No Man's Land?

North of Eastern Siberia, an island 70 miles long, 40 miles wide, consisting chiefly of naked rocks, and inhabited normally by nothing but polar bears, is claimed by Russia, Canada, the United States; and there is a possibility that Japan may come into the controversy.

Wrangel Land was sighted by Siberians early in the 19th Century. Baron Ferdinand Wrangel, a Russian explorer, attempted to penetrate the island, but failed. In retaliation he gave it his name. Hence the Soviet claim.

Thomas Long, American whaler, cruised along the island in 1867, but its real discovery came in 1881, when the U. S. revenue cutter Corwin landed a search party, built a cairn, raised the American flag, made formal claim to the island in the name of the U. S. A.

Alan R. Crawford, Canadian, with three companions, all from the Vilhjalmur Stefansson expedition, have supposedly been in occupation of the island since 1921. Stefansson urges the Canadian and British Governments to annex Wrangel Land for a landing on a future Arctic airline. It is even suggested that the Japanese may move in if Canada does not acquire the island.

Harold Noice, a Canadian, left Nome on Aug. 3 on the schooner Donaldson, to relieve Crawford and place another man on the island. The Soviet authorities of Siberia plan to capture the relief party and the Crawford " settlement."