Henry Williamson Howgate: Encyclopedia Arctica 15: Biographies

HOWGATE, CAPTAIN HENRY W(ILLIAMSON), (1835-1901). "The man whose determined energy, perseverance and will . . . made the lady Franklin Bay Expedition a more than possibility - A. W. Greely."

Henry Williamson Howgate was born in Leeds, England, March 24, 1835, and died in Washington, D.C., June 1, 1901.

When only seven months old, he was brought to the United States by his parents, who were woolen cloth weavers and who, during Howgate's early boyhood ^ , ^ worked at their trade in various towns in western New York and the adjacent Canadian Province of Ontario. In 1846 he removed with his mother to southeastern Michigan where, in 1855, he married Cordelia Day, of Romeo, and pursued his vocations of farmer and journeyman carpenter until his enlistment in the Union army as second lieutenant of Company B, Twenty-second Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, July 30, 1862. On November 17th of that year, while his regiment, a part of the Army of the Cumber– land, was encamped at Lexington, Kentucky, Lieutenant Howgate was transferred from line duty to the Signal Corps, in which branch of the Army he served with distinction during the remainder of the Civil War, earning commissions as Captain by brevet for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Chickamauga, during the investment of Atlanta, and in the Georgia and South Carolina campaign. Honorably mustered out of the service of the United States as of June 20, 1866, he reentered the Signal Corps October 22, 1867, as a Second Lieutenant in the Twentieth U.S. Infantry, and served thereafter in the Corps continuously until he resigned December 18, 1880.

It was early during this post-war service in the Signal Corps that Captain Howgate's interest in Arctic exploration was first aroused through meeting Captain Charles F. Hall while the latter was fitting out the "Polaris" expedition and was being supplied with signalling equipment by the Corps, an interest which Captain Howgate himself relates was definitely deepened when he later served on a commission appointed by the President of the United States to examine survivors of the expedition as to the circumstances of Hall's death in the Arctic.

Accepting in general the theory of a supposed open sea extending poleward at times from the northern reaches of Robeson Channel, and convinced that it was entirely feasible to establish and maintain in the vicinity of Lady Franklin Bay a small colony of seasoned explorers fully equipped and ready to take prompt advantage of any occasion when the ice barrier to the Pole was broken up by favorable winds and temperatures, Captain Howgate, in December, 1876, launched a vigorous and sus– tained campaign to secure Congressional approval and financial support of his colo– nization plan, under which he firmly believed that within three years "the geography of the Polar Circle would be definitely settled, and that without loss of life."

Howgate opened his campaign with a letter to the New York Times briefly out– lining the colonization plan, and when this elicited wide-spread favorable comment drafted "A Bill to authorize and equip an expedition to the Arctic Seas" which was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 8, 1877, and referred to its Naval Committee. This bill empowered the President to expend $50,000 in organ– izing and sending out one or more expeditions toward the North Pole, to establish a temporary colony, for purposes of exploration, at some point near the shore of Lady Franklin Bay, to detail the necessary officers or other persons of the public ser– vice, and to use any public vessel suitable for the purpose. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate the following day and referred to the Naval Committee of that body. Although Howgate, by developing a veritable flood of favorable comment, succeeded in having the House bill reported out of committee, final consideration and enactment of the measure failed because the Congress, expiring on March 4, was busy during its last days with departmental appropriation bills and other more urgent matters.

In anticipation of favorable legislative action by the next Congress, Howgate experienced little difficulty in financing, by popular subscription, a preliminary expedition to the Arctic for the purpose of collecting such supplies during the ensuing winter as might be of use to the main expedition in 1878, if authorized. The "Florence," a fifty-six ton schooner, was purchased, and after being strengthened for ice navigation, sailed from New London, Connecticut on August 3, 1877, under the command of George E. Tyson, who had been with Hall on the "Polaris." A crew of ten, and two scientists, one of them a meteorologist and photographer, the other a representative of the Smithsonian Institution, comprised the ship's company. After an absence of fifteen months, the "Florence" returned to its home port, having accumulated clothing, purchased dogs, and arranged for the services of a sufficient number of natives for the proposed station at Lady Franklin Bay, in accordance with instructions.

Shortly after the next Congress convened in December, 1877, the original polar colonization bill was re-introduced in both Houses, and on January 22, 1878, the chairman of the House naval committee again submitted to the House his original elaborate report recommending passage of the bill. A few weeks later the naval committee of the Senate, using the same report, also recommended passage. But again the legislation failed of enactment; when a final effort was made on June 18, 1878, to secure its passage by the House under suspension of the rules, the required two-thirds majority was not obtained, and the measure was lost for the session. Howgate was bitterly disappointed at this second failure, which he regarded as due in large part to the reluctance of many congressmen to appropriate public funds for polar ventures until the result of the "Jeannette" Expedition, largely financed privately by James Gordon Bennett II, was known. But resolved to continue the struggle, Howgate improved the interval between sessions of the Congress by writing articles for various periodicals, by keeping up a continuous fire through the columns of the daily press, by soliciting the influence of business men, and by urging scientists to further the project in every possible way.

At the opening of the Congress in December, 1878, the Arctic bill was again introduced in both Houses, but no further action was taken during the session. However, Howgate continued to devote all the time that could be spared from his official duties to the work of developing and perfecting plans for the expedition he felt sure would be eventually authorized and sent out. The question of the availability of balloons for use at the colony engrossed much of his time during the summer of 1879.

Determined finally on having his plan of exploration tested without further delay, Howgate decided to follow the example set by Bennett and offer to Congress the use of a vessel large enough for the transportation of a party and its supplies, with the thought that this would remove Congressional objection to the direct appropriation of money and would induce Congress to authorize the use of men in either the naval or military service, and of their equipment from the public stores. Through the assistance of Dr. John Rae a vessel believed to be suitable for the purpose was found in Scotland. When this vessel, the "Gulnare," of approximately 200 tons, reached Washington and was placed in the hands of workmen to be strengthened for ice navigation, legislation was introduced in Congress authorizing the President to establish a temporary station on or near the shore of Lady Franklin Bay for the purposes of scientific observation and exploration, to detail such officers or other persons not exceeding fifty necessary for this purpose, and to accept from Howgate the use of the "Gulnare" in the proposed colonization plan. This legislation became law on May 1, 1880. The "Gulnare" left Washington June 21, 1880, but from the beginning to the end her e career was unfortunate. "After her return from the disastrous Greenland voyage," Howgate writes, "it looked as if all hopes for the future prosecution of the enterprise would of necessity be abandoned, although a good part of the necessary equipment and supplies, together with two members of the party, Mr. Henry Clay and Doctor Octave Pavy, had been left in Greenland with a view to the continuance of the effort."

Fortunately for the cause of Arctic exploration, the Secretary of War, when preparing his estimates for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1881, informed Howgate that if he would submit an estimate for Arctic work in prosecution of the colonization scheme, it would be included with the balance of the departmental estimates and sub– mitted to Congress with his approval. In accordance with this suggestion, the item which provided the funds for the Greely Expedition was prepared by Howgate in the fol– lowing language and was eventually enacted as drawn:

"Observation and Exploration in the Arctic Seas. For continuing the work of scientific observation and exploration on or near the shores of Lady Franklin Bay, and for transportation of men and supplies to said location and return, twenty-five thousand dollars."

Thus at long last was Howgate's dream of polar colonization in a measure realized through the Greely Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay. That this expedition ended in sad catastrophe at Cape Sabine was in no degree due to any defect in the original plans, for the development of which during several years Captain Howgate deserves major credit. As pointed out by Greely himself in a report to Congress upon the question of retiring certain of the surviving enlisted men of the expedition:

"It may not be inappropriate to state that the American expedition to Lady Franklin Bay was the most successful in the record of Arctic expeditions, during the years 1881 to 1883, in which years it made an unbroken se [: t ] of scientific observations, for which the expedition was planned and sent forth; that it also made the most north– ern latitude ever (to that time) attained by man; that it determined the physical character of Grinnell Land, probably the most remarkable spot within the Arctic Circle; and that all its labors, whether in the field of science or doscovery, were made without injury or loss of any member of the expedition, nor did any officer or man sustain any injuries impairing his physical condition.

"Moreover the party made an Arctic boat retreat for 500 miles southward to meet the promised relief and landed at Cape Sabine with every man of the original party in health, with its scientific records, diaries, and all the important instruments intact; and the sufferings and deaths resulted from the failure of the co-operating expedi– tions."

All honor and unstinted praise must be accorded Greely for these accomplishments; but let it not be forgotten that it was primarily through the "determined energy, perseverance and will" of Captain Henry Williamson Howgate that the Greely Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay became a reality.