Greely Arctic Expedition | No Relief | 2

In the late summer of 1882, it became clear to Lieutenant Adolphus Greely and his men that the ship scheduled to bring them additional supplies was not going to arrive before the seas froze and became impenetrable. As winter approached, the men hunkered down in their shelter, but tensions grew between them as they endured months of darkness. They held out hope for another ship in the summer of 1883, but little did they know that disaster had struck the crew that was sent to aid them. When the ship didn’t arrive by August, Greely faced a difficult decision to try to keep his men alive. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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• 0:00Lindsay Graham?

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• 0:17Lindsay Graham?

  Imagine it's fall 1882 at Fort Conger on Elsmere Island, over 1,000 miles north of the Arctic Circle. You're sitting in the officer's quarters of the longhouse that serves as a shelter for you and the 24 men you command on this expedition. But none of them are on your mind right now. You're writing a letter to your wife. You know she won't get it for almost a year, till after a relief ship, scheduled for next summer, arrives and picks it up. But that doesn't prevent you from writing to her almost daily. You explain how difficult the last few weeks have been. The sun is barely cracking the horizon these days, and soon you'll be plunged into your second polar night. For the next five months, you and your men will endure 24-hour darkness. But you're interrupted

• 1:02Lindsay Graham?

  from your correspondence by a loud voice coming from the longhouse's common area. Oh, what fool decided this is all we would need? Completely inadequate. You grimace. It's the voice of Dr. Octave Pauvy, the expedition's lead scientist and only medical doctor. You drop your pen and march into the other room. Dr. Pauvy, you know very well that I decided what we brought on this expedition. Is there a problem? Yes, I'm missing several essential medications. For starters, cod liver oil and digitalis. And any others? Well, no, not off the top of my head, but I need to finish taking stock. Well, why don't you do that? And in the meantime, may I remind you that while I was taking great pains to outfit

• 1:44Lindsay Graham?

  this expedition with very little time or money, you were somewhere off in the wilds of Greenland doing what exactly? I was becoming an expert on living in the Arctic, something no other man on this mission can claim, not even you. Over the last year, Pauvy has made it abundantly clear to you that he thinks he should be leading this expedition, and you're growing tired of his insolence. Dr. Pauvy, I advise you to watch your tone and respect the chain of command. Like it or not, I am still in charge and expect discipline from all my men. Well, yes, sir. And on that note, as the expedition's doctor, I request you submit your full plans for the spring to me in writing, so that I can ensure our men are physically up to the exploration you're planning. Oh, is that really necessary?

• 2:27Lindsay Graham?

  The men are well-fed, well-housed, and scurvy-free. I see no reason why they wouldn't be healthy enough to resume exploration. With respect to the chain of command, sir, as the expedition doctor, that is my assessment to make. You clench your jaw before you say something you might regret. You suspect Pauvy's sour attitude is partly a result of the lingering resentment he holds that he wasn't part of the team that broke the record to reach the northernmost point in the Arctic. But you acknowledge he needs to keep an eye on the men's overall fitness, and it's his right, as the expedition's doctor, to request the information. Very well. I'll get that to you shortly.

• 3:06Lindsay Graham?

  You turn to head back to the officer's quarters, stewing. You know Dr. Pauvy would like nothing more than to provoke you into lashing out, undermining your authority. But you refuse to give in to his petulance. With another long, polar night looming, your very survival may depend on maintaining order.

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• 4:23Lindsay Graham?

  From Audible Originals, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story.

• 4:44Lindsay Graham?

  In the summer of 1881, Army Lieutenant Adolphus Greeley led a team of 24 men on an expedition to the northeast coast of Elsmere Island, just 500 miles below the North Pole. This expedition planned to spend at least two years gathering scientific data at the top of the world, with relief ships scheduled to bring additional supplies every summer. But in 1882, the first relief ship never arrived. Unbeknownst to Greeley and his men, the ship had been forced to turn back after encountering thick and impassable sea ice. This left the expedition facing another long, dark winter with no additional supplies. And after more than a year of isolation, tensions were brewing, and Greeley knew the

• 5:26Lindsay Graham?

  hardest decision of his command lay ahead. This is episode two of our three-part series on the Greeley Arctic Expedition: No Relief.

• 5:38Lindsay Graham?

  In late 1882, Lieutenant Adolphus Greeley and his crew hunkered down in the cramped quarters of their wooden longhouse at Fort Conger, preparing to endure their second polar night. No previous expedition had spent two winters this far north. But despite the darkness, they still had work to do. They continued to compile an impressive record of scientific data, taking daily readings of air temperature and pressure, humidity, and the speed and direction of the wind from observation huts near their longhouse. And Greeley had devised various forms of entertainment to occupy the men's minds during the dark polar night, which helped to ease the monotony. But now, as the second winter dragged on, the men began to find academic lectures, music, and games less distracting.

• 6:23Lindsay Graham?

  And Greeley's library of books on the Arctic felt suffocating rather than entertaining. So as they counted the days until the return of the sun, cooped up together in their longhouse, tensions brewed, especially between Greeley and Dr. Octave Pauvy. After months of muttering under his breath, the doctor began to openly question Greeley's ability to lead. And he wasn't alone. Pauvy had found an ally in Lieutenant Frederick Kizlingberry. He had originally been Greeley's second-in-command, but had officially resigned his post after an argument with Greeley the previous summer. Kizlingberry had narrowly missed catching a ride home on the expedition's transport ship and was now stuck in a kind of limbo.

• 7:04Lindsay Graham?

  Although he remained with the expedition, Greeley had not restored his command. So for over a year, he'd been relegated to the status of guest, unable to issue orders to any of the enlisted men. Unsurprisingly, Kizlingberry sensed that Greeley resented his presence and considered him a burden to the expedition. So despite their close quarters, these two men barely spoke. Instead, Kizlingberry spent most of his time with the enlisted men, playing card games. But after learning they were gambling for money, Greeley ordered the men to stop. Feeling isolated from the rest of the crew, Kizlingberry gravitated toward Pauvy, the other outcast. These two men spent hours holed up together, whispering

• 7:45Lindsay Graham?

  complaints about Greeley and predicting a bad end to the mission. One of Pauvy's main concerns, which he voiced to both Kizlingberry and Greeley, was that if a relief ship failed to appear again the following summer, the expedition might be forced to retreat south in their own, smaller boats, and that no one at Fort Conger had any sailing experience. Greeley admitted that this was a flaw in the expedition's plan, but resented Pauvy for constantly pointing it out. Back in the United States, Greeley's wife Henrietta had grown deeply concerned about the fate of her husband. She blamed the Secretary of War, Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's son, whose department the expedition was under for having dragged his feet authorizing

• 8:26Lindsay Graham?

  the 1882 relief mission. His reluctance had delayed the departure of the relief ship, and it had ultimately been unable to navigate through the thick ice floes already clogging the route north. Now Henrietta feared that another delayed relief mission might spell disaster for her husband and his men. So she reached out to another family with ties to the expedition, begging them to help her pressure Secretary Lincoln to take more urgent action.

• 8:55Lindsay Graham?

  Imagine it's late 1882 in Washington DC. You're sitting in the living room of your townhouse, reading and rereading a letter that arrived today. It's brought up a host of emotions you've been trying to suppress. Worries about your son James, an Army Lieutenant currently on expedition in the Arctic. You hear the front door open. At last, your husband Henry is home, so you call out to him. You've been wanting to talk to him all day. "Oh, welcome home, dear." Henry walks in, standing tall, shoulders back. He's a general in the Army and always has perfect posture. "Hello, darling. How was your day?" You give him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "I received a letter from Henrietta Greeley." "Ah, and how is Miss Greeley doing?" "Well, she's written to express her sympathy.

• 9:39Lindsay Graham?

  She says having no word from our son must be even harder than not hearing from her husband." "Well, that's kind of her. I hope you'll write her back and tell her we're holding up." "Well, she also asked for your help in pressing our case to Secretary Lincoln personally." "Ah, I thought she might. She's written to me as well, you know, asking the same thing." You move in closer, placing your hand on Henry's forearm. "Well, why don't you? Your word might carry some weight." Henry shakes his head. "The relief mission remains under the auspices of General Hazen of the Signal Corps. It would be improper for me to interfere. Besides, they planned for this very scenario. They should still have plenty of supplies, enough to last another two years at least, so I'm sure they're fine." "But what if they're not?

• 10:22Lindsay Graham?

  Perhaps you could approach Mr. Lincoln in a way that wouldn't seem as though you were interfering. Maybe if you offered to help with planning or the logistics, General Hazen would appreciate the support, right?" "I don't know. We respect each other's jurisdiction in the Army." "But Henry, our son is up there in that frigid, godless land. Isn't making sure he gets home alive worth a little professional discomfort?" Henry is quiet for a moment, his eyebrows knitted in concentration. Finally, he nods. "Yeah, I'll see what I can do for James." You hug and thank him, but you're still worried. You hate that your son is so far away, cut off from the world. But knowing you've done all you can to see that the proper steps are taken to bring

• 11:05Lindsay Graham?

  him home alive gives you some relief, and you're confident your dear friend Henrietta Greeley will feel the same when you write to her with the news. In March 1883, Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln signed an order authorizing a second relief ship to begin making its way to Elsmere Island. He acted partly in response to pressure from General Henry Lockwood, whose son James was a lieutenant on the expedition. The first relief mission had been led by an inexperienced Army clerk, so this time, Lieutenant Ernest Garlington, a West Point graduate, would lead the operation. He and his men would travel aboard the Proteus, the same ship that had successfully transported Greeley and his team to Elsmere Island in 1881.

• 11:49Lindsay Graham?

  The US Navy had also agreed to provide a second ship, called the Yantik, to accompany the Proteus. It would carry extra supplies and stay close by if the Proteus ran into any trouble. But in a change of plans, the mission was not intended to resupply the men. Instead, it would bring Greeley and his men home. Secretary Lincoln had no interest in maintaining an American presence in the Arctic, so if the Proteus managed to reach Fort Conger that summer, the expedition would end. Garlington, the expedition commander, aimed to depart from St. John's, Newfoundland no later than mid-June, when the sea ice had broken up enough for the Proteus and the Yantik to get through. In the meantime, thousands of miles to the north, the sun had finally reappeared at Fort Conger.

• 12:33Lindsay Graham?

  The men had survived their second polar night despite the tensions among the crew. And as winter turned to spring, Greeley had plenty more he wanted to accomplish. His top priority now was for his team to attempt to beat its own record for reaching the furthest northern latitude, which they had set the year before. So in late March 1883, Lieutenant James Lockwood, Sergeant David Brainerd, and Greenlandic Inuit sled driver Thorleb Christiansen headed out, traveling over land and ice by dog sled. They were the same team who had broken the record for farthest north the previous year. And at first, it seemed certain that they would succeed again. They reached the base of the Blackhorn Cliffs, 100 miles north of Fort Conger, in only six days. The year before, it had taken 22.

• 13:18Lindsay Graham?

  But past the cliffs, the sea ice soon grew treacherously thin. On one occasion, the dogs pulling their sled broke through the ice and only narrowly escaped drowning. So Lockwood and Brainerd climbed a large glacier to the west of the cliffs to get the lay of the land. They saw open water all around, meaning there was no way they could continue with just their sleds. Their attempt at a new record was over. For his part, Greeley was surprised and disappointed when the men returned after only two weeks. But Lieutenant Lockwood wasn't prepared to give up on exploring completely. Instead of trying to push even further north, he had another idea. He and his team should go west. Because despite its name, no one actually knew whether Elsmere Island was in fact an

• 14:03Lindsay Graham?

  island. It was merely an assumption. So to find out just how far the landmass stretched, Lockwood and his team would journey west and see if they could reach the Arctic Ocean. Greeley agreed to this plan, and in late April 1883, the three men set out with their new objective. For several weeks, they traveled around 40 miles per day, crossing over mountains and glaciers, through valleys and past lakes. Then, in mid-May 1883, they reached a massive body of water they had earlier spotted from a nearby mountain. While Lockwood made sketches and Christiansen took care of the dogs, Brainerd studied its movements. When he knelt down and tasted the water, it was salty, confirming they'd reached the ocean.

• 14:46Lindsay Graham?

  So they had successfully found solid evidence that Elsmere Island was indeed an island. They'd also traveled further west on Elsmere Island than anyone else before them, meaning they'd secured another record. Later calculations would show that the men had traveled one-eighth of the Earth's circumference at that parallel solely by foot and sled. But while they celebrated their latest feat, Greeley was having trouble back at Fort Conger. His relationship with Dr. Octave Pauvi had continued to deteriorate. While Lockwood's team was away, Greeley discovered that Pauvi's scientific records were a mess. As the lead scientist on the mission, Pauvi was supposed to be cataloging the various plant and animal specimens the team had collected. As it turned out, he'd been doing no such thing. He had no system.

• 15:31Lindsay Graham?

  Plant specimens were mixed in with animals with no notes as to where or when the artifacts had been found. Everything was in disarray. Greeley reprimanded Pauvi for failing in his scientific duties. Infuriated, Pauvi announced that he would not be renewing his contract with the expedition when it expired later in the summer. In response, Greeley ordered Pauvi to hand over all his written notes, including his diary. Pauvi refused. But after months of squabbles, at this, Greeley finally lost his patience. He threatened to arrest Pauvi and have him confined to one of the outbuildings that stored supplies. But Greeley soon realized it would be foolish to lock up the team's only doctor. So for the time being, he allowed Pauvi to remain free, but promised he would be turning

• 16:16Lindsay Graham?

  him over for court martial upon their return. So the promised relief ship couldn't come soon enough for Greeley. He thought that he could at least send Kislingsberry back, removing one of Pauvi's allies and greatly improving the unity of the team. But Greeley grew increasingly anxious that this year's ship might also fail to arrive. He wasn't the only one. As the days passed, Greeley's wife Henrietta and the family of other crew members like James Lockwood's parents watched the calendar nervously. They knew every day mattered when it came to making it to their loved ones. The head of the Signal Corps, General William Hazen, assured them that he was confident everything would go right this time. The two relief ships were already on their way and should have plenty of time to reach

• 16:59Lindsay Graham?

  Fort Conger and bring the men home before summer's end. But despite Hazen's optimism, the second relief mission would soon be facing its own treacherous obstacles.

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• 17:59Speaker 03

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• 18:14Lindsay Graham?

  By 1779, Benedict Arnold had sacrificed more for the Revolution than almost any other man in America. One of George Washington's most effective commanders, he had nearly lost a leg in the Second Battle of Saratoga. But in return, Arnold believed he had been humiliated by Congress and cheated of his glory by lesser men, so he decided to make them pay. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of the podcast American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history: presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our latest series, Benedict Arnold turns his back on his comrades in the Continental Army and secretly defects to the British. With the help of his wife, he plots to hand over the most important colonial fortress

• 18:58Lindsay Graham?

  to the enemy and doom the Revolution he once served. Follow American Scandal wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of American Scandal early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.

• 19:21Lindsay Graham?

  On June 29, 1883, the Proteus and the Yantik embarked from St. John's, Newfoundland, to retrieve the men of the Greeley expedition. Their departure had been delayed nearly two weeks by necessary repairs and fog, but the men aboard both vessels were hopeful that their missions would succeed. After the failure of the previous year's relief mission, this year's plan was more elaborate, with several contingencies in case challenges arose. According to their orders, the Yantik would travel with the Proteus to Littleton Island on the coast of Greenland, approximately 200 miles south of Fort Conger. But because the Yantik was not outfitted to cut through the thick ice they would encounter on the rest of the way, from there, the Proteus would continue on to Fort Conger alone.

• 20:05Lindsay Graham?

  The man in charge of this mission was 30-year-old Army Lieutenant Ernest Garland. He had no experience on the open ocean, but he was a respected veteran of the Indian Wars, where he had impressed his superiors with his bravery and dedication. Garland knew there was a chance the sea ice would be too thick even for the Proteus to make it all the way to Fort Conger. If that was the case, his orders were to leave caches of supplies at predetermined locations along the southern coast of Elsmer Island. Then, the Proteus was to retreat back across the channel to Littleton Island in Greenland and build a longhouse using pre-cut timber stocked onboard the ship for that purpose. Garland also knew that according to the expedition's contingency plans, if a ship

• 20:47Lindsay Graham?

  hadn't arrived at Fort Conger by September 1, 1883, Greeley and his men had orders to retreat south and attempt to rendezvous with the relief team on Littleton Island. There, Greeley and his men, along with Garland and the captain and crew of the Proteus, would take shelter for the winter in the newly constructed longhouse. When the ice melted and the seas opened up in the spring, then they would return home. But almost as soon as the Proteus and the Yantik set sail from Newfoundland, things began to go awry. Within only three hours of leaving St. John's on June 29, the two boats became separated. The Proteus reached Godhoun, Greenland on July 6, but the Yantik didn't limp in until

• 21:29Lindsay Graham?

  six days later in the midst of a storm, needing repairs that would take at least a week to complete. Garland felt that he couldn't afford to wait, so on July 16, the Proteus left Godhoun on its own, leaving the Yantik to follow when they could. But just like the Neptune had the year before, the crew of the Proteus soon found the sea clogged with ice. For five days, they made slow progress, until finally, on July 21, the water seemed to be opening up. A day later, the Proteus arrived at Cape Sabine, where the previous year's relief mission had deposited their supplies. Garland and a small crew went ashore to inspect that cache and deemed it to be in good condition.

• 22:11Lindsay Graham?

  He also discovered another cache of supplies left over from a British expedition a decade earlier. Then, from a high point on the Cape, Garland scanned the water with his spyglass. To his excitement, he spotted an opening in the ice, so he ordered the crew back to the ship and rushed below decks to find Captain Pike. Imagine it's July 22, 1883. You're the captain of a relief ship anchored off Cape Sabine on the southern tip of Elsmer Island. For the past six days, you've been sailing through the icy waters of the North Atlantic, and it's taken all your concentration to maneuver your ship through the narrow openings in the ice. You're exhausted and taking advantage of the break while supplies are being offloaded

• 22:55Lindsay Graham?

  to catch up on some sleep. But you're startled awake by loud knocking on your door. Ah, who's there? It's Lieutenant Garland. We need to leave right now. You get up and rush to the door. What's wrong? I spotted an open lane north through the ice. We need to leave before it closes up. Are you sure it's a true lead and not just a shifting of the tide? No, it was definitely a lead. Even so, in my experience, it would be better to wait a few days to see if these large flows would clear out. If they do, the journey will be easier and much safer. Well, I respect your experience, Captain, but my orders are to reach Fort Conger as quickly as possible. If there is an opening to get there now, then we need to take advantage of it. You won't get there any faster if our hull gets cracked by an iceberg or we get

• 23:40Lindsay Graham?

  trapped in the ice. I've spent a lot of time in these waters. My advice is that we wait. Did you and your crew finish unloading the supplies? No, as soon as I saw the lead, I rushed back here. Again, I have to stress, though, that getting to Fort Conger is meant to be our top priority. Establishing additional caches of provision is the backup plan. I understand that, but we're already here. We should at least unload the remaining rations before we leave. Captain, with all due respect, I am the leader of this expedition, and if you do not raise anchor and get this ship moving, then you will be violating your duty to the government of the United States, not to mention the men at Fort Conger. You bite your lip. It galls you that this landlubber, an Army man, not even in the Navy, is pulling rank

• 24:25Lindsay Graham?

  on you, but he is the expedition commander. So you curtly nod your head and make your way up the decks, telling your crew to prepare to raise anchor. At 8:00 PM on July 22, 1882, Captain Richard Pike ordered the crew of the Proteus to move full steam ahead. As they made their way into the Smith Sound, a narrow channel between southern Elsmer Island and Greenland, they dodged large icebergs and were tossed about by turbulent currents. Just as Captain Pike suspected, the open lane Garland had seen turned out to be merely a shifting of the tides, not an actual path through the treacherous sea ice.

• 25:05Lindsay Graham?

  So as the Proteus inched its way along, they were surrounded by enormous ice floes. These massive pieces of ice crashed into each other with loud shrieks and groans that the sailors referred to as the Devil's Symphony. This was Arctic sailing at its most difficult. And making matters worse, Captain Pike was sailing with an inexperienced crew. Because he had been contracted by the government for this mission late in the season, the best men were already committed to other ships. Pike had to make do with a first-time chief engineer and his own 21-year-old son, serving as first mate, on his first trip to the Arctic. So nervously, Pike steered the ship toward Cape Albert, roughly 25 miles to the north.

• 25:49Lindsay Graham?

  But through the night, the already dense ice pack began to converge. Large ice floes drifting south filled in the sound. Pike's son was up in the crow's nest, scouting for leads. Finally, he saw one between two large ice floes. Pike ordered the Proteus forward. And throughout the night, he used the solid iron bow of the Proteus to break through the ice. By the early morning of July 23, they had almost reached the entrance of the open sea lane. It was within sight, only 400 yards away, but there was still an endless stream of ice, closing in around them from every direction and threatening to trap them. So finally, Captain Pike ordered the Proteus to retreat and head back south, but it was already too late.

• 26:32Lindsay Graham?

  By the early afternoon, still 200 miles from Fort Conger, the ship became stuck. The drifting ice crushed the vessel from all sides. Flows seven feet tall pushed up against the rails of the ship. The wood of the hull creaked and moaned, and the men stumbled as the decks heaved under the pressure. It was every Arctic captain's worst nightmare, so Pike ordered everyone into action. They needed to prepare for the ship to sink. Garland and his men raced to bring all the supplies earmarked for Greeley up to the decks. Pike's men worked to free the whaleboats, 30-foot boats used to carry supplies to and from shore. Now, they would become the men's only escape vessels. But then suddenly, there was another jolt.

• 27:15Lindsay Graham?

  Below decks, Garland stumbled forward. A man yelled from above that ice had pierced the hull on the starboard side and water was rushing into the hold. Once the hull was pierced, the ship had little defense against the ice. The planking of the upper decks buckled under the pressure, and Pike yelled for the crew to abandon ship. Panic spread among the inexperienced men. They threw as many supplies as they could off the ship and onto the ice floes, chucking whatever they could get their hands on: boxes of food, bags of clothes, crates of gear. And as the boxes and crates landed on the ice, some shattered on impact, while others slid into the water. The men even tossed a team of sled dogs off the ship, many of whom were injured after landing on the ice.

• 28:00Lindsay Graham?

  Most of those who survived ran away, disappearing into the distance. By early evening, four hours after the ice first pierced the hull of the Proteus, all the men were off the ship, perched on various ice floes around the vessel. Gear was strewn everywhere, but thankfully, they had managed to save two whaleboats and three lifeboats. There was enough space to hold all 37 men who had been aboard the ship. But they had also lost tons of food and supplies, and they were now stranded on the ice. They would have to either drag the boats farther south in search of open water, or wait and hope that a new lane would open up between the floes. The crew watched stone-faced as the Proteus slipped into the water.

• 28:43Lindsay Graham?

  One member of Garland's team from the Signal Corps took out his camera and snapped photos as the ship succumbed to the sea. As Captain Pike watched, he felt like he'd lost a friend. He'd captained the Proteus for nine years, and it was a good, reliable vessel. He knew its strengths and its peculiarities like the back of his hand. Now, it was gone. And Garland was dismayed. While the crew had saved as much as they could, almost all of the supplies meant for Greeley's men were lost, along with the lumber they brought to build a winter shelter and the coal that was supposed to keep them warm. So as the men watched the last of the ships slip into the ocean, they knew their mission had failed. They would not be making it to Fort Conger to rescue Greeley and his men.

• 29:26Lindsay Graham?

  And now, they too would be lucky to make it home alive.

• 29:29Speaker 04

  Hi, I'm Kenya Barris.

• 29:36Speaker 05

  And I'm Malcolm Gladwell. We're back for season two of our Audible original podcast, The Unusual Suspects.

• 29:42Speaker 04

  We'll sit down with extraordinary guests from the worlds of art, film, literature, comedy, and wellness to hear from their unexpected stories of success.

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  And who do we have this season? Well, we'll talk with Grammy-winning artist Anderson Paak, athlete Rich Roll, portrait artist Amy Sherald, Oscar-winning director Ron Howard, legendary writer David Sedaris, and many more. These conversations are more intimate than last season, wouldn't you say?

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  I would. Listen to season one of The Unusual Suspects wherever you get your podcasts, and sign up for a free trial Audible to listen to season two in the Audible app or by subscribing to Apple Podcasts.

• 30:22Speaker 04

  Hi, I'm Kenya Barris.

• 30:23Speaker 05

  And I'm Malcolm Gladwell. We're back for season two of our Audible Original podcast, The Unusual Suspects.

• 30:29Speaker 04

  We're bringing you fresh, new conversations from guests like Anderson Paak, David Zedars, Ryan Howard, Rich Roll, Amy Sheldon, and many more.

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  Sign up for a free trial to Audible to listen to season two in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.

• 30:49Lindsay Graham?

  On the evening of July 23rd, 1883, Lieutenant Ernest Garland, Captain Richard Pike, and their 35-man crew sat wide-eyed, stranded on ice floes off the southeastern coast of Ellesmere Island. They had just watched their ship, the Proteus, sink into the ocean. They were dazed and exhausted from their efforts to save as many supplies as possible as they abandoned ship, but they couldn't rest yet. They needed to get off the ice floes and onto land. So they loaded as many of their belongings as possible into the five boats they had rescued from the Proteus and dragged them to open water. They'd managed to save 40 days' worth of rations, but there were crates of supplies they had to leave behind, unable to fit them into the boats.

• 31:34Lindsay Graham?

  So with everyone rowing and sleet pelting down on them, they made their way back south to Cape Sabine. The boats, weighed down with supplies and men, were difficult to maneuver. But finally, they reached dry land where many of them collapsed. Several didn't even bother getting into a sleeping bag. They were so exhausted, they slept in nothing but their clothes. The next day, Garland and Pike held a meeting. They decided their best course of action was to head south and hope to meet up with the Yantik, the support ship they had last seen in Godhoun, Greenland, three weeks earlier. If the Yantik was following the plan, it would still be heading north as far as Littleton Island. So on July 25th, 1883, as rain and sleet continued to pour down on them,

• 32:19Lindsay Graham?

  the men of the Proteus loaded into their small boats and headed out into the icy water once again. Before they left, Garland left a small cache of supplies for Adolphus Greeley, along with a long letter explaining what had happened. 250 miles to the north, Greeley and his men continued to keep an anxious watch for the relief ship. Every day, at least one of the men climbed the bluffs and outcroppings around Fort Conger, scanning Lady Franklin Bay for any sign of the ship. Sergeant David Brainard was especially obsessive, sometimes hiking miles to get a better view. But no sign of the ship emerged. There was a backup plan. Before they'd ever set out for Lady Franklin Bay, it had been agreed that if a ship had not reached Fort Conger

• 33:05Lindsay Graham?

  by September 1st, 1883, Greeley's orders were to retreat south. The men of the expedition would use the four boats they'd been left with to make it 250 miles down the coast of Ellesmere Island and across the channel to Littleton Island, where a relief ship should be waiting with supplies to survive the winter there. Greeley would follow these orders, but after nearly two years in the Arctic, he'd come to believe that waiting until September 1st would be too late. By then, the sea ice would be too thick for them to navigate in their small boats. So instead, he settled on August 9th as their departure date. And as the summer dragged on with no sign of a relief ship, Greeley turned his attention to preparing to leave the longhouse they had called home.

• 33:49Lindsay Graham?

  Not only did they need to bring supplies to survive the journey, they also needed to transport the scientific records they had meticulously collected. So Greeley allowed each of his men to bring only eight pounds of personal belongings. They patched up their winter clothes and made sure their three boats, plus their 30-foot coal-powered steam launch, were in good condition. Lieutenant James Lockwood, who Greeley had named lead scientist after his fallout with Dr. Octov Pavy, carefully organized and cataloged their plant, animal, and fossil specimens. Unfortunately, they would have to leave most of them behind. There just wasn't enough room in the boats. Plus, the men would need to haul the boats over long stretches of ice, so the load needed to be as light as possible. But they did make sure to carefully pack

• 34:34Lindsay Graham?

  their scientific records into waterproof crates, all the while still hoping the relief ship would arrive before the departure. But not everyone thought a retreat was wise.

• 34:49Lindsay Graham?

  Imagine it's summer 1883 at Fort Conger. You spot your expedition leader in the officers' quarters of the longhouse. He's hunched over a map, whispering to himself. You watch him for a moment, then decide to approach. The two of you have barely spoken in almost two years. Your relationship has been strained since you resigned from your command and tried to leave just days after arriving on Ellesmere Island. But you feel strongly enough about what you have to say that you push past your trepidation. Lieutenant Greeley, may I speak with you? Greeley looks up at you with surprise, but then nods. Proceed. Sir, are you sure that retreating to Littleton Island is the best course of action? Those are the orders. I know, but those orders were given before we'd actually been here.

• 35:34Lindsay Graham?

  We now know so much more about survival this far north. We didn't know before just how packed with ice the water gets or how cold the temperatures could be. Yes, I know. That's precisely why I've made the decision to move our departure date up almost a month. I appreciate that, sir, but have you considered that it won't be enough? What would you have us do, dare I ask? Well, we could stay here at Fort Conger. We have food, we have shelter. It wouldn't be easy, but we could survive another winter here. But there's food and shelter at Littleton Island. That's part of the plan. We have no way of knowing if the relief ship actually made it there. No, but even if they didn't, there should be caches of supplies left there and across the channel on Cape Sabine. But we don't know that they're there. And we know we have food and supplies here.

• 36:18Lindsay Graham?

  And what if a ship doesn't make it next summer? Then we retreat because we'll have no other choice. At that point, we'll have eaten all our food. We'll be weaker from another Arctic winter. We might not even be able to make it to Littleton Island. Yes, but Lieutenant, my decision is final. We are leaving on August 9th. I suggest you pack your belongings.

• 36:41Lindsay Graham?

  Greeley dismisses you and goes back to studying his map. You exit the longhouse to find Dr. Pavy. He agrees with you that this plan is foolhardy. But at this point, all you can do is hope that you're wrong, because it's clear that Greeley's mind won't be changed.

• 37:00Lindsay Graham?

  By early August 1883, Greeley and his men were convinced that for the second straight summer, no relief ship would be arriving. Following Greeley's orders, they focused their efforts on leaving Fort Conger by August 9th, which they hoped would give them enough time to make it to Littleton Island before temperatures dipped too low and conditions became too harsh. Several of the men were worried, but Frederick Kizlingberry was convinced it was a suicide mission. After Greeley rebuffed his pleas to stay at Fort Conger, Kizlingberry sought out Dr. Pavy, who agreed that Greeley was making a terrible mistake. Together, they complained bitterly about Greeley's leadership. Then, two days before the team was due to depart, Sergeant David Brainard returned to camp

• 37:44Lindsay Graham?

  from his lookout post with bad news. The ice in the bay was jam-packed, as crowded as it was in the depths of winter. There was no open water for the boats. But also in August, the ice would likely be too thin and unstable to safely walk across. They were effectively trapped. Greeley cursed himself for having waited so long. And the next day, August 8th, the conditions of the bay remained impassable. Kizlingberry and Pavy felt relieved and hoped that this meant that they'd be forced to stay at Fort Conger through the winter. But then a strong southern wind kicked up. It blew for 24 hours, pushing the ice out of the bay. And by the morning of the 9th, it was clear enough for the boats to get through. Greeley wouldn't wait any longer. He ordered Brainard and two others

• 38:29Lindsay Graham?

  to take the team's last weather readings while everyone else started loading the boats. Brainard did one last walk-through of the longhouse. Their beds were unmade. Dirty silverware sat in the sink. The stove even still burned. And that was how Brainard left it. He walked out of the longhouse and nailed the door shut behind him. Then he joined the others at the boats. Greeley was outfitted in his army dress uniform, complete with saber and shoulder knots. He ordered the men to shove off, and their four small boats embarked into the sea, leaving Fort Conger behind, their home for the past two years. As they began their long journey down the icy coast, they had no way of knowing whether a relief ship awaited them or if they would be lucky enough to survive the ordeal ahead.

• 39:17Lindsay Graham?

  From Audible Originals, this is episode two of our three-part series on the Greeley Arctic Expedition for American History Tellers. In the next episode, Greeley and his men face dire conditions as they navigate south in their desperate attempt to reach a relief party. And back home, Henrietta Greeley refuses to let the government give up on her husband.

• 39:42Lindsay Graham?

  If you'd like to learn more about the Greeley expedition, we recommend Labyrinth of Ice by Buddy Levy, The Arctic Grail by Pierre Burton, and Ghosts of Cape Sabine by Leonard F. Gutridge. American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsay Graham, for Airship. This episode is written by Austin Rakhless, edited by Dorian Marina. Senior producers Alida Rosansky and Andy Herman. Managing producer Desi Boylock. Fact checking by Alyssa Jung Perry. Audio editing by Mohamed Shazib. Music by Thrum. Sound design by Molly Bach. Executive producer for Audible, Jenny Lauer Beckman. Head of creative development at Audible, Kate Navin. Head of Audible Originals North America, Marshall Louie. Chief Content Officer, Rachel Kiyatza. Copyright 2026 by Audible Originals LLC.

• 40:27Lindsay Graham?

  Sound recording copyright 2026 by Audible Originals LLC.

• 40:48Speaker 06

  For decades, two legendary brands fought for the hearts of American bikers, Indian Motorcycle and Harley-Davidson. The battle looked a lot like Coke versus Pepsi or Ford versus Chevy. But tastes changed, and Indian didn't adapt fast enough. The icon all but died. Then came the Con Men, the Dreamers, a string of spectacular failures that kept Indian in the grave, until one company finally got it right. This is the story of an improbable revival and the reignition of an old rivalry. Hey, I'm David Brown, the host of the podcast Business Wars. And every season, we bring you the true stories behind the companies that shape our world. Indian's new owners are going all in, but an existential crisis looms. Can Indian and Harley recruit enough younger riders to survive?

• 41:32Speaker 06

  Make sure to follow Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Business Wars early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.