XVII. HOMEWARD BOUND.

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 affair, that might prove serviceable for special purposes.

The journal kept by Lieutenant Lockwood after his departure from Fort Conger was written in short-hand, as always while in the field, and is a very complete record. In the following pages, only a brief summary of purely personal incidents will be attempted, without presuming to give the phraseology of the youthful explorer.

On the 9th of August, the little fleet pushed off from shore, laden with the twenty-five adventurers and a comfortable supply of provisions. They reached Bellot Island without much trouble, but afterward encountered a good deal of ice, and, while 287 working very hard to get through, Rice accidentally fell overboard, which was for him a poor beginning. The ice continued to be troublesome until the close of the next day, when the boats were so severely nipped that they had to be drawn up on the floe. Afterward, open water appearing all the way across the fiord, the launch and the other boats made a successful crossing nearly opposite Sun Bay. They reached the depot near Cape Baird, at about 2 P. M., up to which hour, from the time of leaving Fort Conger, they had not been able to secure any sleep, nor anything to drink but cold water. Reaching Cape Lieber on the 11th in a snow-storm, they landed on a bluff about a mile from the cape, where they waited for the ice to move, so that they might continue on their route toward the south along the western shore of the strait. The only animals seen in that vicinity were two narwhals, fighting near the shore. The fog now became so very dense that no headway could be made, and this gave them an opportunity to obtain some needed rest. Their next advance was in the midst of a severe storm of wind and snow, in spite of which they reached Carl Ritter Bay on the morning of the 12th. The next morning, while they had open water near the shore, they discovered ice-barriers extending to the south as far as they could see. At this point a young seal was killed, which was greatly enjoyed by all of the party; but this luxury, in the case of Lockwood, was counterbalanced by the discomfort of sleeping on shore without any protection excepting that of his bag. He also spent several nights on a floe-berg, where, 288 by laying his sleeping-bag on a sheep-skin, he slept more comfortably. From the 13th until the 20th, when the party reached Rawlings’s Bay, it was a continual conflict with floating ice, snow-storms, and fog, the monotony of the struggle having been broken by an accident to the launch, and also one to Lieutenant Greely, who had a fall into the water, from which he was rescued without harm. At all the places where they encamped, they had great difficulty in securing a safe harbor for the launch. Having passed across Richardson Bay in safety and reached Cape Collinson, they found about one hundred and twenty, out of two hundred and forty, English rations which had been deposited there, the missing portion having been eaten by the foxes. On the 22d they reached Scoresby Bay, where observations of the strait showed it to be full of floating ice; and in this vicinity they were brought to a halt by the ice-pack near the shore at Cape John Barrow. Here the boats were pulled up on the floe, and, as the thick sludge-ice was all around, no open water in sight, and the supply of coal getting very low, the prospect was gloomy in the extreme. When able to continue on their course, the travelers were still greatly troubled by heavy fogs, and while passing over a space of open water, abounding in floe-bergs which could not be seen, they were in constant danger of being lost. Notwithstanding all these obstacles, they pushed their way onward, and in due time reached Cape Louis Napoleon, Cape Hawks, and Princess Marie Bay, when they were again stopped by the floating ice, and detained by the newly formed ice.
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In his desire to comply with the order as to weight of baggage, Lockwood had left his seal-skin coat at Fort Conger, but this step he afterward regretted, as the weather continued stormy, and he was greatly exposed to the cold. To this was added the misfortune of having a badly fitting seal-skin boot which gave him great pain, so that he had to resort to a pair of moccasins. When the boats were caught in floes and detained for days, the only exercise available was that of walking over the level floes. Some of the men were wont to march around, under the light of the moon, singing aloud their wild and uncouth songs. When tired of walking, Lockwood would creep into a cozy corner of the launch, and pore over a pocket copy of Shakespeare which he had fortunately brought along; and then, after getting into his sleeping-bag, his thoughts would wander far away and find expression in such words as these: “What are they doing at home? How often I think of the dear ones there! The dangers and uncertainties ahead of us are only aggravated by the thoughts of the concern felt by them on my account. Most of us have given up the idea of getting home this fall.”

On the 3d of September, while in the floe below Cape Hawks, Lieutenant Greely held a consultation with Lockwood, Kislingbury, Pavy, and Brainard, expressing the opinion that their situation was critical, and that they were really working for their lives. One of the suggestions was that the launch should be abandoned, and further progress made in 290 the smaller boats along the western shore of the strait; but to this, Greely and the majority objected, still hoping that they might yet be able to reach Littleton Island through a lead or over the young ice. On the 6th the hunter Jans killed his fourth seal, and was rewarded by a drink of rum. After five more days of travel, and while approaching Cocked-Hat Island, there was a great excitement caused by the report that one of the men had heard the barking of dogs, whereupon guns were fired and a flag displayed; but all the commotion ended in nothing. The tides were contrary, the small boat was abandoned, and the outlook was very gloomy. The faithful Esquimaux, Frederick, who had latterly been somewhat unlucky as a hunter, now came to the front by killing a seal that weighed six hundred pounds, receiving the usual drink of rum. On this occasion Lockwood mentioned that he swallowed a cupful of the seal’s blood, and found it somewhat tasteless. On the 5th of September, the party after great labor came abreast of Victoria Head and Cape Albert, and while drifting along on the floe the American flag was hoisted over the launch, and the fire under the engine was put out to save coal, Lockwood enjoying a little needed sleep. On the 7th they came in sight of the coast extending from Alexander Harbor to Cape Sabine, and the impossibility of proceeding in the launch becoming apparent, it was decided to resort to sledge-travel, two of the sledges to carry a boat each, and both of them to be drawn by the men. When they were fully prepared for moving, 291 it was found that one of them weighed 1,700 pounds and the other 2,100 pounds. Owing to the various difficulties which soon beset the travelers, they were obliged to abandon one of the boats, whereby it became necessary to retrace several sections of the journey for the purpose of bringing on the extra supplies, thus adding greatly to the fatigue of the men. Lockwood now expressed his doubts as to whether he would live to write out his notes, and also his fears that the floe upon which the party then were, might take them down into Baffin’s Bay. Not only were they at the mercy of the floe, but the currents were contrary, sludge-ice abundant, and their supply of food reduced to seal-blubber, bread, and tea. At one time, strange to say, their position in the straits was directly north of Littleton Island, and nearer the Greenland coast than that of Grinnell Land. It now seemed to Lockwood that there was nothing ahead of them but starvation and death, and yet the men kept up their spirits in a manner that greatly surprised him. One of the floes upon which they had drifted for many days, when found to be cracking in one or two places, caused the party to move upon another nearer the shore, and in a short time the floe previously occupied was entirely broken up. On the 29th of September, the floe on which they were floating, finally touched another toward the west, and that another connected with the shore, by which means they were enabled to reach the land, very thankful to be in a place of security once more. The locality was really a rock forming a promontory between 292 two glaciers, and thought to be about thirteen miles directly south of Cape Sabine. To that place a reconnoitring party was at once sent, but the cape could not be reached on account of open water near it, and the party was compelled to return. In the mean time, arrangements were made for building out of stones and ice the necessary huts for protection during the coming winter, should it be their fate to remain there. While this work was progressing, it was decided that the daily rations would have to be reduced. Lockwood expressed the opinion that they had only three chances for their lives: first, the chance of finding an American cache at Cape Sabine; secondly, a chance of crossing the straits, here thirty-five miles wide, when their provisions were gone; thirdly, the chance of being able to kill enough game for their support during the winter. A second effort was made by Rice and a party to reach Cape Sabine, which was successful. They not only brought news about the wreck of the Proteus, but also a copy of the Army Register for 1883, in which appeared Lockwood’s name as a first lieutenant. Rice also succeeded in discovering the English cache with two hundred and forty rations, the cache left by the Neptune in 1882, and the stores brought from the wreck of the Proteus in 1883, all of which information was hailed with delight by the party. Among the stores left by the Proteus, a newspaper slip was picked up, from which was gathered the news that President Garfield had died; that the Jeannette had been lost; and that serious apprehensions were felt in the United States 293 about the fate of the Greely Expedition. This latter intelligence gave Lockwood great pain, seeming almost prophetic, except in the remark “lying down under the great stars to die!” and induced him to make this record: “This article gives me great pain, because of the alarm and sorrow which must be felt by my dear father and mother and sisters on my behalf. Should my ambitious hopes be disappointed, and these lines only, meet the eyes of those so dear, may they not in thought add to my many faults and failings that of ingratitude or want of affection in not recording more frequently my thoughts regarding them!”

One of the results of the trip made by Rice to Cape Sabine was the selection of a spot, between the cape and Cocked-Hat Island, for a home during the approaching winter. Here, officers and men alike laboring, a new hut was built, which was forthwith occupied by the party, all the supplies being at once brought from the camp south of Cape Sabine. The place where they now found themselves established, Lieutenant Greely called Camp Clay, in honor of one of the party—a grandson of Henry Clay—who had been attached to the expedition until it reached Lady Franklin Bay, whence he returned home on account of his health. As soon as the new hut was occupied, the announcement was made that six of the party were on the sick list; but shortly afterward, and notwithstanding the deplorable condition of affairs, Lockwood recorded the following in his journal: “We are all now in comparatively high spirits, and look forward to getting back to the United 294 States with a great deal of certainty. We shall have to live on half-rations or less until April, and there will be shortness of fuel. Many hardships are obvious, but we all feel sound again.”

On the 23d of October, twelve of the party went from Camp Clay upon a visit to Cape Sabine, and, while some of them opened the English cache at the south side of Payer Harbor, Lockwood built a cairn there and deposited under it, among other things, the records of the expedition, with a note in lead-pencil to the following effect:

    “October 23, 1883.—This cairn contains the original records of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, the private journal of Lieutenant Lockwood, and a set of photographic negatives. The party is permanently encamped at a point midway between Cape Sabine and Cocked-Hat Island. All well.

    “J. B. Lockwood,
    “First Lieutenant Twenty-third Infantry.”

On their way back to Camp Clay, Dr. Pavy met with an accident to one of his feet, and, while most of the party went on, Lockwood and Ellison remained behind to look after him. When night came on, they lost their way, stumbling and floundering over the rubble-ice until overcome by fatigue and hunger; but were revived by a limited mutton stew on their arrival at the camp. One of the results to Lockwood of his Samaritan conduct was an accident to one of his knees, which gave him trouble for several days, and prevented his being as useful as he desired in 295 contributing to the comfort of the party. It was about this time that Lieutenant Greely declared his intention of reducing the rations, all assenting, so that they might last until the 1st of March; and this fact, added to the discovery that some of their meat was far more bony than it should have been, caused some consternation. Cold, dampness, darkness, and hunger continued to be their hourly and daily portion, the allowance of food being only about one fourth of what they actually needed.