Robert Abram Bartlett (August 15, 1875 – April 28, 1946) was a

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

explorer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Early life

Born in

Brigus Brigus is a small fishing community located in Conception Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Brigus was home to Captain Bob Bartlett and the location of his residence Hawthorne Cottage.Canada travel guide. Lonely Planet 14th Edition (2020) ...

Colony of Newfoundland Newfoundland Colony was an English overseas possessions, English and, later, British Empire, British colony established in 1610 on the Newfoundland (island), island of Newfoundland off the Atlantic coast of Canada, in what is now the province of ...

, Bartlett was the oldest of ten children born to William James Bartlett and Mary J. Leamon, and heir to a family tradition of seafaring. He grew up in Hawthorne Cottage in Brigus. By the age of 17, he mastered his first ship and began a lifelong love affair with the Arctic.

Career

Bartlett spent more than 50 years mapping and exploring the waters of the Far North and led over 40 expeditions to the Arctic, more than anyone before or since. Bartlett was captain of the and accompanied

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

Robert Peary Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...

on his attempts to reach the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Ma ...

. He was awarded the

Hubbard Medal The Hubbard Medal is awarded by the National Geographic Society for distinction in exploration, discovery, and research. The medal is named for Gardiner Greene Hubbard, first National Geographic Society president. It is made of gold and is tr ...

of the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, ...

for breaking the trail through the frozen

Arctic Sea The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

to within 150 miles of the pole,

Harold Horwood Harold Andrew Horwood, CM (November 2, 1923 – April 16, 2006) was a Newfoundland and Labrador novelist, non-fiction writer and politician. He was a Member of the Order of Canada. Early life The son of Andrew Horwood and Vina Maidment, Horw ...

, ''Bartlett: The Great Canadian Explorer'', 1977, . yet was excluded from the final exploring party (possibly due to a rivalry between the two men). Bartlett took a ship and was the first person to sail north of 88° N. In 1914, Bartlett's leadership in the doomed ''Karluk'' Expedition helped save the lives of most of its stranded participants after leader

Vilhjalmur Stefansson Vilhjalmur Stefansson (November 3, 1879 – August 26, 1962) was an Arctic explorer and ethnologist. He was born in Manitoba, Canada. Early life Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Arnes, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. His parents had ...

abandoned the expedition. After being stranded for several months, Bartlett and Inuit hunter Kataktovik walked 700 miles from

Wrangel Island Wrangel Island ( rus, О́стров Вра́нгеля, r=Ostrov Vrangelya, p=ˈostrəf ˈvrangʲɪlʲə; ckt, Умӄиԓир, translit=Umqiḷir) is an island of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is the 91st largest island in the w ...

over the ice of the

Chukchi Sea Chukchi Sea ( rus, Чуко́тское мо́ре, r=Chukotskoye more, p=tɕʊˈkotskəjə ˈmorʲɪ), sometimes referred to as the Chuuk Sea, Chukotsk Sea or the Sea of Chukotsk, is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west ...

and across

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

and then mounted an expedition from

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

to rescue his surviving companions on Wrangel Island. He received the highest award from the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

for his outstanding heroism. However, despite his popularity among the press, the public, and those he had rescued, he was later censured by an admiralty commission for taking ''Karluk'' into the Arctic, and for allowing a party of four (the expedition's medical officer Alistair Forbes Mackay, biologist James Murray, anthropologist Henri Beuchat, and seaman Stanley Morris) to leave the main group—despite a letter that Mackay and the others had signed, absolving the captain from responsibility (all four subsequently died).Niven (2001 edition), pp. 357–67 In 1917, Bartlett rescued the members of Donald Baxter MacMillan's ill-fated Crocker Land Expedition, who had been stuck on the ice for four years. From 1925 to 1945, at the command of his own schooner, ''

Effie M. Morrissey ''Effie M. Morrissey'' (now ''Ernestina-Morrissey'') is a schooner skippered by Robert Bartlett that made many scientific expeditions to the Arctic, sponsored by American museums, the Explorers Club and the National Geographic Society. She also ...

'', Bartlett led many important scientific expeditions to the Arctic sponsored by American museums, the

Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904, and has served as a meeting point fo ...

and the National Geographic Society. He also helped to survey the Arctic for the United States Government during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In 1931, Bartlett starred as Captain Barker in the film ''The Viking'' about a sealing ship in Newfoundland. The film was shot on location and during the filming of several action scenes, the ship on which filming was taking place exploded, killing 28 men. Despite this, the film was still released. In it, Bartlett plays the captain of the sealing vessel ''The Viking'' who is proud of his reputation for never having lost a man.

Death

Bartlett died when he was 70 in a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

hospital from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

and was buried in his hometown of Brigus, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Hawthorne Cottage Hawthorne Cottage is a National Historic Site located in Brigus, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is a unit of the national park system, operated by Parks Canada, the national park service. It was the residence of Captain Bob Bartlett, a famed ...

, Bartlett's place of residence in Brigus, is a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

Awards and honors

In 1909, Bartlett was awarded the

by the National Geographic Society which is awarded for distinction in exploration, discovery, and research. In 1927, the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded in ...

made Bartlett an Honorary Scout, a new category of Scout created that same year. This distinction was given to "American citizens whose achievements in outdoor activity, exploration and worthwhile adventure are of such an exceptional character as to capture the imagination of boys...". Among others who were awarded this distinction were included Richard E. Byrd,

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

, and Orville Wright. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the

American Geographical Society The American Geographical Society (AGS) is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the ...

in 1918, and its Daly Medal in 1925. In 1944, he was awarded the

Peary Polar Expedition Medal The Peary Polar Expedition Medal was a commemorative medal awarded to six of the participants of the 1908–1909 Expedition to the North Pole, led by Robert Peary. Authorized by Congress in 1944, the silver medals were presented by the Secretary ...

. The Canadian Coast Guard vessel CCGS ''Bartlett'' is named for Bartlett.

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the operat ...

featured Bartlett on a Canadian postage stamp released on July 10, 2009.

In fiction

Author

Eric Walters Eric Robert Walters, (born March 3, 1957) is a Canadian author of young adult fiction and picture books. As of 2020, Eric Walters has written over 100 books. Background Walters was an elementary school teacher at Vista Heights Public School in ...

documented some of the aspects of his journey to find Arctic islands in the historical novels ''Trapped in Ice'' and ''The Pole.'' Bartlett and Kataktovik's journey through Chukotka, Siberia is recounted as an episode in Chukchi author Yuri Rytkheu's novel ''A Dream in Polar Fog''.

References

"The Last Voyage of the Karluk: A Survivor's Memoir of Arctic Disaster", by William Laird McKinlay

External links

* * * *
The Papers of Robert A. Bartlett
at Dartmouth College Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Bartlett, Robert 1875 births 1946 deaths American explorers Castaways Dominion of Newfoundland people Explorers of Canada Explorers of the Arctic Newfoundland Colony people People from Newfoundland (island) Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Shipwreck survivors 20th-century explorers