PROTEUS expedition ship Greely expedition.

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Comparing the vessel depicted on the stamp with a photo of the ship, she is the PROTEUS used by Greely for his expedition.

Built as a wooden whale-catcher under yard No 54 by Alexander Stephen & Sons, Dundee for J & W Stewart, Greenock, Scotland
18 December 1873 launched as the PROTEUS.
Tonnage 687 gross, dim. 190ft 4in. x 29ft 9in. x 18ft 6in.
Auxiliary steam engine. Speed 8.5 knots.
Built of oak with an ironwood sheathing from above the waterline to below the turn of the bilge, bow was strengthened with iron.
Port of registry St John’s Newfoundland.

I was unable to find any reference of her being used as a whale catcher. Under the command of Captain Richard Pike she crossed the North Atlantic for her homeport, to be used in Newfoundland as a sealer.
On her maiden voyage she landed in April 1874, 10,700 seals in St John’s.
1875: Landed 42,000 seals at St Johns, each worth 3 Canadian dollars.
1877: Landed 18,000 seals in St John’s
1878: Landed 11,000 seals in St John’s.

She was then used in the Greely “Lady Franklin Bay Expedition” to bring the expedition party to there base camp in the Lady Franklin Bay. (See the article on Adolphus Washington Greely for details of expedition.)

7th July 1881: Under command of Capt Pike she sailed from St John’s with 21expedition members on board.
She sailed via Godhavn to embark two Inuit dogsled drivers and two more expedition members.

On 11th August, the PROTEUS arrived at Lady Franklin Bay, where the expedition landed with her stores and provisions.

After everything was unloaded and the expedition had settled down, she left the next month to return to St John’s.

The intention was that a supply ship would call at Lady Franklin Bay the next year, but due to the weather and heavy ice she was unable reach the Lady Franklin Bay and instead left some, (what was to be most inadequate) provisions at Smith Sound before returning to St John’s, Newfoundland.

1883: The PROTEUS and the YANTIC under the overall command of US Army Lieutenant Ernest Garlington made a rescue attempt. A most unusual choice for a naval expedition. The PROTEUS was still captained by Pike. The YANTIC, a much slower vessel, quickly lost contact with the PROTEUS.

The PROTEUS reached Cape Sabine on 22nd July. Garlington did not unload any supplies but preferred to head north, where she was caught between immense ice floes, which crushed her hull on 23rd July 1883 and sank.
The crew salvaged as much as possible by throwing stores and provisions onto the ice before the PROTEUS disappeared under the water.

Most of these supplies were lost because they drifted away on the ice. Some supplies, sufficient to feed Greely’s party for about three weeks were left at Cape Sabine.

The crew of the PROTEUS headed south in six boats to Upernavik. They left a note at Littleton Island, which was later picked up by the YANTIC telling them where they were heading. They were picked up by the YANTIC at Upernavik in September 1883.

Source: Info received from John Stevenson. Various web sites. To the ends of the Earth by Richard Sale.