Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1884-08-04

board he brought records, which had
been found by Lieutenant Taunt
on the top of Brevoort Island. They
were dated October 81, 1888, signed
by Lieutenant Greely. and contained
the news of the retreat from Fort
Conger, the arrival of the party at
Baird Inlet all well, the location of
Camp Clay, and stated briefly the
quantity of provision available.
The scene at the camp beggars de-
scription. 1t is sufficient to say that
they were starving, and but for the
timely relief afforded some of them
would have died that night. Connell
had been given up as lost. The gale
was killing them, and Lieut.. Greely
says that he gave himself only about
sixty Eore hours to live. Fredericks,
Long and Brainard were the strong
est of the party, and they were only
able with great difficulty to walk down
to the boat. 1t is remarkable CO.
incidence that Mr.. J. w. Norman,
the Ice pilot of the Thetis, who was
mate of the Proteus in 1881, and the
last person to say goodbye to Greely
at Lady Franklin Bay, was also the
first to greet him here, having accom-
panied Lieutenant Colwell in the
Bears steam launch, and being the
first to arrive at the camp he jumped
ashore at once. Upon landing, with
his pockets full of bread, he heard
from Long the melancholy news that
there were but seven left, and, know
ing that Greely was one of them, he
ran up the hill to within hailing dis
tance and called out, "You are all
right, Greedy; there are two ships
here for you.'
The Lieut., recognizing the voice,
replied: SIS that you, Norman?
Cut the tent" The tent had blown
down on them and they were too
weak to set it up again. They had
not eaten anything warm for more
than two days. being unable to crawl
out and build fire. Food was Civ
en- them with great caution under the
direction of the surgeons. The work
of getting them on board the ships
and disinterring and embarking the
remains of the dead was attended
with great difficulty, as it was blow
ing so hard that it was almost impos-
sible to stand on the hillside, and
several of the boats came near swamp
ing alongside of the ships before=
they could be discharged. This ac-
complished, the ships returned to
Payer Harbor, where they tied up for
the night. On the next morning the
Bear was again sent to Camp Clay to
recover anything of value that might
have been overlooked the day previ-
Gus.
The Greedy party was one of two
sent out by the United States in ac-
cOrdance with an international scheme
suggested by Karl Weyprecht, COM
mander of the Austrian Arctic expe-
dition on board the Tegethoff, who
proposed to establish number of
circumpolar stations for the purpose
of scientific observation. The project
was commended by the Meteorologi-
cal congress at Rome and subsequent
lY by an International Polar Confer
ence held in October, 1879. France,
Holland, Germany, Austria, Russia,
Sweden, Norway and Denmark were
represented at this congress. 1t was
decided that eight stations at least
should be provided for. The United
States government entered with spir-
it into the work and pledged itself to
establish two of the necessary sta
tions.
In June, 1881, preparations having
been made for the United States col
ony, twenty-five officers and enlisted
men were assigned to duty as the
force to Lady Franklin Bay. The
Proteus, with the expedition on board,
sailed from st. Johns. N. F., on
July z, 1881, and reached Cape Conf
stitution, Kane's highest point. On
the 4th of August they steamed up
to the solid main pack, extending
right across the channel and appear
ing to be at least twenty feet thick.
The Proteus had then reached the
southwest part of Lady Franklin
Bay, and was within ten miles of her
destination. For seven days the
vessel was moored to the ice, and
Lieutenant Greely almost despaired
of attaining his object. But the ice
moved to the eastward, and the ship
was forced at full speed until Dis
covery Harbor was reached, and there
Lieutenant Greely determined to To-
cate his camp. The anchor was
dropped and the work of unloading
the stores began. The Proteus left
the party on August Is, and returned
safely to st. Johns, n. F. Nothing
had been heard of the Greely party
from the day the Proteus left it until
to-day.
In June, 1882, the Neptune sailed
from st. Johns to carry supplies to
the party, but it got no further north
than Cape Sabine, and after estab-
fishing caches it returned on June 29,
1883. The second relief expedition
sailed from st. Johns, consisting of
the vessels Proteus and Yantic, which
returned to st. Johns without effect