come habitués and messengers of Commerce on that unexplored main. Only the phantom ships seen by the Ancient Mariner will ever plow its waves. Only a race more sublimated than the Esquimaux or any of their civilized visitors will ever bask on its circumpolar beach or luxuriate in its balmy islands. As the shades of Sir Hendrik Hudson's lost crews were seen by Rip Van Winkle carousing at midnight on the classic heights of the Hudson River-so perhaps some future sleeper may discover the ghosts of Sir John Franklin and his men among the Hesperides of the Polar Basin. Still, there are earnest believers in the practicability of reaching the Pole. The latest project is that of Col. GILDER, the associate of Lieut. Schwatka in his famous Arctic journey. Col. GILDER proposes, June-July 1886, to make a dash for the Pole on foot. He describes his plan. as follows: I shall embark on a whaler from New Bedford or New London bound for the north, and enter either Hudson bay or Cumberland Inlet, where I will gather a party of natives and as many dogs as I can secure. I shall then put my whole equipage on board of a Scotch steam whaler, because these vessels go as far into the north water each year as possible. I then propose to be landed at the most northerly point they reach. Here I will make a station and pass one winter, having perhaps previously wintered at the point where I gathered together my party. From this station I will, during the following spring, move northward to Fort Conger, in Lady Franklin Bay, where Greely spent two of his three winters in the Arctic. At Fort Conger, as I am advised by Lieutenant Greely, I will find ample stores of civilized food for my small party, this being only auxiliary to the game that forms the chief diet of these people. From the very minute report of the conditions found in all that vicinity as given in Lieutenant Greely's 'Three Years of Arctic Service,' I have little fear of finding plenty of land and sea game for such a party as I expect to have with me. The native hunters and dog drivers will, as usual, take with them their entire families-the old men and women and the children. I hope to be landed by the Scotch steamer not a great distance from Cape Isabella or Cape Sabine. I feel confident of a good share of success; for if I find the route to Fort Conger impracticable I can easily reach land believed to exist, but not yet discovered, between Grinnell Land and Prince Patrick Ísland. If, however, I succeed in reaching Fort Conger-and I know no reason why I should not-I mean to make a dash for the Pole over the route taken by Beaumont, of Sir George Nares' expedition, and Lockwood, of Greely's expedition. Then, with the advantage of the skilled Esquimau assistants, I hope to go beyond the highest latitude yet reached. I can, I think, at any rate establish the northern point of Greenland. LAST WORDS.-HOW LIEUT. GREELY DESCRIBES THE RE- In Feb., 1883, preparations for the retreat were made by establishing a depot at Cape Baird, 12 miles south. Day after day the anxious men looked off over Lady Franklin Bay, expecting the ice to open-so that they might begin their journey toward home. At last, Aug. 19, 1883, the welcome news that the ice was open was brought. That very day the party embarked in the little. steam launch. Their dogs had to be left behind with four barrels of pork and some seal oil to keep them from immediate starvation. The Bay was crossed to Cape Baird, a distance of 13 miles, and then the western coast of Grinnell Land was followed south as far as Cape Hawkes. Large quantities of heavy ice were met; and extreme was the danger every moment that the little launch would be crushed. Several times all the boats were nearly lost. The suffering of the men was great. They were now within 50 miles of Cape Sabine. Striking from Cape Hawkes direct for Bates Island, the party was caught in the ice pack and frozen in 10 miles south of Cape Hawkes. In 13 days they drifted south 25 miles on the floes, suffering horribly from the cold. So they drifted to within 1 miles of Cape Sabine, and were obliged to abandon the steam launch on Sept. 10. The pack now remained motionless for three days, and several times the party got within two or three miles of Cape Sabine, only to be drifted back by the southwest gales. Five seals were killed and eaten while the men were drifting about. Eventually a heavy northwest gale drove them by Cape Sabine, within a mile of Brevoort Island, but they could not land. But on Sept. 22, there arose the most terrific gale they had yet seen on the Arctic Ocean. Their ice Aloe was driven hither and thither by the tempest, and the waves washed over them again and again, the spray freezing to them and causing intense suffering to the men. A night of inky blackness came on. The wind threw the heavy floes together, and crash, after crash of ice breaking from their own floe, warned the men that death was near to them. No man knew at what moment the floe might break up and the waters engulf them. The first faint light of dawn showed them that little remained of the floe upon which they were. The sea washed another close to them. Closer it came, and at last, at the word, the men succeeded in getting upon it. The storm slowly subsided, and they gained land at Esquimaux Point, near Baird's Inlet, on Sept. 29. Here winter quarters were built, and scouts were sent to Cape Isabella and Cape Sabine. In a few days they returned. Their report sent a thrill of horror to every heart. At Cape Isabella and Cape Sabine were found only 1,800 rations, and from Garlington's records they learned the fate of the "Proteus." Every one knew that death must come to nearly every one of the party long before the ship of rescue could force its way into Melville Bay. Efforts were made to sustain the spirits of the men by lectures and light reading. On Oct. 15, the party removed to Cape Sabine. On Jan. 18, 1884, CROSS died of scurvy. In April the rations issued had dwindled to four ounces of meat and six ounces of bread. Man after man died, and all hope had fled when, on that stormy day, June 22,1884, the blast of the "Thetis"" whistle roused the survivors from the lethargy of approaching death! Let the sad story end with this reminder:-If the first and second expeditions for the Relief of Greely had been managed as well and pushed as energetically as the third expedition under Commander SCHLEY, Fort Conger would have been reached, or adequate depots of supplies left at Cape Sabine; or, better still, the instructions of Secretary CHANDLER and the expectations of Lieut. GREELY accomplished by Lieut. Garlington and Commander Wildes in 1883, by establishing a relief party at Littleton Island, with abundant supplies-" where their main duty would be to keep their telescopes on Cape Sabine and the land to the northward" to catch the first sight of the weary wanderers from Lady Franklin Bay, returning south for food and shelter, as they were under orders to do, and actually did, on Sept. 29th, 1883, without finding their countrymen there to welcome them. It will be remembered that the "Yantic" under commander Frank Wildes, did easily reach Littleton Island on Aug. 3d, 1883, but left no provisions there for Greely. Lieut. Garlington's instructions from Secretary CHANDLER were :-" If it should become clearly apparent that the vessel cannot be pushed through to Lady Franklin Bay, you will retreat from your advanced position and land your party and stores at or near Life Boat Cove (at Littleton Island), discharge the relief vessel, and remain with your party until relieved next year. From this station at Littleton Island, endeavor, as soon as possible, to communicate with Lieut. Greely by sledge parties; the men not so employed to lose no time in preparing a house for the whole party, and securing the stores preparatory to the arrival of Lieut. GREELY." Yet, under these positive orders, though Commander Wildes actually visited Littleton Island in search of Lieut. Garlington, and the latter when found at Upernavik by the "Yantic," after the burning of the "Proteus," might have gone in that vessel back to Littleton Island,- no attempt was made," says Secretary Chandler," by either Lieut. Garlington or Commander Wildes to establish a relief party at Littleton Island, for which point Lieut. Greely was under orders to start not later than Sept. 1st" --and, it may be added, did start on Aug. 19th, 1883. Perhaps one chief reason for the unfortunate flusco of 1883, was the failure to start from St. John's in time. Lieut. SCHLEY started from New York in 1884, about May 1st, and reached Cape Sabine as early as June 22d, by which most gracious providence he saved the lives of five men, and prolonged the lives of two others-none of whom could have survived 48 hours longer without such timely aid. But neither the "Proteus" nor "Yantic" left St. John's in 1883 until June 27th, and they did not leave Disco Island until July 15th and 26th. Whose fault was this? that of the Navy Department or the expeditionary forces? Perhaps all the disasters to 66 the "Proteus," and to Greely and his twenty-four com panions, might have been avoided if the relief expedition of 1883 had sailed from St. Johns and pushed right on to Littleton Island and Cape Sabine one month or six weeks earlier. But, starting late as they did, it appears to the impartial critic of 1886, that the sole purpose of the expedition, the location of a relief party with ample supplies at Littleton Island, after the failure to reach Greely at Fort Conger, might have been effected if the specific instructions under which it set out had been followed by its commanders; and that when Lieut. GREELY and his men landed from the ice floes on Cape Sabine, Sept. 29th, 1883, if there had been across the open water of Smith's Sound, at Littleton Island, a comfortable house, full supplies of provisions and clothing, and relief men on the lookout for them, ready to cross in boats and convey them to this snug winter home-there would have been no horrible tale of suffering, starvation and death to relate of the Greely party, and no censure to bestow on the Expedition which, warned of Greely's extreme peril—“put their hands to the plow, and then turned back." ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY'S MEDALS :- - Lieut. GREELY'S and Sergeant BRAINARD's conspicuous achievements in the field of exploration, have been appropriately honored, at home and abroad. Two out of the three honors annually bestowed by the London (Royal) Geographical Society, have been given in 1886, to Greely and his brave subordinate Brainard. The chief of these honors, the Founder's Gold Medal, was presented to Lieut. GREELY. Sergeant BRAINARD, who, with Lieut. LOCKWOOD, made the farthest northing ever attained, received the Back Grant. LOCKWOOD perished at Camp Clay; if he had survived, a first honor would have been awarded to him. American Explorers have received the highest honors of both the Royal Geographical Society, and the Paris Société de Geographie, during the latter half of the Nineteenth Century-as has been noted in previous pages of this Narrative; and undoubtedly they have earned the most enduring title to commendation, and have achieved greater successes and borne heavier burdens in the Arctic zones than the explorers of any other country. Nor will it be for |