The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1884-08-18
THE MIDNIGHT sun.
ar THE NORTH POLE.
,,oc,s OF the Greedy Reconnaissance
brilliant Scenes at Fort COnger-
- Aurora Borealis-Vertically
-~ Beneath Polaris-Etc.

d LON visited MIN Saturday. Greedy |
555st stated the object of the Lady |
tFranklin Bay expedition, viz; To es- !
3,a6isb polar station, one of |
1tSe thirteen suggested by Lieu 5
4,enant Weprect, of Austria, who !
Jiscoyercd Franz Joseph Land. Stimuli l
4@neous observations OF all physical {
4Pbenomena were TO be taken TO com I
vblete the programme, which was to be !
Ahlowed. 1t was arranged by an Inter |
national Polar Congress, in which re-
nrpscntatives OF thirteen nations took I
MART. The observations in which the
reatest possible accuracy We're TO be
Rad were those of declination
and deviation of the magnetic needle,
temperature of air and sea, height of
barometer and mean and maximum
rise and fall of the tides. All the en-
4 rIorations were incidental TO the main
4 'bects of the expedition. The eNpcdi-
,i6n was fitted out under the authority !
At Congress and was composed |
Ithree officers Of the army, one acting |
yrgeon and nineteen enlisted men from /
i be army. Rations for twenty-seyen |
months were put on the ship, which left |
81. John, July 7, 1881, with the party !
i She touched at Disco Island and Upper
4 Navick, to procure sledges, dogs, skins
and dog food. Two EsquimauXs
we're added to the party at
4 Proven. A landing was made
at Cary Island, in North water, and
4 the provisions cached by Mares in 1875 in
/ the Alert were found in good condition.
At IittletOn Island Greedy personally
4 recovered English Arctic mail, left by
Sir Allen Young in Pandora in 1876. At
Carl Ritter Bay, in Kennedy
channel, cache of provisions
for use on the retreat was
made. 1t was the original intention
4 TO establish the Polar station at Water
/ Course Bay, but the heavy masses of ice
4 rendered the water course of the bay eX-
4 ceedingly dangerous anchorage, moving
1 to discovery of the harbor. The station
was there established on the side oCcu-
i pied by the English exploring party of
i S7j. The erection Of house was at once
| commenced and stores and equipments
landed. On August 18th came the part
ng betweenH.le Gleely party and the
men of the Proteus. The little band
gathered on the frozen shore and
watched the Proteus as she steamed
slowly down through the Lady Franklin
bay. On the evening of the same day,
temperature sank below the freeing
point and icy arctic winter was on them
i'm earnest. Their house was finished
about week after the Proteus left.
# was named in honor of Senator Con
yer, Fort Couger. During the first
month the cold effected the men NOR.
than at any subsequent time at Conger
Later on, in December, temperature
sank TO from fifty to siXty-live degree
below zero, and so remained 70
DAYS Mt a time. But oven in thai
weather, the cooks favorite amusemen
was dancing bareheaded, bare armed
and slippered feet on the top of tn
snow drifts. During the day the II q
dressed in ordinary outside clothing
but their ilannelS were very heavy
Five men were generally tor part q
Il the day engaged in scientific WOrl
i under GreelY's direction an
\ in the duties of the CAM
u the remainder being employed general
A about one hour day and devoted th
rest of the time to amusement. A
slept in hunks. The quarters wen
heated by q large cOal-stove, the ave
age heat maintained being so degrr,
above zero. Checkers, cards and reaC
Ing were the amusements OF the ey,
ming. The life, Greedy SAID, W.
far from a lonely on
many of the men said they never passC
two happier years than those spent
Fort COnger.
them for l35 days, and a twilight var
ing from half an hour TO twenty-tOl
hours succeeded. For two months
was so dim that the dial OF watch cou
not DO read.
ON April the 18th the sun came abo,
the horizon and remained there {,
1856 DAYS, giving the party Il great sui
cheney OF midnight sun. During thr
months the stars were visible CONSTANT
the consultations of Orion and d
Great Bear being the brightest. NJ
most overhead. Standing alo
outside the fort on one Of the
nights the scene was grand. To {
north famed the aurora hOrealis al
| bright consultations were set like iowC
/ around the glowing moon; over ever
L thing was u dead silence so horribly {
L preSsive that man alone is almC
| tempted to kill himself So lonely does
feel, The astronomer of the par
said that with the naked eye
star of one degree smaller magnitu
than can he seen here in the same ",
might he discovered. The moon wol
remain in sight from eleven to tweI
days at time. The thermometer rec
tered on June Both, the highest tempe
lure at Lady Franklin Bay, which
know during our stay. IL was ~
grecs above zero. The lowest was
February, 1883, at 66 degrees bel
zero.
In this February the mercury fro
and remained solid for fifteen da
Mercury in the thermometer invarla
rose during the storms or high win
The highest barometer was sligh
above thmty-one inches, the low
slightly below twonty-inches. The gre
est variations We're in winter.
electric meter, an iuStrum
used to ascertain the presence
electricity was set up, but not the slg
est results were obtained. Tho displ
OF aurora we're very good, but not ct
pared with those seen ut Disco ISL
or at Upper Navik. As far as Gre
could observe, no cracking sound
shape was that of ribbon. The sol
westerly horizon was the quarter
which the brightest displays were st
Mares reported in 1876 that no shat
was east by aurora, but Greedy says
distinctly observed his shadow
10y it, There were no electrical
turbance save those maniGe'
by rumbling thunder he
twice far away to the north. In
course of the tidal observations M
the very interesting inct was discov'
came from tho north, while thos
Mcllyillo Bay aud Cape Sabine, g
from the south. The temperature Of
north tide is two. degrees warmer
that of the south tide, ut Cape Sal
Why this was so, Greedy would not '
ture TO state. lie used in measuring
flow of the tides fixed gauge-an
rod planted in the mud. The ave
rise of the spring tides at Lady Fran
hay was found to be eigh. feet. At
Sabine the highest tides rose twelve
The surf was only observed twice
II the two years. At Lady Fran
bay, the average temperature oil
water was twenty-nine degrees n
zero. Wolves weighing ninety po
were killed around Fort Conger I
are foxes and other animals there,
Is n N.nnIntIlillA. unnnn nrll nln- Pow