Marten Hartwell

2025-02-01T18:20:34Z

69.158.125.154: Inuk is the singular form of Inuit

{{Short description|Canadian bush pilot}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=December 2018}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2018}}
'''Marten Hartwell'''<ref>Some sources spell his name as '''Martin'''</ref> (1925 – April 2, 2013)<ref name=Tadman91>{{cite book |last=Tadman |first=Peter |date=1991 |title= Survivor|isbn=0-921835-16-7|publisher= Gorman and Gorman Ltd.}}</ref>{{rp|18}}<ref name="eugene">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=K6lVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9-ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6427,3261513&dq=martin-hartwell+and+45&hl=en |title=Eskimo boy 'decided to die' |work=Eugene Register-Guard |date=December 13, 1972 |accessdate=2012-08-11}}</ref><ref name="sydney">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cPljAAAAIBAJ&sjid=A-UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6168,4662318&hl=en |title=Crash pilot's 31 day Arctic ordeal |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=December 11, 1972 |accessdate=2012-08-11}}</ref> was a German-Canadian [[Bush flying|bush pilot]] in the [[Northern Canada|Canadian Arctic]].<ref name="eugene"/> On November 8, 1972, the plane that Hartwell was flying on a [[medical evacuation]] crashed.<ref name="eugene"/> One passenger was killed on impact, another died shortly after, and the pilot had two broken ankles and could not walk.<ref name="eugene"/> One passenger, a boy, [[David Pisurayak Kootook]], survived the initial crash along with Hartwell but died after 23 days.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/136-59616|access-date=19 November 2020|title=Mr. David Kootook - Meritorious Service Decorations - Civil Division|website=The Governor General of Canada}}</ref> The pilot was rescued after 31 days. Since the pilot was injured and unable to obtain local food, and emergency rations had run out, the pilot was forced to consume flesh from one of the dead passengers.<ref name="eugene"/><ref name="deathreport"/> At the time of his death he lived at [[Black River, Kings, Nova Scotia]].<ref>[http://www.whitefamilyfuneralhome.com/obituaries/78361 Marten Hartwell] at White Family Funeral Home</ref>

[[File:Beech 18h.jpg|thumb|A Beech 18, similar to the incident aircraft C-FRLD.]]

==Biography==
Leopold Herrmann, born in 1925 in Germany, was given [[Luftwaffe|military flight training in 1944]], In 1958 he obtained a West German pilot's licence and emigrated to Canada in 1967. He was in the process of legally changing his name to Marten Hartwell at the time of the accident.<ref name=Tadman91/>{{rp|122 & 57}} He died on April 2, 2013, at the age of 88.<ref name="deathreport">{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/pilot-who-survived-1972-arctic-medevac-crash-dies-at-88-1.1305702|title=Pilot who survived 1972 Arctic medevac crash dies at 88|publisher=[[CBC News]] |date=2013-04-04|accessdate=2015-10-23}}</ref>

==Crash==
{{Location map many
| Canada Northwest Territories
| caption = Departure ([[Cambridge Bay]]), crash site ([[Hottah Lake]]) and destination ([[Yellowknife]])
| label1 = Cambridge Bay
| lat1_deg = 69
| lat1_min = 07
| lat1_sec = 02
| lat1_dir = N
| lon1_deg = 105
| lon1_min = 03
| lon1_sec = 11
| lon1_dir = W
|coordinates1=| label2 = Hottah Lake
| lat2_deg = 65
| lat2_min = 30
| lat2_dir = N
| lon2_deg = 118
| lon2_min = 29
| lon2_dir = W
| label3 = Yellowknife
| lat3_deg = 62
| lat3_min = 26
| lat3_sec = 32
| lat3_dir = N
| lon3_deg = 114
| lon3_min = 23
| lon3_sec = 51
| lon3_dir = W
}}
On November 8, 1972, Hartwell was given a charter to fly from [[Cambridge Bay]], [[Northwest Territories]] (now [[Nunavut]]) with three passengers who had just arrived from [[Taloyoak|Spence Bay]]; a pregnant [[Inuit|Inuk]] woman named Neemee Nulliayok, a 14-year-old Inuk boy named [[David Pisurayak Kootook]] (who was suffering from [[appendicitis]]), and an attending government nurse named Judy Hill.<ref name="eugene"/> Hartwell was not flying a normal scheduled route, but happened to be in Cambridge Bay after dropping off prospectors on the Barrens. His aircraft, a Gateway Aviation [[Beechcraft Model 18|Beechcraft 18]],<ref name="eugene"/> was chartered by the nurse in Cambridge Bay to fly on to [[Yellowknife]] where his passengers could receive medical care at the local hospital.<ref name="sydney"/>

After leaving [[Cambridge Bay Airport]] during very bad weather conditions, Hartwell's plane traveled about {{convert|700|km|abbr=on}} before crashing into a hillside near [[Hottah Lake]], southeast of [[Great Bear Lake]]. The nurse, Judy Hill was killed on impact. The Inuk woman died several hours later.<ref name="eugene"/> Hartwell and the young boy survived the crash, although both of Hartwell's ankles, his left knee and his nose were [[fracture]]d.<ref name="eugene"/><ref name="glasgow">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OtA9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=AUgMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4968,1954033&hl=en |title=Pilot tells of long Arctic ordeal |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=December 11, 1972 |accessdate=2012-08-11}}</ref> For weeks the two survived the brutally harsh weather where the average temperature was {{Convert|−35|F|order=flip}}. Kootook was instrumental in the pair's survival by erecting a tent and making fires. He died after the 20th day whereupon the pilot survived by eating part of the leg of the nurse.<ref>{{cite book |title=As Told at the Explorers Club: More Than Fifty Gripping Tales of Adventure |first=George |last=Plimpton |publisher=[[Globe Pequot]] |year=2005 |isbn=9781592286584 |page=[https://archive.org/details/astoldatexplorer00geor/page/111 111] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/astoldatexplorer00geor/page/111 }}</ref>

==Search==
The initial search, which lasted three weeks, failed to find any trace of the Hartwell plane and was called off. After a three day pause the search was reopened by the [[Minister of National Defence (Canada)|Minister of Defence]], [[James Armstrong Richardson|James Richardson]], and Hartwell was found alive 31 days after the crash. The search cost about one million Canadian dollars, the most costly search and rescue operation in Canadian aviation history to that date.<ref name=Tadman91/>{{rp|25}}

Pressure to resume the search came from Susan Haley of the [[University of Alberta]], [[Edmonton]] and her father, Dr Haley of [[Acadia University]], [[Nova Scotia]]. The search resumed in difficult conditions. There were less than six hours of daylight and temperatures were 10 to 20 below zero out on the barrenlands. The resumed search did not find the lost plane. The plane was found after a [[Lockheed C-130 Hercules|Hercules]] aircraft of the [[Canadian Armed Forces]] on a return trip from the [[Inuvik]] Supplementary Radio Station ([[CFS Inuvik]]) picked up an emergency signal from the aircraft's [[Emergency position-indicating radiobeacon station|emergency radio beacon]] on December 7, 1972.<ref name=Tadman91/>{{rp|26}} According to a speech given in 2011 by General [[Ramsey Muir Withers]], the beacon had not been turned on until 30 days after the crash. Three aircraft were dispatched to the area and on December 8 the crash site was located. Paratroopers were dropped and a helicopter was sent to pick up Hartwell.<ref>[http://www.rcsigs.ca/index.php/General_Ramsey_Withers_Nothern_Mess_Dinner_Speech_2011 General Ramsey Withers Northern Mess Dinner Speech 2011]</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Canadians Rescue Pilot of Plane Lost A Month in Arctic (Published 1972) |work=The New York Times |date=December 10, 1972 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404090130/https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/10/archives/canadians-rescue-pilot-of-plane-lost-a-month-in-arctic-canadians.html?_r=0 |archive-date=2023-04-04 |url-status=live |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/10/archives/canadians-rescue-pilot-of-plane-lost-a-month-in-arctic-canadians.html?_r=0}}</ref>

==Inquiry==
The international interest in the loss of the plane was demonstrated by the sudden arrival in Yellowknife of the international press corps. Hartwell gave a lengthy interview to the Observer  after his rescue, but did not cooperate in any attempt to portray the story in film or on television.

Although Hartwell refused to attend the Yellowknife inquest into the loss of the plane and its passengers a lot of evidence about Hartwell was presented to the Yellowknife inquest. The inquest was told that members of the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] (RCMP) who inspected Hartwell's camp had found small plastic bags containing human remains. Hartwell greeted his rescuers by saying: "Welcome to the camp of a [[Human cannibalism|cannibal]]."<ref name="sydney"/> At the crash scene he left a note for his son Peer. The note was translated by Gerry Reimann of Yellowknife and was read into the inquest record. The note said:
{{Quote|When you receive this letter, I will be dead. I have had an accident on Nov. 8/72 and I am still laying in the bush with broken legs. Have no more food. Please forgive me for sins. I love you, my only son. Please contact Miss Susan Haley c/o Department of Philosophy, U of A, Edmonton, Alberta. She was, for the past year and a half, a close companion. An even better address may be: Miss Susan Haley c/o Dr Haley, University of Wolfville, N.S., Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. There are savings in the Imperial Bank of Commerce here in Yellowknife and Edmonton. You should have $3,000 and Susan the rest that she may pay my debts and the unpaid ones with court. I am wishing you all the best and remember me. In my heart I was not all that bad.<ref name=Tadman91/>{{rp|100–101}}}}
A warned statement, obtained by an RCMP officer from Hartwell, was read into the inquest record.<ref name=Tadman91/>{{rp|92}} David Kootook survived living off tree [[Bark (botany)|bark]]. He refused to eat any of Judy Hill's flesh. He died about a week before Hartwell was rescued. Two paramedics were parachuted into the crash scene. Hartwell was first taken to Stanton Yellowknife Hospital where he was said to be relatively good condition after his ordeal.<ref name=Tadman91/>{{rp|45}}

An accident investigation report was released by the [[Transportation Safety Board of Canada|Air Accident Investigation Branch]] of the [[Transport Canada|Ministry of Transport]] on July 3, 1973. Among its findings were that the pilot had not been qualified for night [[Instrument flight rules|instrument flight]], and that Gateway Aviation (his employer) did not have adequate supervision or policies for its [[visual flight rules]] pilots.<ref name="Tadman91" />{{rp|122–123}}

Hartwell's pilot's licence was suspended for a time after the incident. He returned to northern flying and settled at [[Tulita|Fort Norman]] and started his own aviation company. He was involved in a second crash in October 1987 but walked out after two days; there were no fatalities.<ref name=Tadman91/>{{rp|167}} Hartwell retired from flying after selling his company in 1991.

==Legacy==
The story of Hartwell's survival, with emphasis on the role played by Kootook, are related in "The Marten Hartwell Story" by Canadian balladeer [[Stompin' Tom Connors]]. Connors' song does not contain any reference to the cannibalism aspects of the incident.

In 1998 David Pisuriak Kootook, the Inuk boy from Taloyoak who saved the downed pilot, was honoured by the [[Northern Transportation Company]] by having a ship named after him.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/archives/nunavut981031/nvt81002_16.html |title=NTCL names ship after David Pisurayak Kootook |publisher=Nunatsiaqonline.ca |date=October 2, 1998 |accessdate=2012-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415110826/http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/archives/nunavut981031/nvt81002_16.html |archive-date=April 15, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was also awarded, posthumously in 1994, the [[Meritorious Service Cross]], which is awarded for "a deed or an activity that has been performed in an outstandingly professional manner, or with uncommonly high standards."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=14956 |title=Meritorious Service Decorations |work=Governor General of Canada |date=March 7, 2013 |accessdate=2013-03-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=123&t=8&ln=Kootook |title=Mr. David Kootook, M.S.C. |work=Governor General of Canada |date=September 30, 1994 |accessdate=2013-03-12}}</ref>

The Spence Bay nurse, Judy Hill, was born at [[Kingsbridge|Kingsbridge, England]]. Judy Hill's mother was a matron at a local hospital. In 1977 a [[BBC]] reporter, Jim McDougall, published a book titled ''Angel of the Snow'' about Judy Hill.<ref>{{cite book |title=Angel of the Snow: The story of Judy Hill |first=Jim |last=McDougall |publisher=Frederick Muller Ltd. |location=London |year=1977 |isbn=0-584-10317-4}}</ref> According to McDougall a Judy Hill Memorial Fund was organised and contributions was made from around the world. The money is used to help in the training of nurses.

McDougall says that Neemee and David were buried in a private plot in [[Edmonton]]. Judy Hill's body was taken to [[Banff, Alberta|Banff]] where she was cremated and her ashes were scattered by Judy's boyfriend Chris at a quiet place on the [[Bow River]].

==See also ==

* [[List of incidents of cannibalism]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:Bush pilots]]
[[Category:Canadian aviators]]
[[Category:Canadian cannibals]]
[[Category:Canadian people of German descent]]
[[Category:Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents]]

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Marten Hartwell