Show the 19 ut of the LQ st 0 IN X i of ahm Survivor a 4 ai 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON N AUGUST 20 1881 n little group of white men and two E eskimos stood on the shore of an tee ice locked bay fifteen pun hundred miles north 0 th of the clent rd arctic cir circle and n watched a little ste steamer ner push its way cautiously through a lead a dark streak of open water which ran irregularly across the surface of 0 the frozen sea the steamer wa was S the Pro proteus tous which had been hell held in the tee ice there for six lays days while captain pike waited in vain for or a lead to plea cleave vea 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 0 rn members abers of the party officially known as the lady franklin buy bay expeditionary force which had been sent out by the united states government in the interests of science but it was more commonly only known as aa the greely expedition in lionor honor of its comma commander n der first adolphus W greely creely of the fifth cavalry of the united states regular army pis subordinates were second lieutenants F of the eleventh infantry and james D B lockwood of f the twenty third infantry these with octave pavy assistant aisi stant army surgeon burgeon eight el ht sergeants two corpor corporals a Is and nine privates most of whom had bad lately been serving in the indian wars on the western frontier and two dog drivers jens edward and frederik thorley com rosed the personnel of the party the departure of the proteus marked the beginning of what has freen abeen aptly calledo called one neof of the supreme adventure stories of the world n story of almost unbelievable human grit and endurance which forms one of the brightest pages in the annuls annals of the american army for two years this party was as much lost from fram contact with their fellow men as it they had been on another planet and when finally the third attempt to rescue greely succeeded of the original twenty five there were just seven left alive and one ona of these died within twenty four hours the other eighteen ea had perished of starvation or ac cadent after a series of adventures marked by incredible suffer suffering inq an and tn incredible heroism the official records of the greely expedition tion lon were made public soon after commander W S schley admiral schley of spanish american war famed fame and brought brou glit its ita survivors back bach to the united states on the thetis but it was not until nearly half a century later that the he heroic role human side aide of the story became known for more than forty five years the lie diary of sergeant I 1 david L brainard alnard Br 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 I lost oat it was published by the bobbs cerrlli company today there ore are but two survivors of the lady franklin bay abny I 1 expeditionary force they are mal maj gen X A W greely retired the commander of the ill fated expedition and the roan man who served asa as a sergeant under him film now brig gen david ii brainard alnard Br retired it la Is therefore especially appropriate abat that tits his old commander who once called Br alnard the most remarkable of t a number of remarkable men of that expedition should write in the took book a salutation to remind himself how together with our comrades we faced aced tor for nine months the prospect of death day by day and were harassed by the he eight of our associates perishing of starvation or from to in the polar field according to the plans for the expedition tion it was to establish a station 4 l U ta tn in the northern part of grant or grin land to study tho the meteorology I 1 of the polar regions such a station was wall established named fort conger and then the Pro proteus tous which had brought them salted sailed away the Prot Fro tous eua was to return the next year it 1 possible to carry them away if not another relief expedition would be sent for them in august issa in ease case it should fall Gre greelis Greely elys 3 orders were to leave fort conger not later than ali an september 1 and retreat southward by boat until the relieving vessel Is met or little island Is reached or until a sledge party fro from m the little island base was met As a matter of fact the proteus called to reach them in august 1882 buts but says the foreword to the book the first year had not passed disagreeably and it Is doubtful if anyone regretted the experience future uncertainty thrown into the bargain the entire party tind lind had the dis distine tion of spending a winter farther north thon than nui nay arctic explorers had ever wintered with the exception of an english outfit that had wintered on shipboard moreover two of th their er e number lieutenant lockwood lochwood and sergeant brainard alnard Br on may alay 13 1882 had set a new farthest north record in the centuries old race to the pole that first winter there was weather tn in which Bf edford rum froze solid and the kerosene oil had to be thawed out before the lamps could be lighted at first there had bad been plenty to do and the work was intelligently organized by the commanding officer and tackled with zeal by the tha men but in a few weeks cold and darkness put on an end to practically all outside work except the instrument tending near the station the monotony of the arette arctic night produces strange effects on white men they become melancholy sleepless and very irritable every diversion twenty five winds minds could think of was waa tried out exit and dropped checkers are all the rage now J 1 wrote Serke sergeant ant brainard Br alnard the faithful diarist but nothing lasts like long loud arguments today the subject was the tha relative merits of the fire departments of chicago and new york however the second winter minter was waa harder to bear than the first and on june jane IT 17 1883 sergeant brainard alnard Br wrote wrote that although it Is a few weeks too early for or a relief ship we cannot cannal keep our eyes from wandering hopefully to the south but again they were disappointed and they began the tragic retreat related by brainard alnard Cr on august 0 1833 they set out in small boats boata through a lead which had finally formed in the tee after they had waited for it for or several days their course was through kennedy ch channel onnel which was filled with grinding floes of ice fee upon which greenys Gre elya elys force camped when there was no open water through which to push the boats whenever they could I 1 use the boats they hugged the coast of grinnell land through kane sen sea early in september they were forced to abandon their boats ant and for thirty four days they were adrift on floating lee ice finally they managed to reach smith sound and landed south of cape caige adrie north ot of and opposite littleton island which two hundred and fifty miles allea away it was waa near here that the first year relief ship had been forced to turn back and far south of 0 cape sabine the second year rescue ship had been crushed tn in the ice and all provisions lost the record of their stay at cape sa bahe alne Is one long story atory of af terrible suffering here tor for eighteen months they lived on two months rations the simple record of sergeant brat cards diary reveals the horrors of those days as can no extended dose description rip tion on october 2 he writes I 1 I 1 took an ail inventory of the cornat comille ary stores last evening and found only y 35 days full ration bread and meat remained these rations can be extended to 60 days daya it if we subject ourselves to a greatly reduced diet but the suffering will be extreme in this low temperature where IL a man requires from two to three times the normal idiot diet also we ve have some very hard labor ahead 0 of us incident to the build ing inar of wanter quarters october 28 what are we to dor As far an aa I 1 can 6 see there Is nothing ahead of us except ve p t starvation every hope of rescue this fall hats bau failed us how can we hope tor for anything now from a relief expedition tho the civilized world han baa forgotten fori rotten us ua in our hour of need march 4 1884 1984 greely reduced the braa bread issue to eight felcht ounces per par man inan occasionally members of the party were able to shoot a fox to supplement their rations and sergeant brainard alnard Br rigged up a device for catching sh rimps but bot ai as the weary weeks passed the inadequate food severe cold and tho the conditions under which they lived took their toll one by one eighteen of the members of the party including lieutenants kislingbury and lockwood died on the evening of tune june 21 22 1 1884 1834 sergeant brainard alnard Br lay in the little fly tent which had blown down upon him and his bis six alx comrades com radea 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 suddenly a voice called out la greely reely are you there brainard alnard Br raised himself in his sleeping has bag he knew that voice I 1 it was the voice of norman first officer of the proteus in 1881 1831 its norman ill 1 he shouted in a weak voice he crawled from beneath the tent and norman thrust a hardtack in his hand A moment later lieutenant colwell came running over the hill brainard alnard Br wits was sitting on the ground gnawing at the hardtack but as he saw an officer approaching tho the old habits of the regular army sergeant asserted itself lie he tottered to his feet and attempted to sainte I 1 but colwell clasped his hand and they went together into the tent there to rouse the dazed greely and to to tell him that the ship thetla thetis had ar rived with relief at af last I 1 |