Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-09-14
SINKING OF THE PROTEUS
GARLINGTON AND WILDEs MAKE
THEIR REPORT.


THEIR REPORT.
Crushed in an Ice Pack, She Went Down
July 23-A1I Hands Saved-Adrift in
the Fields of Ice-The Return Home
After the Fruitless Search for Lieu
tenant Greely.
ST. JOHN, \. F., Sept. 13.-The United
States Greely relief steamship Yantic has
just anchored here. Her tidings are la
mentable. No word has been received
from Greedy or any of his party. The
steamer PTOteus was crushed in a foe of
ice at the entrance to Smiths Sound July
23d. Capt. Pike, his crew and the scien-
! titc party are passengers on the Yantic.
The whole Proteus party are
in good health and fair spirits.
They were exposed thirty-one days
and nights in boats, making some
! stoppages at intermediate harbors. The
! Proteus was crushed in the foe in the ice
at three o'clock i'm the afternoon of July
| %, and sank within seven hours. For
/ tunately the men had time to save cloth
/ ing, provisions, compasses and other
necessaries to meet a protfaeted voyage.
/ On July %, the boats being equipped
! proVlslOned and manned, a start was
made. The scene of the disaster was
! eight miles north northwest of Cape
Sabine, in latitude 70 degrees 80 seconds
north. over 600 miles of ice and frigid
sea was passed before Upernayik was
reached. No provisions were landed from
the steamer, nor were any caches made,
and all the stores intended for the Arctic
colonys relief went down in the
steamer.
Captain Pike, of the PrOteus. saws that
as far north as Cape Sabine there was no
trace Of Lieutenant GreeIy or his party.
| and his failure to come south to
Llttleton Island to meet the relief
steamers this summer evOkes
grave apprehensiOns as to his
probable fate. The Proteus was retreat
ing home when the ice nip overwhelmed
her She got barely fifteen miles north
OF the scene of the shipwreck. The pros
poets OF the Greedy colony encountering
the rlgors of third winter beneath the
Arctic circle are mOurnful to cOntem-
plate. The crews of the Yantic and Pro-
teus are IN excellent health. One death
only occurred during the expedition. that
OF Henry Wilson, the gunner's mate of
the Yantic, from apOpleXy.
w AsHINGTON, Sept. 13.-The Chief
Signal Officer has received the following
report from Lieutenant Darlington. in
command of the Greedy Arctic Relief
Expeditions:
''ST. JOHN, n. F., Aug. 10, 1888.
1t IS my painful duty to report the
toCal Iallure OF the expedition. The
PrOteus was crushed in a pack i'm latitude
1902, longitude 74:25, and sunk on the
afternoon of the 23d of July. NV party
and the crew of the ship were ali saved.
made my way across Smith Sound and
along the eastern shore to Cape York.
thence across Melville Bay to Uper-
nayIk, arriving there on the oath of
August. The Yantic reached Upernavik
on the second of September and left the
same day; bringing the entire party here
to-day All are well.
Signed e. a. GARLINGTON.
Inc following report from Commander
WIldes, of the United States steamer
1antic, with regard to the failure of the
Greely relief expedition, was received to-
night by Commodore English. Acting Sec
retary of the Navy:
ST. JOHN, n. f.. Sept. 10.
Hon. w. Z. Chandler, SecretarT Of the
Nam.
Inc United States steamer Yantic has
arrived bringing Captain Pike and the
crew of the PrOteus, Lieutenant CARING
ton and the Greedy relief party, all well.
The steamer PrOteus was crushed i'm the
ice slX miles north Of Cape Sabine, July
23d. Her crew and the relief party, after
deposlting the records at LittletOn island
and Pandora harbOr, retreated south i'm
sIX boats to Upernavik, suffering much
hardship in Melville Bay The Yantic
reached LittletOn Island. August 3.
without much difficulty, found the records
ana Immediately proceeded southwark,
and searched the coasts and island thor
oughly down to Saunders Islands. The
ice pack then closed i'm and we could
md ], l. i 4
oDliged TO retreat under the lee of North
umberland Island, August Q. Southwark
gales having lOOsencd the pack, | was
aDle TO get through and continue the
search OF the coast about Cape York. The
water was filled with ice packed close
couid not get within twenty miles of
land. August 10, having ice in all direc-
tlons but the southeast. | proceeded to
UpcrnaYik, sent fifteen days ratiOns to
Leslnsake ana whale boat to Cape
Shackleton. NOTE.-PrObably intended
IOf leSSulSSake, a small settlement be-
tween Cape Shackleton and Upernavik,
about forty miles north of the latter.
August 22d, | sailed for Coal Mine and
thence 10 GodhaVen. August 31st Lieu
tenant Caldwell arrived in a launch from
UpernaVlk, having been thirtv-One daVs
in an open boat. He had separated un-
der orders at Cape York. | sailed the
same day for Upernavik. found the party
arrived September I'd and proceeded
homeward with a rough passage. Per-
mission is asked to coal here.
Signed FRANK WILDEs.
In the opinion of naval officers, the loss
OF the Proteus, which was sent to the re-
lief of the Greely Arctic expedition, the !
members OF which are supposed to be at
Lady Franklin Bay, will end for many
years the sending out of government Arc
tic exploration parties. The fate of the |
numerous Arctic expeditions sent out by |
the government has been so disastrous |
that 1t is not regarded as at all likely that |
Congress will appropriate any more
money for such work. OF course, there |
Will be another expedition sent out |
to relieve Lieutenant Greely. 1t |
would be impossible, however. |
TO reach his party this season because of |
ice. Not a vessel in the world could do |
that. Therefore there are grave fears eu-
tertalned as to the fate of Lieutenant /
Greely and his men. AS they only had |
provisions enough to last them during the
present season, and as they cannot be
reached until next summer, it is apparent |
that the fears about them are very well |
founded. Naval officers, as a rule, think
That all Will have pershed before assist
ance can reach them. 1t is regarded as
very fortunate that the man-Ofwar Yantic |
was sent as convoy to the PrOteus, as
otherwise when the latter was crushed
in the ice all hands on board would prOba-
bIV have been lost