‘The Greely Expedition’ Shown On PBS
February 1st, 2011 - 8:42 pm ICT by GDBy Ranjan Bhaduri
Feb 1, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The PBS documentary series named “American Experience” that aired last night featured the story of the Greely Expedition. The program covers the notorious 1881 expedition penned by Alaska author Alden Todd in “Abandoned: The Story of the Greely Arctic Expedition 1881-1884″. The book which created sensation when it was published narrated the tale of the expedition that went horribly wrong. In the expedition a group of 25 volunteers led by Adolphus Greely reached northern Canada’s Ellesmere Island and they had supply to last for a year. The team had a mission to reach Lady Franklin Bay to gather as much scientific data they could. At that time little was known about the region. The expedition went horribly wrong and the scientific adventure turned into a ride through hell for the volunteers. After three years only six men came back from the deserted arctic region and stories of starvation, shipwreck and cannibalism did the rounds for some time. The PBS documentary tries to capture the harrowing tale within an one hour time frame as part of the documentary series.
The documentary “The Greely Expedition”produced by Rob Rapley is based on a vast range of documentary record including letters. Dairies and images. The documentary shows how factors like improper planning, personality clashes, sheer bad luck and lack of leadership cab make a noble scientific mission into unprecedented human tragedy.
The relief ship sent to the expedition team could not reach them and another supply ship was also destroyed. The team was in serious trouble. 19 of the team died and the six survivors were described as living skeletons when they were rescued.
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Tags: adolphus greely, alden todd, american experience, arctic expedition, arctic region, dairies, documentary record, ellesmere island, greely expedition, human tragedy, lady franklin bay, northern canada, pbs documentary series, personality clashes, ranjan, rapley, relief ship, serious trouble, six men, supply ship