The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-10-23
TELEGRAPHIC
THE GREELEY SEARCH.
Commander Wildes Explains His
Conduct.

Conduct.
Washington, 20 Secretary Chandler
has written TO Commander Wildes, OF
the steamship Yantic, with respect to the
f,iIure OF the expedition for the reliey OF
Lieutenant Greeley. He says: Z" You
were instructed to proceed to the
northwest, through Davis straits. with
the steamer Proteus. but not
to 90 beyond Littleton island.
The Proteus passed this island on July
%. and was crushed in the ice on July
%. The Yantic did not reach there until
August 8. Between these date he Gar
lingson party of the Proteus came TO LII
Teton is and ard Pandora harbor, and
not finding yo1, contiI ued to the south
in open boats in search Of the Yantlc.
Had tho Yantic been at Littleton on the
18th f July. instead of being twelve
DAYS behind the Proteus, the Darlington
relief party would have remained 1T
that point with ample supplies and waited
for Lieutenant Greeley, whose orders re-
ouired him to endeavor to reach To st
yicinitynct later han Sspteru Der, 1858.
and who would not then b we be- found
awaiting him as is now the casa, II he
had successfully obeyed his orders. with
neither a house nor provisions, bus only
a record Of the complete failure OF the
mission of the Proteus and Yantic. 1t sp-
nears to the department that you disc.
bevea orders and thereby defeated the
object of the expedition. You will make
such explanation on this point IS you are
abe"
To this Commander Wildes replies
that the boilers of che YaLtic were in an
unreliable condition when ordered to fl
for the northern cruise; the repairs we're
pushed night and day to hasten the de-
parture; not being finished on the sailing
day, material for completing the work
WAS put on board and the repairs we're
continued from time to time until the
arrival at Godhsven. Knowing that from
thence northward the main dependence
would be on the engines, l determined
to get the boilers in fair
condition before leaving. This
took six days. One day was then taken
to get coal from the brig Peru, which
had just arrived. Then thick stormy
weather set in which delayed
the departure two days. BE
arrived at Godhaven with but 10
tons Of coal and more time
WOE Iost3 81 ~ WOE July Hotu UelOIo uo
could leave. Six days more we're lost by
dense fog and on the 31st he cleared
from Upernsvik for the sea. No time
was lost and no unnecessary delay was
made at any point. Had he sailed from
Godhaven the same time as the Proteus,
besides being unable to keep up with her,
he would have arrived at Littleton Is
la with his coal supply reduced to
seventy-five tons, and the boiler in a
lesky, precsrleus condition. Com
mander Wildes describes the dangers
connected with the passage through
Melville bay, and says he did not delay
one moment after be considered
the ship prepared, but pushed
ahead and only reached Pandora hsrbor
to find the bosts had gore south six days
before. He considered it bis first and
paramount duty on learning Of the loss OF
the Proteus to pick up .the boats which
contained thirty-seven men, and having
done that, it would be time to consider
what to do next. Having made long
and unsuccessful search for the boats, q
heavy pack of ice moved down behind
the Yantic, preventing the return north
ward, and leaving no alternative but to
proceed to Upernsvik. The letter con-
cludes as follows: The memorandum,
marked enclosure with no date or sigma
ture, which I presume are the supple
mentary Instructions so often spf ken of,
was never heard Of by me until our arri-
val in st. Johns. Tor seen until now. I
am prepared to shoulder all the response
biiity which properly belongs to me,
and il this statement is not satisfactory
and there still remains doubts in
the department that have not done my
duty as On officer Of the United States
navy, respectfully request that a court
of inquiry may be ordered on my con-
duct, as do not wish to rest under the
imputation that I have heedlessly and
unnecessarily left LieutenantG.eeley and
party to the possibility OF perishing by
starvation. I am, sir. your obedient
servant (Signed)
FRANK WILOKs, Commander, q. s. n.