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[Illustration: J. B. Lockwood U S A]




                            FARTHEST NORTH;


                                  OR,

 _THE LIFE AND EXPLORATIONS OF LIEUTENANT JAMES BOOTH LOCKWOOD, OF THE
                       GREELY ARCTIC EXPEDITION_.


                                   BY
                            CHARLES LANMAN.


                               NEW YORK:
                        D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
                        1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET.
                                 1885.


_When we think of the adventure of our times; when we recall the great
Arctic explorations that have called forth an endurance and daring which
have been unsurpassed in other days;... what is there that is more
romantic than they are in any history of any age?_

                                         _From a Thanksgiving Sermon by_
                                                   Rev. Phillips Brooks.


                            Copyright, 1885,
                      By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.




                                PREFACE.


It is believed that this book, with its true but none the less stirring
adventures, will be of much interest to the general public, as well as
gratifying to the many warm friends of Lieutenant Lockwood. It will
likewise correct any erroneous impressions which may have arisen from
the publication of garbled extracts from the official journals kept by
the different members of the Greely party and, by order of the War
Department, laid open to the public. By this order, Lockwood’s journal
and those of others became public property, and hence any reference to
them in advance of their official publication is allowable.

The few pages devoted to the early life can not be expected to
especially interest the general public, but will gratify Lieutenant
Lockwood’s friends. They are here produced to give them permanency, and
to show his sterling character.

No attempt is here made to give a history of the Expedition, and only so
much of Lockwood’s journal is produced as shows his connection
therewith. The voyage to Lady Franklin Bay is given more in detail, as
it presents a lively picture of an interesting people not much known,
and as it exhibits the buoyant spirits with which he entered upon the
work, before dissensions in camp had checked them, though without
marring his faithfulness and energy. The important part he had in the
enterprise, his zeal, energy, and loyalty to his chief and to the cause,
all are fully set forth, and will be more clearly seen when the more
elaborate history of the Expedition shall be published by Lieutenant
Greely, as will shortly be done.

Although the journal has been freely used, its language and style have
not been closely followed, except in those parts quoted which refer to
Lockwood’s sentiments and feelings. The deep pathos of these could be
expressed as well in no other words.

His journal is very full and complete on the perilous boat-voyage to
Cape Sabine, and in the heart-rending struggle for life in that
ever-memorable hut where he and so many others laid down their lives.
This has purposely been reduced to a few pages, giving the story only so
far as Lieutenant Lockwood was connected with it. The same, may be said
as to the home-life at the station on Lady Franklin Bay.

The portrait of Lieutenant Lockwood is from an excellent photograph
taken a short time before he started for St. John’s, and two of the
woodcuts are from photographs by Sergeant Rice. “Arctic Sledging” was
made up from a description and a sketch by Sergeant Brainard, and
“Farthest North” from a sketch by Lieutenant Lockwood.

The map is a reproduction of that published by the London Geographical
Society, which is an exact transcript of maps drawn by Lieutenant
Lockwood and submitted by him to Lieutenant Greely with reports of
sledge-journeys. This map gives the names agreed upon by Lieutenant
Greely and Lieutenant Lockwood, and are those referred to in the journal
and in this book. It is much to be regretted that many of these names
differ from those on the official map published by authority to the
world. The names first given commemorate events connected with those
wonderful sledge-journeys, as will be seen in the text; and, if a few
unimportant lakes and points were named after friends and relatives,
this might have been conceded to one who accomplished so much, and that
much so well. The map of the London Geographical Society will probably
live, and the other perish, as it should.

Captain Markham, Royal Navy, soon after the return of the Greely
Expedition, declared, in articles published in a leading English
magazine, that Lockwood never got beyond Cape Britannia, and that he
mistook Cape May for that cape, etc. It was thought that, when the
history of this sledge-journey was better known, Markham would be glad
to withdraw this ungenerous aspersion. This is done so far as to admit
that Lockwood did reach 83° 24′ north latitude, 44° 5′ west longitude;
but it is now said, in the article “Polar Regions,” of the new
Encyclopædia Britannica, written by the captain’s brother, that all this
region had previously been explored and exhaustively examined by the
English expedition of 1875-’76.

This is very remarkable, in view of the fact that Lockwood Island, which
was reached by Lockwood, is one hundred geographical miles east and
forty miles north of Cape Britannia which Beaumont saw at the distance
of twenty miles, but never reached.

In the same article are expressed sentiments in accord with those
contained in this book, viz.: “If the simple and necessary precaution
had been taken of stationing a depot-ship in a good harbor at the
entrance of Smith’s Sound, in annual communication with Greely on one
side and with America on the other, there would have been no disaster.
If precautions proved to be necessary by experience are taken, there is
no undue risk or danger in polar enterprises. There is no question as to
the value and importance of polar discovery, and as to the principles on
which expeditions should be sent out. Their objects are exploration for
scientific purposes and the encouragement of maritime enterprise.”




                               CONTENTS.


                                                                    PAGE
  I. Early Life                                                        7
  II. Army-Life in Arizona                                            20
  III. Army-Life in Nebraska                                          31
  IV. Army-Life in Kansas                                             43
  V. Army-Life in Indian Territory and Colorado                       52
  VI. Preparing for the Arctic Regions                                58
  VII. From Newfoundland to Lady Franklin Bay                         64
  VIII. House-building and Local Explorations                         87
  IX. Preliminary Sledge Expeditions and Life at the Station         111
  X. “The Arctic Moon”                                               132
  XI. Expedition to Lockwood Island                                  139
  XII. From Lockwood Island to Lady Franklin Bay                     178
  XIII. Waiting and Watching                                         194
  XIV. Resuming a Desperate Struggle                                 229
  XV. Across Grinnell Land                                           249
  XVI. Preparing for Home                                            279
  XVII. Homeward Bound                                               286
  XVIII. The Final Catastrophe                                       296
  XIX. The Woeful Return                                             317




                             ILLUSTRATIONS.


  Portrait of James B. Lockwood.
  Lockwood, Natives, and Kyack at Disco, Greenland.
  Sledging over the Arctic Floe.
  Taking Observations at Lockwood Island.
  Lockwood’s Corner.
  Map showing Lockwood’s Explorations.




                            FARTHEST NORTH.




                                   I.
                              EARLY LIFE.


In the following pages, it is proposed to record the personal history of
an American hero whose fortune it was, at the sacrifice of his life, to
visit and explore the utmost limit in the Arctic regions ever attained
by human skill and enterprise. Aside from the information communicated
to me by his family, the materials placed in my hands consist of his
private correspondence and various journals which he faithfully kept
while serving his country on the Western frontiers, as well as in the
inhospitable domain of the North. As the poet Fitz-Greene Halleck wrote
about a kindred character—

  “He lived, as mothers wish their sons to live,”

and, on the score of fidelity to duty,

  “He died, as fathers wish their sons to die,”

leaving a name that will long be honored in every civilized land as that
of a martyr in the cause of geographical exploration.

Many of those connected with the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland,
before the civil war, will remember a playful and mischievous boy, whose
ready smile and cheerful ways beguiled them in their hours of
relaxation. Others who were at that school after the war will remember
the same boy, grown into a youth of sixteen years, rugged in aspect,
devoted to manly sports, and assiduous in all his duties. It is the
story of his brief but eventful life to which this volume is devoted,
written for the information of his friends and all those who admire true
heroism and rare abilities when allied to sufferings for the public
weal.

James Booth Lockwood was the second son and third child of General Henry
H. Lockwood and Anna Booth Lockwood. He was born at the Naval Academy,
Annapolis, on the 9th of October, 1852, at which time and place his
father—a Professor of Mathematics in the Navy—instructed the midshipmen
in the military branches, as he had done for many years before. Both his
parents were from the State of Delaware, and came from the best stock of
that State; and, as his father taught his students “how to shoot,” and
prepare themselves for the conflicts of life, it was quite natural that
the son should have acquired a love of noble deeds and adventure.

Like many boys, he had his narrow escapes from death, one of which
occurred in April, 1860, when, having fallen into the river from the
dock, he was rescued in an insensible condition, and restored to life
with great difficulty. This escape must have been recalled by him with
special emotion in after-years amid his struggles with the ice of
Smith’s Sound.

His innate love of fun had been one of his characteristics from
childhood, nor was it subdued even when recovering from the accident
which nearly cost him his life; for, while lying in his bed, he peered
into his father’s face with a quizzical smile, and remarked, “I was
drowned, but not drowned dead.”

When the Naval Academy was occupied by a general of the army, in 1861,
and the students and professors were transferred to Newport, Rhode
Island, young Lockwood accompanied his father and family, and was placed
at a public school in that place. After a brief residence in Newport,
his father, being a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point, was
called upon to command a volunteer regiment of Delaware troops, and
having been subsequently commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers,
he was placed in charge of the Eastern Shore counties of Virginia and
returned to the region of hostilities, making his headquarters at
Drummondtown, in Accomac County. In this quaint and quiet place, and
while a mere stripling of ten years, young Lockwood displayed his love
of adventure and active life by forming a company of all the <DW52>
boys in the village, erecting earthworks in a vacant lot, and, all armed
with corn-stalks and broom-handles, meeting a company of white boys in
mimic war—noisy, if not dangerous to life or limb. The vanity of
personal strife, however, soon becoming irksome to his mind, he turned
his attention to horsemanship, and explored the surrounding shores of
Accomac on a Chincoteague pony belonging to his father. He also spent