ARCTIC EXPLORATION. 



hands, and limbs were swollen to such an extent that 

 they could not be recognized. This indicated that the 

 entire party had but a short lease of life, probably not 

 more than forty -eight hours at most. This fact was 

 recognized by them all, and had come to them frora 

 their experience during that long and desolate winter 

 in watching their dying companions, as one after an- 

 other passed away from among them forever. PjOor 

 Sergt. Ellison was found in his sleeping-bag, where he 

 had lain helpless and hopeless for months, with hands 

 and feet frozen off. Strapped to one of the stumps 

 was found a spoon, which some companion had se- 

 cured there to enable him to feed himself. His physi- 

 cal condition otherwise appeared to be the best of any 

 of the survivors, and this may be attributed to the 

 fact that each of his companions had doled put to him, 

 from their small allowance of food, something to help 

 him, on account of his complete helplessness to add 

 anything to his own by hunting about the rocks for 

 lichens, or catching s-hrimps. He suffered no waste 

 of strength by exertion incident thereto. This care 

 of Ellison was such as only brave and generous men, 

 suffering with each other under the most desperate 

 circumstances, could think of. 



The vessels ran across to Littleton Island on 

 the 23d of June, and left there the day follow- 

 ing, taking up the records, left for the Alert, 

 and substituting others, giving the results of 

 the expedition and directions for her future 

 movements. Seven of the Dundee whalers were 

 met off Cape Parry, working westward. They 

 were informed that the quest was over. On 

 the 30th the Alert and Loch Garry were en- 

 countered struggling with the ice off the Devil's 

 Thumb. They turned back, and the combined 

 squadron reached Upernavik July 2d. The The- 

 tis and Bear stopped to take on coal, left there 

 by the Loch Garry, and the others proceeded to 

 Disco, where all were again united on the 5th. 

 Leaving there on the 6th, they arrived at St. 

 John's on the 17th. 



The Greely expedition of 1881 was under- 

 taken in pursuance of a plan adopted by the In- 

 ternational Geographical Congress at Hamburg 

 in 1879, on the suggestion of Lieut. Weyprecht, 

 of Austria, the discoverer of Franz-Josef Land, 

 for the establishment of thirteen circumpolar 

 stations for scientific observation. It was fitted 

 out under authority of an act of Congress, ap- 

 proved May 1, 1880. The party was to be 

 composed of three officers of the army, one 

 acting assistant-surgeon, and nineteen enlisted 

 men, selected by recommendation from the 

 ranks of the army. The appropriation for the 

 expedition was made by act of Congress, March 

 3, 1881. Lieut. A. W. Greely was appointed to 

 take command, and the spot chosen for the sta- 

 tion was Discovery Harbor, on the shores of 

 Lady Franklin Bay, latitude 81 44' north and 

 longitude 64 45' west. The entire party se- 

 lected for the service was as follows: 



First Lieut. A. W. Greely, Fifth Cavalry ; Acting 

 Signal-Service Officer and Assistant, Second Lieut. 

 Frederick F. Kislingbury, Eleventh Infantry ; Acting 

 Signal Officer, Second Lieut. James B. Lockwood, 

 Twenty-third Infantry Acting Signal Officers, Sergts. 

 Edward Israel, Winneld S. Jewell, George W. KIce, 

 David C. Ealston, Hampton S. Gardner, William H. 

 Cross, David L. Brainerd, and David Linn ; cor- 

 porals and privates, Nicholas Salor, Charles Elliot, 

 Charles B. Henry, Maurice Connell, Jacob Bender, 

 VOL. xxiv. 3 A 



Francis Long 2 William Whistler, Henry Biederbeck, 

 Julius Fredericks, and William A. Ellis. Octave Pa- 

 vy, M. D., of Disco, Greenland, was commissioned as 

 Acting Assistant Surgeon, and accompanied the expe- 

 dition in that capacity. 



Lieut. Greely received his instructions in 

 April, 1881, and proceeded to St. John's, where 

 he chartered the Proteus, and prepared it for 

 the expedition, taking materials for a house, 

 and stores for twenty-seven months. The Pro- 

 teus sailed from St. John's July 7th, and touched 

 at Disco and Upernavik to procure sledges, 

 dogs, skins, and dog- food. Two Esquimau dog- 

 drivers were added to the party at Proven. 



From Carl Ritter Bay progress was ob- 

 structed by ice, but way was gradually forced 

 to Discovery Harbor, where a landing was 

 made August 12th. The cargo was speedily 

 discharged, 140 tons of coal were landed, the 

 house was rapidly put up. The station re- 

 ceived the name of Fort Conger, and on the 

 18th of August the Proteus left the party to its 

 Arctic isolation. The last communication from 

 Greely to his superior, the Chief Signal-Officer 

 at Washington, in 1881, was the following: 



Entered Lady Franklin Bay one month from leav- 

 ing St. John's. Obtained natives' skin-clothing and 

 dogs at Godhaven, Rittenbek, Upernavik, and Proven. 

 Made most remarkable trip recorded from Upernavik 

 through middle passage to Cape York in 36 hours, and 

 in six days, two hours from Upernavik to Lady Frank- 

 lin Bav, though detained 32 hours by fog. Entered 

 Lady Franklin Bay, having meanwhile examined the 

 English depot at Carey Island. Kecovered the entire 

 English Arctic mail at Littleton Island. Discovered 

 the transit instrument of the Polaris in the quarters at 

 Lifeboat Cove; obtained the record at Washington 

 Irving Island. Overhauled the English depot at Cape 

 Hawks, and landed the depot material at Carl Kitter 

 Bay. Our vessel never met a pack worthy of the 

 name, and was not stopped by ice until it was inside 

 Cape Lieber, Lady Franklin Bay, eight miles from pur 

 destination, where we were delayed one week, being 

 forced back south of the eightieth parallel. Entered 

 Discovery Harbor August llth, where our station is 

 located, Water- Course Bay being impracticable for 

 landing. Have killed here three months' rations of 

 musk cattle. The weather is fine. Our building is 

 framed and being covered. Party all well. 



A week after the Proteus left the party, their 

 house was finished. Scientific observations 

 were begun at once, including in their scope 

 meteorology, astronomy, magnetism, the tem- 

 perature of the sea, thickness of the ice, the 

 direction and speed of the tides, and the ve- 

 locity of the wind and of sound at different 

 temperatures. On the 1st of September Ser- 

 geant Brainerd, in charge of a party of five 

 in a whale-boat, set out to the northwest and 

 established a cache of provisions for exploring 

 parties in the spring, near Cape Beechy, on 

 the west side of Robeson Channel. The ice 

 prevented them from proceeding farther, an<J 

 after a struggle of fifteen hours with the oars, 

 they were forced to abandon their boat and 

 return to Port Conger overland. In November 

 Lieut. Lockwood and Sergeant Brainerd with 

 seven men attempted to cross Kennedy Channel 

 to the Greenland coast, and examine the pro- 

 visions left by Capt. Hall, of the Polaris, in 



