Ada Blackjack: The Woman Left Alone on a Frozen Arctic Island
In April 1923, Ada Blackjack wrote a note for her son Bennett in case she did not survive. She was on Wrangel Island, north of Siberia, with only one other member of a stranded expedition: Lorne Knight, who was seriously ill. Ada had joined the expedition less than two years earlier as a seamstress and domestic worker, hoping to earn money to reunite with Bennett, who was living in a Nome orphanage while ill with tuberculosis. But a relief ship failed to reach the island in 1922. Food became uncertain. On January 28, 1923, three men left across sea ice toward Siberia seeking help and disappeared. Ada stayed with Knight. As his health failed, she maintained camp, checked traps, practiced with firearms, hunted, repaired clothing and equipment, and kept a diary. When Knight died in June, she was left alone except for the expedition cat, Vic. This is the documented story of how an Iñupiat woman hired for sewing work became the sole survivor of the Wrangel Island expedition, and what the surviving diaries and telegrams reveal about the decisions that left the party isolated. This podcast uses artificial intelligence in its research, writing, production, and narration. Episodes are editorially reviewed before publication. #LeftForDead #AdaBlackjack #WrangelIsland #ArcticSurvival #IUpiatHistory