The Long Rescue: The Story of the Tragic Greely Expedition

The Long Rescue, first published in 1960, is the dramatic story of the ill-fated Greely Expedition launched in 1879 as a scientific study the Arctic region. Of the original complement of 25 men, only 6 would survive to reach the U.S. following their rescue in June 1884. Included are 18 pages of maps and photographs.

From the dust jacket: "We'll leave at two P.M.," Lieutenant Greely announced. It was 10 a.m., August 9, 1883. The commander of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition had concluded he could not wait another day in hope of the relief ship's reaching his little band of men in the Far North. Summer was passing. New ice might close the harbor and trap them. They had to leave and leave quickly.

This was the beginning of the retreat of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition-twenty-five men under the command of Lieutenant Adolphus A. Greely, who had been sent by the United States in 1879 to study the Arctic phenomena. From a scientific standpoint, their expedition had been successful, but before their mission was over, disaster was to strike again and again.

The Long Rescue tells the terrible, suspenseful drama of the heroic attempt of Greely and his men to escape from the treacherous North. Fighting not only against the unpredictable forces of the Arctic, where a sudden shift in wind could take them miles off their course or move a gigantic ice floe in their path, but against time-for Greely knew that a few hours' delay could destroy any chance of reaching the relief ship-the expedition had to meet and conquer elements of nature unknown to most men. But the sinister Arctic was to strike a deathblow to their hopes of reaching the rescue ship on time, and they were to find themselves a prisoner of the North for a third long winter.

The story of the desperate fight for survival of the Greely expedition is an adventure story of almost unbearable dramatic suspense. It is also an epic of the courage and leadership of the men responsible for this heroic task-many of whom gave their lives for the winning of the Farthest North.