The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1884-08-21
TIM MIDNIGHT NN.
AZ rHr HoRrH po
uNr,. ~ the Diesly urruu"UIssHn'
nuriiani scenes ~ fnf' i"ur'r
aurora Uurrtii. NrrfirillN
Ututath Iuinrls ii,,

purpose cot obtaining some idea ut Oh,
nature and probable value of ,bg srirn
tinr observation, mldH lN trr,lN ui
Lady Franklin HAVANA ,-ur.Uitu Proc.
agent visited him saturday, freely
FIRST stated the vliurt ~ the luih
Franklin Hay expedition, viz; 10 c,-
iuhlish a polar ~,alp"n, one co
the thirteen suggested hN Lieu
tenant Muurrri, ~ Austria, who
ianeous observations OF hll physical
phenomena were Tn be- taken &" com
plcte tho programme, when was 1" h'
followed. IL was arranged by an lutor-
national Polar Cuugru IS, In which re-
representatives. 90 thirteen nation, look
part. The observations IN which The
greatest possible accuracy were In L."
hul were those at druluutiou
and deviation of the magnetic nurdlc,
temperature ui air and sea, height Of
barometer ana moan nul muN mum
rise anu fall of the tides, MI the vN-
pluraJiunS were Incidental a. the main
Objects az the expedition, The oNprIi'
tiOn was nttvi ont under the authority
at Congress nUd was composed
at three officers uf the army, ono acting
SURGEON aud nineteen enlisted men rom
ihr army. liWluu~ ipr tNyutN-~uNCu
months were pa, un the sh'p, Wlirh len
-, = ohm, iu'N 7. I-r', via lN" party
She touched NJ n,,,n island and rprr
NUNirk, tu procure -lud-r-, dogs, ~Nlr"
and do" iuui, Two I.IuimuuN~
were added tu the party a.
Proven. \ landing was made
NJ cary Island, Ia North water, aud
the prov iSlun, rurhpI 10y Mares In $50 Va
the Alert were found in good condition
Al littlcion Island Greedy personally
recovered English Arctic mall, lett by
Sir Allen Young IN Pandora In l>iG. NJ
a. Ia a. "A d
channel, cache of provisions
for use on the retreat was
made. II was the original intention
Ia establish the Polar station AT Water
Course Bay, hat ne heavy masses of lee
rendered the water course oi the bay cN-
cccdingly dangerous anchorage, moving
To a discovery of the harbnr. The station
pied 10y the English exploring party of
is75. Tine erection of n house was AT once
commenced and stores and equipments
landed. ON August 18th came the part
ing betwccnit o q ce.y party and the
men of the lruteuS. the little band
gathered on the frozen shore and
watched the prOtcus rs she steamed
slowly down through the Lady Frank in
bay. ON the evening of the same day,
Temperature sank below the FREEING
point and lev arctic winter was on them
In earnest. Their house was finished
about week after the Protcus lett.
1t was named in honor of Scnntort on
ger, Fort Congcr. During the first
month lhe cold effected the men more
than at amy subsequent time, nj Congcr.
Later on, in december, temperature
sank to from fifty to SINty-iive degrees
below zero, and so remained for
DAYS nj time. But even in tina
weather, the cooks iaVOritc amusement
was dancing barcheadud. bare armed
and slippered feet on the top of the
snow drifts. During the day the II en-
dressed in ordinary outside clothing,
but their hanGelS were very heavy.
Five men were generally Tor part o.
the day engaged in scientific work
under Greely's direction and
in the duties OF the camp.
the remainder being employed generally
about one hour day and devoted the
rest of the time to amusement. All
slept in hunks. The quarters We're
heated by a large coal-slove, the aver
age heat maintained being 10 degrees
above zero. Checkers, cards and read
ing were the amusemcntS OF the eve
ming. The life, Greedy said, was
far from lonely one one
two happier years than those spent al
Fort Conger.
On the 18th of october the sun left
them for l3j days, and twilight vary
ing from Il half an hour TO twcnty-t0uu
hours succeeded. For two months il
was so din that the dial Of watch could
not be read.
on April the 18th the sun came above
the horizon and remained there for
l3j days, giving. the party great sum
cheney of midnight sun. 1urlnS three
months the stars we're visible constantly,
the consultations of Orion and tn,
Great Bear being the brightest. The
North Star looked down from al
most overhead. Standing alone
outside the fort on one of these
nights the scene was grand. To the
north famed the aurora borealis and
bright consultations were set like jewels
around the glowing moon; over every
thing was "A dead silence so horribly OPP
pressve that man alone is ALMOST
tempted to Kill him self, 50 lonely dOeShe
feel. fne astronomer of the party
said that with the naked eye a
star of one degree smaller magnitude
than can be seen here in The same way,
might be discovered. The moon would
remain in sight from eleven to twelve
DAYS at a time. Thu III mOmeter regis
tered on June Both, Il hi, hest tempera-
ture a. LAZY FRANKLIN Bay, which we
know during our stay. IL was ~ de-
grees above zero. The lowest was il
February, 1888, at &c degrees below
zero.
In this February h, mercury froze,
and remained solid for fifteen days,
Mercury in the thermometer invariably
rose during the storms or high winds.
The highest barometer was slightly
above thirty-one inches, the lowest
slightly below twenty-inches. The great
est variations were in winter. Al
used to ascertain the presence of
electricity was set up, but not the slight
est results were obtained. The displays
of aurora were very good, but not com.
pared with those seen at Disco Island
or at Upper Navik. AS far as Greaiy
could observe, no cracking s>und ac-
companied the displays, AID the general
shape was that of ripbon. The south
westerly horizon. was the quarter on
which the brightest displays were seen.
Mares reported in 1876 that no shadow
was cast by aurora, hut Greedy says he
distinctly observed his shadow cast
rby it. There were no electrical dis,
turbance save those manifested
by rumbling thunder heard
twice far away to the north. In the
course of the tidal observations made,
the very interesting fact was discovered
that the tides at Lady Franklin Bay
came from the north, while those at
Melville Bay and Cape Sabine, came
from the south. The temperature of this
north tide is two degrees warmer than
that of the south tide, at Cape Sabine.
Why this was so, Greedy would not ven
ture to state. He used in measuring the
How of the tides fixed gauge-an iron
rod planted in the mud. The average
rise Of the spring tides at Lady Franklin
ray was found to be eight feet. At Cape
SABINE the highe 81 tides rose twelve feet.
The surf was only observed twice dur
in the two years. At Lady Franklin
bay, the average temperature OF the
water was twenty-nine degrees above
zero. Wolves Weighing ninety pounds