GREELY RELIEF EXPEDITION. 



49 



then steamed back to Payer Harbor, in order to give officers and 

 men a few hours' sleep and rest after their hard work and exposure 

 for the preceding twenty-four hours. 



Lieutenant Greely and Sergeant Brainard, being much improved 

 by 10 a. m., of June 33, informed me officially (the former referring 

 me to his diary in verification) that seventeen men of the Lady 

 Franklin Bay Expedition had perished by starvation, and that one 

 had been drowned while out sealing. The names of the dead, with 

 date of death, follow : 



♦Buried at Grodhaven, in compliance with the request of the Inspector of North Greenland. 



The bodies of all the dead were recovered except that of Jens 

 Edward, Eskimo, who was drowned while sealing, and those of Ser- 

 geant Rice, Corporal Salor, Private Bender, Sergeant Gardiner, 

 and Doctor Pavy. These bodies, having been buried in the ice-foot, 

 were swept away by winds and tides before my arrival. No trace 

 of them could be discovered, although the vicinity was carefully 

 searched. 



At 11 a. m. , June 23, I sent Lieutenant Emory, with the Bear, 

 back to the wreck camp. Lieutenant Sebree, Chief Engineer Mel- 

 ville, and a number of men from the Thetis were detailed to accom- 

 pany him in order to make another search more extended than that 

 of the preceding day, and to include the coast from the ice limit, 

 half mile west of the camp, up to Cape Sabine. This search lasted 

 several hours, but added nothing to that made the previous day. 

 During the Bear's absence Lieutenant Greely's records and the 

 standard pendulum were brought to the Thetis from Stalknecht 

 Island. 



About 5 p. m. the Bear returned to Payer Harbor. She barely 

 escaped the crush of ice against the land in the vicinity of Cape 

 Sabine. The wind having slacked up, the ice in Kane Sea moved 

 to the southward. 



After the Bear's return both ships sailed from Payer Harbor to 

 Littleton Island, passing Baird Inlet, but found all the ice swept out 

 to sea. We reached Littleton Island about 6.30 p. m., and trans- 

 ferred six of the dead to the Bear, with instructions to prepare them 

 H. Mis. 157 4 



