Show COMMANDER WILDES of the IT 8 steamer cantio Xan Yan tio vindicates liia his conduct on the lato late cruise in ao arctic waters by We western tern aasa press to the I 1 Ife herald raid 11 washington oct 21 21 secretary chandler has written to commander wild wildes of ortho the steamship antic with respect to the failure of th the e expedition e di for the relief of lieu lieutenant ten an t fsr gree e lcy icy lie says you were instructed to proceed to north northward Nard through davia davis straits with the steamer proteus but not to go be beyond ond li littleton teon island the proteus passed ped t this I 1 li s island july and andins ars crus ru lied I 1 in I 1 ice july the yan ian tic did not reach there until aug 3rd ard between these days tile lie garlington party of the proteus came to littleton island and pandora harbor and not finding you continued to the south in 0 open b boats oa t s in search of the yantic gen I 1 lid ad t the ae ri 1 i 1 2 c been at littleton on the of july instead of being 12 days lays behind beli ind the ibieta the Gar lings ton ree relief f party would iava remained at that point with ample supplies and waiting for lieutenant greeley whose orders required him hini to cn cu deavor to reach that vicinity not later than september 1883 and who would not then hyc fauna found awaiting him lit in as it is 13 now the tile case if lie lias has successfully obeyed liis his ordera orders neither house nor provisions but only a record of the complete failure fai liro of the mission of the proteus and yantic it appears to the department that you disobeyed orders and thereby defeated the tile object of the expedition you will make inako such ey ey plan alion on oil this point as you are able to this his commodore wildes replies that the boilers of the yantic i c were in in an unreliable condition when n ordered to fit fur for a northern cruise repairs were pushed night and day to hasten her depasture depa iture but not being finished on oil lie the sai bablina lins day material for corn com plating the lie work was put on board and tile repairs were continued fro from in time to time until the arrival at god haven Kno knowing irig that thence northward the main dependence would be bo on oil the engines I 1 determined to yet get the boilers in a fair condition before leaving this took six days ono day was then taken to get coal from tile brig peru which had just arrived then thick stormy weather set in which dela delayed the de do barbre two days ho arrived at god haven with but one hundred bundre dand and iso seventy venty tons of coal and mere time was lost so it was july before lie could leave six days more were lost by the dense fog tog and on the lie cleared from upernavik for the sea no time was lost and no unnecessary delay made matte at any point had iio lie sailed from god haven at tra tle same fame lime time as the Prot proteus cus besides being unable to keep up with her lie would haye have arrived at littleton island with the coal supply reduced to 75 73 tons tonstad aad the boiled 9 sin in a leaky precarious condition ander Cn commander der wildes describes the dangers connected with the tile passage through melville Melvil leBay bay he ile says he be did not delay ono moment after he lie considered the ship prepared but pushed ahead and only reached pandora harbor to find the boats had gono gone south six days before iledon he considered it his ilia first and paramount duty iffy 0 on 1 learning of the loss of the P to pick up the boats which contained con bained 37 men and having done that it would bo be time to consider what next having mado made a long and unsuccessful beadell for boats A heavy pock of ice moved down bes hind tile I 1 rai antic c preventing the return northward and leaving no alternative but to proceed to Y pernaria upernavik pern arik the letter concludes as follows the memorandum marked enclosure 1 with no dodato date or signature which I 1 presume are the supplementary instructions so often spoken of was never heard of by me until our arrival in ht lit johns John fl nor seen until now I 1 am ain prepared to shoulder all responsibility lity which properly belongs to pv HIP and if this statement is not satisfactory is and there still remain doubts in tle department that I 1 have not done my duty as an olliger in ili tile U S navy I 1 respectfully request that a court of inquiry may ba be ordered on oil i my toy conduct as I 1 do not wish to rest I 1 under inder tile imputation that I 1 havo have heedlessly and unnecessarily necessarily tin left lieutenant greeley and party to the possibility of perishing by starvation 1 I am ani bir your youe obedient servant nant tie signed FRANK WILDES commander US U S N |