The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-10-12
FINDS GREELY'S
COAT IN ARCTIC


l6, 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
expeditions 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, veritable 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 Hall s camp and cairn left by
Lockwood and Brainard.
| 'Wmle | was at Cape Sheridan, ~
he said, 81 wanted to make several
trips out into the desolate country to
see what I-could learn about the
| geology of the territory and the habits,
customs and religion of the people. On
one of my first trips | took sledge
and Eskimos and started, skirting the
east coast of Grant Land and Grinnell
Land | slowly made my way down
to Fort Conger about siXtyfive miles
from the Roosevelt, and ran upon the
last camp of the Greedy expedition of
| 1SSl-lSS4.
'Here | found relies. all of which
! were in the same condition as when
: they were discarded by the Inflated
members of that expedition. l 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
"Gen. Greely's military overcoat
with the buttons on it was about the
first thing / discovered. l wore the
coat, and while / stayed there l pre-.
sumo | must have had on at one time
or another the clothing of all the men
in the expedition. On the ground
also found the trunk that had been
carried by Sergt. David l.. Brainard
1t was as good as new, and l used il
as 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 tC
Cape Sabine, where seventeen of the
twenty-five members persisted.
"The men had been taken to Fort
Conger by the Proteus and had beer
told to await her arrival the next year
During the winter the steamship trieC
to get through, but was crushed in tn,
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
tent these goods, stores and persona
belongings were left behind. 1t wa.
these that / found after lapse OF
almost thirty years. Nothing had beer
destroyed. Everything was in an excel
lent state of preservation. Those mem
bers of the party who did not perish
at Sabine were rescued by Commodore
afterward Rear-Admiral, Winfield S
Schley, on his relief expedition sen
out for the purpose of rescue.
A Voice From the Dead
"Fluttering about the camp was
slip of paper that had been taken from
the flyleaf of a notebook. 1t was
, voice from the dead. Written as tn,
: introduction to a speech at n banque
that the expedition had evidently ar
ranged to kill the monotony of the Ions
, winter, the words were in the natur,
, of chatting of the various member
of the party The author little knew
at the time that he penciled his word
that they would be found almost gen
Grafton afterward, the simple story O.
, "a tragedy of the arctic.
"Here / also found other papers anC
, magazines. Carefully placed between
the pages of magazine were severa
Photographic plates that had been TAX
en- by George w. Rice who was tn
official photographer of the expedition
Inc magazine was still readable, de
spite the fact that it had been tn
plaything of the elements there TO
twenty-eight years. The plates, how
ever, were ruined, and was unable t
discover TO just what extent the ex
petition had penetrated into the arctic
one of the treasures concealed b.
the leaves Of the magazine was n pho
r tograph of Gen, Greedy. The feature
were still distinct One of the relic
+ was the fyleaf of book. IT ha,
+ written upon it Lieut. Frederick Kiss
/ lingbury. To my dear father, from hi
/ aifectionate son, Harry Kisslingbury
, 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 pen
, eli mark had been drawn through then
The first name at the top Of the png
was Henry Satrenu. Underneath wa
: Victor cl0ntier Assumption Colleg,