Adolphus Greely

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Adolphus Washington Greely (1844 - 1935) was an American Polar explorer.

Greely accepts promotion in 1887.

Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, he entered the United States Army at the age of seventeen, after having been rejected twice before, and achieved the rank of Brevet Major by the end of the Civil War. In 1878 he married Hennrietta Nesmith.

In 1881, as a lieutenant, Greely was given command of the Lady Franklin Bay expedition, whose purpose was to find the North Pole and establish one of a chain of international circumpolar meteorological stations. Greely was without previous arctic experience, but he and his party were able to discover hitherto many unknown miles along the coast of northwest Greenland. The expedition also crossed Ellesmere Island from east to west and Lt. James B. Lockwood achieved a new northern record of 83°24'.

Two relief ships failed to reach Greely's party encamped at Cape Sabine, on Ellesmere Island. Thanks to the persistence of Greely's wife, Henrietta, the search was never abandoned. The ship called the Bear, built in Greenock, Scotland, first used as a whaler, was purchased by the U.S. to rescue the Greely party. By the time this third ship arrived in 1884 to rescue them, 21 of Greely's 27-man crew had perished from starvation, drowning, hypothermia, and in one case, gunshot wounds from an execution ordered by Greely. Greely and the other survivors were themselves near death; one of the survivors died on the homeward journey. The returning survivors were venerated as heroes, though the heroism was tainted by sensational accusations of cannibalism during the remaining days of low food. The story of this remarkable journey has been published numerous times, the most recent of which is Abandoned: The Story of the Greely Arctic Expedition 1881-1884 written by Alden Todd.

As Chief Signal Officer of the Army there were constructed, operated and maintained during the Spanish American War the following Military telegraph lines: Puerto Rico, 800 miles ; Cuba, 3,000 miles ; The Philippine Islands, 10,200 miles. In connection with Alaska, then General Greely had constructed under very adverse conditions a telegraph system of nearly 4,000 miles, consisting of submarine cables, landcables and wireless telegraphy, the later covering a distance of 107 miles, which at the time was of installation was the longest commercial system regularly working in the world.

In 1905 Greely found himself serving as military commander over the emergency situation created by the San Francisco earthquake.

In 1915, Greely invited the Italian polar geographer Arnaldo Faustini to the United States for a lecture tour.

He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1935.