The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-04
Frail- Looking Old Vessel Weathered Terrific Storms and Heart -Quailing Con- ditions Rescuing Strand ed McMillan Expedition In Poles Vicinity.

Returned from the North, Melrost Cotton of Maiden, Mass, tells a thrill ing story of the adventures experienc ed, by the ship George B. Cluett. whicf fitted out in this city last spring prep aratory to making a dash for the Arc tic Circle.
 The Cluett, which is we'll known to Bridgeporters, many of whom board ed it during the weeks 1t was in the local harbor, has had some exciting times. Probably one of the most in- teresting tales that has come out o1 the North Is the one told by Cotton of death-defying trip members of the crew made in the effort to get a smoke.
 The Cluett went into the North to rescue the ice-bound McMillan fexpe- dition, which had gone in search of Crocker Land. which Admiral Peary says he saw.
 Cotton tells the first personal story of how Captain Pickles, Captain Co., mer, Doctor Hovey and the dauntless little band on the Cluett tested human endurance even beyond the limit in forcing the relief ship up to within 125 miles of MacMillan's winter quar- ters at Etah in North Greenland.
 "We didn't cry quits on that awful trip north until we made North Star Bay" said Cotton, who, with his short wiry frame, deep-set blue eyes, brist- ling brow and determined chin and shock of red hair looms up to your first glance like verftable Viking.
 "And then not until the heavy ice was driving and pressing us up out of the sea. And every time the Cluett settled back she'd flop with a Jar that shivered every timber in her that a moment before had been 'crushed as though in a vice. So into the shelter of North Star Bay we showed her. There was nothing else to do. It was like flying in the face of fate to make a foot farther north.
 "Then it was that Dr. Hovey made his miraculous trip in the motor boat, the like of which you seldom hear of even in a region like the Arctic where men dare anything. We had made ourselves snug and were all set for the grinding ice that flocked into the bay like living things, when it was decided that if any place up in that barren
  Etah. Etah, you know, is at the lower end of Kane Basin on Smith Sound, almost 80 degrees north and was made famous by Peary. t
 up from North Star Bay it was trip of 125 miles by water. Around over the unbroken ice plateau, skirt ing the shore of Inglefield Gulf. was a trip by land for which we were not But the C1uett was now stuck in the bay. It was perp1ex- ing problem.
 Suddenly Dr. Hovey himself solved the problem by declaring there's Danish government motor boat ashore that can be hired. I'm going to Etah in it. There were no heroics by him and no protests by the council, for it was plain that this was the only thing to do. At first it was thought best to have two men go. but deliberation convinced all that the trip was too risky for more than one.
 A Lone Heroic Dash.
 And with kerosene as the fuel for the engine, Dr. Hovey set out on dash that ought to go down in his tory as the last word in courage. We watched him twist and squirm by the broken ice into the harbor. One mo rnent his little craft would almost keel over. The next she'd be straddling a huge cake of ice. Then he'd be seen running up to her bow to fend off ice that was crushing her ip. Three hours later he was out of our sight fading into little black dot among
 
 "You~ can't sit here and visualize that dash through the broken ice. Nor can I drive it home to you in meer words. But just get out a map of the Arctic Ocean and locate North Star Bay on the west coast of Greenland just north of 75. Now get the idea of 60 below zero. Let it sift in. Now as far as you can see is fee; thous- ands and thousands of icebergs, some gigantic spires, others on the smaller scale move awesome1y fin a sea of broken ice. It's silent-more silent than the grave. Here and there you glimpse a black thread. It's open water, but it closes up almost as soon as your vision locates it.
 Overjoyed at Return.
 How Dr. Hovey ever made that 125 miles in his cockle-shell of motor boat can be better told by himself When he returned from Etah in that last week of September, 1915, we were too much overjoyed to ask him for the details. But now I can see where the details of that trip will make one of the most dramatic yarns ever told of an Arctic expedition.
 "Dr. Hovey returned with Lieuten- ant Green. U. s. N. the engineer and physicist, Maurice c. Tanquary, the zoologist, Elmer Ekblaw, the geologist and botanist and Jerome Allen, the wireless operator,
 "MacMillan and others had decided to remain another year to continue their scientific research work-a de- cision they reached with a supply of food that would last more than a year SO close at hand.
 There's no need of telling you how the returning men felt after their im- of three years in the Arc tic and for that matter we all felt mighty 1ight-hearted as we brought he Cluett about and started for home
 Well it was that we were light hearted for it was getting along toward winter and from North Star Bay to Cape York we not only had to fight the heavy ice, but head winds and then ;outherly gales. It grew worse and worse. Off Conical Rock came the eli max