River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-07-24
LIEUT.. CREELY LIVES.
The intrepid Polar Explorer with
Six of His Men Rescued by
the Bear and Thetis.
Eighteen Members of tho Expedition,
Having Died Sacrifice to the
Moloch of the North.

Il A2CAotu OF the &OEtA.
WASHINGTON, July IL = The following tele-
gram was received at the navy department this
morning:
st Johns, N, f., July IL, a. m.-To the
/ Hon William f. Chandler, secretary Of the
Navy, Washington d. c.: The Thetis Bear and
! Lock Garry arrived here to-day from West
| Greenland All we'll Separated from the
/ Alert 80 miles north, during gale At9p. m.
| June 20, five miles off Cape Sabine III Smiths
/ sound the Thetis and Bear rescued alive Lieut.
A. w. Greedy, Sergeant Brainard Sergeant
| Fredericks, Sergeant Long, Hospital Steward
| Beiderbeck, Private Cornell and Sergeant Eli
| son, the only survivors of the Lady FRANKLIN
| bay expedition. Sergeant Ellison had lost both
| hand and feet by frost-bite, and dIeu fully at
Goodhaven, three days after amputatlon, which
had become imperative. Seventeen of the
| twenty five persons composing the expedition
/ persisted by starvation at the point wherefound.
| One was drowned while sealing to procure food.
| Twelve bodies of the dead were rescued and
are now on board the Thets and Bear One
| Eskimo was buried at village called Disco,
| in accordance with the desire of the inspector
! of Western Greenland The bodies of six with
date Of death, were received as follows:
| Sergeant Cross, Jan. /, 1881; Sergeant Linn,
| April, q; Lieut. Lockwood, April, 3: Sergeant
| Jewell, April II; Private Ellis, May 10; Ser
| geant Ralston, May %. The bodies of two
buried in the ice fort near the camp were swept
/ away TO sea bY WHO'S ana cuffdntS before my
arrival, and could not be recovered They
were: Private Henry, June 9; Private Schnei-
der, June Is The names of the dead buried
| in the ice fort, with date of death, whose bod
| les were notrecovered, are as follows; Sergeant
| SAILOR June 81 Private William Bender, June 8;
| Assistant Surgeon Payy, June q; Sergeant
Gardiner, June II; drowned by breaking
| through the newly formed ice while sealing.
Jens Edwards, Eskimo April "a.
| would urgently suggest that the bodies now
1 urJh o MA aH in atalt il
| safer and better transportation in a sea-way.
| This appears to me imperative. Greedy aban-
| doned Fort CJnger Aug S, 1883 and reached
| Baird Inlet Sept % following, with the entire
| party well He abandoned all his boats and
was adrift thirty days ON an ice foe IN Smith s
| Sound. His permanent camp was established
| Oct q, 1888, at the point where he was found
| During nine months his party had to live upon
seant allowance of food brought from Fort
| Conger that was cached at Payer Harbor and
| Cape Isabella by Sir George Fares in 1870, but
| found il TO be much damaged by the lapse Of
| time, and that cached by Beebe at Cape Sabine
| in 1882, and a small amount saved from the
| wreck of the Proteus in 1888 and landed by
| Iieuts Darlington and Golwell on the beach
| near where Greelys party was found When
| their provisions were consumed the party was
| forced to live upon boiled sealskins stripped
| from sealskin clothes, and hchens
| and shrimps caught in good weather when
| they were strong enough to make exertions
| As it took ! 300 shrimps to fill gallon meas
| ure the labor was too exhausting to depend up
| on them to sustain life entirely The channel
| between Cape Sabine and Littleton Island did
not close on account of violent gales all winter
| so that the $40 rations at that poi7t could not
| be reached All of Greely's records and in
| struments brOught by him from Fort Conger
| are recovered and are on board From Hare
| Island to Smiths Sound | had constant aud
| furious struggle with ice i'll impossible foes.
Solid barriers were overcome by watehfulness
and patience. No opportunity to advance a
mile escaped me, and for several hundred miles
| the ships were forced to ram their way from
| lead to lead through ice varying in thickness
from three to six feet, and when RATED, much
thicker. The Bear reached Cape York Juno
Is, after passage of twenty-one
| days in Melville bay, with, two adj
| vance ships of the Dundee whal-
| ing fleet and continued to Cape Sabine. Re
turning seven days later, we fell in with
seven others of this fleet off Wostenholm is
land and announced Greely's rescue, that they
might not be delayed from their fishing
grounds nor be tempted into the dangers of
Smith sound in Wow of the reward of S25, 600
offered by congress Returning across Mel
vile bay we fell in with the Alert and Lockgar
ny, OF DEVILS Thumb, struggling through
heavy ice. Commander Coffin did admirably
to get along SO far with transport so early IN
the season before an opening had occurred
Lieut. Emory, with the Bear, has supported
ma throughout with great skillfulness and AN
filinching readiness in accomplishing the great
duty Of relieving Greedy. The Greedy party
are very much improved Since their rescue,
butwere critisal in the extreme when found,
and for several { VS. after Forty-eight hours
delay in reaching them would have been fatal
to all now living. The season North is late and
the coolest for years. Smiths sound was not
open when we left Cape Sabine. The winter
about Melville bay was the most severe for
| twenty years This great result is entirely due
to the unwearyiDg energy of yourself and the
secretary Of war in fitting out this expedition
for the work it has had the honor to &C
complish.
ISignedl j. S. ScHLEY, Commander.
LIEUT.. GREEDY REPORTS.
General Hazen, chief signal officer, has re-
| ceived the following telegram:
St Johns n. H., July l7.--FOr the first time
| in three centuries England yields the honor
of reaching the farthest north-Lieut Lock-
wood and Sergeant Brainard, May Is, reach
ing Lockwood Island, latitude S3 min. "a sec,
longitude A min, sec. They saw, from
a two thousand feet elevation, no land north
or northwest but to the northeast Green
land yet extended, lost to view in Cape Rob
ert Lincoln, latitude So min 30 sec, and Ion
gitude 80 min. Lieut. Lockwood was turned
back in 1883 by open water ON the north
Greenland shore, barely escaping drifts
into the Polar ocean. Dr. Pavy, in 1882
following the Markham route, was adrift
one day in the Polar ocean north OF
Cape Joseph Henry, and escaped to land,
abandoning nearly everything. In 1882 | made
III the spring and later in the summer, trips
into the interior of Grinnel land, discovering
Lake Hazen, some 90 by 10 miles in extent
which is fed by the ice cape of north Grinneli
Land. drains Rugges river and Weyprecht ford
into Coneybeare bay and Archer ford. From
the summit of Mount Arthur, 5000 feet, the
contour of the land west of the Conger noun
tains convinced one that Grinnel Land tonds
directly south from Lieut. Aldrich's farthest
point reached in 1876 In 1888 Lieut.. Lock
wood and Sergeant Brainard succeeded in
crossing Grinnell Land, and ninety miles from
Beauteaux bay head of Archers ford, struck
the head of ford from a western sea, tempo
rarily named by Lockwood, Greedy Fiord.
From the center of the ford, in latitude 50
| min so Sec longitude 1S min, 80 sec, Lieut.
Lockwood saw die northern shore termination,
some twenty miles west, and the southern shore
extending some fifty miles, with Cape Lock
wood some seventy miles distant apparently
separate land from GrinneH Land We have
named the new land Arthur Land. Lieut.
Lockwood following, going and returning on
the ice, found that the cape averaged about
one hundred and fifty feet perpendicular face
1t follows that the Grinnell Land interior is ice
capped with a belt of country some sixty
miles wide between the northern and
southern ice capes. In March,
1884, Sergeant Long, while hunt
ing. looked from the northwest side of Mount
Carey to Hays sound, seeing on the northern
coast three capes westward of the furthest
seen by Mares IN 1876 The sound extends
some twenty miles further west than shown
by the English chart, but is possibly shut in
by land which showed up across the western
end The two years station duties, observa-
tons, all explorations, and retreat TO Cape
Sabine, were accomplished without loss Of life,
disease serious accident or even severe frost
bites No scurvy was experienced at Conger,
and but one death from it occurred last
winter. [Signedl GREEDY,
Commanding.
verdict in the 70 ard Trial