OR, THE LIFE AND EXPLORATIONS OF LIEUTENANT JAMES BOOTH LOCKWOOD, OF THE GREELY ARCTIC EXPEDITION . BY CHARLES LANMAN. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. 1885. When we think of the adventure of our times; when we recall the great Arctic explorations that have called forth an endurance and daring which have been unsurpassed in other days; . . . what is there that is more romantic than they are in any history of any age? From a Thanksgiving Sermon by Rev. Phillips Brooks .

It is believed that this book, with its true but none the less stirring adventures, will be of much interest to the general public, as well as gratifying to the many warm friends of Lieutenant Lockwood. It will likewise correct any erroneous impressions which may have arisen from the publication of garbled extracts from the official journals kept by the different members of the Greely party and, by order of the War Department, laid open to the public. By this order, Lockwood’s journal and those

In the following pages, it is proposed to record the personal history of an American hero whose fortune it was, at the sacrifice of his life, to visit and explore the utmost limit in the Arctic regions ever attained by human skill and enterprise. Aside from the information communicated to me by his family, the materials placed in my hands consist of his private correspondence and various journals which he faithfully kept while serving his country on the Western frontiers, as well as in the inhos

After finding that farming and railroad engineering were not exactly the employments he had fancied them to be, young Lockwood resumed his studies under the direction of his father. Not long afterward, however, he was seized with the idea of entering the army, and, at the very outset of this venture for a useful life, he was met with a blending of good and bad fortune. Securing the influence of many friends, he made a successful appeal to the President and the War Department. He received orders

Having entered upon duty at the barracks of Omaha, he seems to have made himself especially useful there, while enjoying some of the comforts of civilization, including good society. On the 25th of September, he wrote that he had been busy for a week as the recorder of a court-martial. “We settled nine cases, and, while we now stand adjourned sine die , I suppose the court will soon be reconvened to try half a dozen more men against whom charges have been preferred. There have been, since my arr

During Lieutenant Lockwood’s absence on leave, his regiment was transferred to Fort Leavenworth, and there we find him early in 1877, and for about two years thereafter. Of course, the garrison life of an officer, in times of peace, is somewhat monotonous; but the letters which the lieutenant wrote from this station contain some passages which are interesting and illustrate his character, as will be seen in the following pages. Here it should be stated that, during his sojourn at Fort Leavenwort

From the spring of 1879 until the winter of 1881, Lieutenant Lockwood spent a part of his time in the Indian Territory, but chiefly in the State of Colorado. The first duty of his company was to establish a cantonment on the Canadian River. On their way thither, they made a halt at Fort Supply, where the country was sparsely settled, and where the rolling prairies seemed desolate and interminable. Those of his regiment who had been ordered to Supply, he found in miserable quarters—log-huts cover

From this point, the story of Lieutenant Lockwood’s life will be chiefly given from the records which he kept during his sojourn in the Arctic regions. For reasons which the general reader will appreciate, all merely technical and official remarks have been omitted, and only those retained which are calculated to illustrate the personal character of the man and officer, it being understood that his journals, illustrating his merits and labors, will be fully set forth in the official history, to

All things being ready, the Greely Expedition left St. John’s, Newfoundland, for Lady Franklin Bay, on Thursday, July 7, 1881, in the steamer Proteus, Captain Pike. She was a barkentine, measuring two hundred and fifty feet in length, and having a burden of six hundred tons. Built in Scotland for the whaling and sealing service, she had already made several successful voyages within the Arctic Circle and on the Labrador coast. The departure of the ship elicited no demonstration from the people o

Immediately after the explorers had anchored their ship in Discovery Harbor, they saw a drove of musk-oxen leisurely ascending the neighboring hills, which they climbed with the facility of goats. This was indeed a cheerful prospect for men in so isolated a region and without fresh meat, and many of them started forthwith in pursuit of the game, working their way to the shore on the ice, but were compelled to return after a vain attempt to follow the animals over the hills. Hitherto there had be

Among the amusements which helped to kill time at the station of Discovery Harbor, officially called Fort Conger, was that of celebrating certain birthdays, and this chapter begins with what was done when Lieutenant Lockwood attained his twenty-ninth year. He confessed that he did not wish a “happy return of the day” in the Arctic regions, and yet he would be contented if they should all be as pleasant as the one just experienced, in spite of the cold winds, ice, snow, darkness, and anticipation

As already mentioned in this narrative, among the events which occurred at the Greely Scientific Colony, or Fort Conger, was the establishment of a newspaper, the first ever issued so near the north pole, the nearest approach to it previously having been “The Ice-Blink,” issued by Kane’s Expedition in 1854. It was projected by G. W. Rice and C. B. Henry, but Lieutenant Lockwood was the editor-in-chief. The sheet was fifteen by nineteen inches in size, first prepared in manuscript and then multip

On the 29th of February, Lieutenant Lockwood went upon an experimental trip to Thank God Harbor preparatory to his proposed grand expedition along the coast of Northern Greenland. His companions were Brainard, Jewell, Long, and the Esquimaux, Frederick and Jans, with two dog-teams. As the dogs, constantly yelping and howling, competed for the mastery, they traveled rapidly, and, after many twistings and turnings, reached their destination, where they found the observatory still standing. They to

When returning to Lady Franklin Bay, Lockwood and his companions reached Shoe Island shortly after midnight. They deposited a record in the cairn there, and proceeded to the cape west of the island, where they went into camp, after a retreat of twenty miles in eight hours. Lockwood suffered much from his eyes, having evidently strained them while endeavoring to see the sun during the late stormy weather. The cold food, upon which alone they could depend, seemed to weaken the stomachs of all the

To a man of Lockwood’s character, the return to the station did not mean that idleness was to be the order of the day, and while yet suffering from rheumatic pains in his back, shoulders, legs, feet, and joints, he began to mark out a trip for himself through Lady Franklin Bay. In the mean time, some of the men were off trying to obtain fresh meat, Frederick killing a hare and Jans a seal weighing over five hundred pounds. Kislingbury amused himself with a pet owl, which delighted him with a pre

On the 19th of March, fair weather came out of the north, and not only cheered the hearts of the whole colony at the station, but fired the desire of Lieutenant Lockwood for the new campaign, which he had long been contemplating. After a consultation with Lieutenant Greely, he concluded to start on the following day, or soon after. As usual, some cold water was thrown upon his plans, one of the critics declaring that they had experienced enough of that kind of business; and another, that they ha

While the disappointment which attended the late expedition was very great, it did not make Lieutenant Lockwood unhappy or morose. He was only convinced, perhaps, that when the ice and snow and storms, minions of the North Pole, undertake to play the game of April fool, they do it very effectually. The absence of so many of his companions from the station had a depressing effect upon his spirits, but as usual he prepared the report of his last journey, and duly submitted it to Lieutenant Greely,

The word “advanced,” both here and in the journal, refers to the simple distance from camp to camp, and the actual time occupied in making that distance—all stops deducted . The word “traveled” includes total number of miles traveled—the number of miles advanced added to those traveled in going back and forth in “doubling up.” The time corresponding refers to the whole time from leaving one camp to arriving at the next, all stops included. The “additional miles” refer to incidental journeys not

The time having arrived, the final orders were given for the Arctic exiles to make ready for the first stage of travel leading to their far-distant home. They were now to leave the station at Fort Conger, and, as best they could, find their way to Littleton Island, where they hoped to meet a vessel that would take them back to Newfoundland. They were to depart in boats, viz., the steam-launch Lady Greely, a whale-boat, an English boat of which they had come into possession, and a still smaller a

While the following pages will contain necessarily brief notices of the life of the party during an entire winter, they must conclude with the record of the great calamity which befell the band of heroes. Shortly after they found themselves settled for a campaign of idleness, as they expected it to be, Lockwood was again confined to his sleeping-bag on account of an injury to his feet which had not been properly protected; his discomforts being aggravated by the reflection that both provisions a

Without stopping to discuss the action of Congress or the Government officials in regard to sending relief to the Greely Expedition, the writer desires to mention that the names of Senator Joseph R. Hawley and Representative E. John Ellis, because of their manly action in Congress in behalf of the suffering explorers, are far more deserving of places on the charts of the North than those of many others which have thus been honored. In 1882 a vessel called the Neptune, Captain William Sopp, was c