THE GREELY TRAGEDY
Valuable as were the immediate results of Lieutenant Charles
Weyprecht’s voyage in the _Tegetthoff_, its indirect results were
greater still, for he came back from his adventurous journey full
of plans for revolutionising the manner in which Arctic exploration
had been conducted. Up to that time each nation or each group of
individuals had gone on its own way, practically regardless of the
scientific or geographic work of the others, and there had been no
attempt to solve the mysteries of the Arctic regions by concerted
action. In an address delivered before the German Scientific and
Medical Association of Gratz in 1875, however, Weyprecht suggested
that the chief of the nations engaged in Arctic research should
establish a number of stations round the Pole, whereat a series
of simultaneous observations should be made. As a result of this
address, Bismarck appointed a commission of leading men of science
to consider Weyprecht’s proposal, and this commission came to the
conclusion that the work would be of the greatest value, and that
the united action of several nations was essential to its success.
Out of these beginnings gradually grew the International Circumpolar
Conference of 1879. Its first meeting, which was held at Hamburg,
was principally devoted to the discussion of business, and eleven
nations promised their support. The second conference, which met at
Berne in August 1880, decided definitely on the plan of action to
be employed, and adopted a scheme of observations, obligatory and
optional, for use at the fifteen stations which it was proposed to
establish.
Of the fifteen stations ultimately established, Denmark,
Germany, Russia and the United States occupied two each, while
Austria-Hungary, Finland, France, Great Britain, Holland, Norway
and Sweden established one each. In addition, thirty-four permanent
observatories promised their co-operation, with the result that
during several succeeding years important observations were being
simultaneously conducted by competent men of science at forty-nine
different stations, all of them either actually in or in the
immediate neighbourhood of the Polar regions.
With the work of most of these expeditions we need not concern
ourselves at all. It was of a purely scientific nature, and the
curious may find it all set forth in the thirty-one quarto volumes of
the International Polar Scientific Publications, a set which contains
by far the greatest collection of scientific Arctic data extant.
The only party of the fifteen which we need follow, indeed, is that
which America sent out, under the command of Lieutenant A. W. Greely,
to establish a station in Lady Franklin Bay, on the east coast of
Grinnell Land, in the district visited by Nares in 1875.
The plan of the expedition, briefly put, was as follows: Greely,
who was a lieutenant in the Signalling Department of the United
States Army, was to sail on the _Proteus_, a sealer of 467 tons,
with a party of twenty-five, in the spring of 1881. The _Proteus_
was to make direct for Lady Franklin Bay, where he was to land the
expedition and then return home. It was arranged that a vessel should
visit the station with supplies in 1882 and again in 1883. In the
event of her being prevented from reaching the headquarters of the
party, she was to _cache_ quantities of supplies on the east coast of
Grinnell Land, and to establish a depot on Littleton Island. If no
vessel succeeded in reaching Lady Franklin Bay in 1882, the ship sent
out in 1883 was to remain in Smith Sound so long as the conditions
permitted, and, before leaving, was to land a party with everything
necessary for a winter’s stay on Littleton Island. It was hoped that
thus the safety of Greely and his men would be assured.
Unfortunately, it seems that the cabinet minister who was responsible
for the equipment of the party was not too well disposed towards it.
The funds placed at its disposal were quite inadequate, with the
result that Greely was obliged to exercise the most rigid economy
in purchasing his stores, while, owing to a number of vexatious and
quite unnecessary delays in the delivery of papers and so forth, he
had to rush through his final preparations in an inconveniently short
space of time. Eventually, however, the equipment was completed on
an adequate, but by no means liberal scale, and the _Proteus_ set
sail from St John’s, Newfoundland, on July 7, 1881. It was not until
she reached Hall Basin, and when she was actually in sight of her
destination, that she was first delayed by ice. Fortunately, however,
she was equipped with steam, so that she soon charged her way through
the barrier and landed the members of the expedition in Discovery
Harbour, the place finally selected for their headquarters.
Here they found themselves in a delightful spot. Dryas, saxefrage,
sedges, grasses and buttercups clothed the hill slopes and river
banks, and there was animal life in abundance. No sooner were they
ashore than the men set about building their quarters, a work which
they executed with such dispatch that in a fortnight they had made
themselves an exceedingly comfortable house, which they named Fort
Conger. Unfortunately, even at this early stage of the proceedings,
the party does not seem to have been on harmonious terms, and it
appears that Greely, able officer though he was, had an unfortunate
way of alienating the sympathy of his followers. The first signs
of this friction appeared when, eight days after the landing, the
_Proteus_ sailed for home, and took with her one or two volunteers
who had intended to take part in the work of the expedition but
found it impossible to stay. When she was on the point of starting
again, Lieutenant Kislingbury, one of the regular officers of the
expedition, expressed himself dissatisfied with the manner in which
affairs were being conducted and asked permission to return. This was
granted him, but he missed the ship and was obliged to return to the
station. From that time onward Greely hardly spoke to him, and though
he did splendid work as a huntsman for the party and showed himself
anxious to forward its interests in every possible way, he was never
asked to resume his official connection with it.
The earlier days of their stay at Fort Conger were spent in making
short sledge expeditions and in laying down depots of provisions
at Cape Beechey and Cape Murchison. Under the direction of the
astronomer Israel, too, scientific investigations were pursued with
the utmost zeal, and many exceedingly valuable results were obtained.
As soon as spring came round again sledging expeditions were sent out
in all directions, and some members of the party had rather curious
experiences. For example, Pavy, the doctor of the mission, and a
small party, went off on a voyage of discovery in the direction of
the winter quarters of the _Alert_, which they reached in safety.
Eight days later, however, they were unwise enough to take refuge
from a storm on an iceberg. To their horror and alarm, the gale
separated their berg from the main pack and sent it sailing towards
the north. They had reached lat. 82° 56´ N., and were beginning to
wonder whether they would ever return again when, by good luck, their
raft drifted towards the shore which they succeeded in reaching, but
only with great difficulty.
While Pavy and his companions were indulging in their perilous
voyage, Lieutenant J. B. Lockwood, one of the most indefatigable
members of the mission, was making an extraordinary journey up the
west coast of Greenland. He left Fort Conger on April 3 with orders
to explore the coast near Cape Britannia and thence to press on in
any direction which he thought fit. The ice was rough, the gales
were violent, and the cold was intense, the thermometer sometimes
sinking as low as 81° below freezing point. In spite of these
difficulties, however, he pushed rapidly on, and on April 27 he
reached Cape Bryant. Thence he sent back all of his men except two,
Sergeant Brainard and Christiansen, and with these companions he made
his way forward with renewed ardour. In the course of his journey he
crossed Sherard Osborn Fiord, passed the highest point reached by
Beaumont in 1876, doubled Cape May, climbed Cape Britannia, and, on
May 13, reached Lockwood Island, the highest point attained by any
Arctic explorer up to that time (83° 24′ N. 42° 45′ W.). Some miles
to the north he saw Cape Washington, the most northern known land,
but he was unable to determine whether or not there was land beyond
it. Lockwood and his companions then set out on the return journey,
reaching Fort Conger without misadventure on June 1.
The summer was very warm indeed. The snow melted and uncovered
traces of Eskimo habitations, while some of the party actually saw
butterflies and bumblebees. But of the ship which they were expecting
there was not a trace. As, however, they were amply provisioned for
another winter there was no cause for immediate alarm.
In the spring of 1883 Lockwood attempted to repeat his exploit of
the previous year, but the conditions were against him, and he had
to return without fulfilling his object. He immediately set out to
assist Greely in his exploration of the interior of Grinnell Land, a
work which had been begun during the previous summer. The results
of their efforts showed that that country is a positive Paradise
compared with most Arctic lands. It is intersected by rivers and
long fertile valleys in which browsed herds of musk-oxen, while an
enormous glacial lake, some five hundred square miles in area and
fed by glaciers, which they named Lake Hazen, was one of its most
remarkable features.
August brought with it no sign of the expected ship, and Greely now
saw that he must set about his homeward journey in his boats without
delay. Accordingly, on August 9, he and his companions started away
from Fort Conger in their steam launch, two boats and a dingy, taking
with them every scrap of food that they could stow away into the
small accommodation at their command. The voyage was difficult and
dangerous, for the heavy spring tides, rising twenty-five feet and
more, combined with violent gales, kept the ice pack in constant
motion against the precipitous and rock-bound coast. What with the
delays caused by the weather and the constant stoppages which they
were obliged to make in order to pick up every _cache_, however
small, that had been laid down during the years of their stay at
Discovery Harbour, it took them sixteen days to cover the two hundred
miles which lay between their starting-place and Cape Hawks. Worse,
however, was to come, for off Bache Island the boats were frozen into
the ice so securely that they had no choice but to abandon them,
and so adverse were the conditions that nineteen days were spent in
struggling to the shore which was only thirteen miles distant when
they started for it.
At last, however, they succeeded in effecting a landing between Cape
Sabine and Cape Isabella, but they were now really in little better
case than before. They were all in good health, it is true, and they
had saved their instruments and the valuable records of their doings,
but they were desperately short of provisions, and the shore on which
they found themselves was inhospitable in the last degree. However,
there was nothing for it but to make the best of a bad business.
Accordingly, some set about hunting, some started the erection of
winter quarters, while others went out in search of cairns and
records. It was on Cape Sabine that one of these parties found a
record which told them why the _Proteus_ had not put in an appearance
at Lady Franklin Sound. While on her way thither in July 1883, the
record said, she had been crushed by the ice north of the Cape, and
rendered absolutely useless for further service. She had, however,
left a store of provisions there, and her commander, Lieutenant E.
A. Garlington, left a message there to say that he would attempt to
join the U.S.S. _Yantic_ with all possible rapidity with a view to
obtaining immediate succour for the distressed party. Unfortunately
for them, the _Yantic_, which was under orders to repair to Littleton
Island, was only a fair-weather vessel, and could render them no
assistance whatever.
Greely repaired immediately to Cape Sabine, and erected winter
quarters on Bedford Pim Island. The _cache_ spoken of by Garlington
was there, it is true, but it was miserably inadequate, and the party
found themselves face to face with the terrible necessity of passing
a long Arctic winter poorly housed, inadequately clad, and with only
forty days’ rations. From that time Greely’s diary is one long tale
of horror. Hunger, starvation and scurvy played fearful havoc among
the men, and their condition soon became deplorable. Up till the
beginning of April the expedition had only lost one of its members,
but the 5th of that month saw the beginning of the end, and from that
day onwards deaths were terribly frequent. Lockwood, Kislingbury,
Israel, the astronomer, and Dr Pavy all sickened and died within a
few weeks of one another; Rice, the photographer, perished while
attempting to take up a cache; Jens died while out hunting; while
Henry, who acted as cook, had to be executed for stealing from the
small store of provisions left to the famine-stricken men.
At last, on June 22, 1884, Greely was astonished to hear the sound of
a steamer’s whistle. He was too weak to leave the hut himself, but
one of the few survivors of his party brought in news of the arrival
of two relief ships, the _Thetis_ and the _Bear_, under the command
of Captain W. S. Schley and Commander H. H. Emory. No time was lost
in taking Greely and his men on board, and they were conveyed back to
America forthwith, one more death taking place on the voyage.
We now come to a part of the story which is omitted from most
histories of this expedition, but which ought to be given in full,
terrible though it unquestionably is. We have already mentioned that
the Secretary for War of that day, Mr Robert T. Lincoln, was not
too well disposed towards the expedition from the start, and that
he put many difficulties in its way before it left American shores.
Incredible though it may seem, it was in the same spirit that the
authorities approached the relief expeditions, and there can be no
question whatever that most, if not all, of Greely’s men could have
been saved if the original plans had been properly carried out.
As we have already seen, in the summer of 1883 the _Proteus_ started
off, accompanied by the _Yantic_, under Captain Wilde, with orders
either to bring Greely home or to establish an ample depot of
provisions on Littleton Island. The command of the _Proteus_ was
entrusted to Captain Pike, while Lieutenant Garlington, who had
volunteered for the service, was placed at the head of the entire
expedition. The initial mistake was made when the _Yantic_ was
allowed to sail with her boilers in a very poor state of repair,
necessitating an early visit to a Greenland port. Consequently, she
was unable to accompany the _Proteus_ far north, as was originally
designed. Wilde, however, was given orders to join Garlington at
Littleton Island with as little delay as possible.
Near the entrance to Smith Sound the _Proteus_ was stopped by ice.
Garlington, however, while prospecting from a hill not far from Payer
Harbour, saw a lead of open water through what had hitherto been
solid ice, and, returning to the ship, he ordered Pike to proceed
up it. Pike, who had had great experience of ice, said that he did
not like the look of it and would prefer to wait a few days, as the
season was still very early. Garlington, however, insisted, and Pike
had, of course, no choice but to obey his orders. The result was
that the _Proteus_ was caught in the ice and sank. Before the ship
went down, some 3000 rations or more were landed on the floe, but,
a portion of the ice detaching itself, seven or eight hundred were
allowed to drift away, together with a number of dogs, Garlington
refusing to make an effort to save them. Of the 2000 rations or more
taken eventually to Cape Sabine, Garlington only left 500 for Greely,
loading the boats with the remainder and reserving them for his own
use.
He then proceeded to Littleton Island. Here there was no lack of
game, and, as he had plenty of ammunition, he could easily have
formed a splendid depot of provisions for the explorers whom he must
have known would be in dire straits during the winter. He knew this,
and he knew that the _Yantic_ was bound by his orders to join him
at Littleton Island, yet nothing would suit him but to start off at
once in his boats to meet her. Lieutenant Colwell offered to go off
for this purpose in the whaler while Garlington laid in a store of
provisions; the offer was rejected. Pike urged him to wait for a
few days as there could be no doubt that the _Yantic_ would cross
Melville Bay in safety; the advice was rejected. Events showed that
Pike was right, for the _Yantic_ reached Littleton Island three days
after Garlington and his men had left it, having, of course, missed
them on the way. Wilde now had no choice but to put about and look
for the crew of the _Proteus_, and he eventually succeeded in finding
them on the coast of Greenland.
Now comes the most astonishing part of the whole story. No sooner
was Garlington on board than he gave Wilde orders to sail straight
for home, although the navigable season was not yet half over, and
although he had left behind a message for Greely reporting the loss
of the _Proteus_, stating that he was rejoining the _Yantic_, and
adding that “everything in the power of man” should be done to rescue
him.
The _Yantic_ made a good passage home, and even then it would have
been easy to equip and send out a special vessel to Cape Sabine,
for whaling captains were all agreed that a boat leaving New York
as late as September 19 could reach Cape Sabine in safety. General
Hazen, the chief signalling-officer, entreated Lincoln to purchase
and dispatch a vessel at once; nothing was done. Lieutenant Melville,
of whom we shall have cause to say more in connection with the
_Jeannette_ expedition, offered to take a party there himself; his
offer was not accepted, and shortly afterwards Lincoln expressed his
conviction that it was now too late. As events proved, Melville Bay
was navigable that year for forty-five days after that “too late” was
uttered, and many of Greely’s companions paid for the mistake with
their lives.
This story is one of the very few dark spots on the history of
Arctic exploration. No one, of course, would dream of accusing
either Lieutenant Garlington or the Secretary for War of wilfully
sacrificing the lives of their fellow men, but it is extraordinary
that, while they knew that there was the barest likelihood of Greely
and his men starving to death on a barren and inhospitable shore
where there was no chance of their obtaining food, they should have
neglected to use their utmost effort to save them.