354 
APPENDIX NO. Y. 
Report of Surgeon upon Condition of Rescue-Party , March , 1854. 
To E. K. Kane, U.S.N., Commanding Second American Arctic Ex¬ 
pedition. 
Sir:— I have the honor respectfully to submit the following report 
of the state of health on board the Brig Advance, agreeably to your 
order :— 
Of the six men left on board at the time of your departure five were 
invalids. Messrs. J. Carl Petersen and Augustus Sontag had, in ad¬ 
dition to the fatigue of their long journey, premonitory symptoms of 
scurvy. Mr. Goodfellow, G. Stephenson, and G. Whipple, had all 
suffered more or less from scorbutic attacks during the winter, and 
from which they had not yet recovered. The two latter were, how¬ 
ever, able, and did render efficient service to the sick after your return, 
—Stephenson as nurse, and Whipple as cook. 
Mr. Bonsall was the first to arrive at the vessel. lie came about two 
hours in advance of the remainder of your party. From him I learned 
you were advancing, and that he was sent forward by your orders to 
give directions for the reception of the sick. 
The necessary preparations being completed, I went out on the floe 
to meet you. Messrs. Brooks and Wilson, J. T. Baker, and Pierre 
Schubert, lay on the sledge sewed up in buffalo-robes and other furs. 
The remainder of the party were drawing the sledge. As they passed 
me, I was startled by their ghastly appearance. They gave me not 
even a glance of recognition, and when I hailed them they met me 
only with a vacant, wild stare. Their persons wero covered over with 
frost; from their beards were suspended large lumps of ice; their tread 
was slow and feeble; and it was a sad sight to see what had three days 
previous been a party of strong and vigorous men now all bent down 
as with the weight of years. 
For sixty-six hours they had been constantly on foot and exposed xn 
the low temperatures of from 85° to 50° below zero. They had had no 
rest since leaving the vessel. The loss of sleep, the constant exposure, 
the depressing effects of the extreme cold, and the great fatigue con¬ 
sequent upon their long journey, had produced alanning prostration. 
They were almost to a man delirious. Keeping the direction of the 
vessel as if by instinct, they knew of nothing that transpired. When 
they arrived at the ship, and when you gave the order to halt, they 
all dropped the lines and made for the ship’s side, the same instinct 
directing them to their beds. 
