RESCUE OF THE GREELY EXPEDITION. 171 



nomer, perished May 27th; L. Kislingbury died June ist, and Dr. Pavy, the 

 naturalist, slept in death June 6th. Not one of the victims realized that death 

 was so near. They all died a tranquil, painless death. Two Esquimaux also 

 perished; one of starvation, the other drowned, his kayak being pierced by some 

 newly formed ice April 17th, thus cutting off all prospecting for a supply of seal 

 meat for the starving explorers. The Esquimaux were most faithful and devoted 

 followers and helpers of Lieut. Greely. Ellison was rescued and safely brought 

 on board the steamship Bear, where he died a few days subsequently. His is 

 an extraordinary instance of human endurance. While away some ten miles from 

 his hut last winter the temperature suddenly dropped 48° below zero. His hands 

 and feet were frozen to the very bone, and he was dragged by his comrades in 

 an almost dying condition to his hut. His feet and hands were literally ampu- 

 tated by the incisive frost, and in this terrible state he lived through the dismal 

 months that intervened between that time and the rescue. 



The bodies of twelve of the victims have been brought up by the steamers 

 Bear and Thetis, embalmed in tanks filled with alcohol. The survivors are all 

 doing well and rapidly gaining flesh and strength, Lieut. Greely, who was in 

 an exceedingly critical condition when transferred to the Thetis, is now able to 

 move about. This morning he drove out for an hour's ride to get the country 

 air and came back quite recuperated. 



The rescue took place on the 2 2d of June under circumstances of great diffi- 

 culty. The Thetis and Bear lay off from the shore about three hundred yards. 

 There was a terrific gale blowing from the southwest, a heavy sea was running, 

 and a formidable ic® nip was apparently inevitable. Lieut. Greely and the other 

 six survivors had to be transferred from their camp to the steam launch and 

 whale boat in their sleeping bags, and while steaming from land to the ships the 

 destruction of the whole party at one time seemed certain. The sea swept furi- 

 ously over them, and the fury of the wind threatened at every instant to capsize 

 them. 



At length they were safely placed on board the rescuing squadron, where 

 every possible preparation had been made to secure their recovery. The Greely 

 party reached the highest latitude ever yet reached by polar explorers, namely, 

 83° 25 5-10'. The coast of Greenland was carried up to 85° 35', by observa- 

 tion, and named Cape Lincoln. The steamship Alert parted company with the 

 squadron yesterday off Turk Island and has not yet reached port. 



It was discovered during the past winter by Lieut. Greely that Cape Sabine 

 was part of an island, not the mainland, as was thought by previous geographers. 

 It is separated from the mainland by a narrow creek, now called Rice's Strait, in 

 memory of the dead photographer. Lieut. Greely informed a correspondent 

 that a large body of valuable scientific work had been done during the two sea- 

 sons spent at Fort Conger by himself and his lieutenants. About 2,500 miles of 

 exploration had been effected and many valuable observations, magnetic, ther- 

 mometeric and meteorologic had been made. The winter of 1881 was the sever- 

 est of the three. The mean of the thermometer during February was 48° below 



