The disaster can be traced in the first place to the instructions given to Greely to abandon the station and retreat to the south in the event of no relief ship reaching him. It would have been much better to have left this question to Greely’s discretion. If the party had remained at Conger another winter, it is highly probable that no disaster would have occurred.
In the second place, the chief responsibility undoubtedly lay with those who had charge of the relief. A ship was sent north in 1882, and failed in its mission; but instead of leaving its stores, or even part of its stores, at some point likely to be reached by Greely, those in command took the incredible course of returning south with the stores intact.
In 1883 those in authority must have known that absolutely nothing had been done in 1882, and that in the event of a failure to reach Conger taking place in 1883, Greely would certainly retreat southwards. One would therefore have expected that all possible precautions would be taken to insure the safety of the expedition. The possible wreck of one of the relief ships should have been arranged for, and steps taken to insure that sufficient supplies would not only be left at Littleton Island, but at some point on the west coast.
Serious responsibility was incurred by Lieutenant Garlington when he made the written statement that everything in the power of man would be done to relieve the expedition. All through the horrors of the winter nearly the whole of Greely’s party believed to the last that a relieving party was at Littleton Island watching the first favourable opportunity to cross the Sound.
The whole arrangements for the relief ended in a gigantic muddle, and while nothing was done to lend assistance, Greely’s party were induced by fair promises to camp in a practically barren region.
This expedition, and others which had preceded it, gave little encouragement to Americans to continue Arctic exploration, although the results achieved had been important. Kane lost the Advance; his party had to undergo great privations, and had ultimately to retreat in boats. The Polaris was lost, and many of the members of the expedition had to suffer greatly. De Long lost the Jeannette, and a large number of his party met a terrible fate; and now Greely’s expedition was the climax of them all.
MAP OF FRANZ JOSEF LAND