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| Edward
Israel: Arctic Explorer
Edward
Israel was born in Kalamazoo on 1 July 1859.
He died almost 25 years later on 27 May 1884 in a tent at
Cape Sabine on Ellesmere Island far to the north of the Arctic
Circle. The story of
how he came to die so young in such a forsaken
place is a long and fascinating one.
In fact, two full length books have been written on the
subject of the Greely Expedition, of which Israel was a member.
Here there is only space for a brief sketch of the life of
Kalamazoo's own Arctic explorer and the part he played in the
ill-fated expedition that, for a brief time, captured the attention
of the world. Mannes
Israel, Edward's father, was the first Jewish citizen to reside in
the village of Kalamazoo. He
arrived in 1844 and established a dry goods store on the corner of
Michigan Avenue and Rose Street.
Edward's mother was Tillie Israel.
She raised the children and continued the family business
after the death of her husband.
Edward attended the Kalamazoo Public Schools and then
continued his education at the University of Michigan.
It was there, just a few months before he was to graduate in
1881, that Israel was nominated by one of his professors for a
position as the astronomer on a United States government expedition
to the Arctic. Israel
excitedly accepted the nomination, was granted his diploma by the
university, and returned home to Kalamazoo to bid farewell to his
family. On 28 April
1881 Israel left Kalamazoo for Washington. He would not return
alive. The
Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (also commonly called the Greely
Expedition after its leader Lieutenant Adolphus Greely) was
chartered by the federal government as part of a worldwide plan to
send groups to the polar regions to conduct scientific experiments
and measurements. Greely,
Israel, and twenty three other men set out from Washington, D.C., for
Newfoundland on 9 June 1881.
From there they boarded a special ship that took them to
their final destination at Lady Franklin Bay, well north of the
Arctic Circle. From a base they christened Fort Conger, the men spent two
lonely years conducting their measurements and experiments in about
as much comfort as one could expect in such a frozen and barren
place. Israel was responsible for taking hundreds of readings each
day, including astronomical, pendulum, magnetic, and meteorological
observations. The men had plenty of food, a sturdy structure to keep the
elements at bay, and even some luxuries (each man was given a quart
of rum on his birthday). The
first sign that something was wrong came in the summer of 1882 when
the ship that was supposed to resupply the expedition failed to
arrive. However, they
still had plenty of provisions for the following year.
Another year passed and the summer of 1883 crawled by in the
never-ending daylight of an arctic summer.
Supplies were beginning to run out, and so, according to a
predetermined plan Greely decided to lead his men back south across
the ice to Cape Sabine where they could make use of a cache of
supplies and make themselves more easily rescued.
It was 9 August 1883 when the men finally left Fort Conger
with all the supplies they could carry loaded into small boats and
set off southwards. Israel's
readings were the only way the party could determine their location
on the constantly shifting ice.
Without Israel the entire party would probably have been
lost. Eventually the expedition reached Cape Sabine where they
received the worst possible news.
The relief ship had been crushed in the ice and sunk, and
only a fraction of the necessary supplies had been delivered.
The Greely expedition would have to suffer through another
arctic winter, this time with almost no supplies and no proper
shelter. Nine
months passed, and all but six of the expedition members slowly
succumbed to frostbite, exposure, and starvation.
Edward Israel died about three weeks before
the remaining men were finally rescued by a U.S. Navy ship that had
managed to break through the ice.
One of the survivors wrote of Israel's passing,
"Everyone was his friend.
He had no enemies. His frankness, his honesty, and his noble generosity of
nature had won the hearts of all his companions.
His unswerving integrity during these months of agony has
been a shining example; and although his sacrifices were lost to a
few, still the effect has produced good fruit.
For lack of strength we could not bury him today." Edward
Israel's body was returned to Kalamazoo on 11 August 1884.
Thousands turned out at the railway station to pay their
respects, and the businesses of the town were all closed.
He was buried in the Jewish cemetery adjacent to Mountain Home
Cemetery. A historical
marker was erected near his gravesite in 1972 to commemorate
Kalamazoo's Arctic explorer.
Written by Alex Forist, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, August 2005. Last updated 7 June 2006.
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