Adolphus Greely (1844 - 1935) was an American army officer and polar explorer.
The titlepage of this work is almost a story in and of itself: The Greely Arctic Expedition, as fully narrated by Lieut. Greely, U.S.A. and Other Survivors. Full Account of the Terrible Suffering on the Ice, and Awful Tales of Cannibalism! Commander Shley's Report. Wonderful Discoveries by Lieut. Greely and His Little Band of Heroes. (Philadelphia: Barclay & Co, 1887).
The Greely Expedition, more commonly known as the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (and officially entitled the International Polar Expedition) was a scientific expedition from 1881 - 1884. Led by the U. S. Army officer Lt. Adolphus Greely, the expedition began with a crew of 25, though only 7 survived after several difficult winters and the loss of one of the expedition's ships.
In a brief chapter entitled "Greely's Uneasy Dogs. The Unsociable Canines of the Colony," Greely discusses the "Esquimaux" dogs brought on the expedition to serve as sled dogs. He remarks upon their generally aloof and unfriendly temperament, then moves on to the following brief discussion of the sole Newfoundland on the expedition:
In cheerful contrast with the Esquimaux on the quarter-deck there was a pure representative of Newfoundland dogs, the property of one of the officers. "He's worth a hundred dollars," said a sailor. When first seen by the writer he was lying at full length, with his eyes closed and his toes twitching, on the shady side of the companion-way, less distressed by the heat than the Esquimaux, but, like them, wearing a sad countenance from dreaming of the fog banks at home. "He knows how to cool off, when he gets warm," said the sailor. "He'd jump overboard now if I'd cast over this stick. Here Jack," said he to the dog, picking up the stick. The Newfoundland sprang to his feet and his whole look changed in a twinkling from sadness to the brightest and laughingest countenance a dog ever wore. His great black eyes fairly beamed with friendship and frolic. As dogs go, he stood up worth more than a hundred dollars. He had long, glossy hair, tipped in places with white, and was the picture of animal grace. He challenged the sailor to throw the stick overboard, but the latter said: "I don't dare do it. He belongs to an officer." He said, however, that the dog "made no bones" of jumping overboard into the sea whenever he felt like it. They had to help him up the side of the ship a good many times. (66)
That is the only mention of the expedition's Newfoundland.