108 CBUIS'E OF THE NEPTUNE 



expedition fitted out and provisioned with all possible precau- 

 tions against the disease ; the only explanation given is that the 

 men were over-worked, slept in damp clothes, and were regu- 

 larly served with a liberal ration of spirits. The Alert left 

 Floeberg beach on the 31st of July, and on the 9th of September 

 both vessels safely reached the open sea, and recrossed the Arctic 

 circle on the 4th of October. 



In 1881 the United States government determined to estab- 

 lish a meteorological station in connection with the 

 international polar stations in the region of Smith sound. 

 Congress voted an appropriation of $25,000 for this expedition, 

 a sum ridiculously small, as only $6,000 remained after paying 

 for the transport of the party to their destination. The expedi- 

 tion was under the command of Lieutenant A. W. Greely, and 

 was composed of officers and men from the United States army, 

 none of whom had had previous experience in Arctic work. The 

 party, numbering twenty-six, sailed from St. John's, New- 

 foundland, in the steam sealer Proteus, on the 4th of July, 

 1881. At Upernivik two Eskimo dog-drivers were added to 

 their number. Little trouble was experienced from the ice until 

 the ship reached Discovery bay, where the station was to be 

 located, and after a short delay the party was landed on the 

 llth of August. Two men found to be physically unfit were 

 sent home. A house was soon erected, and the observation work 

 carried on regularly during the time that the expedition re- 

 mained there. In the spring of 1882 several sled journeys were 

 made, the most important being that of Lieutenant Lockwood, 

 who crossed Kennedy channel, and passing northeastward along 

 the coast of Greenland pushed beyond the farthest point reached 

 by Lieutenant Beaumont, and succeeded in reaching latitude 

 83 23' K, the highest attained at that time. The Neptune 

 attempted to relieve them during the summer of 1882, but 

 found Smith sound blocked with ice. The second autumn and 

 spring were spent in making explorations, chiefly in Ellesmere 



