July 25, 1884. 



SCIENCE. 



89 



of meat being left by Garlington, compelled me to 

 send, in November, four men to obtain a hundred and 

 forty-four pounds English meat at Isabella. During 

 the trip, Ellison froze solid both hands and feet, and 

 lost them all ; surviving, however, through our terrible 

 winter and spring, until July 8. Survivors owe their 

 lives to the indomitable energy of Capt. Schley 

 and Lieut. Emory, who, preceded by three and ac- 

 companied by five whalers, forced their vessels from 

 Upernavik, through Melville Bay, into northwater at 

 Cape York with the foremost whaler. They gained 

 a yard whenever possible, and always held it. Smith 

 Sound was crossed, and our party rescued, during one 

 of the most violent gales I have ever known. The 

 boats were handled only at imminent risk of swamp- 

 ing. Four of us then were unable to walk, and could 

 not have survived exceeding twenty-four hours. 

 Every care and attention were given us. Have saved 

 and bring back copies of meteorological, tidal, astro- 

 nomical, magnetic, pendulum, and other observations; 

 also pendulum, Yale and standard thermometers, 

 forty-eight photographic negatives, a collection of 

 blanks and photographic proofs. Eskimo relics and 

 other things necessarily abandoned. The Thetis re- 

 mains here five days probably. 



Greely, Commanding. 

 For the first time in three centuries, England yields 

 the honor of the farthest north. Lieut. Lockwood 

 and Sergeant Brainard, May 13, reached Lockwood 

 Island (latitude 83.24°, longitude 44.5°). They saw, 

 from a two thousand feet elevation, no land north or 

 north-west, but, to the north-east, Greenland, Cape 

 Eobert Lincoln (latitude 83.35°, longitude 38°). 

 Lieut. Lockwood was turned back, in 1883, by open 

 water on North Greenland shore, the party barely 

 escaping drift into polar ocean. Dr. Pavy, in 1882, 

 following the Markham route, was adrift one day in 

 polar ocean north of Cape Joseph Henry. Escaped 

 to land, abandoning nearly every thing. In 1882 I 

 made a spring, and later a summer, trip into the inte- 

 rior of Grinnell Land, discovering LakeHazen, some 

 sixty by ten miles in extent, which, fed by ice-caps 

 of North Grinnell Land, drains Kuggles River and 

 Weyprecht Fiord into Conybeare Bay and Archer 

 Fiord. From the summit of Mount Arthur, five thou- 

 sand feet, the contour of land west of the Conger 

 Mountains convinced me that Grinnell Land tends 

 directly south from Lieut. Aldrich's farthest in 1876. 

 In 1883 Lieut. Lockwood and Sergeant Brainard 

 succeeded in crossing Grinnell Land, and ninety 

 miles from Beatrix Bay, the head of Archer Fiord, 

 struck the head of a fiord from the western sea, tem- 

 porarily named by Lockwood, Greely Fiord. From 

 the centre of the fiord, in latitude 80.30°, longitude 

 78.30°, Lieut. Lockwood saw the northern shore ter- 

 mination some twenty miles west, the southern shore 

 extending some fifty miles, • with Cape Lockwood 

 some seventy miles distant, apparently a separate 

 land from Grinnell Land. Have named the new 

 land Arthur Land. Lieut. Lockwood followed, going 

 and returning, ice-caps averaging about fifteen feet 

 perpendicular face. It follows that the Grinnell Land 

 interior is ice-capped, with a belt of country some sixty 



miles wide between the northern and southern ice- 

 caps. In March, 1S84, Sergeant Long, while hunting, 

 looked from the north-west side of Mount Carey to 

 Hayes's Sound, seeing on the northern coast three 

 capes westward of the farthest seen by Nares in 1876. 

 The sound extends some twenty miles farther west 

 than shown by the English chart, but is possibly shut 

 in by land, which showed up across the western 

 end. The two-years' station-duties, observations, all 

 explorations, and the retreat to Cape Sabine, were 

 accomplished without loss of life, serious accident, or 

 even severe frost-bites. No scurvy was experienced 

 at Conger, and but one death from it occurred last 

 winter. Greely, Commanding. 



On the same day, Commander Schley addressed 

 the following telegram to the secretary of the navy, 

 which summarizes the action of the relief squad- 

 ron : — 



The Thetis, Bear, and Loch Garry arrived here to- 

 day from West Greenland. All well. Separated from 

 Alert a hundred and fifty miles north during a gale. 

 At nine p.m., June 22, five miles off Cape Sabine, 

 in Smith Sound, Thetis and Bear rescued alive 

 Lieut. A. W. Greely, Sergeant Brainard, Sergeant 

 Fredericks, Sergeant Long, Hospital-Steward Bier- 

 derbick, Private Connell, and Sergeant Ellison, — the 

 only survivors of the Lady Franklin Bay expedition. 

 Sergeant Ellison had lost both hands and feet by frost- 

 bite, and died July 6, at Godhaven, three days after 

 amputation, which had become imperative. Seven- 

 teen of the twenty-five persons composing this ex- 

 pedition perished by starvation at the point where 

 found. One was drowned while sealing to procure 

 food. Twelve bodies of the dead were rescued, and 

 are now on board the Thetis and Bear. One Eskimo, 

 Turnevik, was burried at Disco in accordance with 

 the desire of the inspector of western Greenland. 

 Five bodies, which were buried in the ice-fort near 

 the camp, were swept away to sea by winds and cur- 

 rents before my arrival, and could not be recovered. 

 The names of the dead recovered, with date of death, 

 are as follows : Sergeant Cross, Jan. 1, 1S84; Wederick, 

 Eskimo, April 5 ; Sergeant Linn, April 6 ; Lieut. 

 Lockwood, April 9; Sergeant Jewell, April 12; Pri- 

 vate Ellis, May 19 ; Sergeant Bainston, May 23 ; Private 

 Whisler, May 24; Sergeant Israel, May 27; Lieut. 

 Kingsbury, June 1; Private Henry, June 6; Private 

 Schneider, June 18. The names of the dead buried 

 in the ice-fort, with date of death, where the bodies 

 were not recovered, are as follows: Sergeant Bice. 

 April 6, 1884; Corporal Salem, June 3 ; Private Bender, 

 June 16; Acting Assistant Surgeon Pavy, June 6; 

 Sergeant Gardiner, June 12, drowned while breaking 

 through the newly-formed ice while sealing; Jans 

 Edwards, Eskimo, April 24. . . . 



Greely abandoned Fort Conger Aug. 9, 18S3. and 

 reached Baird Inlet Sept. 29 following, with entire 

 party well. Abandoned all his boats, and was adrift 

 for thirty days on ice-floe in Smith Sound. His 

 permanent camp was established Oct. 21, 1SS3, at 

 the point where he was found. During nine months, 

 his party had to live upon a scant allowance of food 

 brought from Fort Conger, — that cached at Paver 



