">04 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



L-jW 24, 1884. 



Lieut. Lockwood made two journeys iu the launch, on the 

 first to the head of Archer Fiord, bringing hack large quan- 

 tities of game, and on the second he entered Weyprecht 

 Piord, but was unable to advance far on account of the ice. 



Much disappointment was felt at the non-arrival of the 

 expected relief ship, with, first, stores, and above all, news 

 from home, and many were the conjectures as to the cause 

 of her failure to come; but no discouragement was felt, and 

 feeling a pardonable pride in their achievements of the past 

 year, they prepared to attempt even more in the next. The 

 winter passed away more rapidly and pleasantly than wordd 

 be supposed possible. There was plenty of reading matter. 

 Lieut. Greely arid Dr. Pavy delivered occasional lectures, 

 and holidays were celebrated as before. Another feature 

 suggested by Lieut. Greely did much to promote contentment 

 and good feeling. Each man was allowed on his birthday 

 to select the dinner, of which all partook — a privilege which 

 was greatly appreciated and never abused. 



On Feb. 1, 1883, twenty-six days before the sun reap- 

 peared, a cache of provisions was made at Cape Baird, and 

 these were increased from time, to time during the month 

 with a view to retreating southward in the fall should the 

 relief vessel again fail to arrive. 



II.— THE RETREAT. 



Finally all hope of a relief vessel failed them, and early m 

 1883 they made ready to retreat southward, where in accord- 

 ance with the directions he had sent home by the Proteus, 

 Lieut. Greely was confident a cache of supplies would be 

 found awaiting them. But it was not until August that the 

 ice broke up so they could move. 



The boats taken were the steam launch Lady Greely, the 

 whaleboat Narwhal, both built in the United States, the 

 jolly boat Valorous, left at Cape Hawkes by the Eno-lish 

 and brought up in the Proteus in 1881, and an iceboat which 

 had been left by Beaumont at Thank God Harbor. Two 

 tons of coal and about eight months' supplies were left in a 

 secure place, to be ready should a return be made necessary. 

 A number of barrels of blubber, spoiled meat and bread were 

 broken up to serve as food for the twenty-three dogs which 

 were left in possession. 



At 2 o'clock on the afternoon of Aug. 9, 1883, the party 



of twenty-five bade farewell to the place which had been to 

 them fox two years not only a home but a home fraught with 

 so many pleasant recollections that they still speak of it as 

 the paradise of the Arctic. The steam launch towed the 

 other three boats. Three tons of coal and a quantity of pro- 

 visions had been stowed at Cape Baird, and that was, there- 

 fore, the first objective point. Arriving on the morning of 

 the 10th, they took on the provisions and left at midday with 

 fifty days' supplies. Passing around Cape Leiber they en- 

 countered a moving pack from the northward, and were 

 compelled to run in to Cape Crocrofft and tie up to the land 

 ice. Here they took up forty eight pounds of corned beef, 

 left by Lieut. Greely the previous year, and, the tide having 

 drifted the ice off shore, thev ran on to Cape Bock and Carl 

 Ritler Bay, finding comparatively open water. 



The provisions left here by the Proteus in 1881, 200 

 rations, and those cached at Cape Cullinson by Nares iu 

 1>75, 240 rations, were taken on board. The small stores in 

 the JNares cache, such as tea, tobacco and sugar, were bad, 

 as well as a barrel of bread. About midway between Capes 

 Leopold, Bon Bouche and Lawrence they w'ere fi'ozen in for 

 five days, when they forced their way out, and after various 

 detentions from the boats getting ashore and several severe 

 nips, which the launch stood well, the other boats being- 

 hauled up, they finally reached Cape Hawkes on Aug. 26. 

 They landed and left a record on the summit of Washington 

 Irving Island and took on the small quantity of potatoes, 

 pickles and bread found in the English cache, except about 

 three or Jour hundred pounds of the latter, which was too 

 mouldy for use At 4 P. M. the same day they started for 

 Cape Sabine, having clear water until 10 P. M., when the 

 wind off shore drove the pack out and compelled them to 

 make fast during the night. Young ice several inches thick 

 formed off the mouth of Allrnan Bay, so that they were 

 unable to extricate the launch, but drifted slowly to the 

 southward with the pack. The tide occasionally would 

 open a lane and they worked through it a short distance 

 only to be brought up again. For the season of the year 

 the temperature was unprecedentedly low, being generally 

 below zero, and the party suffered much with cold. In order 

 that they might not be missed by the expected relief vessel ' 



a tripod was erected on the ice and a flag hoisted at an ele- 

 vation of thirty feet to attract attention. They were finally 

 driven to within about six miles of Cape Albert. 



Here Lieut. Greely determined to abandon the steam launch 

 and Valorous, two small sleds being made from the inside 

 works of the launch. With these and the twelve-man Eng 

 lish sled, which had been recovered from Thank God Har- 

 bor, where it was left by Beaumont, and had been brought 

 along to meet such an emergency, the party set out across 

 the ice for the nearest point of land above Cape Sabine, some 

 eleven miles distant. It was a weary journey, the ice was 

 rough and hummocky, and two journeys were required with 

 the small sleds for the provisions and two with the larger 

 one to transport the boats. Even then they accomplished 

 only about one mile daily. Officers and men worked alike 

 at the drags. On Sept 13, finding that the large sled was 

 weakening, the whaleboat was abandoned and only the Beau 

 mont remained. Twice driven back into Kane Sea by south- 

 westerly gales, and fearing as much that they would be 

 driven to the southward past Cape Sabine as that they would 

 not reach that point, the floe on which they were traveling- 

 was driven, on Sept. 22, by a northwest gale, down by Bre- 

 voort Island to the mouth of Baird Inlet, where it wau 

 stopped by grounded bergs and so broken up that, they were 

 left on a small piece only about fifty yards in diameter, The 

 floe continued to come down from the northward, and grind 

 ing and crumbling together, piled up in some places to a 

 height of twenty-five feet. Then- encampment of snow 

 houses and tents was broken up and they were forced to a! 

 tempt a landing, which they finally effected on the north 

 side of Baird Inlet on Sept. 29. 



Two men, Pace and Esquimau Jens, were at once sent to 

 Cape Sabine to examine into the state of affairs there, while 

 the remainder, except Long and Esquimau Frederick, who 

 were detailed as hunters, set about constructing winter 

 quarters. Game, however, was very scarce and only three- 

 seals and a few ptarmigan were obtained. Rice and Jens 

 returned on the 9th of October with the discouraging news 

 of the Proteus disaster and the scanty supply of provisions 

 at Sabine. That meant that the store of provisions on which 

 they had counted, in leaving Fort Conger, had not been 



