Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1884. ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 239, 5 September 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1884. ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS.

The latest American expedition to the Arctic regions was commanded by Lieutenant Greely, and left for the North m August 1881, having for its object the establishment of a station of observation m Grant Land, whence, expeditions, ; could be dispatched m the direction J of the. Pole. For a full description 1 of the voyage and difficulties experienced by the party, perhaps no : account is better worth reading than, that given m Harper's Weekly, an j American publication, from which source we glean some of the follow, lowing . particulars : — It .. appears that the first work undertaken on, the arrival of the exploring party* was the erection of a large bujjdingu m Discovery Bay, to serve as hearJi quarters for all future operations/ The ship that had conveyed them thither then left the party m their - new quarters, and returned to America; the idea being to send relays of provisions but each year to maintain them whilst continuing their active labours. In June of the year 1882, the first o^ these relifef ships sailed from Aniericay fyut unfortunately she did not succeed m reaching ; her destination,, the ice, stopping her at, Cape Sabine. The relief party were therefore compelled to simply establish depots of > stores, whereever they were able to do so on land, and return home again, In the following year a second attempt was made to Teach the expedition, but was again unsuccessful, one <&iW two vessels which composed it beihjj i crushed by ice, and sinking [ *w her crew only naraowly escaping, on j »*ii™. «i»; r . afonftwliiifttW 1 oand of explorers were lifing'fn their new Northern colony, anjfc numbered twenty-five all told, and- , thus passed nearly three/ years of their lives. But food beganv to run short, at last, and no further supplies were forthcoming, and the prospects were becoming gloomy. If seems to have been pre-arranged that m theevent of the vessels not succeeding m reaching them with su pplies the " party should, if provisions began to, fail, strike downwards by land, when, those depots before alluded to would JBe found. This course wasV adopted by Lieutenant GueeleyJ but although the party succeeded m reaching a situation much more accessible by relieving vessels, they ■ do not seem to have discovered the : stores left by the unsuccessful relief party of the previous year. Consequently it was only by means" of constant hunting and fishing that the poor fellows who survived, managed to keep alive, Whilst the grater portion of them succumbed to cold and hunger. It was m this condition that the third relief party ultimately found the survivors of the expedition. Records were found by search parties and these gave details of the locality m which Lieu- | tenant Greeley and his men were to be found. Had it not been for the able and methodical way m which everything seems to have been managed by those m command there is every reason to believe that not one would have reached their homes again alrve. However, through the directions being found va steam launch was at once ides-, patched to the relief, and at length the remains of Lieutenant Greelhy's band of 25 men, now reduced to seven was discovered. T ( he ; account we refer to does not state whether the whole objects of -the expedition were fully attained, but it is to be presumed that th*ey were. At any rate America can claim the honor of having beaten England m having been the farthest North, if honor it be. It seems, however, to /strike the ordinary run of mankind, that if all Arctic expeditions are to be attended with the loss of clever

and brave fellows, as most of those m the past have been, it would be wiser to allow America to retain the honor of having been nearest the North Pole, until some, safer means of conducting these expeditions can be discovered,