April 17, 2024
GREELY RELIEF ARCTIC EXPEDITION SHIPS EXPLORER US NAVY
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This is a very cool, historical albumen photo (7.25 x 9.5) of the gathering of ships at the Portsmouth Naval Yard after the return the Greely Relief Expedition on July 31st, 1884. Adolphus Washington Greely, who had fought in the Civil War, became an explorer and meteorologist. He had left for the Arctic on the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition 3 years prior and become stranded near the North Pole. It seems it took a while to figure out how to rescue his party but, eventually, the US Navy took charge and sent the HMS Alert, and two former whalers, the USS Thetis and the USS Bear north under the command of Capt. Winfield Scott Schley. The gathering of ships we see in this photo was a carefully planned celebration, as the success of the mission was used to rehabilitate the Navy in both the public's and military's eyes. The other ships in the photo - the Alliance, Jamestown and Galena - were part of the welcoming party. The back of the photo has a caption, "Greeley [sic] relief fleet on day after arrival at Kittery. 1884. Mrs. Frisbee's across bows of Thetis." Since this photo was purchased in New England, I can only imagine that that second sentence was added by the owner of the photo as a frame of reference - just look at Mrs. Frisbee's house t! Anyway, the reference to Kittery is to Kittery, ME. While the Naval Yard is called the Portsmouth
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