Ada Blackjack

Ada Blackjack (née Delutuk; May 10, 1898 – May 29, 1983) was an Iñupiaq woman who accompanied an Arctic expedition to the uninhabited Wrangel Island, north of Siberia, eventually living alone on the island for eight months after the other expedition members left or died.

Background Ada Delutuk was born on May 10, 1898 or 1899, in the remote settlement of Spruce Creek, from Solomon, Alaska. Ada's father died of food poisoning when she was eight years old, and her mother sent her and her sister, Rita, to a Methodist mission school in Nome, Alaska. She was raised by missionaries who taught her to read English and sew. At age 16, she married Jack Blackjack, a former hunter and dogsled driver, and moved with him to the Seward Peninsula. Due to this, she temporarily had to place Bennett in the Jesse Lee Home for Children, which could better care for his tuberculosis. Ada became committed to making money to be reunited with her son.

Nome police chief E. R. Jordan was familiar with Ada's situation, so he mentioned to her that some men were recruiting Inuit to go with them on their Arctic expeditions across the Chukchi Sea to Wrangel Island. While Jordan was not familiar with the purpose of the expedition, he believed that Ada, who spoke English and was an excellent seamstress, might be a good fit for the mission, which needed someone to sew fur clothing for the team. Stefansson remained behind to fundraise for another exploration to search for a continent north of Wrangel Island. The explorers were handpicked by Stefansson based upon their previous experience and academic credentials. Stefansson considered those with advanced knowledge in the fields of geography and other sciences for the expedition. Blackjack had many misgivings about joining the expedition, especially because she had been misled to believe she would be only one of many Alaska Native people to join the crew. the American men Lorne Knight, Milton Galle, and Fred Maurer; and Allan Crawford. Maurer had spent eight months on the island in 1914 after surviving the shipwreck of the Karluk.

The conditions on the island were adequate at first, but after a year turned for the worse.