THE GREELY EXPEDITION
The Scheme of the Expedition--Fort Conger--Arctic
Wolves--Atmospheric Marvels--A Terrific Storm--Influence of the
Sun--Lieutenant Lockwood's Expedition--The Second
Winter--Preparations for Departure--They leave Fort Conger--A
Remarkable Ice Passage--They fail to make Cape Sabine--A New
Camp--Rations running Short--Fruitless Efforts to reach Food
Depots--Starvation and Death--A Bitter Blow--The Arrival of the
_Thetis_.
In 1881 the Government of the United States determined to send out
another expedition towards the North Pole, and a vote of $25,000 having
been passed by Congress for the purpose, Lieutenant Adolphus Washington
Greely was appointed to the command. Lieutenant Greely, who was an
officer in the 5th Cavalry regiment, had, as his companions, three
officers and twenty-one men selected from the United States army.
The scheme of the expedition was to proceed by steamer as far north as
Lady Franklin Bay, where they were to form a depot on Grinnel Land, and,
using it as a base, push forward, by means of dog-sledges over the ice,
and by steam launch over the open water, as far north as it was possible
to get.
The steamer _Proteus_, a vessel 467 tons and 110 horse-power, was
chartered by the explorers to convey them from New York to Lady
Franklin Bay. They sailed in June and proceeded to Upernavik, in
Greenland, where they took on board their sledge dogs and two Eskimo,
Jens and Frederick, to look after them. On July 1 they resumed their
journey in fairly open water. The season was especially mild, and they
were able to make excellent travelling through the unimpeded water. On
the way they stopped at Cary Islands and examined the records left there
by Sir George Nares in 1875, and which had been examined once before by
Sir Allen Young, in 1876. The sea was full of white whales, narwhals,
and grampus. The latter has the reputation of being a voracious feeder,
one authority stating that a dead grampus was found, choked by a seal he
had attempted to swallow, although, when he was opened, his stomach was
found to contain no fewer than thirteen porpoises and fourteen seals.
On August 4 the _Proteus_, for the first time during the voyage, was
stopped by the ice. Being built specially for navigating the ice-covered
seas, she was very powerful in the bows, which were further embellished
by a strong iron prow. Thus she was able to force her way through ice
which would have been impassable to a lighter craft. Her method, when
she was faced by moderately thin ice which was yet thick enough to stop
her ordinary progress, was to steam astern for a couple of hundred yards
and then rush full speed at the ice. The strength of the iron prow and
the force of her powerful engines drove her into the floe, but the
operation was one that required great care. As she approached the floe,
the crew, running from one side of the deck to the other, caused her to
roll as she struck, the engines being reversed directly her prow
penetrated the ice, so as to prevent her wedging herself in. This
exciting operation was repeated several times when she met the floe in
Lady Franklin Bay, and only by its means was she able to ram her way
through and reach the destination of the expedition.
A site for landing was selected on the north of Discovery Bay (where the
_Discovery_ wintered in 1876), and on August 11, 1881, Greely landed,
and proceeded to the cairn which had been erected by the Nares
expedition. Here he found two copper cases labelled "Reports and General
Information." The date upon them, which showed when they were deposited,
was August 11, 1876, exactly five years before to a day.
Proceeding a little distance from the spot where the _Discovery_ winter
quarters had been erected, a suitable situation was marked out for "Fort
Conger," which was to form the base of the operations pending the time
when the relief ship was due to take the expedition home again.
[Illustration: SHOOTING MUSK OX IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
These animals form a welcome addition to the larder of the Arctic
explorer.]
During the following week every one was hard at work erecting the frame
house which was to form their home during the next two years, unloading
stores and other articles belonging to the expedition, arranging the
heavy casks and cases of imperishable provisions near the house, and
exploring and hunting over the surrounding country. The hunting was a
necessary part of the business, for winter would soon be in and no fresh
meat would then be obtainable. So a few of the best shots spent their
time in the valleys round the bay, where a large number of musk oxen and
other game frequented.
On August 18, all the stores, &c., belonging to the party were landed
from the _Proteus_, and that vessel, being discharged, got up steam and
bade farewell. She was, however, prevented from getting out of sight
until August 26, the ice setting in rapidly and strongly. The men of the
party worked with such a will that they had their house built, the
recording instruments erected in proper localities, the provisions
stacked, and everything in order sufficiently early to permit them to
carry out some surveys while the weather was yet mild enough for sledge
travelling. Attention was also given to obtaining as much game as
possible, and by the time that the temperature was cold enough to
warrant their going into winter quarters and giving up outside work at
any distance from Fort Conger, they had obtained for their larder
twenty-six musk oxen and ten ducks, besides hare, seal, and ptarmigan,
in all 6000 lbs. of fresh meat for their own food, and an equal amount
for the dogs.
In the middle of September they were visited by a large pack of wolves.
These were first discovered prowling over the ice on the harbour in
front of the encampment, and, fearing the loss of some of the dogs, as
well as provisions, a hunting party went out to shoot them. But the
wolves were too cunning, keeping out of range until the men were tired
out. They were frequently fired at, but none fell, although, as
subsequent events proved, this might not have been due to bad
marksmanship. The Arctic wolves, as was discovered later, are perhaps
the most tenacious of life of any of the Northern animals.
One was seen, a day or so later, within a hundred yards of the house. It
was immediately fired at, and rolled over with a bullet through the
body; but before the marksman could get over to where it lay, the
apparently dead creature scrambled to its feet and made off, bleeding
profusely. The trail left by the blood was distinctly visible on the
snow, although the wolf itself, being covered with pure white fur, was
quite invisible. For over an hour the trail was followed, and when at
last the dead body was found, it lay practically bloodless, having
struggled on while there was a drop of blood in its veins. In view of
the difficulty of shooting them, the men resolved to poison them. But
here, again, the wolves were not to be caught.
The first time that poisoned meat was put out it was left untouched.
Some good meat was added, and at once disappeared, though the pieces
containing poison were still left alone. The poisoned baits were then
taken up, and only good meat put down, the wolves always taking it
until, their confidence being aroused, a few poisoned baits were mixed
with the other. The experiment succeeded so well that when the baits
were next visited four wolves and one fox were found dead. The others,
evidently alarmed, made off and did not again return.
As October passed the phenomena of the solar halo and aurora began to
make their appearance. The observation of atmospheric conditions being
one of the objects of the expedition, great attention was paid to these
displays, and some excellent descriptions were given of them. One which
occurred on October 21 and lasted five hours is thus described by the
leader of the expedition:--
"It consisted of two concentric rings, distant 23 deg. and 46 deg. respectively
from the sun, which were marked by five mock suns where the rainbow
tints were most clearly displayed. This was followed at evening by the
first aurora display, in the form of a delicate convoluted ribbon of
colourless light. On the 24th there was another halo. This was a double
one, there being two perfect concentric half-circles, distant 23 deg. and
46 deg. from the sun, each half-circle having a contact arch of magnificent
clearness. No fewer than six mock suns appeared, two on either hand and
two above the real sun, with prismatic colours in each case as vivid,
and clear as in any rainbow, the heavens being filled with a great glow
and wealth of colour."
After the sun had gone and the twilight of the long winter night had
set in, the sky was vivid, at one time, with a wide sweep of red,
yellow, and blue, marked by bars of white light running up and down.
Later, when the moon had risen, further atmospheric marvels were
recorded.
On one occasion the moon was surrounded by two circles, 22 deg. and 46 deg.
above the horizon. Both were topped by contact arches, and within them
six mock moons were present, two on each side of the true moon, and two
directly above it, all of which were brilliant with the colours of the
rainbow. Spires of light proceeded from the moon vertically, reaching
downwards to the horizon, and upwards to the outer circle. In addition
to these, a brilliant streak of white clear light extended from the
moon, horizontally, on both sides, completely round the horizon, and now
and again a faint mock moon of rainbow colours appeared high over the
whole, and another very low under it, making eight mock moons all
visible at the same moment round the real one. The moon was also seen
surrounded by a corona of four distinct bands of coloured light, the
first white, the second yellow, the third blue, and the outer one red.
But all the experiences of the winter were not so gratifying as these
aerial displays. As soon as the snow lay thick on the ground the men
banked it up against the sides of the house until they were completely
covered in up to the eaves. It then froze on the outside, and the house
was practically covered in with ice. This was of very great value in
preventing the loss of heat from the interior, and, later on, in saving
the house from being blown away in a terrific hurricane which occurred.
But even with the protection of the frozen snow outside, and the
constant burning of fires and lamps inside, the temperature of the house
was, in midwinter, so cold that any water accidentally spilled on the
floor turned to ice, and unless the ink-bottle was kept near a burning
lamp, the ink froze at once. Outside everything except alcohol was
frozen solid, the mercury being hard in the thermometers, and even the
rum getting thick as syrup. The lime-juice, of which a daily ration was
taken, was frozen into tablets, and so quickly did any liquid turn to
ice that some of the sledge-dog puppies were frozen to the ground
through running on to the place where the warm contents of the
slush-bucket were thrown.
Early in January the barometer, falling very rapidly, warned them that a
severe storm was approaching. Suddenly a fierce gust of wind swept over
the house, followed by a steady blow, the apparatus for registering the
velocity of the wind showing it to be at the rate of eighteen miles an
hour. The barometer continuing to fall, a man was sent out to take an
observation from an outside station, but the force of the wind had
increased so much that he could not face it alone, and two men had to
go. The air was soon filled with driving snow, and the rate of the wind
reached fifty miles an hour. It was now only possible for six men,
supporting one another, to stand against the dense volumes of snow which
the wind carried. When the velocity attained to sixty-five miles an
hour, fears were entertained as to the safety of the house. But still
the wind increased until, in a series of terrific gusts and squalls, the
house rocked and trembled as the register marked ninety miles an hour.
It was a moment of intense anxiety for the members of the party, for the
destruction of the house at that period of the year would almost
inevitably have meant their own destruction. Fortunately it was securely
built and so well protected by the banked-up snow, that it withstood the
fury of the hurricane.
This furious outburst was the final effort of the winter, for within a
few days of its occurrence the sky began to show signs of the
approaching sunrise; with the advent of light the spirits of the party,
necessarily depressed by the prolonged darkness, rapidly resumed their
normal contentment. When at last enough natural light existed for the
men to see one another, they were amused at the appearance of their
faces. The prolonged absence of sunlight had entirely robbed their
cheeks of any semblance of ruddiness, their complexions having changed
to a ghastly yellowy green tint, as though each one was suffering from a
severe attack of sea-sickness. The murky light of the lamps had not
revealed the change, and the more vainglorious were considerably
disturbed at their bleached cheeks, fearful lest the pallor should
always remain, like the whiteness of the bear's fur. But it passed off
under the influence of the sunshine.
Nor was this the only change produced by the sun. The effect of it upon
the land was so pronounced as almost to seem marvellous. Directly spring
set in sledge parties were despatched in all directions to survey and
spy out the country. One was led by Greely himself, its course being
along the route marked out, for a certain distance, by one of the
_Discovery_ parties in 1876.
Passing beyond the limits of the previous exploration, a large river,
entirely frozen over, was discovered, and along its course the party
made their way. The ice was wonderfully smooth in comparison with that
on the salt water, and excellent travelling was made, the men and
sledges frequently being able to slide for a hundred yards at a time. At
the head of the river they found an enormous glacier completely blocking
up the valley, extending five miles from side to side, and 175 feet
high. This was late in April, and everywhere the ground was covered with
ice and snow, desolate and motionless, with no sign of life, and no
sound, save the faint gurgle of running water which was occasionally
noticed under the ice on the river.
Early in July, little more than two months later, this valley was again
visited, but so great was the change in its appearance that the men
might have doubted its identity with the cold, desolate place they had
previously seen, but for the existence of the sparkling glacier. The
river now flowed along, glittering in the bright sunlight, between banks
covered with flowering plants. Bright yellow poppies gleamed all over
the verdure-clad slopes, with sturdy heath blooms, daisies, and other
blossoms mingling, and over them were flitting innumerable white and
yellow butterflies. Humble bees droned, and flies, including the
familiar daddy-long-legs, were everywhere present, as well as their
arch-enemies, the spiders. Ptarmigan, their white plumage somewhat
speckled with dark feathers, plovers, and birds of smaller size, were
seen on the wing; while over the verdant sides of the valley and along
the banks of the river, large herds of musk oxen were browsing, with
calves following the cows. The sky was brilliantly blue and almost free
from clouds. In the face of so much that was beautiful and full of life,
it was difficult to realise that a few weeks later the valley would
again be desolate and deserted, owning once more the supremacy of the
icy grip of the frost and snow.
Exploring the valley carefully, some very interesting discoveries were
made of ancient Eskimo dwellings. A number of relics were obtained, some
of them being implements which were quite unintelligible to the
Greenland Eskimos who were with the party. The remains of the houses
showed that they had originally been substantial structures, built of
slate, and must have been permanent residences rather than mere summer
quarters.
While the interior of the country was being explored, other sledge
parties set out over the frozen sea. One of these journeyed North, and
reached the spot where the _Alert_ had passed the winter in 1875. It was
intended to continue the journey over the ice towards the Pole similarly
to the sledge party Commander Markham and Lieutenant Parr had led, but
the ice was too rough for them. They passed beyond Cape Sheridan and set
out towards the North, but turned back, finding "nothing but an
inextricable mass of huge bergs, and enormous hummocks piled up in a
similar manner as when journeyed over by Commander Markham." The
scientific instruments they had with them had to be abandoned at one
place, owing to a sudden opening of the ice, but they approximated their
highest latitude as being 82 deg. 56' N. From the summit of a high berg,
they fancied they saw open water to the North, and then they returned to
the land, finding cliffs which rose 2000 feet straight out of the water,
and along the base of which the ice lay piled in tremendous heaps.
Another party, under Lieutenant Lockwood, the second in command of the
expedition, set out in the early spring across the frozen straits to
Greenland. This was over a similar route to that taken by Lieutenant
Beaumont of the _Discovery_; but the later expedition, not having to
struggle against the affliction of scurvy which had proved so disastrous
to the _Discovery_ party, was able to reach a far higher latitude.
The party consisted of Lieutenant Lockwood, Sergeant Brainard, and the
Eskimo Frederick, and they succeeded in reaching the most northerly
point that had yet been discovered, not only on the coast of Greenland,
but also in the Arctic regions. The latitude recorded was 83 deg. 23' 8" N.,
and thus the honour, which for three hundred years had been the boast of
the British, the honour of having attained the nearest point to the
North Pole reached by man, was wrested from the British Lion by its
cousin, the American Eagle.
Although only three men were in the party which reached this high
latitude, the party which set out from Fort Conger comprised thirteen
men and five sledges. The experience gained by the members of the Nares
expedition was of the utmost value to subsequent explorers, and the
members of the Greely expedition always made acknowledgment of this
fact, coupled with very complimentary references to the skill, the
courage, and the devotion of those whom they termed "our kin from over
the sea." Thus it was that in laying the plans for this northerly trip
they provided for a series of food depots and relief parties all along
the route. Several of the former had been placed in position during the
early spring, and there is no doubt that this arrangement contributed
very materially to the success of the enterprise. The last depot was
formed when nearly in sight of Cape Britannia, and from thence the small
party of three pushed forward. The dog team saved them an enormous
amount of labour by dragging the sledge for them, but even then they
found the travelling exceedingly difficult. Their sleeping-bags were
damp, and consequently they were always compelled to rest in great
discomfort. As they approached Cape Britannia the route became more
difficult, and their best march was sixteen miles in ten hours. Beyond
the cape an island was reached, to which the name of the leader,
Lieutenant Lockwood, was given, and the extreme point of which furnished
their "farthest North." The coast line still showed beyond, and to the
most distant point the name of Cape Washington was given. Then the small
band turned back, having succeeded in reaching a few miles nearer the
Pole than Commander Markham, whose journey, however, was over the frozen
sea, whereas the other was along the Greenland coast.
The following spring, to anticipate the course of the narrative, another
effort was made to reach Cape Washington, but so rapid a thaw set in
that the party had to turn back before reaching as far as Lockwood
Island. They, however, secured all the relics of Lieutenant Beaumont's
party, including a British ensign, which were faithfully preserved
throughout the terrible privations the expedition was fated to undergo.
These relics were subsequently forwarded by the United States Government
to the British and are now in the Greenwich Museum with the Franklin
mementoes, treasured not only as emblems of British courage but also of
American good-will. Of the memorable record left by Lieutenant Beaumont
at Repulse Bay, its perusal by the members of the Greely expedition is
thus described by the leader:--
"This brilliant record of British courage, discipline, devotion to duty
and endurance, must ever affect deeply all who may read its full
details. To the men of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, who justly
appreciated the terrible contingencies of the situation, and who bore
similar dangers, this story, as told by the gallant Beaumont, was full
of deep and assuring interest."
The American festival of "Decoration Day" occurred while the party were
at Polaris Bay, the place where the two _Discovery_ men who died were
buried. The festival is one for the commemoration of American heroes,
and on that day throughout the United States all the graves of their
heroes are decorated. Here on the bleak, barren Greenland coast they
remembered the festival, and kept it by taking the Stars and Stripes
from the sledge poles and draping them over the rough monuments erected
above the remains of the two British sailors.
The second winter that was passed at Fort Conger was monotonous and
gloomy. The experience of the previous period of darkness was of great
service, inasmuch as the comfort of the expedition was improved in many
ways. The piled-up snow which had formed so useful a protection the year
before was carried right over the roof, considerably increasing the
warmth and snugness of the interior. But there was one fact which
weighed somewhat heavily on the minds of every one. A relief steamer was
expected before the winter set in, and it had not arrived. There was
still an abundant supply of food, and no alarm was felt on that score;
but the novelty of the surroundings having worn off, the prospect of the
long, weary stretch of darkness had a depressing influence. It, however,
passed without any untoward incident, and with the return of the sun
field work was resumed. The most notable journey was that of Lieutenant
Lockwood and his companion on the "farthest North" trip, Sergeant
Brainard, who, in one month, covered 437 miles of the hitherto
unexplored interior parts of Grinnel Land, discovering numerous lakes
and glaciers. One of the latter was of particular interest by reason of
the vari-coloured face it presented. The top layer, which overhung
slightly, was of dull opaque white, that immediately beneath it ranging
in colour from pale green to a clear blue, while the next and thickest
layer was of a rich chocolate colour, due to the soil which had been
frozen in with the water. The lowest streak was similar to the topmost,
dull opaque white.
In their absence the remainder of the explorers were busily engaged in
establishing food depots to the south, along the route they would be
compelled to take in the event of a retreat being necessary. The
non-arrival of the relief steamer prior to the winter gave rise to some
speculation whether it would arrive in the spring, and a plan was
arranged for a retreat to the south being carried out, if no relief ship
came, in the boats the expedition possessed. These consisted of a steam
launch 27 feet long, an iceboat which had been abandoned by Lieutenant
Beaumont in 1876, and two whale-boats. A depot of forty days' full
rations was placed at Cape Baird and another of twenty days' rations at
Cape Collinson, as soon as the ice was open enough to allow the launch
to proceed. Then when it had returned and all the survey parties were
in, a decision was come to that if no steamer arrived by July 31 the
retreat would be commenced.
July passed and August arrived, but there were no signs of the approach
of any relief steamer, and, on August 9, with the boats loaded with the
records of the work done and as much food as could be stored in them,
the party bade farewell to Fort Conger and started on their memorable
journey. The lateness of the season made navigation extremely difficult
for such small craft, and they were frequently impeded by ice which
would have offered no obstacle to a big steamer. They had scarcely got
out of sight of the house where they had passed the two long dark
winters before they were so beset with loose ice that progress was
almost impossible. Then new ice formed round them, and they were hard
and fast. The fact that they only carried a limited supply of fuel made
their position more serious, and when, on August 18, a temporary
breaking in the floes enabled them to move forward, there was a general
rejoicing. But it was soon checked on discovering that they were forced
inside of a huge mass of ice over fifty feet high and extending right up
to the solid floe. It was impossible to turn back and fight through the
drifting ice behind them, and the only hope of escape seemed to be to
steam on in case there might be a channel through the floe ahead.
As they passed along the great wall of ice they were amazed at seeing a
crevice run into it. Arriving opposite to it, they found that it was a
cleavage which went right through the mass, and they turned into it. The
enormous berg had grounded and had split asunder, leaving a passage a
hundred yards long and barely twelve feet wide, the sides of which were
sheer fifty feet high on either hand. Such a formation was unique, even
in the Arctic regions, and the steaming through it was an adventure
without a parallel.
It led them into fairly open water, and they were able to push on into
Rawlings Bay before they were again beset. This time it was not the new
ice but the closing in of the floes that caught them. So quickly did
the masses close in that the boats were caught and "nipped" before
anything could be done to save them. The men at once scrambled out on to
the ice, striving to lift the lighter boats on to the floe and unloading
the provisions from the others as fast as they could, lest the crack
should open again and everything be lost. The nip, however, had not been
so severe as to endanger the floating capacity of the boats, but the ice
had closed too firmly to allow of any hopes of their being able to force
their way through. A strong wind from the north, in spite of the snow
and cold it would have brought, would have been welcome; but the days
were provokingly calm, and the ice only moved south at its ordinary slow
rate. By August 26 they had travelled 300 miles from Fort Conger and
were within fifty miles of Cape Sabine, a headland where there was a
large supply of stores left by Sir George Nares in 1876. If they were
able to reach there before the winter night set in, there was some
chance of their existing through the dreary period which, it was now
evident, they were doomed to pass in that locality. And yet the spirits
of the party were as bright as though a steamer were within sight of
them. One of them, in his diary, wrote: "Adversity in any form would
fail, I think, to dampen the spirits of the men. Our situation is
desperate. Any moment the ice may crumble beneath our feet and the sea
swallow up the entire party. Still, while exercising on the ice this
evening, the men danced and sang as merrily as they would have done in
their own homes. They are irrepressible in the face of all this
uncertainty and perhaps starvation."
The end of the month found them still beset, and with barely fifty days'
rations. The opinion was now divided as to the best course to adopt,
whether to remain in the boats and wait on the off-chance of their
drifting near Cape Sabine, or to take to the sledges and push on over
the rough ice to the shore. They had been drifting for thirty miles, and
only twenty now lay between them and the cape with its store of
provisions. The leader was averse to leaving the boats at once, and the
days dragged on until, on September 10, it was evident that the sledge
journey would have to be undertaken if the shore was to be reached and a
camp formed before the darkness set in.
Unfortunately when they did abandon the boats the weather changed, and a
cold wind with driving snow came to make their struggle still more
difficult. They tried at first to drag two of the boats with them, but
one soon had to be abandoned and the party struggled on. Their
sleeping-bags froze and filled with drifting snow so that they were able
to obtain but little rest when they halted, and when they were moving
they were always cold and miserable. Until September 28 they were
struggling over the rough, difficult ice, and then their trials were
further increased. They were nearing the shore, and the force of the
tide, backed up by the pressure of the ice grinding along before the
wind, caused the floe to crack and break up. Only by the most persistent
energy and exertion were they able to get their stores and themselves on
shore, though still some distance from Cape Sabine.
They had now travelled 500 miles since they left Fort Conger, and not
only were the men considerably exhausted by their recent struggle, but
winter was setting in very rapidly with constant and heavy storms. It
was therefore decided to form a camp where they were, while the snow had
not frozen too hard for them to get some stones for a shelter. They had
been compelled, on their journey over the ice, to abandon everything in
the way of covering save their sleeping-bags, and unless they built a
hut of some description the rigour of the winter would inevitably be
fatal to all.
Such stones as could be found were collected and built into a low wall
forming a square of about sixteen feet. The stones were difficult to
obtain, and the wall could only be made three feet high. An opening was
left in one of the sides of the square and a passage way constructed, so
that the entrance to the interior did not open directly on to the frozen
exterior. Across the top of the walls the boat they had dragged with
them over the ice was laid keel uppermost, the oars being laid under it
so as to maintain it in position, the open spaces between the sides of
the boat and the walls being covered with such canvas as they had.
Around the stone walls and over the top, snow was piled, and their
living house was complete. It sheltered them from the wind and from the
extreme bitterness of the cold, but beyond that nothing could be claimed
for it. Every one had to enter it on hands and knees, and, once inside,
no one could stand up, while the taller men of the party were only able
to sit up in the middle of the hut where the boat made the roof slightly
higher.
The men arranged their sleeping-bags against the walls with the feet
towards the middle of the floor, and when they had crept in through the
narrow entrance, they groped their way into the bags. Then, half lying
and half sitting, with their shoulders against the stones behind them,
they made themselves as comfortable as they could during the long period
of darkness. They divided themselves into messes for the purpose of
feeding, and two cooks prepared the food, an operation that was always
difficult and unpleasant. It had, of necessity, to be carried on inside
the hut, and when the two men were kneeling in a cramped-up position
over the make-shift for a stove in the middle of the floor, there was no
room for any one else to stretch his legs. Every one had to huddle up as
closely as possible, and as all the smoke from the stove had to find its
way out of the hut the best way it could, the atmosphere during cooking
time was far from refreshing. The heat from the stove also thawed the
ground immediately under it, and the snow on the canvas over it, with
the result that the cooking of every meal meant a thorough wetting as
well as a choking for the cooks.
As soon as the hut was finished, a small party pushed on towards Cape
Sabine in order to locate the provisions stored there. On October 9 they
returned with the news that despatches had been found, stating the
_Proteus_ had foundered in the ice on July 24 just off the cape, and
that the crew and relief party had started to the south so as to meet
the second relief steamer _Yantic_, or a Swedish steamer which was known
to be in the locality, and send on help to the Greely expedition.
The little party also discovered some provisions and the whale-boat,
previously abandoned on the ice, which had drifted ashore near the cape.
This was subsequently used as firewood when all other fuel was
exhausted.
The news of the disaster to the _Proteus_ was a serious blow to the
expedition, as it meant that no help would be able to reach them until
the following spring at the earliest, and, in the meantime, they would
be compelled to exist as best they could upon their meagre stock of
provisions. The relief party who had visited the cape on their way from
the wreck of the _Proteus_ had very considerably reduced the stores
which the Greely party counted on finding, and when they obtained the
remnants which were left, part of the bread was found to be a mass of
green slimy mildew. The men had now been on reduced rations for many
days, and so hungry were the members of the band sent to convey the
stores from Cape Sabine to the hut that when the green mouldy stuff was
thrown out by the officer in charge, the men flung themselves on to it
and devoured it despite all he could do to persuade them from such a
course.
The question of the strictest economy in the management of the food
supplies was now a matter of life or death, and very seriously the
leaders debated it. On October 26 the sun sank beneath the horizon, and
in the ensuing darkness, which lasted for 110 days, there would be no
chance of obtaining any game. A few blue foxes had been killed since the
camp was formed, and half the number were set aside for subsequent
consumption, those consumed at once being devoured to the bones, every
part being put into the stew.
Meagre as the rations were, it was necessary to reduce them still
further if the food was to last until the spring. By a further reduction
it was calculated that the party could exist until March 1, when the
available supplies would amount to ten days' rations. But no relief
could possibly reach them until a couple of months later than that, and
how were they to live after March 10, when the last crumb of their
supplies had been consumed?
There was only one course open for them, and that was explained by the
leader. On November 1, the allowance for each man would be fourteen
ounces, given out every twenty-four hours, and on March 1, as soon as
there was light, they would take their remaining ten days' supply and
set out across the frozen straits in the forlorn hope of reaching an
outlying camp of Etah Eskimo on the Greenland coast.
The terrible prospect of such a scheme to men situated as they were can
scarcely be imagined. For over a month they had already been slowly
starving on an amount of food for daily consumption which an ordinary
man could comfortably eat at one meal, and now that amount was to be
decreased to less than a pound of food a day and in a climate where the
cold was so intense that water could not be kept from freezing inside
the hut excepting it was over the stove. For four months they would have
to face that rigid diet, suffering the pangs of starvation constantly,
almost entirely in the dark, and always huddled up in the sleeping-bags
against the walls of their low-roofed hut. Yet they accepted the scheme
without a murmur.
Seldom have men shown themselves so absolutely courageous, for at the
best it was merely slow starvation so as to be able to make an almost
hopeless dash for freedom and food in four months' time. The suffering
during those four months was terrible. Men, as soon as they got hold of
their day's rations, were tempted to devour them at once, and so still
for a time the ceaseless gnawing of their hunger; but to do so meant
that in an hour's time the pain would be back again with no means of
staying it until twenty-three hours had passed. Calmly and bravely they
faced the ordeal, dividing their scanty store into regular meals, and
when, by an accident one of them upset his can, spilling his few
mouthfuls of tea on the ground, the others contributed from their share
so that he should not go entirely without. Nothing could exceed the
touching fidelity which characterised their bearings, one to the other,
during this period of unexampled suffering.
At Cape Isabella, a stock of 140 lbs. of meat was known to have been
left by Sir George Nares, and a party of four set out in the hopes of
securing it. For a week before they started they were allowed an extra
ration in order to strengthen them for the trial of a journey in the
dark over rough ice and with the temperature at 34 deg. below zero. The
extra ration consisted of two ounces a day.
For five days they battled their way through the darkness against a
heavy wind laden with snow, and at last found the place where the food
was. Piling it on their sledge, they turned back home again, and for
fourteen hours laboured with it, only consuming a little warm tea during
that time, for they had no means of heating more. One of the four was
badly bitten by the frost, and was soon so stricken that he could not
even stagger along. A piercing wind was blowing, and to save their
comrade's life, the others abandoned the sledge and tried to support
him. Soon two of them became exhausted, and the remaining one, Sergeant
Rice, pushed on alone to the camp in order to bring help. For sixteen
hours he was fighting his way over the twenty-five miles that lay
between him and the hut. When he arrived there his lips were too frozen
for him to be able to speak at once.
Weary and weak as the whole party was, eight of the strongest at once
started off in rescue. When they picked the other three up, they found
them lying under the sleeping-bag with the sick man between them, and
the bag frozen so hard over them that it had to be cut open before they
could be got out. Then they resumed their way to the camp, which they
reached after forty-four hours' absence, in which time they had covered
forty miles.
The frost-bitten man, Elison, was almost dead, his face, feet, and hands
being absolutely frozen, but so determined were they all to survive as
long as possible that he was tended with all the care they could
command. He was kept alive in spite of his sufferings, which, during the
first week after his rescue, were so severe that he daily called on his
comrades to end his misery.
Meanwhile the memory of the abandoned sledge laden with meat was
constantly in the minds of the starving men, whose hunger was now so
great that in the darkness after the lamp was put out--economy compelled
them to use it only for cooking--men crept to the stove and devoured any
rancid fat left in the lamp. But still discipline held them together,
and they made no mention of their sufferings to one another. The success
of the journey across the ice on March 1 was what they looked forward
to, and with the arrival of that date they believed their sufferings
would be over.
On January 18 the first one of the party to die passed away, really of
starvation, although the men, to keep the ugly word away from their
minds, accepted the doctor's statement that it was of an effusion of
water at the heart that the man had died. His end made a deep impression
on the gallant little band, all the same, and by the beginning of
February several more men were in a critical condition, including
Lieutenant Lockwood, who refused to accept an extra ration of two ounces
a day from the diminished stores.
Sergeant Rice, accompanied by the Eskimo Jens, made a plucky effort to
reach Littleton Island, where an outlying camp of Eskimo might be found;
but Jens could not stand the journey, and, five days after starting,
they returned. Every one was now impressed with the necessity of
husbanding their energies for the great effort to be made on the first
day of March, and as February slowly passed away, the emaciated
creatures grew enthusiastic as they sought to cheer one another up by
detailing the tremendous feasts they would have when they returned to
civilisation. At length the first of March dawned, and the brave hearts,
which had kept up so long against starvation and despair, shrank before
the terrible blow they received. The ice had broken, and open water
rolled where they had planned to cross on the ice. Nothing was said, for
the courage of the men was only equalled by their consideration for one
another, but the effect of the great disappointment sank deep into the
minds of many.
The food remaining was eked out through the month with the aid of some
blue foxes and a ptarmigan, which were eaten to the bones, and April
found them with only a few days even of the starvation rations
remaining. Several of the men were so weak that they could barely turn
over in their sleeping-bags. The Eskimo Frederick was found dead in his
bag, and another of the little party followed the next day. Then
Sergeants Rice and Fredericks insisted on making an effort to reach the
meat abandoned when Elison was frost-bitten. It is difficult to
understand why the effort had not been made before; but many errors of
judgment are conspicuous after a campaign which are not so apparent in
the moment of struggle.
Now that it was made it failed, through the cold freezing wind
penetrating the starved bodies of the two men. Rice, who throughout the
terrible ordeal of their captivity had never spared himself, was the
first to feel it. A strong wind was blowing, bringing down heavy snow
squalls. Suddenly Rice began to talk wildly and then staggered.
Fredericks grasped him by the arm and tried to keep him up, but the cold
and starvation had too tight a hold upon their victim. He vainly
endeavoured to pull himself together, but only for a moment; then he
sank down on the snow, babbling about the feast he was going to enjoy.
His comrade tried to restore him by giving him some of the stimulants
they had with them, and did not hesitate to strip off his own fur coat
to lay upon the other, sitting the while, holding his hands, and exposed
to all the biting fury of the Arctic wind, in his shirt sleeves. But
everything was useless; Rice was too worn out and too weak to fight
further, and died as he faintly talked of the food he fancied he was
eating.
The shock to Fredericks was almost overwhelming, for he was miles away
from the camp, chilled to the bone, and with only a little coffee and
spirits of ammonia to revive his own drooping vitality. Yet he would not
leave his dead comrade until he had reverently laid him in a shallow
resting-place in the snow, though it almost cost him his life to pay
this last tribute.
When he at last managed to reach the camp with his sad tidings he was
almost gone, and the news he brought plunged every one into the lowest
depths of sorrow, for Rice had always been one of the bravest and best
of the party. Those who were able to do so, attended to Fredericks and
revived him.
To those who were weakest the end of Rice was a fatal blow, and the next
day or so saw three or four pass away, one of whom was the intrepid
Lockwood. A very few more days and all would have gone but for a gleam
of good fortune. A young bear was killed, and the 400 pounds of meat
obtained from it was the salvation of the survivors.
Several seals were seen in the straits and a few walrus, and all who
could still handle a gun were daily striving to obtain fresh supplies
for the larder. Eskimo Jens, who hunted assiduously, succeeded in
killing a small seal; but in a chase after another his kayak was injured
in the ice and he was drowned.
After his death only misfortune attended the hunting, and, failing to
replenish their stock of game, they were reduced to such a terrible
plight that they had only the thick skin of the seal on which to
subsist. Even this fare was carefully divided and measured out, so that
life might be maintained as long as possible in case a relief vessel
came. One day it was found that somebody was stealing. All the party was
assembled, but no one would admit the theft. It was decided that the
thief should be shot if discovered. One man, being suspected, was
watched. He was caught and executed.
A fortnight later, the last few square inches of the seal's skin was
gone, and the men, now little more than living skeletons, lay in their
sleeping-bags looking at one another with hollow eyes, wondering,
perhaps, who would be the last to go, when a steamer's whistle sounded
over the straits.
At first they dared not trust their ears. It must have been a gull
crying, or a bear, they said, and the only man with strength enough to
crawl crept out to see. The others lay where they were, straining their
ears to catch again the sound which had so moved them, but the minutes
passed on in silence. The man who had gone out did not come back, and
their hopes fell. No one spoke, for it was too plain they had been
deceived, and a profound silence reigned. Then they heard a great
shouting, and before their minds could understand how it was done, they
were surrounded by men of their own race, who were administering
restoratives as quickly as they dared.
The _Thetis_, commanded by Captain Schley, of the United States Navy,
had reached them, and so, on June 23, 1884, the survivors of the Greely
expedition were saved.