QBEELY'S RETREAT TO CAPE SABINE. 65 



were unable to reach Greely, they were to land a portion of 

 their supplies on the coast of Grinnell Land and at Littleton 

 Island. In case neither vessel reached the station, Lieut. 

 Greely was to abandon it, not later than Sept. 1, 1883, and 

 proceed southward by boats until Jie should meet the relief 

 vessel at Littleton Island. 



Lieut. Greely remained at Fort Conger two years, and, 

 receiving no tidings from the United States, in accordance 

 with his instructions, he abandoned the station, Aug. 9, 1883, 

 and, with his entire party in good health, set out for Cape 

 Sabine, where he arrived two months later. The journey 

 was attended with much suffering and many narrow escapes. 

 At Baird's Inlet, the boats had to be abandoned. For thirty 

 days they were afloat in Smith's Sound on an ice floe, when 

 they were providentially driven upon Cape Sabine. Here 

 they learned of the loss of the Proteus^ which had been sent 

 out to them with supplies in 1883, and to their dismay, saw 

 that another long Arctic winter, with scanty food, was before 

 them. The food brought with them from Fort Conger was 

 exhausted ; only a small quantity of food was found that had 

 been saved from the Proteus. The prospect was most dis- 

 heartening. Game abounded in abundance, but could not be 

 secured on account of the loss of their boats. As a last 

 resource from threatened starvation, Greely sent Elison, 

 Rice, Linn and Fredericks to Cape Isabella, thirty miles dis- 

 tant, to find, if possible, the beef cached by Captain Nares in 

 1879. The four men set out on their perilous journey, 

 and reached their destination in four days time. They found 

 the meat and started on their return journey ; a strong gale 

 was blowing, and it was intensely cold. Elison suffered 

 greatly from thirst, and to relieve it ate snow against the 

 advice of his companions. His hands became wet, and were 

 soon frozen. His mouth and tongue |were blistered. His 

 feet also were frozen. He was placed in his sleeping bag 

 and the others worked over him the entire night to restore 



