8/8/2019 Aritic Profiles Adolphus Greely

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Adolphus Washington Greely (1844-1935)AdolphusWashingtonGreelybecame a worldcelebrityalmost overnight in 1884 when the six survivors of the LadyFranklin Bay Expedition under his leadership were rescuedfrom starvation in the Arctic. Yet he was far more than thecentral figure of one tragic expedition. Explorer, soldier,scientist, and author, Greely was respected as an internationalauthority on polar science from the 1880s until his death 50years later.Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1844, Greely vol-unteered for Civil War service in the Union Army before hewas 18. He was grievously wounded at Antietam in 1862, butreturned to active dutyhe following spring as anfficer of theU.S. Colored Infantry, made up of free black soldiers. Whenthe war ended he heldhe brevet rank of captain f volunteersand decided on service in the regular army as his career. Bythe time he retired as a major general in 1908, he had set arecord as the first soldier to enter the U.S. Army as a private

and achieve a generals rank.

Creely circa 1880.

What distinguished Greely from his earliest days was hisserious application to everything in which he took an interestand hat hesawashis duty. While ellow-officerswoulddevote their evenings to card games and other amusements,Dolph (as his friends called him) would be deep inbook. Herespected knowledge ofall kinds, and lacking any more thanhigh-school education, hesetabout to teachhimself. Andthoughhe ppreciated ll forms of literature, especiallypoetry, he dwelt most heavily on the physics, earth sciences,chemistry, mathematics, andother branches of learning that heconsidered practical for his professional development.Greelysparticularnterest arlyonaynelegraphicsignaling, which had proved itself during thewar, and the useof meteorological reports sent by telegraph to predict changesin weather. By 1869 he was detailed to Washingtons a signal

officer. Here he fell under he spell of Captain Henry W.Howgate, a Signal Service officer who was an enthusiast forarctic exploration and who opened his extensiveibraryof arc-tic literature to the younger officer. It was through this chainof events that Greely was inspiredo a deep interest in leadingan arctic expedition. He had everal motives: to visit a strangeand romantic part of the world, to study the physical condi-tions of theFar North, to conduct signaling experiments undersevere weather conditions, and also, perhaps, to make a namefor himself that would help his promotion.In October 1879 ai International Polar Conference held inHamburg agreed on common program of meteorological andotherphysicalobservations by expeditionssupported by adozen countries, all to be placed as far toward the top of theknown world as possible. This waso be the first InternationalPolar Year, set for 1882-1883, to last from summer to sum-mer. Greely was chosen to head one of two United States ex-peditions. His observation post, named Fort Conger, was atLady Franklin Bay on the east coast of Ellesmere Island, a fewmiles across Robeson Channel from the Greenland coast.The plan was for Greelys party to spend two years at LadyFranklin Bay - rom summer 1881 to summer 1883 - x-ploring the coasts, documenting the wildlife, and carrying outother observations going beyond the program of the HamburConference. A supply ship was scheduled to bring mail andrelief personnel in summer882 and to return in 1883 to bringthe party home with its scientific findings.By August the expedition of 25 men was comfortably in-stalled n a large woodenbuildingassembledfrom umberbrought on shipboard. A plentiful supply of fresh musk-oxmeat was on hand, thanks o the expedition hunters, and therewas adequate coal hacked from an outcropping few miles tothe east that had been found y the Nares Expedition in1875.During the following4 months, the expedition carried out theprepared programof scientific observations and measurementsin relative comfort. These included hourly recordings of tem-perature, tidal levels, barometric pressure, precipitation (therewas little), wind velocity anddirection, and other phenomena.In addition, several exploration trips by dog sledge and onfoot led to detailed mapping of muchof Ellesmere Island andthe nearby Greenland coast and the naming of newly foundmountains, lakes, streams, fiords, and capes. One three-manparty led by Lieutenant James B. Lockwood set a record forthe farthest north yet attained, exceeding the previous recordset by a British expedition by some four miles. Contrary tosome later uninformed reports, however, there was no attemptto reach the North Pole. Greely, armedwithhishigh-school Latin and several reference books, documented manyof the Ellesmere slandplants, lichens, and grasses andobserved several species ofirds. All these findings andbser-vations were meticulously recorded in the official logs of theparty. Greely had insisted asa conditionof joining the expedi-tion that every man keepdiary, and in these many ofhe per-sonalobservationsfromdifferentviewpointsaddedhumandetail to the scientific record.

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In summer 1882 the supply ship was forced to turn backwithout reaching Lady Franklin Bay because of heavy ice.Again, nsummer 1883, thesupply ship Profeus ran intoheavy ice in the KaneBasin,was crushed, and sank. Notaware of this, the Greely party, as previously rranged, movedsouth nAugust n three smallboats(oneof hemsteam-powered) through Kennedy Channel and Kane Basin towardan agreed-on rendezvous point at the entry of Smith Sound.After weeks of truggle they cameashore September29 to finda meagre cache of supplies fromheProfeuswreck, along witha message telling of the disaster to the ship and hope that thesurvivors could send helpoon. At this point Greely knew theywere doomed to spend a winter in the Arctic with no preparedshelter, inadequate food, and virtually no fuel.From October until the following June, Greelys commandwithstood the ravages of hunger and colds best they could onCape Sabine in a shelter built of small stones piled into a lowwall to break the wind and covered byhe overturned boat anda few arpaulins.Rationswereaboutone-fifth the normalmilitary ration, until even that was exhausted. Then the menlived on stew made from lichen scraped from the rocks andtiny shrimp netted at the shore. When an occasional bird wasshot, it provided about an ounce perman, eaten raw. A U .S.Navy relief ship finally reached the Greely camp on 22 June1884 to find that Greely and only six others were still alive.Most of the others had died of starvation or exposure. Oneman died aboard ship on the return journey.Greelys story as it unfolded was an epic of heroism andself-sacrifice. Although there were ndividual ncidents ofsomemenbehaving selfishly, the common characteristicthroughout the ordeal was a concern for all. In the years thatfollowed, Greely always spoke inhe most respectful terms ofthe behaviour of his command throughout heir long winter oftrial. His official report, published n 1888 in wo massivevolumes,combinedboth hescientificfindingsof the twoyears at Fort Conger on Lady Franklin Bay and the struggleforsurvivalof the third yearatCapeSabine. The reportbecame a standard reference work for arctic studies over thenext several decades.Greely was named Chief Signal fficer of the U.S. Army in1887, being promoted in one jump from captain to brigadiergeneral. Underhis leadership over thenext 19 years, theSignal Service acquired the first motorized vehicles for theArmy, promoted the development of the flying machine,and assisted Marconi in development of the radio. Always apragmatist, Greely encouraged every nnovation hat wouldbring the military service into the mechanized,electrifiedtwentieth century. He visited Alaska and described its poten-tial in prophetic terms in his andbook ofAlaska. He was ac-tiven atriotic societies, in historical nd iographicalresearch, and in the Literary Society of Washington. He wasfounder of the National Geographic Society, a prolific writerfor its magazine, and also served as the first president of theExplorers Club in New York.In 1935, on his91st birthday, hewas awarded the Medal of Honor byhe United States govern-ment for his lifetime of service to his country.

Greely fterbeing escued, 1884. Photographs ourtesy of John C .Creely, grandson of General A.W. Greely.

FURTHER READINGSBRAINARD,DAVID L. 1940. Six CameBack.Indianapolis,NewYork:GREELY, ADOLPHUS W . 1927. Reminiscences of Adventure and Service.- 1886. Three Years of Arctic Service. 2 vols. New York: CharlesTODD , A. (lden) L. 1961. Abandoned: the Storyof the GreelyArctic Expedi-

Bobbs-Memll.New York: C. Scribners Sons.ScribnersSons.tion 1881-1884. New York:McGraw-Hill.

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