[John K. Howard--home movies] Reels 27 & 28

Date1920 – 1940

Viewing NotesNHF cataloguer's notes for Reel 27 and 28, 10/14/1998 JS: (00:04) Intertitle: 'North Iceland and Northeast Greenland. The Expedition's ship, the Norwegian Sealer Norkap II, sailed from Gloucester, Mass.' Deck of ship with rigging, appurtenances, etc. Intertitle: 'A year's supply of food was put on board in case of having to overwinter.' Men load supplies from shore to shipboard. Sailors wave as ship commences its voyage. Map showing location of Greenland. Silhouette map against white background. (Shot a bit flickery.) Intertitle: 'The midnight rendezvous with the Resolute.' Two ships. Sailors. Steam emanates from ship's smokestacks. Silhouette map of Greenland. Moving white line traverses map to show route of voyage. Intertitle: 'Cape North and the coast of Iceland.' (03:12) Ship. Snowy cliffs. Icelandic flag. Intertitle: 'An accident to the reversing fork of the propeller necessitated our being towed for 64 hours by our 4 h.p. Johnson outboard motor.' Pipe-smoking man carries outboard motor forward across deck. Motorboat at side of ship. Man stands in motorboat. Rope extended to attach motorboat to larger ship. Intertitle: 'Luckily the Greenland Sea was calm.' Washing hung on deck line. Man steps into motorboat at side. (06:01) Intertitle: 'Millions of sea birds summer in these waters.' Lone bird flying. Intertitle: 'Fulmar'. Intertitle: 'Murre'. Flock flying birds. Intertitle: 'Whale'. Fractional view of whale skimming beneath water. Intertitle: 'We come to the Greenland ice pack.' Icebergs. Intertitle: 'Greenland in sight.' Rigging of ship. Snowy Greenland shores. Rope ladder on ship's deck. Waves increase. Ship's rigging. Ice along shoreline. (07:44) Intertitle: 'Cape Brewster.' Snowy peaks along shoreline. Icebergs. Pan. Intertitle: 'Scoresby Sund.' Massive icebergs. Intertitle: 'Everybody on board is busy.' C.U. man's hands as he adjusts and oils instrument. Man shaving another as viewed through window. Barber on deck cuts man's hair. Man sits cross-legged writing letter on deck. Man pounds on instrument as he holds it in large kettle. He looks up. He is smoking pipe. Man works telegraph. (10:06) Intertitle: 'The plumbing is simple, but effective.' Man crouches as he shaves on deck. He uses inverted device as mirror. Pipe-smoking man emerges from behind door. Different pipe-smoking man dips pail extended on rope into water. Man throws contents of pail behind door. Intertitle: 'Pack ice ahead.' Man standing at ship's side peers into water, points. (Shot is flickery.) Ice mass extending into water. Steam emanates from small chimney. Man turns ship's steering wheel. Rigging. (12:01) Intertitle: 'Seal'. Man hunches over rifle attached to side of ship. Intertitle: 'A miss.' Seal splashes near ice of shoreline. Intertitle: 'More seal.' Pan ice mass. (Shot is flickery, blemishes on film.) Seal barely visible near shoreline ice. Intertitle: 'We kill two of them.' Seal flops about on ice floe. Dead seal on ice floe. Men haul seal from ice floe to rowboat. Man stands on ice floe as he sharpens knife. Intertitle: 'The thick blubber peals off like an overcoat.' Man cutting seal. Intertitle: 'Seal steaks are delicious.' Group of men gathered for meal. Men smile, eat, thoroughly enjoying the meal. Intertitle: 'Nothing is wasted- parasitologist obtains lots of specimens. The small intestine of this seal was 90 feet long.' Man cuts seal's intestine, holding, extending it into pail. Intertitle: 'The Midnight Sun.' Pan rigging silhouette. Intertitle: 'More icebergs.' Giant iceberg with much smaller one in front. Intertitle: 'And ice mast high came floating by as green as emerald. The Ancient Mariner.' (16:06) Giant iceberg. Silhouette ship's rigging. Deck gear, structure. Intertitle: 'The friendly Arctic. On the heavier ice there are many pools of crystal clear, fresh water. We tie up to a pan and fill our water tanks.' Ice surrounds ship. Man crouches over, working on ice. (18:52) Man pours water from one pail into a slenderer pail which buddy brings him. Man on ice dips pail into water once more. Man fills container from pump. Icebergs. Three men standing in bow of ship. One has bincoculars. Intertitle: 'Game in sight. Polar bear.' (Flickery, slightly-blemished shot.) Ice floe in distance. (Blemishes, flickering clears up.) (20:20) Polar bear walks on iceberg, swims. Closer view of swimming polar bear. Polar bear runs across iceberg. Ship. Bear resumes swimming in water. Shot, polar bear rolls over on iceberg. Two men place rope around dead bears neck and drag him across iceberg and into rowboat. Bear is hoisted to deck of ship. 22:55. Man with knife crouches over to skin bear. Intertitle: 'We run into heavier ice of Kong Oscar Fjord. The ice was here and the ice was there. The ice was all around. The Ancient Mariner.' Large icebergs. Moderate ice floes. Intertitle: 'But we go right ahead the engineer always standing by to reverse instantly on the signal from the bridge.' Smoke from ship's chimney. Ship's compass. Furnace. Boiler equipment. Icebergs. 24:33. Smaller boat's bow as it floats in water. It veers onto iceberg. Equipment on side of ship. Intertitle: 'The ice did split with a thunder fit. The helmsman steered us through'. Iceberg splitting in two. Prow of ship with rope or wire extended. Intertitle: 'Beset.' Ropes, masts of ship. Man working in circular device at mast top. Rear shot two men walking across iceberg. Mountain sides in distance. 27:07. Intertitle: 'Mackenzie Bay'. Icebergs. Mountain sides. Left pan. area. Map. Mostly islands of Arctic region. Names jump around on map to designate varied locations, fjords, glaciers. Intertitle: 'The small boats help us find camp sites and land equipment and provisions.' Man in leather jacket attends motor of motorboat. Prow of boat, man as boat journeys over water. Ship on side in water. Looks to be partially submerged. 29:10. Intertitle: 'We beached the Norkap to adjust the propeller.' Rigging, equipment of beached ship. Man lying on stomach in motor or rowboat reaches down into water. Intertitle: 'North Fjord from Strindberg Land.' Shoreline snow. Intertitle: 'Camp on Strindberg Land(the huts have been built by the Norwegians and Danes as refuges).' Tent and small hut. Two men. Man talks while sitting in tent. 31:00. Intertitle: 'Salmon'. Mountain sides. Iceberg. Two men land fish in net. Man cuts, fillets fish. Intertitle: 'When musk ox are scared they take to the high country. We followed them into places which were only fit for mountain sheep and goat.' Overhead shot of animal traversing rocky surface. Mountain side. 32:54. Man smoking pipe. He blows smoke. Dog sits just below him. Snowy surface. Intertitle: 'Eider ducks.' Ducks visible in distance. Intertitle: 'Our musk ox dog.' Dog lying on floor. Intertitle: 'Geology Fjord' Fjord which is small waterfall intersecting rocky surface. 34:01. Intertitle: 'Musk ox at Eleonore Bay, with the 6000 foot Teufelschloss(Devil's Castle) in the distance about 18 miles away.' Mountain side in distance. Three oxen graze on grass. Lone ox. Snow blows. Intertitle: 'Is Fjord.' Ship's rope ladder. Mountain sides. Intertitle: 'There are icebergs in the fjords, too.' 36:58. Huge, towering icebergs. Intertitle: 'Nordenskiold Glacier at the head of Franz Joseph Fjord. It is such glaciers that 'calve' the icebergs.' Intertitle: 'Bathing is not all it might be.' Man emerges from door on ship's deck. He disrobes. Buddy pours pail of water over him. He washes himself with hands. Intertitle: 'Kjerulf Fjord branches off at the very head of Franz Joseph Fjord about 200 kilometers from its mouth and very nearly that directly inland from the coast. It is full of stranded icebergs. Despite two or three hundred icebergs Isakson took the Norkap to within about half a mile of the fjord's head. This is further than any other vessel is reported as penetrating.' 39:13. Right pan. line of icebergs. Intertitle: 'Fjord seal'. Only its head visible, seal swims beneath the water. Intertitle: 'Barnacle geese'. Mountain sides. Flock of geese on water. Geese fly just above water. Geese swim along. Icebergs in background. Intertitle: 'Preparing the geese for the museums.' Man sits on ship's deck. Goose on table, he is cleaning, dissecting it with delicate instrument. Man works very carefully. Icebergs. (Blemishes, flickers in shot.) 41:53. Intertitle: 'Ruins of the vanished Eskimo of Northeast Greenland.' Man working around stones. Crouching man picks up shards from ground, carefully examines them and lays them aside. Two men in row or motorboat as it skims on water. Intertitle: 'The doctor returns to the Norkap'. Bearded, scholarly appearing man emerges from row or motorboat. He climbs onto wharf. Intertitle: 'Down the fjord again.' Ship's deck, ropes. Men lean against railing. 43:47. Intertitle: 'Arctic hare are white the year 'round.' Rocky surface. White hares bounding over it. Intertitle: 'Hare make a fine stew.' Men outside hut-tent. Steam ascends from pot. Intertitle: 'More musk ox on Ymer Island.' Herd of oxen gathered on field. 46:00. Intertitle: 'The bull protects the cows and calves.' Ox runs after dog. Herd of oxen behind. Two calves stand behind adult ox. Dog approaches, begins to bark. Ox charges forward. Dog begins barking as ox and two calves stand side by side. 48:28. Intertitle: 'We leave Ymer Island.' Intertitle: 'Fossil hunting a leaf from the great stone book.' Four men on stony slope. Man driving object into ground. Wedge has divided stone which man separates. Man studies stone and places other half on ground. Intertitle: 'We leave Franz Joseph Fjord'. Mountain peaks in distance. Man painting as he sits on ship's deck. 50:06. Intertitle: 'More polar bear.' Silhouette of ship's rigging with two men standing on deck. Mountains. Islands in background. Polar bears running on ice floe. Point-of-view ride as we go by ice floe, polar bears. Swimming polar bear. Polar bears jump from ice floe to resume swimming in water. Their vigorous swimming creates foam. 53:24. Intertitle: 'It is fall already. The sea is freezing over with a thin skin of ice between the pans during the few hours each night that the sun is below the horizon.' Intertitle: 'We hurry out the sea away from the Greenland coast and the danger of freezing in for the winter.' Mast of ship. Intertitle: 'We turn south as Fall comes early over the Arctic. The sun sets now over the Greenland Sea and night appears once more.' Left pan. Intertitle: 'The End.' (End of Reels 27 and 28.)

Creator

• John Howard

• John Howard