| Show of afo lost by ELMO SCOTT WATSON N AUGUST 20 1881 i little group of white men and two eskimos stood on the shore of an ice locked bay fifteen hundred miles north of the arctic circle and watched a attle steamer push its way cautiously through a lead a dark streak of open water which ran irregularly across the surface of the frozen sea the steamer was the proteus which had been held in the ice there for six days while captain pike waited in vain tor a lead to cleave a path through the ice of lady franklin bay so that he could start south towards civilization the men who stood watching the ship until it disappeared from sight were members of the party officially known as the lady franklin bay ex force which had been bent out by the united states govern bent in the interests of science but it was more commonly known aa the greely expedition in honor of its commander first adolphus W greely of the fifth cavalry of the united states regular army his sub ordinates were second lieutenants frederica F kislingbury of the eleventh infantry and james lock the twenty third infantry thee with octave pavy assistant army borgeon sor geon eight sergeants two corporals and nine privates most of whom ha lately been serving in the indian wars on the western frontier and two dog drivers jens edward and frederck lk thorley corn the personnel of the party the departure of the proteus marked the beginning of what has been aptly called one of the supreme adventure stories of the world a etory of almost human brit and endurance which forms one of the brightest pages in the annals of the american army for two years this party was as much lost from con tact with their fellow men it they had been on another planet and when finally the third attempt to rescue arcely succeeded of the original twenty five there were just seven left alive and one of these died within twenty four hours the other eight een had perished of starvation or ac adent after a series of adventures marked by incredible suffering and in credible heroism the official records of the greely expedition tion were made public soon after commander W S schley admiral of spanish american war fame and brought its survivors baab to the united states on the thetis but it was not until nearly halt a century later that the heroic human side of the story became known for more than forty five years the diary of sergeant david L Br alnard one of the seven survivors lay unused in an old trunk recently it was brought to light and under the title of the outpost of the lost it was published by the bobbs men ill company today there are but two survivors of the lady franklin bay expeditionary force they are maj gen A W greely retired the commander of the fated expedition and the man who nerved as a sergeant under him now brig gen david L Br alnard retired it Is therefore especially appropriate that his old commander who once called Br alnard the most remarkable of a number of remarkable men of that expedition should write in the boole a salutation to remind himself how together with our comrades we faced for nine months the prospect of death day by day and were harassed by the sight of our associates perish ing of starvation or from in the polar field according to the plans for the ex it was to establish a station in the northern part of grant or grin nell land to study the meteorology of the polar regions such a station waa established named fort conger and then the proteus which had brought them sailed away the proteus was to return the next year if pos sible to carry them away if not another relief expedition would be sent for them in august 1883 in case it should fall greelis orders were to teave fort conger not later than september 1883 and retreat southward by boat until the relieving vessel Is met or little island Is reached or until a sledge party from the little island base was met As a matter of fact the proteus failed to reach them in august 1882 but says the foreword to the book the first year had not passed dis agreeably and it Is doubtful if any one regretted the experience future uncertainty thrown into the bargain the entire party had had the distinction of spending a winter farther north than any arctic explorers had ever wintered with the exception of an english outfit that had wintered on shipboard moreover two of their number lieutenant lockwood and sergeant Br alnard on may 13 1882 had set a new farthest north record in the centuries old race to the pole that first winter there was cr in which medford ram froze solid and the kerosene oil had to be thawed ont before the lamps could be lighted at first there had been plenty to do and the work was intelligently organized by the commanding officer and tackled with zeal by the men but in a few weeks cold and darkness put an end to practically all outside work except the instrument tending near the station the mo of the arctic night produces strange effects on white men they become melancholy sleepless and very irritable v every diversion twenty five minds could think of was tried out and dropped checkers are all the rage now wrote sergeant brainard Br alnard the faithful diarist but nothing lasts like long loud arguments today the subject was the relative merits of the fire departments of chicago and new york however the second winter was harder to bear than the first and on june 17 1883 sergeant brainard Br alnard wrote that although it Is a few weeks too early for a relief ship we cannot keep our eyes from wandering hopefully to the south but again they were disappointed and they began the tragic retreat related by on august 9 1883 they set out in small boats through a lead which had finally formed in the ice after they had waited for it tor several days their course was through ken nedy channel which was filled with grinding floes of ice upon which greelis force camped when was no open water through which to push the boats whenever they could use the boats they hugged the coast ot grinnell land through kane sea early in september they were forced to abandon their boats and for thirty four days they were adrift on floating ice finally they managed to reach smith sound and landed south of cape sabane north of and opposite littleton island which two hundred and fifty miles away it was near here that the first year relief ship had been forced to turn back and far south of cape sabane the second year rescue ship had been crushed in the ice and all provisions lost the record of their stay at cape sa bine Is one long story of terrible suf faring here for eighteen months they lived on two months rations the simple record of sergeant bral bards nards diary reveals the horrors of those days as can no extended description on october 2 he writes I 1 took an inventory of the compol ary stores last evening and found only sa days full rations of bread and meat remained these rations can be extended to 60 days 1 we subject ourselves to a greatly reduced diet but the suffering will be extreme in this low temperature where a man requires from two to three times the normal diet also we have some very bard labor ahead 0 us incident to the build ine of winter quarters october 28 what are we to do As far as I 1 can see there Is nothing ahead of us except starvation every hope of rescue this fall has failed us how can we hope for anything now from a relief expedition the civilized world has forgotten us in our hour of need march 4 1884 dieul greely reduced the bread Is sue to eight ounces per caan occasionally members of the party were able to shoot a fox to supplement their rations and sergeant Br alnard rigged up a device for catching scrimps shrimps but as the weary passed the inadequate food severe cold and the conditions under which they lived too their toll one by one eighteen of the members of the party including lieutenants and lockwood Loc Lwood died on the evening of june 22 1884 sergeant brainard Br alnard lay in the little fly tent which had blown down upon him and bis six comrades beside them lay the body of another but they were too acal to move it or even try to raise the pole of the tent suddenly a voice called out greely are you there brainard Br alnard raised him self in his sleeping bag he anew that voice 1 it was the voice of bior man first officer of the proteus in 1881 its amani he shouted in a weak voice ue crawled from beneath the tent and norman thrust a hard tack in bis band A moment later Jeu tenant colwell came running over the hill Br alnard was sitting on the ground gnawing at the hardtack but as he saw an officer approach mg the old habits of the regular army ser geant asserted itself he tottered to ils feet and attempted to saluel dut colwell clasped his hand and they went together into the tent there to the dazed greely and to tell him that the ship thetis had ar alred with relief at ast |
