McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-08-14

the pursuit Of the Yantic. The Yantic
then returned to Upernavik, found that
the whole Proteus party had saved
themselves and arrived, took them on
board, reached st. Johns on Sept II.
With the exception that it left few
rations and some clothing at Cape Sa-
bine the expedition of 1888, as well as
that of 1882, was failure. No attempt
was made by either Lieut.. Darlington
or Commander Wildes to establish a
relief party at Littleton Island, for
which point Lieut.. Greedy was under
orders to start not later than SPIT. 1.
The army court of inquiry, under date
of Jan. Is, 1884, reported: 1T may
here be stated roughly that from July,
1882, TO August, 1883, not less than 50,-
600 rations were taken on the steamers
Neptune, Yantic and Proteus up to be-
yond Littleton Island. OF that number
only about 1000 were left in that vi
cinity, the remainder being returned to
the United States or sunk with the Pro-
teus.
'The desperate condition in which
Lieutenant Greedy had thus been left,
led to careful and jealous preparation
of the relief expedition of 1884. The
steam sealer Thetis was purchased in
London, the Bear was bought at St.
Johns, the Alert was thoughtfully and
generously given by the British gov
eminent, and all were fitted and
equipped for conflict with the ice, and
for three years stay, if necessary, in
the arctic regions. The details of the
rescue are too fresh in all minds to
need repetition. The three relief ves-
sells and the coaling steamer Loeb Gar
ry, boldly entered upon the navigation
of Davis straits, and pushed across
Melville bay. The commanders of the
Thetis and the Bear, watching their
opportunities with untiring care, cool
ly and courageously thrust their ships
into the ice, and reached Littleton
island on June %, a fortnight earlier
than any vessel had attained that
point before. Finding there no record
of the unfortunate explorers, on the
same day they passed over to Cape Sa-
bine. Their haste was necessary.
Lieutenant Greedy and his party had
left Lady Franklin bay on the 9th of
August, ten months before, and after
pushing on in boats and drifting on
ice foes vainly looking for the relief
party which should have been at Lit
tleton island keeping its telescopes on
Cape Sabine and the land to the north
ward they had fixed their winter
quarters at the latter point. The pro-
visions at Cape Sabine and Cape Isa-
bella had lasted them till March,
when they hoped to cross to Littleton
island and obtain the $50 rations left
there by the Neptune, but during all
this time the ice at the entrance of
Smiths sound never closed, while the
boats were lost or consumed for fuel;
and meantime starvation and cold did
their deadly work. One by one the
feeble sufferers died, until only seven
remained, and these had but few
hours to live. But help was now near
at hand. On the evening of the 22d of
June, when their fate seemed hopeless,
the shrill whistle of the Thetis, the sig
nal of rescue, was heard above the
winds and the waves. A relief party
hurried forward and found them. Care
full and tender hands bore them gently
off, the ships turned their heads home
ward, and on the 18th of July the
American people-the whole civilized
world-rejoiced at the Geographic an
that Lieut.. Greedy had
been found and saved. To the rescu-
ers and the rescued of this expedition
of 1884, the receptions of Friday and
of to day have been most fifty given;
and we are here assembled to do them
honor. But our first duty is to pay our
tribute of praise and of mourning to
those devoted men, who, having COM
pleted their two years of fruitful labor,
came southwark to Cape Sabine, and
after months of suffering and starva-
ton, borne with heroic fortitude and
patience, persisted as truly on the field
of duty as if they had met their fate at
the lannon's mouth. The people of
the United States look back upon their
record with just though mournful
pride, and wherever throughout the
world the story of their heroic endeav-
or and suffering is told the memory of
these martyrs to duty will forever be
cherished and held in honor. With |
special tenderness we turn to Lieut.. |
Greedy and his rescued comrades
Sergeant David L. Brainerd, Sergeant |
julius Fredericks, Sergeant Francis
Long, Steward Henry Biederbeck and
Private Maurice Cornell. They are the
only survivors of an American arctic |
which reached out further
toward the pole than any previous ex-
plorers, and whose observations were |
into the polar ocean. For
their labors and their endurance we
know them; for their sufferings we
give them our pity and sympathy; and
to comfort, cheer and encourage them
we promise them the gratitude of their
government and their countrymen as
The sole survivors of polar expedition
which will always illustrate American
enterprise and American heroism.
Welded at Ninety.