AKCTIC EXPLORATION. 



On the same day the Thetis and Bear with sev- 

 eral whalers left Upernavik, the Loch Garry 

 remaining to await the Alert and a more fa- 

 vorable season. After brief stops at Kingston 

 and Tessnisek and a long battle with ice-Hoes, 

 in which gun-cotton and gunpowder torpedoes 

 were several times resorted to, Cape York was 

 sighted on the 18th of June. Here the ves- 

 sels passed into open water, the whalers Wolf 

 and Aurora leading, closely followed by the 

 Bear and Thetis, the whaler Arctic bringing 

 up the rear. Communication was made with 

 the natives at Cape York, but nothing was 

 learned. The Bear was sent on at once to 

 C'arey Island, while the Thetis visited Conical 

 Rock, Wostenholme Island, Dalrymple Rock, 

 Sanders Island, Cape Parry, and Northumber- 

 land and Hakluyt Islands on the way to Lit- 

 tleton Island, where the two vessels were to 

 meet again. A record was deposited at Cape 

 Parry. Both vessels reached Littleton Island 

 on the 21st. Nares's cairn was ifound intact, 

 with provisions in good condition; proving 

 that Greely had not been on the east side ot 

 Smith's Sound. The Garlington and Beebe 

 records were found and brought off ; 760 ra- 

 tions were added to those left by Nares ; let- 

 ters were prepared to be taken back by the 

 Alert in case the expedition did not return 

 during the summer, and preparations were 

 made for crossing the sound. On the 22d the 

 passage was made to Payer Harbor, Cape Sa- 

 bine, the Bear proceeding in advance. A land- 

 ing was immediately made and searching par- 

 ties sent out. Records of the Greely party 

 were found by Lieut. Taunt and Ensign Har- 

 low on Brevoort and Starnecht Islands, dated 

 Oct. 21, 1883. These gave an account of the 

 retreat from^Lady Franklin Bay, and described 

 the position of the quarters of the party, Camp 

 Clay, at Baird Inlet, midway between Cape 

 Sabine and Cocked Hat Island. Commander 

 Schley went on hoard the Bear and started at 

 once for the camp, the Thetis following. An 

 officer of the Thetis gives the following account 

 of the landing : 



The wind had increased to well-nigh a hurricane 

 It tore over the hills in furious blasts, driving the 

 water in sheets before it, and heeling the ship to an 

 uncomfortable degree. The Bear had steamed nearly 

 up to the ice, and people could be seen running about 

 on shore. Some one was seen on the ice signaling 

 with flags. The message was : " Send doctor with 

 stretchers, and Harlow with photograph-machine; 

 seven alive." Boats were lowered at once, manned 

 with strong crews, and a party of officers and men 

 started for the shore. It seemed a long pull. It was 

 a hard pull ; but with water dashing over the rail at 

 every lunge, and rolling gunwales-under in the short 

 but heavy seas, we finally reached the ice-foot, and 

 hurried to the scene of misery. A few steps from the 

 landing we met a black face, with horrid, staring eyes, 

 wrapped in a clean blanket that contrasted strangely 

 with the filthy clothes that covered the body of one 

 of the survivors. It was Fredericks, who was strong 

 cnouirh to walk to the boats a miserable sight, but 

 cheerful compared -with the one that met our gaze a 

 few steps farther on. A slight incline to the left, and 

 the 1 nisy relief parties came In view. Passing a small 

 fire on which pots of milk were warming, we came to 



the tent, under which lay four of the poor fellows. 

 Two lay outside, one with his lace swollen so that he 

 could barely show by his eyes the wild excitement 

 that filled his being. The other was muttering, in a 

 voice that could scarcely be heard in the howling of 

 the gale, his hungry appeal for food. Pushing aside 

 the nags of the tent, we saw a sight the like of which 

 we trust never to see again. Crowded together in the 

 little of the tent that was left standing lay Greely and 

 three of his men in their sleeping-bags, their faces 

 black with dirt. Their hollow cheeks and their gleam- j 

 ing eyes made a picture that we shall never forget, and 

 told a story that has but few rivals in the histories of 

 miserable sufferings. The short glance revealed four 

 men with the hand of death laid upon them ; one, in- 

 deed, was gasping his last feeble breath while food and 

 stimulants were forced between his teeth. The fate 

 of the other three was a question of a very few hours. 

 The gale was killing them in their weak and exhaust- 

 ed condition. To move against such a wind was an 

 impossibility. An able-bodied, healthy man bent to 

 it at times. So there they lay, waiting for death, un- 

 able to cook the pitiful ration of tanned seal-skin 

 and lichens that they called their meal. The poor 

 sufferers were wrapped in blankets, fed with warm 

 milk, beef-tea, and crackers, and carried to the boats. 

 A photograph was taken of the camp despite the time, 

 11 P. M., and the weather. The living having been 

 provided for, our next sad duty lav with the dead. 

 The graves were on the summit or a ridge behind 

 the camp ten of them, with their scanty covering 

 of gravel. Each body was carefully unearthed and 

 wrapped in blankets, marked to correspond with its 

 number on the diagram that was made, and carried to 

 the boats. This task being finished, and the bodies 

 divided between the boats, the next difficulty was to 

 reach the ship. It seems almost a miracle that they 

 got safely alongside, and could discharge their sad 

 cargoes, with the survivors in charge of the sympa- 

 thizing officers and crew, who removed their rags, 

 bathed, and fed them. Their dead comrades were 

 piled on the dory and covered with a tarpaulin. We 

 steamed back to Payer Harbor, and about 4 A. M. made 

 fast to the ice again in about the same place we first 

 had the information that led to the stirring events of 

 the night. 



The next day the Bear revisited the camp, and col- 

 lected every scrap and relic appertaining to it. The 

 cairns were revisited, and the records left by Greely, 

 his pendulum, journals, the flag of the Nares expedi- 

 tion that he proudly brings back from the place where 

 they left it as marking their highest latitude, his in- 

 struments, and their records, were all secured. 



The following is Commander Schley's de- 

 scription of the scene that greeted his eyes at 

 the tent : 



Lieut. Greely was found in his sleeping-bag, Ins 

 body inclined forward and head resting upon his left 

 hand. The "Book of Common Prayer'' was open 

 and held in his right hand. He appeared to be read- 

 ing prayers to Private Connell, whose condition was 

 most desperate and critical. He was cold to th e waist ; 

 all sensation of hunger gone ; was speechless and al- 

 most breathless ; his eyes were fixed and glassy. In- 

 deed, his weakness was such that it was with difficulty 

 he swallowed the stimulants given him by Drs. Green 

 and Ames. His jaws had dropped, his heart was barely 

 pulsating, and his body temperature very low. This 

 tender scene of a helpless^ almost^ famished, officer 

 consoling a dying companion was, in itself, one that 

 brought tears to the eyes of the strongest and stoutest 

 of those who stood about them on the" merciful errand 

 of relief. Serets. Brainerd and Fredericks, and Hos- 

 pital Steward Biederbeck were extremely weak, and 

 hardly able to stand ; they were no longer able to vent- 

 ure away from their camp to seek food, nor to prepare 

 their simple diet of boiled seal-skin, nor to collect 

 lichens, nor to catch shrimps, upon which they had to 

 depend to a great extent to sustain life. Their faces, 



