose feet had become gangrenous after severe frostbite, had his toes removed by second engineer Williamson, with improvised tools. McKinlay and Munro risked their lives by travelling over the sea ice towards Herald Island, in a final effort to locate either of the missing parties. They could get no nearer than , and from an examination of the distant island through binoculars could see no indications of life. Other health problems persisted; Malloch's frostbitten feet failed to heal, and Mamen's knee, which he had dislocated during the days at Shipwreck Camp, troubled him continuously. A worrying illness began to affect