The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-07-26 00:00:00

THE GREELY EXPEDITION.

Some interesting details of the work of the Greely
expedition are given by the Philadelphia corres-
pondent of the Times:
It appears that out of 50,0001 b. of food buried for
him by the rescuing parties, the lieutenant found
only 2501 b. He reports that they lived on minute
shrimps, seaweed, sassafras, rock lichens, and seal-
skin, the last regular rations having been issued on
May 14.
Lieutenant Greely speaks warmly of the courage sif
the rescuing party. He says that they crossed Smith
Sound to his aid during one of the most violent gales
that he had ever known. The boats were in imminent
risk of being swamped. Four of his party were then
unable to walk, and could not have survived twenty-
four hours longer.
He has saved, and brings back with him, copies of
all his observations, and also his instruments; but he
had to abandon his photographs, relics, &c.,
The Lieutenant says:
"Looking from the summit of Mount Arthur,
5000 ft. high, the contour of the land west of the
Conger Mountains convinced me that Grinnell Land
tends directly south from Lieutenant Aldrich's
furthest point'in 1876.
"In 1883 Lieutenant Lockwood and Sergeant
Brainerd succeeded in crossing Grinnell Land.
Ninety miles from Beatrix Bay, at the head of
Archer's Fiord, they struck the head of a fiord from
the Western Sea, which was temporarily named by
Lieutenant Lockwood Greely Fiord. From the
centre of this fiord, in latitude 80 deg. 30 min.„
longitude 78 deg. 30 mm., Lieutenant Lockwood saw
the northern shore at its termination, 20 miles to the
west; the southern shore extending for 50 miles,
with Cape Lockwood 70 miles distant, apparently
separate land from Grinnell Land. I have named the
new land Arthur Land.
." Lieutenant Lockwood followed, both going and
returning, an ice cap, averaging about 150 ft. high,
with a perpendicular face. It follows the line of
Grinnell Land. The interior is ice-capped, with a
belt of country some sixty miles wide between the
northern and southern ice caps.
In March, 1,884, Sergeant Long, while hunting,
looked from the north-west side of Mount Carey,
towards Hayes Sound, seeing on the northern coast
three capes westward of the furthest seen by Sir
George Nares in 1876. The Sound extends 20 miles
further to the west than is shown by the English
chart, but is possibly shut in by the hind which
showed up across the western end.
"Two years' station duties, observations, and explo-
rations, and the retreat to Cape Sabine, were accom-
plished without loss of life, disease, serious accident,
or even severe frost bites. No scurvy was experienced
at Conger, but one death from it occurred last
winter.

The statements of the rescuers show that when the
Thetis and Bear arrived at Brevoort Island parties
were sent searching for records and cairns. One was
found on the top of Brevoort Island, which had been
left in October, 1883, stating that the Greely party
had established a permanent camp near Cape Sabine,
then having but forty days' rations and being sorely
pressed, but that all were well at that time. All the
parties were immediately recalled: and Chief
Engineer Lowe, with the Bear's launch, were ordered
to push on ahead, the vessels following. The launch
reached the camp first, returning with the tidings
that only seven of the party were alive, and that
Lieutenant Greely and two of the survivors were
dying.
Captain Schley, Dr. Emory, of the Bear, and Ensign
Reynolds were soon on the way to the camp, with
restoratives, food, clothing, and everything required
for immediate use. Milk punch was prepared on the
way. The wind was blowing a gale, and it was only
by most careful management that the launch reached
the camp. The waves flooded the boat, drenching
every one on board. When the party was first found
the rescuers were obliged to cut through the tent in
order to reach the starving men.
Lieutenant Greely was Just able to support himself
on his hands and knees. He was dressed in fur, with
a red knitted hood, which added to his haggard
appearance. His long hair and beard, his wasted
form and deep, sunken eyes, which shone through his
glasses with increased brilliancy, and his feeble voice,
which he strove to control, but which revealed his
overpowering feelings, brought moisture to the eyes
of the strongest of the relief party.
On either side of him lay one of his companions,
both in a dying oondition—Corporal Ellison, with
both feet frozen off, unable to raise his head, and
Private Maurice Connell, in a sleeping bag, dying
of 'starvation. Lieutenant Greely had been reading
the prayers for the dying when the party arrived.
Four of the party, Sergeant Brainard, Privates Long
and Fredericks, and hospital steward Beberbeck were
just able to stagger out of the tent.
A small quantity of milk-punch and ammonia
strengthened them, and soon beef tea and warm milk
were added. All were for the moment much stimu-
lated by the consciousness of rescue, and their plead-
ings for food were heartrending; but all solid food
was refused them.

They were carefully transported to the Thetis and
Bear, and tenderly cared for. For some days after
the rescue they were in a precarious condition, the
!by at their rescue being followed by severe depres-
sion. The minds of all were weak, and their speech
was, like their movements, feeble and slow. Rnispn
became insane before dying.