36 



ARCTIC EXPLORATION. 



from the south, the former having the higher 

 temperature by 2. The average rise of spring 

 tides was eight feet at Lady Franklin Bay and 

 twelve feet at Cape Sabine. 



As to the results of Arctic exploration, 

 Lieut. Greely said : 



I do not think the north pole can be reached unless 

 every circumstance hitherto found to be unfavorable 

 should prove favorable to the party attempting to 

 reach the pole. If it is to be done at all, it will be 

 done by way of Franz-Josef Land. It could never 

 have been reached by the Jeannette's route. That 

 there is an open polar sea, 1 um well-nigh certain. 

 This is proved by the ice drifting out of Muscle Bav 

 and Spitzbergen in midwinter, and the northern drift 

 of the polar pack experienced by Pavy and Lockwood 

 in 82 83'. Men can stand two winters very well at 

 Franklin Bay, but physical strength rapidly deterio- 

 rates. If we had had every supply and necessary of 

 food, we could have lived perhaps eight or ten years 

 at Lady Franklin Bay. 



When the party left Fort Conger, they left 

 two tons of coal from a supply mined at Water- 

 Course Bay, and eight months' supplies, in case 

 they should be driven to return, relying mainly 

 for provisions on the deposits of the relief ex- 

 peditions. The records of the expedition, cop- 

 ies of photographs, and four dozen negatives, 

 together with the lighter instruments, including 

 the pendulum, were taken in the boats. The 

 steam-launch towed the other boats, the people 

 and stores being divided among them. After 

 some difficulty with an ice-pack and a narrow 

 escape from a nip, they reached Baird Inlet on 

 the 10th, where three tons of coal and some 

 stores had been left, From that point they 

 proceeded with fifty days' supplies. At Cape 

 Cracroft they took up 48 pounds of corned 

 beef left the previous season and ran on to Carl 

 Ritter Bay. The provisions left there by the 

 Proteus in 1881, 200 rations, and 240 cached at 

 Cape Cullinson by Nares in 1875, were taken 

 on board. After being frozen in the ice five 

 days, detained by the boats being forced on 

 shore, and narrowly escaping from several 

 "nips," they arrived at Cape Hawkes August 

 2fith. They left a record on Washington Irving 

 Island and obtained a small addition to their 

 supplies in potatoes and pickles from an Eng- 

 lish cache, the bread being mostly spoiled. 

 Leaving the same day, they were soon strug- 

 gling with the ice-packs and made extremely 

 slow progress for a number of days, suffering 

 intensely from the cold. After being driven to 

 and fro by the gales and tides and drifting ice- 

 floes, they were compelled. Sept. 10th, to aban- 

 don the launch and the Valorous, and retreat 

 over the floes with their two remaining boats, 

 two sleds, nnd their provisions. Two journeys 

 had to be made over the hummocky ice with 

 each sled to convey the provisions and boats, 

 nnd only about a mile a day could be accom- 

 plished. On the 13th they had to abandon the 

 Narwhal, in order to save the larger sled, 

 which was weakening. Driven back and forth 

 by the gales on the crumbling floe, forced to 

 give up their encampment of snow-houses, they 

 succeeded with great difficulty, on the 29th of 



September, in escaping to the shore on the 

 north side of Baird Inlet, where they began to 

 construct their winter-quarters. Rice and the 

 Esquimau Jens were sent to Cape Sabine to 

 ascertain the condition of affairs, and Long 

 and the Esquimau Frederick were detailed as 

 hunters. Game was very scarce, and only 

 three seals and a few ptarmigan were obtained. 

 Rice returned Oct. 9th with the discouraging 

 news of the result of the Garlington expedi- 

 tion, obtained from records at Cape Sabine, and 

 the scantiness of the supplies awaiting them 

 there. They determined to abandon Esqui- 

 mau Point, as they had called it, starting the 

 next day. They traveled along a strait dis- 

 covered by Rice, and called by his name, con- 

 necting Rosse Bay and Buchanan Straits, 

 which proved Cape Sabine to be an island. 

 Rice and Jens diverged to Cape Isabella, where 

 144 pounds of meat were found, left there by 

 the English in 1875. Considering the pros- 

 pects, rations were reduced Sept. 25th, and the 

 meat allowance was only six ounces. They 

 reached the Proteus wreck cache, Oct. 15th, four 

 miles northwest of Cape Sabine, and proceeded 

 to establish there their winter-quarters, calling 

 them Camp Clay. All their supplies were 

 gathered there except one load cached at Cocked 

 Hat Island. They built a rude hut by piling 

 up stones for a wall about twenty-five feet 

 by seventeen. Over it was placed a whale- 

 boat left by Beebe in 1882 at Starknecht Isl- 

 and, and the rest of the roof was formed by 

 stretching boat-sails and tent-canvas from the 

 boat to the eaves, which were five feet from the 

 ground. Snow was banked up against the 

 walls to keep out the wind. There was barely 

 fuel enough to warm the food. Canvas was 

 stretched on the ground and covered with buf- 

 falo overcoats, and on these the sleeping-bags 

 were placed, which were frequently frozen 

 stiff. The only light was derived from an Es- 

 quimau lamp, consisting of a single wick dipped 

 in seal-oil. A rude scale was improvised, 

 with cartridges for weights, for the distribution 

 of the scanty rations, which were dealt out by 

 Brainerd. In the latter part of October, Long 

 and the two Esquimaux were stationed at the 

 junction of Rice and Buchanan Straits to obtain 

 game, living in a hut on short rations, and suf- 

 fering intensely from cold and hunger. They 

 returned Nov. 8th, having obtained only three 

 seals. On the 2d of November, Rice, Linn, 

 Ellison, and Fredericks set out with a small 

 sled to obtain the meat left at Cape Isabella. 

 On the 9th, Rice returned, reporting that the 

 party was at the head of Rosse Bay, suffering 

 severely, and that Ellison was dying. Relief was 

 sent under Brainerd, who, on the 12th, reached 

 them with food and medicine. Ellison was bad- 

 ly frozen and delirious, and afterward lost his 

 feet and hands. Fredericks and Linn had to be 

 cut from their frozen sleeping-bags. With the 

 aid of Lockwood, who had come with a second 

 relief party, the men were got hack to Camp 

 Clay, the object of the trip being given up. 



