CHAPTER VIII. 



GREELY'S CAMPING-GROUND. 



DURING the whole of January and the first few days of February, 

 life on board the ' Fram ' went on the even tenor of its way, the 

 only difference between the days being that now each one that 

 passed made us more sensible of the increasing light, and brought 

 an inclination to attempt short excursions in the vicinity of our 

 winter quarters. 



We had already made several trips eastward to the north side 

 of Pirn Island, to look for Camp Clay, Greely's camping-place, but 

 we had never succeeded in finding any trace of it. 



Greely's expedition was a link in the series of international 

 stations which, according to the decision of the International 

 Meteorological Congress held at Eome, in 1879, were erected as far 

 north as possible, for the purpose of magnetic and meteorological 

 observation. In our country, we had a station at Bosekop. 

 The United States, as their share, undertook the working of two 

 stations, one of which was Discovery Harbour, near Eobeson 

 Channel, in lat. 81' 45 N., about 64 west of Greenwich. The 

 leadership of this expedition was entrusted to General Greely, 

 then a lieutenant in the United States cavalry, and in 1881 he 

 took up his residence at the observatory at Fort Conger, in Lady 

 Franklin Bay, where he remained until August, 1883. 



It was part of the plan that the station should be visited 

 every year by a relief expedition, and that the new-comers should 

 remain behind in place of those already there ; but in 1882 

 and 1883 the relief expeditions failed to reach their destination. 

 In the latter year, one of the vessels, the ' Proteus,' was nipped in 

 the ice, and sank half-way between Cape Albert and Cape Sabine. 



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