To the northward from Littleton Island the sea was entirely free from ice, and Greely decided not to touch at Cape Sabine, but to shape a course for Cape Hawks. The dépôt left here by the English was visited, and, with the exception of a portion of the bread, was found to be in good condition. As Greely was short of boats, he took on with him the English jolly-boat.
The cairn on Washington Irving Island was searched, and the record of Nares was taken, and a copy left with a new record giving a brief account of the expedition to date. Near Cape Frazer the first palæocrystic floeberg was seen. A cache of 200 lb. of meat and 280 lb. of bread was left at Carl Ritter Bay. Greely points out that the indentation here is so slight, and the curve so great, that it is a bight rather than a bay. The south-eastern part of Lady Franklin Bay was reached on the 4th August, but here a heavy pack was met, and it was not until the 11th that the Proteus entered Discovery Harbour.
On entering the harbour, eleven musk-oxen were seen. They were immediately followed, and all were shot. It was found that the Proteus could not safely approach Watercourse Bay, and Greely therefore decided to make his station on the shore of Discovery Harbour, near the quarters of the English Expedition.
The site for a house was soon chosen, and the unloading of the vessel was proceeded with. The station was named “Conger,” after Senator Conger, who had interested himself specially in behalf of the expedition. In addition to the general supplies, 130 tons of coal were landed.
Greely records that, on the 25th August, Lieutenant Kislingbury, the second in command, spent the day on the Proteus, and next day, dissatisfied with the expeditionary regulations, requested that he be relieved from duty with the expedition. His request was granted, and he was ordered to report himself to the Chief Signal Officer on his return to the States. However, just as Lieutenant Kislingbury was leaving the station, the Proteus got under way, and he was obliged to go back to Conger. He did not afterwards return to duty as an officer. Greely gives no explanation of the matter, but Lockwood in his diary states that one of the annoyances complained of by Kislingbury was the rule that officers should rise in the morning with the men.
A wooden house was constructed, 60 by 17 feet. Its walls were double, the two coverings of ½-inch boards being separated by an air-space of about a foot. The roof was only a single board thick, but was covered (like the sides) with tar-paper. The house had also a ceiling, and the space between this and the roof afforded an excellent storage-place for articles which would have been injured by exposure. The interior of the house was divided into three rooms, one 17 by 15 feet for the officers, another 8 by 17 feet served partly as the cook’s kitchen and partly as an entry, and the third room was used by the men. The house was conveniently and pleasantly situated within 30 yards of the water’s edge, on a small tableland between two brooks, which for a few months in the year ran into the sea. The coal-mine was 4 miles distant, and could be reached through a valley to the eastward.
The house had not been quite finished when field-work commenced. Greely expresses the view that autumn sledging should be carefully planned, attempted with great caution, and never pushed to great distances. He states that in autumn temperatures the travelling-gear of a man once wet, the chances of dangerous frost-bites and disaster increase.
On 30th August Dr. Pavy and Sergeant Rice, the photographer of the expedition, were sent north as far as practicable towards Cape Joseph Henry. They were to examine the condition of the English dépôt at Lincoln Bay, and report on the practicability of autumn and spring travelling by sledge along the Grinnell Land coast. They travelled with packs, carrying a dog-tent, blankets, and provisions to last them as far as the English dépôt, where their supplies could be renewed.
The dépôt at Lincoln Bay was missed in going north, and the party pushed on to Cape Union before returning south. Here a channel of open water, 2 miles wide, was seen to stretch as far northward as the eye could reach. In returning, the dépôt at Lincoln Bay was discovered, and was found to be in bad order. Greely recommends that water-tight cases of very light tin should be used in protecting stores thus cached.
Sergeant Rice, who had broken through the young ice on his way north, was attacked on the way south by acute rheumatism. In spite of the severe pain, he made a determined attempt to walk to the station, but was ultimately forced to yield. The doctor made him as comfortable as possible in the tent, and proceeded to Conger for assistance. A party of men with a sledge and improvised stretcher was immediately dispatched, and after considerable difficulty Rice was conveyed to the station. He rapidly recovered, and ten days later was again in the field.