Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-21
THE GREELY SEARCH.
DESCRIPTION OF THE .BEAR,
AND HER EQUIPMENT.

She Will Head for the Ice May Saws
to Cut and Cartridges to Break the
Ice-First TIdings of the Wanderers
Looked For at Cape York.
Five minutes walk from the entrance
of the Brooklyn navy yard, alongside of
the storehouse dock, says the New York
Erening Post, lies the Bear, one of the
two vessels with which Commander Schley
is going to find the Greedy party if he
can. The Bear is three-masted steamer
of about 700 tons, trim-looking, and rather
low in the water. She was formerly
sealer, and was bought by our government
at St. John for the present expedition.
Since then she has been completely
overhauled, strengthened with addi-
tional timbers, new deck has been
put in, and quarters for the men and
officers have been lined with felt, sealed
with wood, and made otherwise comfort
able for Arctic weather. A fine mess
room the width of the ship, and about
thirty feet long, has been built on deck,
adjoining the fOrecastle. 1t is lined with
hunks neatly fitted Up in hard wood, with
lockers under each berth. A long mess
table is in the middle, and the stove is
near the door. Here the twenty-seven
men of the Bear will try to sleep away an
Artic winter in case they get frozen
in next autumn. The old fore
castle remains as it was, and will
be used for the EsquimauX who may
be picked up and for the dogs which will
be taken on board at st. John. The
usual number of dogs for a ship is
twenty-fOur; in speaking of them this
morning Lieut.. COlwell, who showed the
much interesting information as to the
equipment of the vessel, said that in his
experience with the Proteus dogs were of
little use. When the PrOteus went down
between two ice foes the dogs were turned
loose and scampered off I'm the direction
of the Pole as if bound for home.
The most noticeable features of the
Bear, as distinguishing her from other
vessels, are the sailcl0th tarred screens
which serve to protect the lookout from
the spray and the cold blast; on each side
of the vessel is one of these canvas SEN
try boxes about breast high At the
foretOp, forty feet above the deck, the
man in the "crOw's nest" has fur sack
into which he drops, besides the Gus
tOmary barrel. Forward on the Bear may
be seen the ice saws. from fifteen to twenty
feet long, upon which four men may
work at time. When ship is in danger
of getting nipped between two ice foes it
is usual, if the ice is not too thick, to cut
a harbor in which the vessel may ride
safely when the squeeze comes. The
latest method of cutting harbor is, how
ever, to use nitrO-glycerine cartridges,
which eXpend their force downward.
Cartridges are laid along the line of the
proposed harbor and are exploded stimuli
taneously by electricity. The Bear takes
out 1000 cartridges for ice-breaking pur-
poses.
The hold of the Bear will be chiefly
given up to coal. The stores will be put
on board and the Bear will leave for St.
John, where she will get her last supply
of coal and provisions. The care taken
in the packing of the stores into air-tight
tins and barrels makes the work slow and
costly. Every package is labelled with
the name of the article and the time when
it is to be used The stores will suffice
for three years, and even sOnger. About
the middle of the vessel, between decks,
are two new screws in case of acci-
dent to the screw, which are fire.
quent among the ice. There is also
a second rudder, and a double supply
of sails and spars. The officers mess
room is cheerful and comfortable, with
berths for eight running around the sides.
There are double windows at each port
hole, and the deck above and the sides of
the mess-roOm have been lined with felt
and tarred paper, and sealed with wood.
A double student-lamp hangs above the
table, and at one end of the cabin is fine
photograph of Greedy and the twenty-five
men of whom the Bear is going in search.
Hanging to the side of one of the berths
were several photographs of children;
three of the seven officers are married
and leave wives and children behind
them.
Lieutenant Colweil was asked if one
trip to the North had not satisfied his
Arctic fever.
"Well," he said, 81 do not know that a
man who once gets a taste of Arctic
adventure always wants to go back, but
it certainly is exciting, and it is con-
trast to our life in time of peace. There
were any number of men who would
have gone on this expedition; we have
had our pick. l was with the PrOteus
expedition when that ship went down,
and made my way back in
twenty-eight foot boat; it took us
outskirts of civilization. The Proteus
sank in half an hour between two ice
fioes. AS she went down the ice closed
in upon her, and as the masts disappeared
the spars snapped off. A moment after
the Proteus was half a mile below us and
the ice had entirely closed up. 1t was
about eight feet thick. Then began our
journey back over the ice, half of the men
sleeping IN the boat while the other gang
pushed and pulled.
''The best judges of Arctic exploration
believe that we shall hear tidings of
Greely's party before we reach Cape
York. Our route from st. John will be
up along the west Greenland coast to
GOdhaven, and so through Melville Bay
to Cape York. Along the dreary coast
beyond Cape York and south Of the Hum
boldt Glacier there is tribe of Esqui-
mauX numbering about 125, from whom
we may hear news Of any strangers who
have wintered to the north of there. These
people are likely to know of anything of
the kind, for they wander along the coast
every summer for several hundred miles.
They are about the lowest specimens of
humanity we meet with, scarcely more
than animals, encrusted with filth and
living upon whatever rotten stuff they
can tind-fish or fat. When we left them
on our way back from the Proteus they
were having an orgy with lot of birds
they had caught-very unusual good
luck. The birds were about the size of
small chickens, and the natives were much
surprised that We did not like to eat them
raw. The EsquimauX fashion of eating
bird is to bite its head off as an effective
way of subduing its struggles, and then,
after skinning it by main force, the raw
flesh Is eaten just as you would eat an
orange. | have seen children Just able TO
toddIe going around with a raw bird in
each hand, their faces smeared with the
warm blood"
The Bear will start for st. John be-
fore the end of this Wppk and will Iaova