New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-01-19
NOW 10 RESCUE GREELY.

The official recommendations for the relief
of Lieutenant Greedy are excellent. AS
soon as the details of the Proteus dis
aSter were reported, we advised the purchase
of two steam -sealers, to be selected at Dundee
rather than at st. Johns, and the organization
of an expedition under the exclusive direction
of the Navy Department. This is the plan
outlined by the Secretaries OF war and the
Navy and submitted by the President to Con-
cress. AS a naval officer has been sent to
England to open negotiations for the purchase
of suitable vessels, it is probable that the
meagre resources of the st. Johns feet will not
again be drawn upon, and also that the Yantic
will not be ordered North this season. The
propriety of leaving the army officers at home
and sending naval officers on a seamans GRAND
Of mercy does not require any argument The
two branches of the service ought not to be
united in such an expedition. The Navy
Department should be held solely responsible
for the success or failure OF this seasons work
off the Greenland coast. Two vessels are better
than one, because one will serve as basis of
retreat and the resumption of operations II any
accident befall the other. Stcam-sealcTs like
Captain Adams's Arctic are constructed with
special reference to cruising in the Arctic, and
consequently should be selected i'll preference
to a vessel of war like the Yantc. The official
recommendations are both adequate and wise
and Congress ought mott to lose any time III
acting upon them. An appropriation should be
voted at once, in order that there may be no
delay in purchasing the ships and equlpplng
them for the expedition.
The Secretaries consider it indispensable that
the vessels should reach the Danish settle
mentS as early as possible. They suggest that
the expedition shall leave New-IOrk not later
than the ST of May, so a. to arrive at Upernaylk
within twenty days. While it is important to
forcstall by vigorous action and wise precau-
tions DELAYS which inevitably attend Arctic
relief expeditions, it is not prudent to incur
unnecessary risk by being too fore handed and
energetic. The Scotch whalers seldom attempt
10 cross Melville Bay before the middle Of June,
and ordinarily the waters above Upernavik are
filed with icebergs and foes during the first
three weeks of July. The POlaris survivors
were rescued by the RavcnScraig on June %,
when the ship itself was fast in the ice twenty
five miles south of Cape York. This Is as early
rs the most ventursOmc whalers ever seek to
encounter the pcrils Of Melville Bay. If the
relief expedition reaches the Danish settlements
on May 20, it will be ut least month before
any advance northward can be made with
prudence. Upernavik, moreover, is an open
roadstead, where vessels can not anchor III
safety. Disco is, indeed, the only good harbor
on the coast, and the proximity of Il coal vein
renders it the namral headquarters for such an
expedition. The two ships ought to be there IN
good season. but not before June 10. In the
Polaris relief expedition the Juniata did not
reach Disco until July D. and the Iigris, which
subsequently went up to Cape Ohlsen, not until
August 10.
The Secretaries also recommend the equip
ment of smaller vessel, which can take greater
risks in early Spring navigation than the steam
sealers. This is a crude suggestion, unless
reference is made to IA steam launch similar to
the Little Juniata. This was the tiny craft
which Lieutenant De Long commanded during
the Polaris search. He was sent out from the
Juniata during the first week of August and
succeeded in approaching Cape York in terrible
weather steam launch may prove OF service
in the present expedition, but any third vessel