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Bernard's Arctic Voyages
Saturday, 13 November 2010
The Schooner Teddy Bear Cordova,Alaska Mud Bay

       

                    Cordova,Alaska Mud Bay        

 The final resting place of the Schooner Teddy Bear     

<--Teddy Bear      


Posted by capjosephbernard at 12:39 PM YST
Updated: Saturday, 13 November 2010 12:54 PM YST
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Thursday, 21 January 2010


 


Posted by capjosephbernard at 5:25 PM YST
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Captain Joseph Bernard

Taken from Joseph F. Bernard Typescript:

 

I was born in Tiginish, Prince Edward Island, on the 23d of December 1878; coming to the United States in 1900 and shipped on a fishing boat out of Portland, Maine.  In 1901 I came to Alaska and landed at Nome in June of that year.

 

Engaging in coastwise trade and in company with my uncle, Peter Bernard, we built a schooner “August C” in 1903 and traded along the coast of Alaska and the coast of Siberia.

 

In 1908 I went to Seattle and built a trading schooner the “Teddy Bear” and sailed her up the Alaska Coast and on to Siberia.  In 1909 I sailed up the Coast and wintered at Barter Island.  That winter I lost my partner who froze to death.

 

In the summer of 1910 the voyage was continued into Coronation Gulf with a crew of natives (Eskimos) and then wintered at the Koguerukuk River east of the copper mine, in 1910.

 

In the summer of 1911 we came back to Bailey Island and wintered there.  In the summer of 1912 I went back East and wintered in a harbor on the mainland coast of Dolphin and Union Straits.  This harbor became known and was charted by Geodetic Surveyors of Canada as Bernard Harbor.  The summer of 1913 was a closed season (icebound) the ice in Dolphin and Union Straits did not move.

 

I got out of a winter harbor late in August and in trying to make my way westward I was frozen in on the 28th day of August at Lady Richardson Bay, Victoria Land and was forced to winter there on very short rations as our supply was used up and we had to live strictly on the country and game was very scarce.

 

We got out of winter quarters on the 4th day of August, 1914, the day war was declared on Germany and made our way to the westward through broken ice, met the Canadian Arctic Expedition, Southern Party, under command of Dr. Anderson off the Smokey Mountain.  We tied up and exchanged news.

 

They were going East and wanted information about wintering quarters somewhere in Dolphin and Union Straits.  I gave them a chart that I had made of the place where I had wintered.  They occupied the same place for a couple of years and named it on their charts – Bernard Harbor.

 

I got out that year and wintered in San Francisco and Los Angeles in 1915 and 1916.  And in the summer of 1916 went back into the Arctic and wintered in Koguerukuk River.

 

In the summer of 1917 wintered at Taylor Island, eastern portion of Victoria Land, where I froze in on the 29th of August, 1917 and only came out of the ice on the first day of September, 1919, namely 25 months in the ice, and wintered in the Koguerukuk River again and came out in 1920.

 

In the winter of 1921-1922 I shipwrecked on the Chuktcher Shore, Siberia.  In the

 Due to the ice I was unable to get to Wrangel Island and subsequently all of the party but one perished.

 

In the year 1923 I went up the coast of Point Barrow and was caught in the ice, when the Hudson’s Bay Company boat “Lady Kindersley” was caught in an ice-jam, drifted and was finally abandoned some 50 miles northeast of Point Barrow.

 

And in the same ice-jam the four-masted schooner “Arctic” was crushed near Cape Smet, Point Barrow.  I was pushed high and dry on the beach by the same ice-jam.

 

After laying there for a week the ice opened and I was able to get out, sailed southward to Cordova on the “Teddy Bear” and have been here ever since.

 

Joseph F. Bernard

1878    Born in Tiginish, Prince Edward Island, on the 23d of December

 

1900  Shipped on a fishing boat out of Portland, Maine

1901    He came to Alaska and landed at Nome in June of that year

1903     Engaging in coastwise trade and in company with his uncle, Peter Bernard, they      built a schooner “August C” in 1903

1908   Captain Joe Bernard went to Seattle and built a trading schooner the “Teddy Bear

1909    The Teddy Bear sailed up the Coast and wintered at Barter Island.  That winter he lost his partner who froze to death.

1910  The voyage was continued into Coronation Gulf with a crew of natives (Eskimos) and they wintered at the Koguerukuk River east of the copper mine,

1911  Summer the Teddy bear came back to Bailey Island and wintered there

1912   Summer the Teddy Bear went back East and wintered in a harbor on the mainland coast of Dolphin and Union Straits.  This harbor became known and was charted by Geodetic Surveyors of Canada as Bernard Harbor

1913   Summer  was a closed season (icebound) the ice in Dolphin and Union Straits did not move.

1914   The Teddy Bear got out of winter quarters on the 4th day of August

1915 Wintered in San Francisco and Los Angeles

1916 The Teddy Bear went back into the Arctic and wintered in Koguerukuk River.

1917 wintered at Taylor Island, eastern portion of Victoria Land, where he froze in on the   29th of August, 1917 and only came out of the ice on the first day of September, 1919,

1921-1922  winter  Teddy Bear shipwrecked on the Chuktcher Shore, Siberia

1922     Summer  Captain Joe Bernard made the attempt to reach Wrangel Island to rescue the occupation party left there by Stephanson.

1924 1925 Sailed southward to Cordova on the “Teddy Bear”


Posted by capjosephbernard at 4:58 PM YST
Updated: Sunday, 24 January 2010 5:58 AM YST
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Captain Peter Bernard
Captain Bernard was born in Prince Edward Island, but became an American citizen. According to Stefansson, Bernard "had followed the sea around Nome for many years." Bernard was captain and owner, along with his wife Etta, of the schooner Mary Sachs before she was purchased by the Expedition. Stefansson praised Bernard for his skill in
building sledges and his committment to the Expedition. Bernard died somewhere off the northwest tip of Banks Island in the winter of 1916 after an unsuccessful attempt to take new sleds, mail, and supplies to Stefansson's camp on Melville Island. He was one of only five members of the CAE that Stefansson recommended for the Arctic Medal in 1920. However, Stefansson also arranged that the Canadian Government hold back from his widow the profits from the sale of fox skins that were owed to Bernard, because of his "unsatisfactory service."

 

 

 


Posted by capjosephbernard at 4:52 PM YST
Updated: Thursday, 21 January 2010 4:57 PM YST
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CaptainJoseph F. Bernard and Captain Peter Bernard

 

             Captain Joseph F. Bernard

                             And

               Captain Peter Bernard

                          1901-1972

  Feel free to comment or add information 

  to this blog


Posted by capjosephbernard at 4:10 PM YST
Updated: Saturday, 6 February 2010 11:06 AM YST
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