The Mysterious Voyage of the Kite

In August of 1911, Capt. Joseph Bernier was returning south from a winter at Arctic Bay. As his government vessel, the C. G. S. Arctic steamed south amongst the heavy drift ice off the Baffin coast, she sighted another small vessel making her way north through the pack about four miles distant.

Bernier attempted to intercept the ship, but was unsuccessful. The vessel was the Kite, a sealing steamer owned by Bowring Brothers of Newfoundland, and she was working her way slowly through the unusually heavy pack ice of that season, bound for Pond's Inlet.

Bernier reported his sighting of the Kite in these words: "On the 25th the fog cleared, and a Newfoundland vessel fast to an ice floe, bound north, was spoken, but being unable to get alongside owing to the fact that the vessel was going in one direction and the Arctic another, the attempt to get on board, failed. The flag of the Arctic was raised and the whistle blown but the vessel which had got underway, paid no attention to the signals. The speed of the Arctic was not sufficient to overhaul her and the effort to follow was abandoned. Photographs and a description of the vessel will enable the Department to identify her and make enquiries in respect to the disregard of the provisions of the Fisheries Act, that require all vessels to secure a license for fishing around the coasts of Baffin Island."

What was this mysterious vessel up to?

The Kite was under charter to a Mr. R. A. Elmsley, an American acting on behalf of a syndicate based in Ottawa, and Richard White of St. John's. She had left that city on a mission that the Evening Herald described as "shrouded in mystery." Elmsley and White told reporters only that they believed there were large quantities of minerals on Baffin, particularly gold, iron, copper and mica. They were off to ­Baffin to secure samples of those minerals and to trade with the natives.

The Kite had called at Brevoort Island at the mouth of Cumberland Sound before continuing north along the Baffin coast, where she successfully evaded Bernier's Arctic. Soon thereafter, she reached Pond's Inlet and the Salmon River. At both locations samples of ore were taken.

But why had Elmsley and White decided to visit the specific area of the Salmon River? There is nothing in Bernier's report from 1906-7 that would indicate the presence of gold there. The Geological Survey of Canada reported to Bernier in January 1908 on rock and mineral specimens that he had sent to Ottawa for examination on his return from that expedition. The report on sand and fragments from the bed of the Salmon River stated that "[t]he sand is made up of fine grains of quartz, garnet, hornblende and magnetite. The fragments consist of lignite." There is no mention of gold, nor is there in the report of his subsequent voyage.

The Kite remained at Salmon River for less than a day. She returned to St. John's in late September, bringing approximately nine tons of mineral samples and a quantity of furs. For a few days the press was agog with reports of fabulous mineral wealth in Baffin Island. The Evening Telegram featured a bold headline, "Have Located Klondyke." Another headline, bolder yet, announced "Splendid Indications of Gold" and "Country May Rival the Klondyke."

Elmsley and White were tight-lipped, but the paper reported, "… the crew say a big thing is pending, and that the world will be startled by and by when more exhaustive explorations have been made next summer." The news reports added that, "If the things hinted at by the crew mature … there will be a rush to Baffin Land which will outrival the famous Klondyke craze." The crew claimed that the expedition had found gold at Brevoort Island but that their greatest success had been at Salmon River, where "… the sand of the stream which they washed contained a large percentage of the precious metal and the quartz secured abounded in it."

Following these euphoric reports of gold in Baffin Island, the Newfoundland press fell silent on the subject. There was no further mention of Elmsley and White, and they failed to mount an expedition the following year. Their nine tons of rock were, of course, worthless, their fur take probably minimal, and the expedition undoubtedly incurred a large loss.

Ironically, the following year, three separate expeditions set off for Pond Inlet in search of gold. None was led by White or Elmsley.

There is a local Iqaluit connection to this story. Richard White was the father of respected Iqaluit elder, Pauline Paton, and of her brother, Winston White, a broadcaster well-known in Labrador and Nunavut.

Taissumani recounts a specific event of historic interest. Kenn Harper is a historian, writer and linguist who lives in Iqaluit. Feedback? Send your comments and questions to kennharper@hotmail.com.