The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-10-11
FINDS GREELY'S
COAT IN ARCTIC
Member of Peary's Party
Tells of Some Interesting
Discoveries.
ON BOARD THE CANADIAN GOV


10, by way of North Sydney, Nova
Scotia. September 20.-Like a message
from the tomb was the story told by
Prof Donald Mcmillan, one of the
members of the Peary expedition, who
made separate journeys of exploration
into Greenland, Grant Land, and Grin
nell Land.
He told of finding traces of three
Of years ago, of subsisting
on the food that had been discarded
by the members of the Greedy expedi-
ton, who deserted the camp at Fort
Conger and made their way to Cape
Sabine, where they persisted of cold
and hunger. He told of wearing army
coats and picking up scraps of letters
and messages Of love that were lying
around the ground in perfect condition,
after almost thirty years; Of finding
letters. veritahle messages of the dead,
and leaves from books that had car
ried words of love and solicitation to
the doomed explorers from relatives far
away. He also came across remnants
of Halls camp and cairn left by
Lockwood and Brainard
s'While I was at Cape Sheridan, -
he said, 81 wanted to make several
trips out into the desolate country to
see what / could learn about the
geology of the territory and the habits,
customs and religion of the people. On
one of my first trips | took a sledge
and Eskimos and started, skirting the
east coast of Grant Land and Grinnell
Land | slowly made my way down
to Fort Conger, about sixty-five miles
from the Roosevelt, and ran upon the
last camp of the Greedy expedition of
1SS1-1SS4
Here [ found relics, all of which
We're in the same condition as when
they were discarded by the Inflated
members of that expedition. / found
coffee, hominy. canned rhubard, canned
potatoes, breakfast food and all sorts
of supplies. They were just as good
as ever, and | practically subsisted on
them all the time / was there. =
Found Gen. Greely's Military Coat.
FGen. Greedy s military overcoat
with the buttons on it was about the
first thing l discovered. I wore the
coat, and while I stayed there 1 pre-
sumo | must have had on at one time
or another the clothing of all the men
in the expedition. On the ground I
also found the trunk that had been
carried by Sergt. David L. Brainard
1t was as good as new, and ] used it
as a shelter from the winds. Here
were records that had ben made of the
caches of provisions which had been
stored along the route and showed that
vast quantities Of wood had been left
there when the men started south to
Cape Sabine, where seventeen Of the
twenty five members persisted
HThe men had been taken to Fort
Conger by the Proteus and had been
told to await her arrival the next year
During the winter the steamship tried
to get through, but was crushed IN the
ice. Orders had been issued that il
the relief ship did not arrive the party
was to make its way to the south and
reach Cape Sabine. When the Proteus
failed to arrive the party started.
"The men were told to discard al
baggage except nine pounds, and in or,
der to tighten their loads to that ex,
belongings were left behind. 1t was
these that I found after "a lapse OF
almost thirty years. Nothing had been
destroyed. Everything was in an excel
lent state of preservation. Those mem
beers of the party who did not perish
at Sabine were rescued by Commodore
afterward Rear-Admiral, Winfield S
Schley, on his relief expedition sent
out for the purpose of rescue.
A Voice From the Dead.
"Fluttering about the camp was a
slip of paper that had been taken from
the fiyleaf of a notebook It was q
voice from the dead. Written as the
introduction to a speech at a banquet
that the expedition had evidently ar.
ranged to kill the monotony of the long
winter, the words were in the nature
of a chatting of the various members
of the party. The author little knew
at the time that he penciled his words
that they would be found almost a gen.
Grafton afterward, the simple story of
a tragedy of the arctic.
''Here | also found other papers and
magazines. Carefully placed between
the pages of magazine were several
Photographic plates that had been tax.
en- by George W. Rice, who was the
official photographer of the expedition
The magazine was still readable, de
spite the fact that it had been the
plaything of the elements there fol
twenty-eight years. The plates, how
ever, were ruined, and l was unable tc
discover to just what extent the ex
petition had penetrated into the arctic
One of the treasures concealed by
the leaves of the magazine was a pho
| tograph of Gen. Greedy. The feature
| were still distinct One of the relic;
was the fyleaf of a book 1t haC
written upon it Lieut.. Frederick Kiss
| lingbury. To my dear father, from hi
affectionate son, Harry Kisslingburv
May God be with you and return yol
safely to us.
| "The fyleaf had been torn from
text book that had evidently been pass
| ed from one student to another. Tn
names of several persons. evidentl
students. had been written. but a pen
ell mark had been drawn through them
The first name at the top of the pag
was Henry Satreau. Underneath wa
Victor Cloutier. Assumption College
These had been scratched out and IN
der them written Harry Kisslingbury
Fort Custer, Mont. now at Assumptio,
II College. Sandwich, Ontario lamar