Call devoted themselves with intelligent energy
to correcting the wretched conditions found to exist. Order was at once
inaugurated. Fresh meat from the reindeer herd was supplied, the
sanitary conditions were improved, and the general health and comfort
of the whalemen received immediate attention. Lieutenant Jarvis and
Dr. Call remained at Point Barrow in charge until the arrival of the
_Bear_, July 28, 1898, a period of four months. As soon as the
_Bear_ arrived Captain Tuttle began the distribution of ample
supplies to the whalemen on shipboard and on shore. Having supplied all
demands generously, succored the needy to the number of 275 between
Point Barrow and Kotzebue Sound, taking on board the _Bear_ 146
whalemen, 91 of whom were brought to the Pacific coast (the remainder
having of their own volition left the ship _en route_), the vessel
arrived back at Seattle on the 13th of September, after an absence in
the bleak and dreary regions of Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean of about
seventeen months.
The hardships and perils encountered by the members of the overland
expedition in their great journey through an almost uninhabited region,
a barren waste of ice and snow, facing death itself every day for nearly
four months, over a route never before traveled by white men, with no
refuge but at the end of the journey, carrying relief and cheer to 275
distressed citizens of our country, all make another glorious page in
the history of American seamen.
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