AN ARCTIC RESCUE 



quests were made that the owners of sealing and whaling 

 vessels should instruct their captains to be on the lookout 

 for signs of Greely's party, as there was a bare possibility 

 that they might have drifted on an ice-floe to the southward. 

 Assurances were given that any service rendered would 

 be substantially recognized by the Government. 



Later, Congress went even further than this, and directed 

 the Secretary of Navy to offer a reward of $25,000 for the 

 rescue of Greely or the discovery of his fate. His fate! 

 What was it to be? And what was his present condition, 

 and that of his comrades? Of course, all ideas in this 

 regard were purely problematical. And yet what eager 

 discussions, fraught with the most intense interest, took 

 place between myself and my colleagues at the time! 



It must be remembered in this connection that little 

 encouragement was to be obtained from either the news- 

 papers or the public in general. The failures were too 

 fresh in people's minds to permit much hope of the new 

 expedition. And yet it was generally realized and ac- 

 knowledged that the Government was bound in duty to 

 continue in the endeavor to relieve Greely, while at the 

 same time it was feared, and these fears were freely ex- 

 pressed, that the expedition would be fruitless, and pos- 

 sibly, if not probably, would have a fatal termination. 



This prevalent feeling, however, did not have any ma- 

 terial effect upon the officers of the expedition. In all our 

 discussions we were never willing to admit the possibility 

 that a general disaster had taken place, and all had perished. 

 We had no apprehension that catastrophe would come to 

 the new relief expedition itself, for we knew too well the 

 vast precautions which had been taken to prevent such an 

 occurrence. But we did not believe that we were to glide 

 on to success, without encountering many hardships and 

 obstacles. 



Few of us knew much about ice navigation, save what 

 we had read of it, but we realized that this was a serious 

 undertaking to which everybody concerned must devote his 

 best efforts. It is a duty as well as a pleasure to chronicle 

 that each person connected with the expedition, whether 

 officer or man, felt that the object of this voyage was 

 something far and beyond the ordinary; and an earnestness 



