Earth:Lady Franklin Bay Expedition

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Short description: Polar expedition
Expedition personnel prior to embarkation: Top row left to right: Whisler, Eller, Bender, Cross, Frederick, Lynn, Beiderdick, Henry, Long, Ralson, Salor, Dr Pavy, Gardner, Elison.
Bottom row left to right: Connell, Brainard, Lt Kislingbury, Lt Greely, Lt Lockwood, Israel, Jewell, Rice.
Absent is Schneider who replaced a deserter.

The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881–1884 (a.k.a. the Greely Expedition[1]) to Lady Franklin Bay on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic was led by Lieutenant Adolphus Greely, and was promoted by the United States Army Signal Corps. Its purpose was to establish a meteorological-observation station as part of the First International Polar Year, and to collect astronomical and magnetic data. During the expedition, two members of the crew reached a new Farthest North record, but of the original twenty-five men, only six survived to return.

The expedition was under the auspices of the Signal Corps at a time when the corps' chief disbursements officer, Henry W. Howgate, was arrested for embezzlement. However, that did not deter the planning and execution of the voyage.

Expedition

First year, 1881

Proteus at Qeqertarsuaq harbor

The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition was led by Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely of the Fifth United States Cavalry, with astronomer Edward Israel and photographer George W. Rice among the crew of twenty-five officers and men. They sailed on the ship Proteus and reached St. John's, Newfoundland, in early July 1881.[2] At Godhavn, Greenland, they picked up Jens Edward and Thorlip Frederik Christiansen, two Inuit dogsled drivers, as well as physician Octave Pierre Pavy and Mr. Clay who had continued scientific studies instead of returning on Florence with the remainder of the 1880 Howgate Expedition.[3][4]

Proteus arrived without problems at Lady Franklin Bay by August 11, dropped off men and provisions, and left.[5] In the following months, Lieutenant James Booth Lockwood and Sergeant David Legg Brainard achieved a new Farthest North record at [ ⚑ ] 83°24′N 40°46′W / 83.4°N 40.76667°W / 83.4; -40.76667, off the north coast of Greenland.[6] Unbeknownst to Greely, the summer had been extraordinarily warm, which led to an underestimation of the difficulties which their relief expeditions would face in reaching Lady Franklin Bay in subsequent years.

Second year, 1882

By summer of 1882, the men were expecting a supply ship from the south. Neptune, laden with relief supplies, set out in July 1882 but, cut off by ice and weather, Captain Beebe was forced to turn around prematurely. All he could do was leave some supplies at Smith Sound in August, and the remaining provisions in Newfoundland, with plans for their delivery the following year.

On July 20, Pavy's contract ended, and Pavy announced that he would not renew it, but would continue to attend to the expedition's medical needs. Greely was incensed, and ordered the doctor to turn over all his records and journals. Pavy refused, and Greely placed him under arrest. Pavy was not confined, however Greely claimed he intended to court-martial him when they returned to the United States.[7]

Third year, 1883

In 1883, new rescue attempts by Proteus, commanded by Lieutenant Ernest Albert Garlington, and Yantic, commanded by Commander Frank Wildes, failed, with Proteus being crushed by pack ice.

Expedition return route

In the summer of 1883, in accordance with his instructions for the case of two consecutive relief expeditions not reaching Fort Conger, Greely decided to head South with his crew. It had been planned that the relief ships should depot supplies along the Nares Strait, around Cape Sabine and at Littleton Island, if they were unable to reach Fort Conger, which should have made for a comfortable wintering of Greely's men. But with Neptune not even getting that far and Proteus sunk, in reality only a small emergency cache with 40 days worth of supplies had been laid at Cape Sabine by Proteus.

When arriving there in October 1883, the season was too advanced for Greely to either try to brave the Baffin Bay to reach Greenland with his small boats, or to retire to Fort Conger, so he had to winter on the spot.

Fourth year, 1884

On January 17, 1884, following a communication sent in December of 1883 from the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy to the U.S. President, C. A. Arthur, the president issued a message relative to the relief of Greely and his party for the consideration and approval of Congress[8]. Secretary of the Navy, William E. Chandler, was credited with planning the ensuing rescue effort, commanded by Cdr. Winfield Scott Schley. While four vessels— missing name, missing name, Script error: The function "ship_prefix_templates" does not exist., and Loch Garry—made it to Greely's camp on June 22, only seven men had survived the winter.[9] The rest had succumbed to starvation, hypothermia, and drowning, and one man, Private Henry, had been executed on Greely's order for repeated theft of food.[10][11] Of the seven rescued, Joseph Elison died on July 8 following multiple amputations. The relief party arrived at St. John's, Newfoundland on July 17, 1884, from which the news was telegraphed throughout the States, and a sketched portrait of the members of the Greely Expedition, both living and dead, was published. After a stay of ten days the ships left for New York.[12]

The six survivors: Top row left to right:Private Francis Long, Sergeant Julius R. Frederick, Private Maurice Connell, Steward Henry Bierderbick, Bottom Row: Left to right:Sergeant David L. Brainard, Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely

Civil War hero David Lewis Gifford served as an ice master on HMS Alert.[13] By August, 1884, the six survivors were being treated and recovering at the Navy Yard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[14] The surviving members of the expedition were received as heroes. A parade attended by thousands was held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[15] It was decided that each of the survivors was to be awarded a promotion in rank by the Army, although Greely reportedly refused.[16] As to the men who perished during the expedition, Greely wrote that

"I should be unjust to the dead did I not call attention to their arduous labors, heroic endurance, and unflinching determination which advanced the national ensign to an unparalleled latitude, carried out the programme of international scientific observations, increased perhaps in an unequaled degree in this century our knowledge of the physical characteristics and configurations of polar lands, and who, more than all, in perhaps the most successful Arctic boat journey of the age, brought safely, at the price of great bodily suffering and diminished chances of life, through a dense polar pack, their records to a point whence they would eventually reach the world. They died for that end, and should not be forgotten."[17]

The Original Twenty-Five Men Assigned to Duty as the Expeditionary Force to Lady Franklin Bay

  1. First Lieut. A. W. Greely, Fifth Cavalry, acting signal officer and assistant. He is one of the six men who survived.
  2. Second Lieut. Frederick F. Kislingbury, Eleventh Infantry, acting signal officer. He was relieved from duty August 26th, 1881, and formally ordered to duty with the expedition on April 9th, 1884. He died June 1st, 1884.[18]
  3. Second Lieut. James B. Lockwood, Twenty-third Infantry, acting signal officer. He died April 9th, 1884.
  4. Sergeant Edward Israel, Signal Corps, U.S. Army. He died May 27th, 1884.
  5. Sergeant Winfield S. Jewell, Signal Corps, U.S. Army. He died April 12th, 1884.
  6. Sergeant George W. Rice, Signal Corps, U.S. Army. He died April 9th, 1884.
  7. Sergeant David C. Ralston, Signal Corps, U.S. Army. He died May 23rd, 1884.
  8. Sergeant Hampden S. Gardiner, Signal Corps, U.S. Army. He died June 12th, 1884.
  9. Sergeant William H. Cross, General Service, U.S. Army. He died January 18th, 1884.
  10. Sergeant David L. Brainard, Company L, Second Cavalry. He is one of the six men who survived.
  11. Sergeant David Linn, Company C, Second Cavalry. He died April 6th, 1884.
  12. Corporal Daniel C. Starr, Company F, Second Cavalry. He was forced to return on the Proteus on August 14th, 1881, due to asthma, which made him unfit for the expedition. [19]
  13. Corporal Paul Grimm, Company H, Eleventh Infantry. He deserted and was replaced by Private Roderick R. Schenider, Company A, First Artillery. Schneider died June 18th, 1884.
  14. Corporal Nicholas Salor, Company H. Second Cavalry. He died June 3rd 1884.
  15. Corporal Joseph Elison, Company E, Tenth Infantry. He died July 8th, 1884.
  16. Private Charles B. Henry, Company E, Fifth Cavalry. He died June 6th, 1884.
  17. Private Maurice Connell, Company B, Third Cavalry. He was one of the six men who survived.
  18. Private Jacob Bender, Company F, Ninth Infantry. He died June 6th, 1884.
  19. Private Francis Long, Company F, Ninth Infantry. He was one of the six men that survived.
  20. Private William Whisler, Company F, Ninth Infantry. He died on May 24th, 1884.
  21. Private Henry Bierderbick, Company G, Seventeenth Infantry. He was one of the six men that survived.
  22. Private Julius Fredericks, Company L, Second Cavalry. He was one of the six men that survived.
  23. Private James Ryan, Company H, Second Cavalry. He was sent on board the Proteus on August 22, 1881, under orders to return to Washington on account of an epileptic attack.[20]  
  24. Private William A. Ellis, Company C, Second Cavalry. He died May 19th, 1884.
  25. Dr. Octave Pavy, assistant surgeon, U.S. Army. He died June 6th, 1884.[21]

Controversy

Rumors of cannibalism arose following the return of the corpses. On August 14, 1884, a few days after his funeral, the body of Lieutenant Frederick Kislingbury, second in command of the expedition, was exhumed and an autopsy was performed. The finding that flesh had been cut from the bones appeared to confirm the accusation.[22][23][24] However, Greely and the surviving crew denied knowledge of cannibalism.[10] Brainard and Rice had devised a method of netting sea-lice for food,[lower-alpha 1] and Greely surmised that if flesh had been cut from the bodies of the dead, some group members who died before being rescued needed bait, so they cut into the bodies of those who had previously died.[26]

Notes

  1. ↑ Brainard euphemistically called them "shrimp".[25]

References

  1. ↑ Levy 2019, p. 151.
  2. ↑ Berton 1988, p. 438.
  3. ↑ Berton 1988, p. 439.
  4. ↑ Shrady, G. F.; Stedman, T. L. (5 July – 27 December 1884). Medical Record. 26. New York City: William Wood & Co.. p. 103. OCLC 1757009. https://books.google.com/books?id=oRoCAAAAYAAJ&dq=howgate+expedition+1880+-wiki&pg=PA103. 
  5. ↑ Berton 1988, p. 440.
  6. ↑ Berton 1988, p. 444.
  7. ↑ Berton 1988, pp. 447–448.
  8. ↑ Chester A. Arthur (1830-1886), President of the United States, 1881-1885 (January 17, 1884). "Relief of Lieut. A. W. Greely and his party. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a communication from the Secretary of the Navy, relative to the relief of Lieut. A. W. Greely and his party, composing what is known as the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition to the Arctic regions". House and Senate Documents: 1-3. https://congressional.proquest.com/congressional/docview/t47.d48.2200_h.exdoc.56?accountid=15053. 
  9. ↑ Stein, Stephen K (December 2006). "The Greely Relief Expedition and the New Navy", International Journal of Naval History
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Lieut. Greely Speaks". The New York Times. August 14, 1885. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1884/08/14/106286718.pdf. 
  11. ↑ Levy 2019, p. 292.
  12. ↑ "The Greely Relief Expedition". Graphic, vol. 30, no. 768 (St. John’s, Newfoundland): p. 158. August 16, 1884. http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/compoundobject/collection/cns_article/id/1330/rec/22. 
  13. ↑ Schley, Winfield S. (1887). Report of Winfield S. Schley, Commander, U.S. Navy, Commanding Greely Relief Expedition of 1884. Washington: Government Printing Office. pp. 19, 74. https://archive.org/details/reportofwinfield00unitrich/page/n143. "Ice Masters Francis Ash, J. W. Norman, and David L. Gifford gave me much assistance in discharging their duties; the two former came more immediately under my observation." 
  14. ↑ Todd, A. L. (2017-01-12) (in en). Abandoned: The Story of the Greely Arctic Expedition, 1881-1884. Papamoa Press. ISBN 978-1-78720-822-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=lNKREQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT15&ots=G45VdF957p&dq=Greely%20expedition&lr&pg=PT20#v=onepage&q=Greely%20expedition&f=false. 
  15. ↑ "Cheering Arctic Heroes; Formally Welcoming Greely And His Comrades". The New York Times. 5 August 1884. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1884/08/05/106284479.pdf. 
  16. ↑ "Promotions for Arctic Survivors". The New York Times. 7 August 1884. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1884/08/07/106285271.pdf. 
  17. ↑ Greely, Adolphus W.. "Proceedings of the United States Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, Grinnel Land, by Adolphus W. Greely, First Lieutenant, Fifth Cavalry, Acting Signal Officer and Assistant, Commanding the Expedition. Volume I". U.S. Government Publishing Office. p. 93. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-02427_00_00-002-0393-0001. 
  18. ↑ Greely, Adolphus Washington (1888) (in en). Report on the Proceedings of the United States Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay. U.S. Government Printing Office. https://books.google.com/books?id=M4yWqXlVy0UC&dq=Bay%20franklin%20expedition&lr&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q=Ryan&f=false. 
  19. ↑ Greely, Adolphus Washington (1888) (in en). Report on the Proceedings of the United States Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay. U.S. Government Printing Office. https://books.google.com/books?id=M4yWqXlVy0UC&dq=Bay%20franklin%20expedition&lr&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q=Ryan&f=false. 
  20. ↑ Greely, Adolphus Washington (1888) (in en). Report on the Proceedings of the United States Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay. U.S. Government Printing Office. https://books.google.com/books?id=M4yWqXlVy0UC&dq=Bay%20franklin%20expedition&lr&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q=Ryan&f=false. 
  21. ↑ Greely, Adolphus Washington (1888) (in en). Report on the Proceedings of the United States Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay. U.S. Government Printing Office. https://books.google.com/books?id=M4yWqXlVy0UC&dq=Bay%20franklin%20expedition&lr&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q=Ryan&f=false. 
  22. ↑ "The Second in Command Lieut. Kislingbury's Mutilated Body Disinterred". The New York Times. 15 August 1884. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1884/08/15/106286940.pdf. 
  23. ↑ Peck, William F. (1908). History of Rochester and Monroe County, New York. Pioneer Publishing Company. p. 109. https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_IvssAAAAYAAJ. 
  24. ↑ "The Shame of the Nation". The New York Times. 13 August 1884. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1884/08/13/106286510.pdf. 
  25. ↑ Levy 2019, p. 224.
  26. ↑ Levy 2019, p. 335.

Bibliography



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