She was left alone in the Arctic with polar bears, and 2 years later they returned and found this

have you ever imagined what it would be like to be left alone to survive on an island in a desert or in a jungle well today I will tell you the story of a woman named aah Blackjack who was left to survive on the harsh Wrangle island in the Arctic this woman demonstrated Incredible strength and resilience even when the other men she was with didn't survive how did she manage to avoid being harmed by the polar bear well grab a seat and let's find out meet a black Jack adaah delat known as adaah Blackjack was

born in 1898 in Spruce Creek a remote area near the University of gnome in Alaska she was an innuit by birth but she didn't learn the hunter gatherer ways of her people her early life was marked by hardship and adversity so to provide her with better opportunities A's mother sent her to gnome where Methodist missionaries raised her growing up she was taught English studied the Bible and learned skills unusual for a native woman of her time in addition to learning things like cooking white people food and housekeeping one of the most valuable skills a acquired

was sewing she became an expert seamstress particularly Adept at making Fur clothing which was a crucial ability in the harsh Alaskan climate when a was 16 years old she married a local dog musher named Jack Black however her marriage was fraught with difficulties Jack Jack was abusive and aah endured severe hardship and neglect despite her efforts to build a family aah faced unimaginable loss of the three children she bore only one Bennett survived Bennett suffered from chronic tuberculosis which added another layer of burden to aa's already challenging life years later in 1921 the family was

exploring the Seward Peninsula all seemed fine but then while his family was n looking Jack quickly returned to his sled and commanded his sled dogs to leave he abandoned his wife and son in one of the world's most inhospitable places aah Blackjack had no choice but to start walking as her son Bennett was only 5 years old when he got tired aah would carry him eventually they made it back to gnome after trekking around 40 miles the young boy was described as weak and Ill probably because he suffered from tuberculos since aah blackjack's husband had

left her she was now destitute and simply didn't have the resources to look after her son unable to care for him due to financial constraints a had to place Bennett in an orphanage the separation from her son was a constant source of pain for aah greatly upset by this she promised herself that she would work hard and earn enough money to bring him home while the men were in the city of gnome Ada got word about an Arctic Expedition LED by Vil yalmer Stephenson heading for Wrangle Island they were looking for an English-speaking seamstress who

was native to Alaska she was a perfect match after speaking with the four men he recruited things seemed promising so she agreed to join them she was assured that she would be well fed and taken care of during her one-year contract sewing survival gear they also told her that she didn't have to worry about the grueling day-to-day work of Arctic survival this was a great relief as she was terrified of encountering a polar bear strangely The Man Behind this operation Stephenson did not intend to join the party as he was busy performing a lucrative lecture

circuit in the United States He however had already spent years exploring the Arctic so he left the mission to his handpicked team what was their mission to the Arctic and how did the Expedition Fair let's find out the Expedition Vil ymore Stephenson an Icelandic American organized and financed an expedition to Wrangle Island North of Siberia Stephenson was a seasoned Arctic Explorer so he had little trouble finding men for the expedition to colonize the island Stephenson considered those with Advanced knowledge in the fields of geography and other Sciences for the Expedition so he assembled a four-man

team led by the 20-year-old Alan Crawford the other three men were Lauren Knight and Frederick marer both 28 and Milton Gala who was just 19 initially Stephenson wanted to claim Rangel Island for Canada however the government refused to assist with the expedition in light of this he approached Britain but again its government showed little interest in colonizing the remote island despite this setback the Expedition proceeded Stephenson viewed the northern polar region not as an inhospitable Wasteland but as the friendly Arctic it is said that one of the motives behind the colonization of wrangle Island was

Stephenson's hope to start an exploration company that would tour wealthy individuals around the various Arctic Islands however the main reason was to increase his Fame as an Explorer and to try to exploit the land's resources almost from the beginning the team had bad luck and made poor decisions they intended to purchase an UMC a lightweight skin and wood boat to use for hunting but scoffed at the asking price of $120 instead they purchased a much tinier skinboat and a clumsy wooden Dory which washed overboard they also hired Inuit families to come along a common practice

among Arctic Expeditions of that time however most indigenous people got little to no credit for their critical roles in many famous European and American Expeditions so on the day of departure from gnome Alaska all the Inuit except Ada thought better of it too risky they said this made a doubt whether she should go on an expedition with four men she hardly knew for one thing she had a deep rooted fear of polar bears so prior to the trip she visited a shaman in Gnome however her visit did not exactly assuage her anxieties death and danger

lay ahead were the words spoken by the shaman she was also warned To Be watchful of fire and knives you will know why I am telling you this part of the story story later so a was left as the sole indigenous member of the team an untrained yet hopeful participant in an uncertain Venture A's role in the expedition was crucial her expertise in sewing was indispensable for creating and maintaining the Fur clothing needed to survive the arctic's brutal conditions despite her lack of survival training she joined the Expedition with the hope that her contributions would

be enough to support the team's success she was certain that if she stayed in Gnome doing odd jobs of sewing and housekeeping she would never earn enough to cure her son's illness for the oneyear Expedition she was to receive a $50 a month salary this is around $700 in today's money but to adaah it was a huge sum that she couldn't turn down Stephenson sent his woefully inexperienced team North with only 6 months of supplies and Hollow assurances that the friendly Arctic would provide ample game to augment their store doors until a ship picked them

up the following year so on the 9th of September 1921 the scared shy 23-year-old left for Wrangle Island on the ship's silver wave with her fellow explorers and a cat called Victoria after a week at Sea on the 16th of September the crew finally made it to Wrangle Island upon arrival they planted Britain's Union flag in the soil just as Stephenson had instructed them despite wrangle Island being claimed as Russian territory Stephenson's team was ill equipped and quite inexperienced their sled dogs were weak from the journey and as they set up camp they realized that

much of the food they had brought had spoiled despite this they remained positive since Stephenson had assured them that the island had ample game so they would have more than enough to eat but they soon started facing the challenge of surviving in the cold Arctic what were these challenges and how did they survive the winter if they did let's find out their ordeals began a soon discovered that the island was crawling with polar bears this fear combined with her homesickness led her to develop a condition called Arctic hysteria during her first months there aah became

very emotional and developed strong feelings for Crawford which made things on the island more difficult she frequently ran away from Camp leaving the men to cook for themselves although this wasn't a huge issue they needed her to sew warm clothes otherwise they would freeze during the winter the men spread their tents across the island to cover more hunting grounds which also helped to keep adaah away from Crawford despite this she walked 15 miles to Crawford's Camp many times only to be dragged back screaming by night as winter came the days were extremely cold and dark

the temperatures averaged aroundus 30° C and because of the long polar night the Sun never Rose above the Horizon there was nothing to hunt so the men spent most of the day in their tents A's Behavior became a problem for the Expedition the isolation weighed heavily on a she struggled with bouts of depression and thoughts of suicide exacerbated by the men's distrust and mistreatment remember the shaman she visited earlier before the trip so every sight of the men's knives tear terrified her and the shaman convinced her to stay clear of that she knew none of

the men particularly wanted her there and that they all regretted taking her and was convinced that Knight was going to kill her on one occasion she walked off into the snow with a bottle of linament that she planned to drink to kill herself on another occasion she followed fox tracks away from the camp because she believed that there were spirits that disguised themselves as foxes and if she could find them she would be treated kindly however the men regretted bringing her and needed her to change her behavior so they told her she would be forced

to sleep outside if she didn't do her job they mocked her skills denied her food and subjected her to harsh conditions including tying her to a flag pole at times despite these challenges a persevered finding small joys in her sewing and occasional camaraderie with the team well she changed and began to work extremely efficiently fortunately when the summer months arrived the island had plenty of wildlife just as Stephenson had promised however summer wouldn't last forever the group was anxious for a ship to arrive but sadly no one came to rescue them unbeknownst to the party

teddy bear the ship chartered to pick them up had been forced to turn back because it was stuck in the ice the captain Joe Bernard realized there was no way the vessel could penetrate the ice so he was forced to turn back leaving the group to survive another year as ice began to surround the island their hopes for the arrival of a ship were extinguished their only option was to prepare for winter as September came to an end the wildlife started to disappear the group's food supply was quickly running out there was no way their

stores would last through the winter and it wasn't long before they began to starve by January 1923 the situation was Dire not Not only was the group starving but 28-year-old American Lauren Knight was extremely ill he showed symptoms of scurvy and his condition was only getting worse with their stores empty and hunting proving ineffective the group decided they couldn't stay put the men soon realized they needed to seek help if they were to survive with heavy hearts three of them made the difficult decision to leave Ada and Lauren night behind promising a swift return they

believed their chances of finding aist distance would be higher if they traveled light Lauren Knight couldn't go with the other men because he suffered from scurvy aah with her limited survival skills and a Heart full of Hope watched them depart clinging to the promise of their quick return what she didn't know was that these men would never be seen again so on the 29th of January Crawford maer and Gala decided to set out in search of help they hoped to cross the 700 Frozen miles of the chuki sea meanwhile Ada was left to care for

Knight Crawford M and Gala were never seen again the hardships they encountered while mushing for miles on end Can Only Be Imagined well it remains a mystery how or when they died or if they even made it to Siberia AA was now alone with the bedridden Knight and the cat Vic however she did her best to care for him acting as a nurse companion and servant all at once yet she still had to provide food for both herself and Knight meaning she also had to serve as a Huntress and cook how did she survive without

the others while still having to take care of the sick Knight keep watching to find out A's Solo Survival by March a had drastically improved her survival skills she developed a successful method to lure and trap white foxes and also began shooting birds for food sadly Knight frequently mistreated aah shouting at her due to his helpless condition every morning and night aah heated sand to put on Knight's feet she even emptied his bed pan despite doing everything in her power to ease his pain during his final months of life he never seemed grateful instead he

constantly criticized her for not taking better care of him the harsh words he hurled at aah often made her cry but she remained strong and quickly returned to hunting in her diary she wrote about the hardship she endured while caring for him stating he never stopped to think how hard it is for a woman to take four men's places to do woodwork to hunt something for him to eat to make his bed and to take the ice out for him aah rarely shared emotions in her diary but one day these challenges pushed AA to the

brink of her physical and emotional limits she wrote on April 1923 and he mentions my children and saying no wonder your children die you never take good care of them she continues he just tears me into pieces when he mentions my children that I lost this is the worst life I have ever Liv in this world however her resourcefulness and determination kept them alive through the brutal winter months she soon overcame her fears learning to shoot rifles and Hunt polar bears at the entrance of her tent she stacked boxes on top of each other creating

a makeshift cupboard to store am munition binoculars and other essential survival tools she also built a gun rack above her bed so she would be armed if polar bears ventured too close to the camp additionally she erected a raised platform that allowed her to spot and shoot polar bears from a distance despite their conflicts adaah and Knight found solace in shared stories and moments of spiritual reflection in a gesture of trust and companionship Knight gave aah his Bible which became a source of comfort amidst their isolation after 6 months of caring for Knight he finally

passed away aah recorded his death on gala's typewriter the document read the date of Mr Knight's death he died on June 23rd I don't know what time he died though anyway I write the date just to let Mr Stephenson know what month he died and what day of the month written by Mrs adaah B Jack following this aah left Knight's corpse resting on his bed and zipped up his sleeping bag one might think she would later bury him but she didn't instead she piled up boxes to create a barrier keeping his body Out Of Reach

and protected from wild animals mentally she was unable to bring herself to bury her former companion to avoid the smell of night's decomposing body she moved into the storage tent she then used wood to support the tent structural Integrity strengthening the damaged walls and ceiling despite being alone except for her cat Vic with no idea if anyone was going to come for her it would have been easy to fall into despair aah waited hoping her companions would return she worried about enduring another harsh winter on the island and wondered if she would ever see her

son Bennett again yet a stayed strong doing all she could to survive she continued writing things in her dairies which were quite straightforward and uncomplaining even though she suffered from headaches stomach aches swollen eyes and the symptoms of growing scurvy in broken English and Haiku like pros she reports her activities the weather and her thanks to Jesus I caught one female fox and I haul one sled load and chop wood she wrote in March 1923 I had a good rest today she wrote in July thank God but in the delicate Pages aah also imparts hints

of her desperation the strange dreams the visions of a peaceful church service in Gnome she wasn't sure she'd everever live to see again the wishes for her son should she perish she also suffered from the crippling Terror of polar bears while hunting one day she narrowly escaped a bear when it stalked her but chose to eat the seal she'd shot instead occasionally Blackjack would shoot at hungry Brewing from her tent door in the midst of all these she was determined to be reunited with her son and raise him and it seemed that this determination kept

her going when a wasn't constructing hunting or doing basic survival activities she sometimes took pictures of the camp fortunately the Expedition included photography equipment allowing her to experiment she even captured photographs of herself outside the tent after Knight's death aah managed to hunt her first seal and gather eggs for food she built a boat from wood and animal skins but lost it to the wind despite these setbacks she kept watch for any signs of rescue and never gave up how was she able to get off the island let's find out the rescue on August 19th

1923 on a frosty evening on Wrangle Island located 160 kilm North of the Siberian Coast adaah Blackjack sat alone dressed in a heavy reindeer jacket preparing another meager meal as she sat down to eat she heard a noise it was distinct like a little girl whistling at first she dismissed it but the next morning she heard the sound again this time she realized it was a ship's whistle after 2 years of survival on a freezing deserted island she was finally being rescued grabbing binoculars aah ran outside and in the distance saw a sooner with crew

members wandering along the shore she jumped laughed and cried her happiness pouring out in tears of joy she had stayed on the island for 703 days 57 of them alone her savior Captain Harold noise of the ship Donaldson was deeply impressed he later said even I who had long ago stopped believing in heroic people was a little excited by the strength of her spirit she really is a Robinson cruso woman in the real world the fact that she survived is a huge credit to her skills in adapting to the wild Captain Harold was a former

colleague of Stephenson the crew of the rescue boat noted that aah had mastered her environment so well that it seemed likely she could have lived there another year although the isolation would have been a dreadful experience finally after so long being isolated from the rest of the world she would be able to see her son and be reunited with her sisters it's a tremendous credit to her skills of adaptability and canniness in the wilderness that she survived says John McAn author of a history of the Arctic nature exploration and exploitation and professor of history at

Southern New Hampshire University he continues by saying native people were incredibly important in these Expeditions but only in a couple of cases would they achieve the kind of celebrity status as the white explorers they were helping news of her incredible story and the expedition's tragic end quickly spread throughout Canada and the United States aah found herself at the center of a flurry of press attention lauding her as a hero and praising her for her courage but the quiet seamstress shied away from the attention and titles insisting that she was simply a mother who needed to

get home to her son some newspapers even called her a real female Robinson cruso as she was the sole survivor of the Expedition apart from Vic of course in the end a is reunited with her son Bennett when she arrives in Gnome she also received payment for her 2 years on the island although it was less than the $50 monthly salary she had been promised using this money and what she earned by selling Furs from the Expedition she took Bennett out of the orphanage and brought him home with her aah later took Bennett to a

hospital in Seattle settling there for a while to treat his to tuberculosis despite his condition improving his health problems remained an issue for much of his life what happened to her beloved Bennett and how did she spend her life after the incident let's find out life after the survival aah Blackjack went on to remarry and had another son named Billy Hood she then left Seattle and returned to Alaska unfortunately her later life was filled with sadness and poverty not only did she not receive any money from the subsequent publication of several books and articles about

the disastrous Expedition but a series of smear campaigns negatively impacted her reputation claiming she had cold-heartedly refused to care for Knight meanwhile those who spread lies about her including Stephenson tried to profit as much as possible from the story as the man responsible for the tragedy Stephenson's reputation was severely tainted and he became hated by the public for sending inexperienced young men then to Wrangle Island aah blackjack's son Bennett passed away in 1975 at the age of 58 after suffering from a stroke in Seattle she married again but in 1937 she returned to gnome aah

spent her final years in Alaska passing away on May 29th 1983 at the age of 855 she is remembered as the courageous heroine of wrangle Island and she is honored with a plaque on her grave in anchoring Memorial Park Cemetery she was buried beside her son Bennett adaah Blackjack remains one of The Shining examples of a strong woman who cared for others with courageous resourcefulness and above all did not lose her head in difficult times a century later her story continues to resonate and Inspire especially among her fellow Alaskan natives as an innuit woman who

was raised like aah in a village but so contemporary I wonder would I survive that says Holly mitik nordlum an inupiat artist who co-produced a short documentary on Ada here in Alaska that strength and survival that she showed doing what you can and figuring things out those are things that all of us have to have to survive even just growing up in a village she's one of us I see myself in her that's what inspires me what would you have done in A's situation let us know in the comment section below if you found her

story as inspiring as we did don't forget to like share and subscribe for more Tales of human Triumph thank you for watching and be sure to check out our other videos on this channel