LIEUT. GREELY BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.
Lieuts. Greely and Ray were received with distinguished honors at the meeting of the British Association in Montreal. A complimentary luncheon was tendered him by the members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at the Windsor Hotel. General Sir Henry Lefroy presided. In response to the toast "Our Distinguished Guests," coupling the names of Lieuts. Greely and Ray and Mrs. Greely, Lieut. Greely said:
"Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: I need scarcely say that this flattering reception from representative men of one of England's most distinguished societies touches deeply my feelings as a soldier and as a man. It is not alone that you represent the science and learning of England and the world, but that you are all countrymen of those daring seamen and explorers whose names and whose deeds have become household words throughout the world. Hudson, Baffin, Cook, Nelson, Parry, Franklin, and a score of others among the dead; McClintock, Nares, and Markham, and last, but not least, the man whose name was oftenest on our lips when praying for relief during the past terrible winter—Bedford Pim. What those men have done the whole world knows. That you should deem aught that I have done worthy to placed with the deeds of those illustrious men must always be a source of pride to me. For three centuries England maintained against the world the honors of the farthest north. Step by step every advance was made by Englishmen. Now England's grandest colony presses to the front; but none the less is the honor England's, for at the price of her sons' lives and by their toil the path was cleared. But for Beaumont's dauntless pluck and indomitable energy in 1876, Lockwood would never had made his great northing in 1882. I have during a quarter of a century's service, as becomes a soldier, been jealous of my honor. I have striven to maintain it in the field, fighting and bleeding for my country, and at my desk studying and discussing scientific data; in the Arctic Circle, when pursuing scientific and geographical work, or later, when stranded by adverse fate, and starving and freezing upon the barren coast. This marked and public testimonial of your approval cannot fail to make me doubly jealous of it in days to come."
Lieut. Ray followed, returning thanks in his own behalf.
After other speeches Sir Henry Lefroy presented Lieutenant Greely with the following informal address:
"Montreal, Sept. 2, 1884.
"The undersigned, on behalf of many warm friends and admirers, and as representing various professional and scientific pursuits, desire to express to you their appreciation of the courage and devotion which has characterized your conduct during the trying circumstances of your late Arctic service. We trust that your health may soon be restored, and that you may long be spared to tender, as during your past distinguished career, those valuable and distinguished services to your great country which have already placed you among the foremost of scientific explorers of the age.
"Yours faithfully, Rayleigh, President."
In introducing Lieut. Greely, Sir Henry Lefroy, referring to the persistence of purpose shown by his party in bringing back the pendulum apparatus, remarked that there was nothing nobler in the annals of scientific heroism than the determination of these hungry men to drag the cumbersome box along their weary way.
It was fully two minutes after rising before Lieut. Greely could speak, so great was the outburst of enthusiasm which greeted him. He remarked that he was surprised to learn that the ground did not thaw lower at Lieut. Ray's station, which was ten degrees farther south than his own, where the ground thawed to a much greater depth—namely, twenty to thirty feet. In regard to an open polar sea, he differed from Lieut. Ray. He did not believe there was a navigable sea at the pole, but he was of the opinion that there was open water somewhere about.
The geographical work of the Lady Franklin Bay expedition covers nearly three degrees of latitude and over forty degrees of longitude. Starting from latitude 81 deg. 44 min. and longitude 84 deg. 45 min., Lieut. Lockwood reached, May 18, 1882, on the north coast of Greenland, latitude 83 deg. 24 min. and longitude 40 deg. 46 min. From the same starting point he reached to the southwest, in May, 1883, Greely Fiord, an inlet of the Western Polar Ocean, latitude 80 deg. 48 min. and longitude 78 deg. 26 min. This journey to the northward resulted in the addition to our charts of a new coast line of nearly 100 miles beyond the farthest point seen by Lieut. Beaumont, R.N. It also carried Greenland over 400 miles northward, giving that continent a much greater extension in that direction than it had generally been credited with.