In late August, 1891, Austin Cary '87 and Dennis Cole '88 continued their trek back to the mouth of the Grand River in Labrador. Having lost their supplies, they used the bits of meat to "help fill the gap, now becoming quite long, between square meals." Cary admitted later that they could have eaten "by devoting our whole time to it.... But hanging over us all the time was the necessity of making progress." The Decker had to leave port by September 2, or her way would be barred by icebergs and treacherous waters. The prospect of spending the winter stranded in Labrador did not appeal to the adventurers, "so every morning we kicked ourselves out of bed, swallowed whatever we had and drove ourselves along all day, tramping doggedly the sands, crawling around perpendicular ledges, wading waist deep in water, doing anything to avoid climbing those terrible hills which to men in our condition seemed an insurmountable barrier."
Their shoes became so worn that Cole cut off his coat sleeves to wear on his feet and Cary went barefoot. On the night they had hoped to reach the Decker, a good day's travel still separated the men from their final destination. The men were down to their last shot cartridge, which Cole shot at a partridge "and the red squirrels went unmolested thereafter." The partridge flew away and Cole could not locate it, but after a few minutes, he heard a soft "whump" and discovered the bird flailing on the ground. The shot had broken its leg and "by faintness or inability to hold its perch with one foot it had fallen to the ground."
The next day, September 1, less than 24 hours before the Decker's departure, Cary and Cole stumbled onto the schooner's deck. In 17 days, the two had traveled 300 miles, about the distance from Bowdoin College to New York City, almost entirely on foot. In Jonathan Cilley's words, "Bowdoin pluck has overcome Bowdoin luck." The two weary travelers were met with "the banging of guns and rifles, yells of delight and echoes of B-O-W-D-O-I-N flying over the hills."
The expedition had successfully completed its missions-both scientific and educational. They made "a thorough examination of the shell heaps, or kitchen middens of the north, for the purpose of establishing, if possible the origin of some of the things found in the old shell heaps of Maine." They compared shell heaps in Labrador to those in Maine; they found that living shells in Labrador are of the same species found fossilized on Maine coast, indicating that Maine's climate once resembled that of modern Labrador; they collected several thousand animal specimens for Bowdoin's department of Natural Science and recorded botanical specimens of plants not previously known to exist in Labrador; they rediscovered Grand Falls.
However, the expedition impacted not only science but the character and education of the Bowdoin men who had the privilege to embark on the journey. "A college," Austin Cary said, "is an institution which has more than the one aim of education. Research as well, the extension of knowledge is within its legitimate office."
He lamented that traditionally, "work has been minute, detailed; and has resulted in cyclopedias and dictionaries, in minute raking over historical records, in writings of microscopical fineness in science."
He then applauded the "bright and original idea which Lee of Bowdoin hit on for the profitable employment of last summer. To take a party of young fellows into the latitude of icebergs and navigate an uncharted coast, to study little known races of men and the plants and animals and geology of a half explored country is a comprehensive scheme." The expedition was well received. Cary concluded, "There is a flavor of daring and enterprise about it, and taken in connection with the fact that Lieut. Peary, now in Greenland, is a Bowdoin man and was assisted in his start by the college, it has given the college a character for enterprise and hardihood not unbefitting an institution of the pine-tree state."
May Bowdoin continue to explore new frontiers and instill in its sons and daughters that enterprise and hardiness, which for more than two centuries has inspired discovery in all fields of human endeavor.
Thanks to all who helped with this series. In 2005, look on the Arctic Museum website for more information, personal accounts, and photographs from this expedition.