Lieutenant Harber was also in the field, as was Mr. Jackson, correspondent of the _New York Herald_. A thorough search was made of the Delta for Chipp’s party, without avail. Congress having appropriated $25,000 for the expense of bringing home to America the bodies of De Long and his unfortunate party, Lieutenant Harber and Master Schuetze of the relief ship _Rogers_, which had been burned off the coast of Siberia in December, 1881, left the Lena in 1883 after a year’s search, bringing with them the remains. [Illustration: REAR ADMIRAL GEORGE W. MELVILLE, U.S.N. _By permission of Clinedinst, Washington, D.C._] CHAPTER XIX International circumpolar stations.—Failure of Dutch expedition.—Greely expedition reaches Lady Franklin Bay.—Life at Fort Conger.—Sledge journey of Brainard and Lockwood.—Farthest north.—Greely’s journey to interior of Grinnell Land.—Lake Hazen.—Failure of relief ship _Neptune_ to reach Conger in 1882.—Official plans for Greely’s relief in 1883.—_Proteus_ crushed in ice.—Garlington’s retreat.—Greely’s abandonment of Fort Conger.—Greely reaches Cape Sabine.—The beginning of a hard winter.—Death of members of the party from starvation and cold.—Schley’s brilliant rescue of the remnant of the Lady Franklin Bay expedition in 1884. The plan for establishing International Circumpolar Stations within or near the Arctic Circle, for the purpose of recording a complete series of synchronous meteorological and magnetic observations, was outlined in a well-thought-out paper delivered by Lieutenant Karl Weyprecht, A. H. Navy, before the German Scientific and Medical Association of Gratz in September, 1875, soon after the return from his remarkable journey in the _Tegetthof_. Though Lieutenant Weyprecht did not live to see his splendid scheme carried into effect, the coöperation of Prince Bismarck and the hearty indorsement of the plan by a commission of eminent scientists, as well as the decision of the International Meteorological Congress, which reported “that these observations will be of the highest importance in developing meteorology and in extending our knowledge of terrestrial magnetism,” resulted in the International Polar Conference, at Hamburg, October 1, 1879, in which eleven nations were represented, and a second conference at Berne, August 7, 1880, at which it was decided that each nation should establish one or more stations where synchronous observations should be taken from August, 1882. With the exception of the Dutch expedition, the scheme was successfully carried out and the stations established without accident. Norwegians—Bosekof, Allen Fjord, Norway, under direction of M. Aksel S. Steen. Swedes— Ice Fjord, Spitzbergen, under direction of Mr. Ekholm. Russians— Sagastyr Island, mouth of Lena, Siberia, under Lieutenant Jürgens. Möller Bay, Nova Zembla, under Lieutenant Andreief.