Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-09-29
CRUSHED IN THE ICE.

CRUSHED In THE ICE.
The Steamer PrOtcus. Conveying the Gree
" Arctic Explorers, Crushed to Pieces by
Ice-Escapo of the Party.
WASHINGTON. Sept. IA.
The Signal Office has received the follow
ing from Lieutenant Darlington, command
ing the Greedy relief expedition:
S JOINS, N. F., Sept. 10.
1t is my painful duty to report the total
failure of the expedition. The Proteus was
crushed in q pack in latitude 70 degrees 81
minutes, longitude II degrees Is minutes, and
su3ikeon the afternoon Of July ~. My party
a2dthe crew Of the ship were all saved. /
made my way across Smith Sound and along
the eastern shore to Cape York. thonce across
Melville Bay to Upernavik, arriving there
August II. The Yantic reached Upcrnavik
September 2, and left the same day, bringing
the entire party here to-day. All we'll.
E. A. DARLINGTON"
ST. JOHNS. N. F. Sept. II.
The United States Greedy relief steam
ship Yantic has just anchored here. Her
tidings are lamentable. No word has been
received from Greedy or any of his party.
The steamer Proteus was crushed i'll foe ice
at the entrance to Smiths Sound July %.
Captain Pike and his crew and the scientific
party are passengers by the Yantic.
The first officer of the Proteus briefly sum-
marizes the Inflated Proteus expedition as
follows: The Yantic and Proteus left st.
Johns at four p. m. June 20. The P:oteus
arrived at God Haven Bay, Disco Island,
July 6, and the Yantic reached the same
place on the 10Th. The necessary prepare
,tions-were made, and the Proteus sailed for
Cory Island, arriving on the 10th; it left on
the 21st andtwo days afterward was crushed,
sinking at one p. III. July 90. ~Twenty-nine
days were spent in the boats and several
storms were encountered from which the
boats took refuge under the lee of icebergs.
Lieutenant Colwell and six Of the crew
parted company with the others at Cape
York. They found the Yantic July 81,
which reported Captain Pike and the re-
mainder Of the crew moving southwark. The
Ya.ltic reached Cory Island August 2, ~
the anne night she proceeded to Pandora,
where the records from Pike and CARING
ton were found. She next proceeded south
along the Greenland coast, sending boats all
around the island In search of tile missing
crew.
"A seolil anu iioavy Pach-lco VI august .
forced the Yantic to anchor to the leeward
of Northumberland Island, The next day
they bore away for Upernavik, arriving
there August IL. On the 9th she started
for the Waigate coal mines, and returned to
Upernavik September 2. Captain Pike and
his crew were found, and taken on board
the Yantic. 1t seems the first indication Of
the Proteus disaster was found August 3 at
Littleton Island by the Yantic,
as Lieutenant Darlington left a rec
ord there coming south describ-
ing the shipwreck and Indicating the gen.
eral movements of Captain Pike and the
ships company. On the 4th search was in
stituted along the Greeland coast from Cape
Alexander to Cape Robertson. Every point
likely to bring up with the retreating party
was searched till Sept. 2, when Upernavik
was reached, and the whole Proteus party
was found in good health and toler-
able spirits. They were exposed during
t~hirty-one days and nights i'll their
boats, making some stoppages at liz
termediate harbors. The Proteus was
crushed in foe ice at three o'clock on tlfe
evening of the 23d of July and sank within
forV hours. AS the closed foes parted COM
pany, fortunately sufficient time was given
to a v clothing, provisions, the compass
and other necessaries to meet what might
prove a protracted voyage. On the 25th
the boats being equipped, provisioned and
manned, a start was made. The scene of
the disaster was eight miles north-northwest
of Cape Sabine, latitude 1851 north. Over
600 miles and a frigid sea were passed before
Upernavik was reached. The worst feature
in the unfortunate Proteus expedi-
ton is that no provisions were landed or
caches made, and all the stores intended for
the arctic colony relief went down in the
steamer. While at anchor in Danish Har.
Dor on the 10Th of August, Governor Elburg
came on board the Yantic and reported that
the Danish Steamer Sophia had arrived
there from a harbor thirty miles north of
Cape York, and the Captain states a native
Eskimo told him that two natives with the
Greedy expedition arrived OH sledges last
winter, and reported the party all well, ex-
cept DR.. Pavy, who had died. These natives
went back to Lady franklin Bay. Another
Eskimo, arriving from the Greedy camp, re-
ported all the officers murdered by the men.
Neither of these reports are reliable, as the
fondness Of the Eskimo for lying and SEN
%sationalism places them in the category of
fiction. Captain Sinke says that as far
north as Cape Sabine there was no trace Of
Greedy or his party, and his failure to come
south to Littleton Island to meet the relief
steamer this summer evokes grave appre-
hension as to their probable fate. The Pro-
teus was retreating home when the ice-nip
overwhelmed her, and she got barely fifteen
miles north Of the scene Of tho shipwreck.
The prospects of the Greedy colony encom-
tering the rigors of a fourth winter beneath
the arctic circle are mournful to contem-
plate. The crews of both ships, the Yantic
and Proteus, are in excellent health. One
death only occurred during the expedition,
that of Henry Wilson,, gunner's mate of the
Yantic, of apoplexy.