The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-01-14


EXPEDITION
Finally they managed to reach
Smith sound and landed south
of Cape Sabine, north of and OPP
posite Littleton island. which was
two hundred and fifty miles away.
1t was near here that the first
year relief ship had been forced
to turn back and far south to Cape
Sabine, the second year rescue
ship had been crushed in the ice
and all provisions lost.
Their Terrible Suffering.
The record of their stay at
Cape Sabine is one long story of
terrible suffering. Here for eight
cen months they lived on two
months rations. The simple rec
ord of Sergeant Brainard's diary
reveals the horrors of those days
as can no extended description.
On October 2 he writes:
II took an inventory of the
commissary stores last evening
and found only 35 days full ra-
tons of bread and meat re-
manned. These rations can be
extended to so days, if we SUBJ
Ject ourselves to a greatly re-
duced diet, but the suffering will
be extreme in this low temper
allure where a man requires from
two to three times the normal
diet. Also, we have some very
hard labor ahead of us incident
to the building of winter quar-
ters."
March 4, 1884:
"Lieut. Greedy reduced the
bread issue to eight ounces per
man."
Occasionally members of the
party were able to shoot a fox
to supplement their rations. But
as the weary weeks passed the
inadequate food, severe cold and
the conditions under which they
lived took their toll. One by one
eighteen. of the members of the
party including Lieutenants Kis-
lingbury and Lockwood died.
On the evening of June %, 1884,
Sergeant Brainard lay in the little
fly tent which had blown down
upon him and his six comrades.
Beside them lay the dead body
of another. But they were too
weak to move it or even try to
raise the pole of the tent. Sud-
denly voice called out "Greely,
are you there?" Brainard raised
himself in his sleeping bag. He
knew that voice! 1t was the voice
of Norman, first officer of the
"Proteus" in 1881.
cts Norman!" he shouted in
a weak voice. He crawled from
beneath the tent and Norman
thrust bareback in his hand. A
moment later Lieutenant Colweu
came running over the hill.
Brainard was sitting on the
ground gnawing at the hard
tack, but as he saw an officer
approaching, the old habit of
the regular army sergeant as
serted itself. He tOttered to his
feet and attempted to salute!
But COlwell clasped his hand
and they went together into
the tent, there to rouse the
dazed Greedy and to tell him
that the ship "Thetis" had ar
rived with relief at last.
In 1886, two years after his
return from the Arctic, Brainard
was commissioned by President
Cleveland as a second lieutenant
in the Second cavalry in "recog-
milton of his distinguished and
meritorious services" with the
Greedy expedition. He was sue
cessively promoted to higher
ranks and was commissioned a
brigadier general in the National
army on October 2, 1917, made
a brigadier general in the regular
army on July Is, 1918 and re-
tired from service two days later.
In 1885 the Royal Geographical
society awarded him its Back
Grant for his Arctic work and in
1926 the American Geographical
society presented its Charles P.
DAILY gold medal to him.
In 1929 the Explorers club OF
New York awarded Brainard its
Explorers Medal and in 1888 he
was presented with the Purple
Heart decoration by the secretary
of war. The honor conferred upon
him recently by the American
Polar society comes as a climax
to the career of one of the most
remarkable characters in all
American history.
@ Western Newspaper Union.