18 



GRBELY RELIEF EXPEDITION, 



Engineer Melville, U. S. N"., with reversible runners shod with iron; 

 they were of two sizes, 16 and 8 feet, and were intended to be used 

 for carrying the boats, if necessary, as well as for ordinary sledging 

 over the ice ; I regarded them as most excellent in design and well 

 calculated for the work in the heavier ice of Smith's Sound. 



The ice tools and implements were constructed after designs which 

 experience has shown to be best suited to the service for which they 

 were intended. The ice-augers, designed by Lieut. B. A. Fiske, U. 

 S. N. , supplied by the Ordnance Bureau, were especially useful and 

 efiicient. 



The preparation of the clothing outfit under the cognizance of the 

 Bureau of Provisions and Clothing, was supervised by Pay Inspector 

 A. J. Clark and Paymaster George H. Read, at the New York navy- 

 yard; their suggestions touching the making of this clothing and 

 the special packing of the various articles of this outfit to exclude 

 moisture were valuable, and I am pleased to say everything supplied 

 was found eminently satisfactory. 



Some difficulty was experienced in procuring reindeer skins for 

 the winter clothing. As they could not be obtained anywhere in the 

 United States the Paymaster-General was obliged to order them from 

 Stockholm, Sweden ; even then there was considerable delay in get- 

 ting them into Stockholm from the country villages where they were 

 exposed for sale. The arrival of the skins was so delayed from this 

 cause there was much difficulty to find a firm who would undertake 

 to make them up in time. Ullman & Co., of Mercer street, New 

 York, undertook and completed the work satisfactorily, however, 

 in a remarkably short time. 



The Bear was put in commission March 17 and the Thetis April 

 2, 1884. The Alert was continued in commission after arrival from 

 England. The following list of officers and men were detailed for 

 the several vessels, viz : 



THETIS. 



