xxiv FOREWORD 



held for 300 years. Greely's mark was 83° 24', which 

 bettered the British by four miles. As the relief 

 ship, promised for 1883, failed to reach him or to land 

 supplies at the prearranged point south of Fort 

 Conger, the winter of 1883-84 was passed in great 

 misery and horror. When help finally came to the 

 camp at Cape Sabine, seven men only were alive. 



While these important events were occurring in 

 the vicinity of Greenland, interesting developments 

 were also taking place in that half of the polar area 

 north of Siberia. When in 1867 an American whaler, 

 Thomas Long, reported new land, Wrangell Land, about 

 500 miles northwest of Bering Strait, many hailed the 

 discovery as that of the edge of a supposed continent 

 extending from Asia across the Pole to Greenland, 

 for the natives around Bering Strait had long excited 

 explorers by their traditions of an icebound big land 

 beyond the horizon. Such extravagant claims were 

 made for the new land that Commander De Long, 

 U. S. N., determined to explore it and use it as a base 

 for gaining the Pole. But his ship, the Jeannette, was 

 caught in the ice (September, 1879) and carried right 

 through the place where the new continent was sup- 

 posed to be. For nearly two years De Long's party 

 remained helpless prisoners until in June, 1881, the 

 ship was crushed and sank, forcing the men to take 

 refuge on the ice floes in mid ocean, 150 miles from 

 the New Siberian Islands. They saved several boats 

 and sledges and a small supply of provisions and water. 

 After incredible hardships and suffering, G. W. Mel- 

 ville, the chief engineer, who was in charge of one 

 of the boats, with nine men, reached, on September 



