Abstract
THE American explorer Major-General A. W. Greely, who has just reached the age of ninety-one years, is reported by The Times to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour of the United States for heroism on his Arctic expedition of 1881-84. That expedition was the contribution of the United States to the International Polar Stations of 1882-83. Under Lieut. Greely's leadership, three officers and nineteen men were landed in Discovery Harbour in Grant Land (Ellesmere Island). The main objects were meteorological and magnetical observations, but Lieuts. Greely and Lockwood carried out extensive explorations in Grant and Grinnell Lands, and Lieut. Lockwood made the northern record to lat. 83° 24’ N. The relief ship was prevented by ice from reaching the camp in 1882 and again in 1883. Lieut. Greely then decided to retreat to the south with much depleted equipment and scanty stores. Near Cape Sabine in Smith Sound, they passed their third winter. Already scurvy had taken a heavy toll and the remaining men were scarcely able to hunt; fuel and food were practically exhausted when in June 1884 relief reached them in the Thetis. Only seven men were alive; not one could walk without assistance and at the time there seemed little likelihood of any living long enough to reach an American port. General Greely was awarded the Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1886 for the excellence of his Arctic work.
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Major-General A. W. Greely. Nature 135, 536 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135536b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135536b0