CHAPTER VI--SOMETHING ABOUT THE GREELY RELIEF EXPEDITION

"But 'tis not mine to tell their tale of grief,

Their constant peril and their scant relief,

Their days of danger and their nights of pain;

Their manly courage e'en when deemed in vain."

|One of the interesting things about our trip to the Arctic Seas was the possibility of seeing Greely or of possibly finding him or something about him. I shall here give a brief outline of what had been done up to this time towards rescuing the gallant explorer and his intrepid followers.

Every one I met in Newfoundland appeared to know a great deal about Greely, because he had started from there three years before in a St. John's ship, and because both of the previous relief expeditions had been in St. John's ships, and a great many of the Newfoundland men had been with them, and several of our crew at the sealing had been on the _Proteus_. One heard the Greely expedition and its relief discussed every day. The consensus of opinion was that as the navy had the matter in hand now, they would succeed. The Newfoundlanders, being a maritime people, could not understand how soldiers could be expected to make a success of a voyage of discovery or relief, and the two previous relief trips had been unfortunate. The _raison d'etre_ of the Greely expedition was briefly as follows:

At a certain scientific conference held in Europe a series of circumpolar stations had been decided upon, from which, owing to their proximity to the revolutionary axis of our globe, interesting and useful observations could be made of physical phenomena. As these observations were to be made at the same time in a great many different places, they would probably prove of greater interest and value than those supplied intermittently by expeditions. Now the United States was to have two stations, one at Point Barrow on the Behring Sea side, and one at Lady Franklin Bay on the Davis Strait side. A young officer in the American army, Lieutenant Greely, had volunteered for and been selected to take charge of the Lady Franklin Bay expedition. The steamer _Proteus_, a Newfoundland sealer, had been chartered to convey the party north. She was a Dundee-built ship, about the size of the _Aurora_, and her captain and crew were St. John's men. They left St. John's on July 7,1881, having on board Lieutenant Greely and twenty-four men, with supplies for three years. They made the most unprecedented time going north. Crossing the dangerous Melville Bay in thirty-six hours and getting to within a few miles of her destination on August 4th, a few days later she landed the explorers, and having successfully accomplished her mission she returned to her home port.

Melville Bay, the bugbear of many Arctic voyages, is a very different thing when crossed in June by whalers from what it is in July and August; but the whalers must reach their northern station by the end of June, so cannot wait for the ice to drift south.

It was arranged that a relief expedition should go north in 1882 and another in 1883, while the third in 1884 should convey the party back. Now these two previous relief expeditions formed the topic of conversation in St. John's when the inhabitants became tired of discussing seals and politics, and I soon heard a good deal about them. For the first, in 1882, our friend and late neighbor, the _Neptune_, had been chartered. She was splendid in every way and did as much as any ship of the period could have done towards making the thing a success; but the orders were to leave two hundred fifty rations at Littleton Island and two hundred fifty at the furthest point reached if the ship failed to get to Lady Eranklin Bay, and that should they fail to reach the Bay, the balance of the stores were to be brought back to St. John's. A private in the army had been selected to take charge of this expedition. As he had been accustomed to obeying orders to the letter, he deposited the two hundred fifty rations at Littleton Island, and two hundred fifty at Cape Sabine, the most northern point reached. Then, as they were unable to reach Lady Franklin Bay, he carefully brought back all the balance of the cargo of food sent up for the starving Greely, twenty days' provisions only having been left in the Arctic and this according to orders and probably--"Well, though the soldier knew some one had blundered."

The authorities were a little anxious now about the brave lieutenant, so they began to make preparations for the 1883 relief, and this time they chartered the _Proteus_ and also sent a small navy ship called the _Yantic_, a craft rather unfitted for Arctic work. The _Proteus_ was commanded by Captain Pike (the St. John's man who had made such a record taking Greely up) and had her Newfoundland crew. This expedition was in charge of a soldier, Lieutenant Garlington, as the Government wished it all to be an army affair. Owing to an accident, a sergeant selected to go on the _Proteus_ was disabled, and Lieutenant Colwell, U. S. N., was added to the expedition in his place. This was fortunate, as things turned out. One of our quartermasters on the _Aurora_ during the first sealing trip had been one of the crew of the _Proteus_, and he gave me a lot of interesting information about it. They left St. John's about the end of June and had a nice passage to Disco. In fact, they found the road so open that they reached Cape Sabine in about twenty-five days. As they were in a hurry to reach their destination, Lady Eranklin Bay, little time was spent here and no stores were landed. When the ship moved out into Kane Sea she was caught almost at once in heavy polar ice. The officers soon realized that the ship's position was serious, so began to take supplies out of the hold. While so engaged the side of the ship burst in and she filled. The pressure of the ice kept her from sinking for a few hours, then some change of wind or tide opened the ice and down she went. A great lot of provisions and stores had been thrown overboard on to the ice, much being lost in so doing. After the ship went down her crew took their own boats and the soldiers took theirs. Colwell, with the help of both parties, succeeded in landing a lot of provisions and stores at Cape Sabine, and here he cached five hundred rations. It was said that many of the soldiers did not know how to row, and that some members of the crew of the _Proteus_ behaved very badly after the loss of the ship. They probably did not consider that the saving of government supplies was any of their business, and some of them even are said to have looted these supplies. After a rest at Cape Sabine, the entire party proceeded south to meet the _Yantic_, the supporting vessel. Very little attention had been paid to her, as she was slow and ill adapted for the ice, and it was thought that she probably would never attempt Melville Bay. However, she had crossed this and was following them well, and the series of misunderstandings and misinterpretations of orders which prevented the _Proteus_ people going south from meeting the _Yantic_ coming north, makes a most remarkable story.

Lieutenant Garlington and his party, being separated from the crew of the _Proteus_ for a time, crossed over to Littleton Island and left a record of the loss of their ship. They then joined the others and proceeded to Cape York. It was here decided to push on to the Danish settlements as they did not think the Y antic would come as far north as Cape York. In the meantime, the _Yantic_ had passed up to Littleton Island and picked up Garlington's record. She then zigzagged about looking for the boats, and passing Cape York on her way down without calling, she proceeded to Upernavik. As the boats were not there, her captain decided to push on home as the season was getting late, so sailed to Disco. The boat party at Cape York having decided to go south divided. Lieutenant Colwell, taking a whale boat and crew, struck across Melville Bay, and after a most difficult and dangerous passage succeeded in reaching Upernavik the day after the _Yantic_ had left. He followed her, however, for a week, and overtaking her at Disco, brought her back to Upernavik, where the balance of the _Proteus_ people had arrived, and from there they returned to St. John's. Now the result of all this had been, in 1882, the deposit of ten days' provisions at Littleton Island and ten days' provisions at Cape Sabine, the remainder being brought back. In 1883 the _Proteus_ had not deposited anything during her life, but after her destruction Lieutenant Colwell had succeeded in caching at Cape Sabine five hundred rations or twenty days' supplies saved from the _Proteus_. The _Yantic_ had been up to Littleton Island and back without leaving anything behind. Another year had passed and now the rescue of Greely became imperative. The affair had been handed over to the navy, and Commander Schley was taking command. The Dundee ship _Thetis_ and the sealer _Bear_ had been bought and added to the navy. A collier, the _Lough Garry_, had been chartered to take coal up for the expedition, and the _Alert_, given by the British Government, was also going. At the same time a reward was offered for any whaler picking Greely up. The relief ships, except the _Alert_, were coming to St. John's and would sail about the same time as the whalers, and as we all knew a good deal about the circumstances, we were certainly all deeply interested in the outcome. It was generally believed among our people that Greely would now be at Cape York or Carey Islands, and the _Aurora_ stood as good a chance as any other ship of getting there first. Commander Schley had charge of the expedition and would sail on the _Thetis_, while Lieutenant Emory would command the _Bear_, of which ship Lieutenant Colwell would be an officer.

The whalers going to Davis Strait were--

Arctic, Narwhal, Aurora, Nova Zembla, Cornwallis, Polynia, Esquimaux, Triune, Jan Mayen, Wolf of St. John's.