140 



• KNC^/VLEDGS • 



[Arc. 15, 1884. 



THE GREELY EXPEDITION. 



IT was August 18, 1881, that the ofEcPrs and crew of the 

 Frotei's bade good-bye to Lieutenant Greely and his 

 little band, twenty-live in all, leaving them iu camp, as an 

 advance guard of explorers, in a high northern latitude. 

 The exploration in which they were engaged was not one 

 for the advancement of material aims or the ambition of 

 governments to enlarge their dominions — it was one solely 

 in the interest of science, to widen the domaiu of know- 

 ledge, and help us to better know the laws which affect the 

 conditions of life and growth on this planet, as well as to 

 throw light, if possible, on that great field of research, so 

 largely .speculative, in which we are seeking to find out 

 something of the universe. It was not until June 22, 

 1884, a little more than two years and ten months after 

 the party had been left on the shore.s of Lady Franklin 

 iBay, that seven of them, the onl)' living members of the 

 original band, were relieved of their long vigil by the ap- 

 pearance of the vessels of the government expedition tinder 

 ■Commander Schley. Seventeen of the others had died of 

 starvation, one was drowned while sealing to obtain food, 

 and of those found alive one died subsequently from the 

 amputation of limbs made necesf-ary by frost bite, so that 

 only sLx of the original twenty-five remained alive to reach 

 home again. 



The story of the expedition, the plans of the scientiQc 

 bodies and Arctic explorers which led up to it — in con- 

 nection with several other observation posts arotind the 

 ipole — as well as the futile efforts of 1882 and 1883 to 

 reach and relieve the colony at Lady Franklin Lay, have 

 often been told. It was the understanding when the 

 station was established — subject to the discretion of Lieu- 

 tenant Greely, as circumstances might affect the situation — 

 that if government relief did not reach the station during 

 the summer of 1882, the party would endeavour to work 

 its way southward in the summer of 1883 as far as Cape 

 •Sabine, or make its quarters on the west coast as far south 

 as might be practicable, and yet within the possibility of 

 ■being reached by a relief expedition, but that the route 

 would be on or along the we.st coast, and not on the Green- 

 and side. In accordance with this idea Lieutenant Greely 

 abandoned his quarters at Fort Conger, on Lady Franklin 

 Bay, August 9, 1883, and reached Baird Inlet, near Cape 

 Sabine, September 29, with the entire party wel up to 

 that time. Great difficulty was experienced in getting to 

 that point, with the instruments and records of observa- 

 tions, and as large a supply of provisions as it was possible 

 4o convey. He was obliged to abandon all his boats, and 

 was adrift for thirty days on the ice in Smith's Sound, the 

 party finally making its way across an almost impass- 

 able field of ice hummocks to a landing just north of 

 Cape Sabine, where a permanent camp was established 

 October 21. 



Here the party found that a very insufficient supply of 

 provisions had been left, while some of tliose thus obtained 

 had been left by Sir George Nares as long back as 1875, 

 and were, of course, much damajied. It was known that 

 supplies liad been left on Littleton's Island, almost opposite 

 Cape Sabine, on the east side of Smith's Snund ; but the 

 channel did not close all the winter on account of violent 

 .gales and strong currents, and thpre was no means of reach- 

 ing the food that was so near. The party was immediately 

 put on short rations, but on May 11, 188-t, the last regular 

 tfood was issued. After this the men were forced to live on 

 boiled sealskin strips from their sealskin clothing, lichens, 

 Hnd shrimps, game having failed, de.'spite daily hunting, from 

 ■early in February. 



One had died in January, 1884 — the first death of the 



party — then five died in April, four in May, and seven in 

 June, up to the 22nd, when the rescue was made, and when, 

 according to Commander Schley, "forty-eight hours' delay 

 in reaching them would have been fatal to all." Too high 

 praise cannot be accorded to Commander Schley for the 

 energy with which he pushed north so early in the season, 

 fighting his way almost inch by inch through the ice : but 

 it will be remembered with a feeling of sadness, if not of 

 severe reprobation, that three Lnited States vessels, tb>- 

 Yantic, the Pi-oteus, and the Npplv.ne, had visited the near 

 locality of Greely's fatal camping - ground, during the 

 summers of 1882 and 1883, with ample provisions, and 

 came home again without leaving there the supplies that 

 would have prevented these men from starving. 



It is too early to say what will be the probable value of 

 the information obtained by this expedition. Up to the 

 fall of 1883 its success seems to have been all that could 

 have been desired by its promoters, and in the journey 

 southward copies were brought of meteorological, tidal, 

 astronomical, magnetic, pendulum, and other observations, 

 although some photographs, Esquimaux relics, and other 

 thing-i were necessarily left behind. It is probable, how- 

 ever, that Lieut. Greely made all the observations required 



liy the International Conference at Hamburg, under whose 

 directions the various circumpolar stations were established, 

 and that substantially all such records have been saved. 

 The distinguishing work of the expedition — that which will 

 (lerhaps give it most fame — is thus announced by Lieut. 

 Greely : " For the first time in three centuries England 

 yields the honor of the furthest north," which had pre- 

 viously been 83° 20', but was marked at 83' 24' by Lieut. 

 Lock wood, of the Greely expedition, on May 13, 1882. The 

 point of observation was named Lockwood Islnnd, where, 

 " from an elevation of 2,000 feet, they saw no land north 

 or north-west." To the east and north-east of Lady Frank- 

 lin Bay the party undoubtedly made the best survey yet 



