Report to the President of the United States of the action of the Navy department in the matter of the disaster to the United States exploring expedition toward the North pole
United States. Navy Department
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To the President: Sir : On receiving information of the arrival of the rescued portion of the crew of the Polaris at Saint John’s, Newfoundland, I determined, in the absence of direct regular communication with that port, to send, as has been before reported to you, the United States steamer Frolic, then lying at New York, to bring them to the United States. As it was obviously proper, in view of the prompt and responsible action which might be required, that the Government should, as soon as possible, be in possession of the fullest and most reliable information upon all the circumstances of the case, the Frolic was ordered to bring directly to Washington all the persons having personal knowledge on the subject. On their arrival here, to the end that their knowledge might be accu¬ rately and fully elicited, judged of, and preserved, not only for the guid¬ ance of the Government but for the benefit of science and the informa¬ tion of the world, I associated with myself for their examination Com¬ modore William Reynolds, the senior officer of the Navy Department, himself an old explorer ; Professor Spencer F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, a distinguished scientist, and member of the National Academy, who had taken great interest in the expedition, and prepared some of the scientific instruments for it; and Captain H. W. Howgate, of the Army signal service, from which corps Mr. Meyer had been detailed as meteorologist of the expedition. In the course of the examination, which occupied six days, we have taken separately and fully, upon all the points involved upon which * they had, or professed to have, knowledge, the statement and examina- I II tion of each adult individual of the party who could understand or speak any English, including all of the persons rescued, excepting the wife of Hans Christian and the children. These statements and examinations were carefully taken down in short hand at the time, and are now, together with the diaries kept by some of the party on the ice, and a diary of the cruise of the Polaris, kept in German by Hermann Siemans, one of the seamen remaining on board, and picked up on the ice after the separation from the ship, be¬ ing rapidly printed, the bulk of them already in type. A detailed statement of the results arrived at will be found in the re¬ port signed by myself and all the gentlemen associated with me, wdiich is herewith inclosed, and to which is annexed a copy of the last dis¬ patch of Captain Hall, made from what is apparently the original draft, in his own handwriting, found among his personal papers, in his writ¬ ing-desk, which was preserved on the ice by Esquimaux Joe, and by him delivered to me in the presence of the board. It is accompanied also by an outline- map, prepared by Mr. Meyer, giving a general out¬ line of the geographical results. This report is made direct^7 to yourself, as the person under whose orders the expedition was organized, and 1 have myself signed it, con¬ curring as I do in all its statements and conclusions. In some of the testimony as given will be found some statements of facts, and several strong expressions of feeling on the part of some of the witnesses against the officer remaining in command of the ship after the death of Captain Hall. These I feel great reluctance to publish while the person referred to is absent in the discharge of dangerous and responsible duty ; but I am constrained to believe that it is better for him, and will be more satis¬ factory to his friends, as well as to the friends of those still on board of the Polaris, that they should be published as they were given, rather than that their suppression should be made the foundation of sensa¬ tional and alarming reports in no degree justified by the real facts. It must, however, be clearly understood that in permitting this pub¬ lication the Department neither makes nor declares any judgment against Mr. Buddington, who is still absent in the midst of dangers, and has had no opportunity for defense or explanation. The facts show that though he was perhaps wanting in enthusiasm for the grand objects of the expedition, and at times grossly lax in dis¬ cipline, and though he differed in judgment from others as to the pos¬ sibility, safety, and propriety of taking the ship farther north, yet he is an experienced and careful navigator, and when not affected by liquor, of which there remained none on board at the time of the separation, a competent and safe commander. I concur fully in the statements of the report as to the probable con¬ dition and situation of the ship, and the propriety of taking prompt measures for her efficient relief. Such relief can only be afforded Ill safely and surely by means of an expedition prepared to encounter the dangers of the arctic circle, iu a ship adapted for the purpose, and built and fitted to contend with large bodies of ice. It is known that there is no such ship ready at hand in either our naval or merchant service. Indeed, it is believed that there are none such in existence except among the sealing-fleet of Newfoundland. A vessel of this fleet, sailing as they do under a foreign register, can only be used for the purpose of an expedition organized and sailing under our own flag by being purchased and put iu commission by the Navy Department. In view of all these facts, and the further and pressing consideration that any measures of relief to be effective must be taken at once, I have already begun to carry out the suggestions of the board by giving pre¬ paratory orders to the United States steamer Juniata, now at New York, to proceed, at the earliest practicable moment, to Disco, and if possible to Upernavik, for the purpose of carrying forward the necessary coal and supplies, communicating with the authorities of Greenland, obtain¬ ing information, and, if practicable, sending forward some word of en¬ couragement to those on board the Polaris. This last will most likely be impossible, but we will not fail to attempt it. I also propose to fit out at once an expedition of relief, to be sent to Northumberland Island, where the Polaris was last seen,iu the Tigress, a sealing-steamer of the fleet referred to, of about 200 tons burden, built and fitted to contend with the ice, and the same ship by which the persons now here were rescued. This ship, which is already on her way to New York, I propose, with your assent, to purchase and immediately strengthen, if necessary, and fit out for the service required. The proposed expedition will be purely naval, experience having con¬ firmed me iu the conviction that there is little of either successor safety in any trying, dangerous, and distant expedition which is not organized, prosecuted, and controlled under the sanctions of military discipline. Captain Tyson, all the rescued seamen of the Polaris, and Esquimaux Joe will accompany the expedition ; all of them declaring themselves ready and willing to return for the rescue of their comrades and to bring out their old ship. The measures proposed will, of course, impose some expenditure upon the naval appropriations and responsibility upon the Navy Department. But those appropriations cannot, I think, be expended more fittingly or more in accordance with the feelings of our people, and whatever responsibility is incurred by this act of imperative public duty and national humanity I am neither authorized to evade nor unwilling to assume. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, GEO. M. BOBESON, Secretary of the Navy, IV Washington, D. 0., June 1G, 1873. To the President : The undersigned having been present at and taken part in the full and careful examination of Mr. George E. Tyson, assistant navigator ; Frederick Meyer, meteorologist ; J. W. C. Kruger, G. W. Linguist, Fred¬ erick Auting, Peter Johnson, Frederick Jamka, and William Linde- mann, seamen ; and John Herron, steward; William Jackson, cook; and Joe, Hannah, and Hans, Esquimaux, all late of the steamer Polaris, and, with the exception of the wife of Hans and five children, compris¬ ing the party which was separated from her on the ice in October last, and picked up off the coast of Labrador on April 30, of this year, by the British sealing-steamer Tigress, give the following as the result of their investigation : The Polaris left Disco on the 17th of August, 1871, where she parted company from the Congress, arriving at Upernavik the next day. At this port she took on board some dogs, seal and dog skins, and a small quantity of coal, and shipped Hans, Hendrick, or Christian, Esqui¬ maux, who had been with Drs. Kane and Hays, and the wife of Haus and three children. It was expected that Jensen, who had also accom¬ panied Dr. Hays, would join the Polaris at Tessuisak. Leaving Upernavik, the Polaris touched at Tessuisak, and there pro¬ cured more dogs and a small quantity of ready-made skin clothing, but Jensen did not go with the expedition. Leaving Tessuisak on the 24th, she proceeded northward under steam, passing through Smith’s Sound and Kennedy Channel, with very little delay or obstruction from the ice. Near Cape Frazier Captain Hall examined the western shore in a boat to look for a safe wintering place, but was unsuccessful in finding one. Clearing Kennedy Channel in the Polaris, Captain Hall found himself passing through a large sound in the precise position of Kane’s open polar sea, with a bay on the Greenland side. In this bay the ship sub¬ sequently wintered, and it received from Captain Hall the name of Polaris Bay. Its northern cape he called Cape Lupton. Pressing on to the northward, and passing through the sound, the ship entered another narrow channel of about twenty-five to thirty miles in width, with high land on either side, and on the 30th of August attained the highest northern latitude reached by the expedition, in latitude declared by Captain Hall to be 82° 29/ north, but afterward found by the careful calculation of Mr. Meyer to be 82° 16' north. At this her highest point, the Polaris was still in the new strait or channel which she had discovered, and which Captain Hall named u ltobeson Straits,” after the present Secretary of the Kavy. Here the ship was met by heavy floating ice extending entirely across the straits, and barring her further progress northward. After making unsuccessful efforts to find a way through the ice, Cap- V tain Hall, in a boat, examined a small harbor on the eastern side of the straits for winter-quarters. This being found unsuitable for the pur¬ pose, was named u Repulse Harbor.” After incurring imminent risk, the ship became fairly beset in these straits, and drifted with the ice to the southward out of them to the latitude of 81° 30' north, when the pack opening, on the 3d of Septem¬ ber, she steamed to the eastward and found her win ter- quarters in a small sheltered cove or bend of the coast, protected by a stranded iceberg, on the east side of Polaiis Bay, in latitude 81° 38' uorth, longitude 61° 44' west. To this cove Captain Hall gave the name of u Thank God Harbor,” calling the iceberg “ Providence Berg.” At midnight on the 3d of September, 1871, Captain Hall landed with a boat on the east shore of Polaris Bay, and in the name of God and of the President of the United States raised the American flag on the land he had discovered. On one occasion, while beset in Robeson Straits, the Polaris seemed to be in such danger of being crushed that provisions were placed upon the ice, and measures taken to be in readiness for leaving her, but she happily escaped without injury. Immediately after securing his ship in winter-quarters, Captain Hall made preparations for a sledge journey northward, and other work was commenced by landing and setting up the observatory, getting the scientific observations underway, surveying the harbor, clearing-up the ship, and making snug for the winter. On the 10th of October Captain Hall left the Polaris, accompanied by Mr. Chester, first mate, and Esquimaux Joe and Hans, with two sledges and fourteen dogs. Setting out on this expedition, the first step taken by Captain Hall fell upon land more northern than white man’s foot had ever before touched. In the progress of the journey — unhappily the last that Cap¬ tain Hall was to make toward the pole — he discovered, as appears by his dispatch, a river, a lake, and a large inlet. The latter, in latitude 81° 57' north, he named “Kewman’s Bay,” calling its northern point “ Cape Brevoort,” and the southern one “Sumner Headland.” At Cape Brevoort, in latitude 82° 2' north, longitude 61° 20' west, he rested, making there his sixth snow-encampment, and on October 20 wrote his last dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy, the original draft of which was found, in his own handwriting, in his writing-desk, on its examination in Washington after it was delivered to the Secretary of the Navy by Esquimaux Joe, who had kept the desk in his custody from the time it was picked up on the ice, after the separation of the rescued party from the ship. A copy of this dispatch, so singularly preserved, accompanies this report. Captain Hall himself deposited a transcript of it in a cairn on the side of the mountain at Cape Breevoort, VI Captain Hall, it appears, bad hoped, when he left the Polaris on this journey, to advance northward at least a hundred miles ; but after hav¬ ing gone about fifty he was compelled, by the condition of the shore and of the ice and by the state of the climate, to return and await the approach of spring for another attempt. He reached the ship on the 24th of October, apparently in his usual fine health, but was attacked the same day with sickness of the stomach and vomiting; and, taking to his bed, the next day was found to be seriously ill. His most marked symptoms seem from the evidence to have been such as indicated con¬ gestion of the brain, accompanied by delirium and partial paralysis of one side. The witnesses all state that his attack was called a apo¬ plexy,” and some of them speak of their own knowledge of his paraly¬ sis and delirium. He recovered, however, after some days sufficiently to leave his bed, to move about his cabin a little, and to attempt to at¬ tend to business, but soon had a relapse, became again delirious, and died on the 8th of November, 1871. Three days afterward he was bur¬ ied on the shore. From personal examination of all the witnesses, and from their testi¬ mony as given, we reach the unanimous conclusion that the death of Captain Hall resulted naturally from disease, without fault on the part of any one. During his illness he was under the medical care of Dr. Bessels, and as none of the persons now here are capable of giving a more particu¬ lar account of the nature and symptoms of this fatal sickness, the return of the Polaris must be awaited for precise information. All the persons examined testify to the uniform kindness and care of Captain Hall, and to the good order and efficient condition of the Polaris while under his command. On the death of Captain Hall, Mr; Buddington succeeded to the com¬ mand of the Polaris, as had been provided for in the instructions for the voyage issued by the Secretary of the Navy. The winter was passed as is usual in the arctic regions, but without any suffering from the cold, from disease, or from the want of proper provisions. The scientific observations were diligently kept up. Polaris and Newman’s Bays were surveyed, and the coast line to the southward of Polaris Bay was examined for over seventy miles. The crew were vari¬ ously employed, and the Esquimaux hunted whenever opportunity per¬ mitted. About the latter part of November, in a heavy gale from the north¬ east, the Polaris dragged her anchors, but brought up against the large iceberg before mentioned, which was aground in the bay. She was finally made fast to it, and so remained until the following summer. During the winter she was forced, by the pressure of other ice sweep¬ ing down against her, upon the foot of Providence Berg ; and being sub¬ sequently carried higher upon it by the rising of the tide and renewed VII pressure from the ice, she thus remained until June, 1872. Her stem piece, resting uneasily during the whole of the stormy winter on this ice bed, was cracked, and some other bow-planks split, causing her to leak after she again got afloat. She seems to have leaked somewhat freely at first, and the steam-pumps were vorked to clear her out, but subse¬ quently the deck-pumps, used about six minutes per hour, were found sufficient to keep her clear. Early in June, before the Polaris was released from the ice, Captain Buddington dispatched Mr. Chester and Mr. Tyson with two boats to endeavor to get as far north as practicable. This party lost one boat, which was crushed in the ice almost at the commencement of their journey j the loss was, however, supplied from the Polaris by the can¬ vas boat, and with much difficulty and delay they got as far north as Newman’s Bay. They there waited the possible opening of the ice until the middle of July, when written orders from Captain Buddington di¬ rected their return to the ship. They were unable to transport the boats, and, leaving them on the shore, they started on foot, and arrived on board after an absence of about six weeks. While they were away, and some time in June, the Polaris had broken out of her winter-quarters, and had made several attempts to proceed northward to pick up the party with the boats, but the ice was found to be impassable, and Captain Buddington, on receiving the party on board, determined to make the best of his way southward to the United States as soon as the ice would permit. They started southward August 12, 1872, and slowly made their way along the western shore until the next day* when the ship, having got further in mid-channel, was badly beset by the ice in latitude about 80° 40' north, and was in danger of wreck for some hours, when she was freed again. On the 10th of August the ship was made fast to a large floe of ice in the latitude of 80° 2' north, and longitude about 68° west, and while still fast to this floe drifted south through Smith’s Sound nearly to Northumberland Island. In pursuance of the usual orders under similar circumstances, a quan¬ tity of provisions and some fuel had been placed on the deck of the steamer, in readiness to be removed to the ice should the safety of the ship become endangered j and it was ordered and understood that, if a crisis should be imminent, not only these stores, but clothing, papers, records, instruments, guns, ammunition, &c., were also to be put upon the floe, in ordet* to preserve the lives of the party and the results of the expedition should it become necessary to abandon the ship and to take refuge on the ice. A canvas hut had also been erected upon the floe for shelter should the ship be lost. On the night of the 15th of October, 1872, in about latitude 79° 35' north, during a violent gale of wind and snow, the need for such pre¬ paration became apparent, as the ship was suddenly beset by a tre¬ mendous pressure of ice, which was driven against her from the south- VIII ward and forced under lier, pressing her up out of the water, and by successive and violent shocks finally throwing her over on her beam- ends. Captain Buddington directed the provisions, stores, and materials in readiness, as before described, to be thrown overboard on the ice, and ordered half the crew upon the ice to carry them upon a thicker part to the hummocks, where they would be comparatively safe. He also sent all the Esquimaux, with their kyaks, out of the ship, and lowered the two remaining boats upon the floe. While so engaged, in the darkness of an arctic night, in the midst of a fierce gale and driving snow-storm, the hawsers of the Polaris failed to hold her, and she broke adrift from the floe, and in a few minutes was out of sight of the party who were at that moment busily at work on the ice. It is the uniform opinion of the witnesses, and our unanimous conclu¬ sion from their testimony and from the circumstances detailed, that this separation of the ship from the men, women, and children upon the ice floe was purely accidental. After losing sight of the ship, some of the men and a large part of the provisions were found to be afloat on a separate piece of ice. The men were rescued by means of the boats, which fortunately had been saved on the ice, and the party thus collected on the main floe passed the night as well as they could. The next day they made several attempts to reach the land with the boats, but failed, notwithstanding their most persistent efforts, owing to the obstruction of the ice and the violence of the wind. While thus striving to get on shore, but at what particular time of the day is not exactly ascertained, the Polaris came in sight to the north¬ ward, apparently coming toward the floe, under steam and sails. An India-rubber blanket was hoisted on an oar and displayed from the top of a hummock; the colors were set, and other signals were made to at¬ tract the attention of the Polaris, and as she approached so near to them that they plainly saw her down to her rail, and could distinguish her escape- pipe, and kept on toward them until they supposed her to be not more than four miles off, they felt sure she could force her way through the ice to their position, and that in a little while they would be again on board. In this they were disappointed ; the Polaris altered her course and disappeared behind the shore. Some time afterward, as the floe drifted away, she was again seen by some of the men under the land, with her sails furled,* and apparently at anchor, or made fast to the shore or the ice. It is most likely that the party on the ice was seen from the Polaris. The hut erected on the floe, the ship’s boats, the colors, the elevated sig¬ nal blanket, and the group of nineteen persons standing in relief against a white background could scarcely have remained unnoticed. It was natural that, under the circumstances, the party on the ice should have felt deeply disappointed at the failure of the ship to come IX to their relief, and should, at the time, have ascribed it to overcaution, if not indifference, rather than inability on the part of her responsible commander; neither is it unnatural that this feeling, fostered during the weary watches of their long winter upon the ice, should still remain to affect in a greater or less degree their present judgment on the sub¬ ject ; but it must not be forgotten that they, like ourselves, were and are without full information of the actual condition of the Polaris at the time spoken of, and cannot know how far the real dangers of their posi¬ tion were understood and appreciated by those on board of her. Such information and knowledge are absolutely necessary to a correct judg meut, and must not be assumed as the foundation of censure against persons acting under circumstances so trying and uncertain, who, by reason of their enforced absence, have no opportunity for explanation. Considering the subject dispassionately, and remembering that the Polaris had been so roughly handled by the ice the night before that both captain and crew thought she would be lost, and attempted the re¬ moval of her provisions and materials to the floe; that when she broke adrift and was swept off' by the gale, her steam-pipes, valves, and con¬ nections were frozen solid, and that she was for hours without steam, unmanageable amid the floating ice; that she was still leaking from her broken stem, and had probably received other injuries after she went adrift; and that she was left without a single boat of any kind, it seems most likely that her actual condition was such as to impose upon her commander the duty of getting her, with the lives and property which remained under his charge, at once into a position of safety under the shelter of Northumberland Island, where she was last seen by the party on the floe. If such were the state of the case, the first duty of Captain Buddington, under such circumstances, was to look to his vessel, partic¬ ularly as he probably believed that the party on the ice could, by the aid of the two boats, the kyaks, and the scow in their possession, find their way back to the Polaris quite as easily as he could force his way to them. But whatever might have been his opinion or theirs, the elements quickly determined the question. Shortly after the Polaris had been sighted for the second time a violent gale from the northeast sprung up, the weather became thick, the ship and the land were lost sight of, and the ice floe drifted away to the southward, with these nineteen persons still upon it. In view of the circumstances detailed, it is therefore our unanimous judgment that this final separation from the ship was also accidental. From October 15, 1872, until April 1, 1873, when they were picked up in latitude about 59° north, these nineteen men, women, and children remained through the whole of the dark and dreary winter upon the ice In their first endeavors to reach the land, they occupied for a time different pieces of floating ice, but, forced finally to abandon all hope in this direction, they rested at last upon the floe upon which the Polaris X had made fast August 15, 1872, in latitude 80° 2', and from which she broke adrift on the night of October 15 following. The original extent of this floe they estimated at about five miles in circumference. Snow huts were built by the Esquimaux, in which they lived and kept their provisions. Of this they had saved a fair supply, which they apportioned and divided by means of weights made from shot, with rude scales devised by Mr. Meyer. Occasionally during the winter the Esquimaux shot a seal, and once they killed a bear, and thus renewed their supply of meat. On the 1st of April, finding their icy quarters much reduced by the breaking up of the floe, and that the current was then setting them to the southeast and out to sea, they launched their boat into open water and pulled toward the west, in order, if possible, to gain the coast. At times meeting ice too closely packed to get through, they were compelled to haul the boat upon it, launching her again as soon as a lead opened to the westward or southward. In this way they passed a month of weary and desperate endeavor. Toward the close of April their provisions were almost exhausted, and they were one day absolutely reduced to less than a biscuit apiece and a mouthful of pemmican, when a bear, scenting them on the ice, ap¬ proached them and was shot, and they were thus rescued from starva¬ tion. Revived by this good fortune, and strengthened by their new supply of fresh meat, they struggled on till the last day of April, 1873, when they were rescued by the Tigress. At this time they had the coast of Labrador in sight, distant about forty miles, and were hopiug to reach it before their provisions were exhausted. The circumstances of this most extraordinary voyage are given at length by the witnesses, and are particularly detailed in the diaries that some of the rescued party made day by day upon the ice, and which are copied in the testimony. After their rescue, although enfeebled by scanty diet and long expos¬ ure, and mentally depressed by their isolated and unhappy situation, so fearfully prolonged and of such uncertain issue, the general health of these hardy voyagers remained good, and when their trials and anxie¬ ties were ended they soon regained their usual strength. At the time of their separation from the Polaris every one belonging to the expedition was in good health. Nineteen were upon the ice floe, and they believe that all the rest were safe and on board the ship. The Polaris had not then repaired her broken stem, and still leaked some¬ what, but was easily freed by the deck-pumps. She had plenty of pro¬ visions, but not much coal — probably about enough to last through the winter. She was last seen, apparently at anchor, under Northumber¬ land Island, where it is most likely she remained for winter-quarters. Dr. Hays found Esquimaux residing on. that island, and the Esqui- XT maux settlement at Notlik is close by. Communication with these peo¬ ple would be easily opened and maintained, and no apprehension for the Polaris, or, in the absence of accident or sickness, for those on board, is entertained by any of the rescued persons. * As to the question whether the ship can make her way to the Danish settlements at Upernavik or Disco without steam, if she gets free from the ice this season, supposing her to be in as good condition as when the rescued party was last on board, the witnesses differ in judgment; but the safer if not the better opinion is that she will need assistance to bring her completely and safely out. Northumberland Island is in latitude 77° 20' north. A well-found ship, with average good fortune, would be able to reach that island in the summer, and to return in the autumn. It is possible that the Po¬ laris may be able to return without assistance ; but as she remains within the arctic circle, not sound in her hull, with little fuel, and with many precious lives on board, and with the records and collections of her cruise in their possession, we are unanimously of the opinion that this possibility should not be assumed, and that a suitable vessel should, as soon as possible, be procured and sent in search of her, to render her return as certain and speedy as may be. While a suitable ship, con¬ structed and fitted for voyages among the ice, is getting ready, we believe it would be well to dispatch such naval vessel as may be avail¬ able, to carry forward proper supplies of coal and provisions for the re¬ lief of the expedition, to inform the authorities of Greenland of the condition of affairs, to gather all possible information from them and from the Esquimaux of the coast, and, if possible, by means of the lat¬ ter to send some intimations of speedy relief to the officers and crew of the ice-bound ship. Prom the testimony it appears that every possible opportunity was embraced by the members of the scientific corps of the expedition to carry out the instructions given, the only direction in which there seems to have been a partial failure being in reference to the use of the pho¬ tographic apparatus and the dredge. This, however, was due to the absence of suitable opportunities, or to some insurmountable impedi¬ ment at the time. While the records of the astronomical, meteorologi¬ cal, magnetic, tidal, and other physical departments of the exploration appear to have been extremely full, and the observations in each ap¬ pear to have been conducted according to approved methods, the col¬ lections of natural history are shown to have been not less extensive, the store-rooms of the Polaris being filled with skins and skeletons of musk-oxen, bears, and other mammals; different species of birds and their eggs; numerous marine invertebrata ; plants, both recent and fossil, minerals, &c. Not the least interesting of these collections are speci¬ mens of driftwood picked up on or near the shores of Newman’s and Polaris Bays, among which Mr. Meyer thought he recognized distinctly XII the walnut, the ash, and the pine. Among the numerous facts that ap¬ pear to be shown by the testimony elicited on the examination, we may mention as one of much interest that the dip of the needle amounted to 45°, and its deviation to 96°, being less than at Port Foulke and Rensselaer Harbor, as given by Dr. Kane and Dr. Hays. Auroras were frequent, but by no means brilliant, generally quite light, and consist¬ ing sometimes of one arch and sometimes of several. Streamers were quite rare. Only in one instance (in February, 1872) did the aurora appear of a distinct, rosy red. This was foreboded in the morning from 8 to 10 o’clock by a very decided disturbance of the magnetic needle. Shooting-stars were so constantly seen that, although no special shower was observed, it was scarcely possible ever to look at the star-lit sky without noticing them in one direction or another. The rise and fall of the tides were carefully observed, the average being about five and a half feet. The greatest depth of water noticed was about one hundred fathoms. The existence of a constant current southward was noted by the expedition, its rapidity varying with the season and locality. The winter temperature was found to be much milder than was expected, the minimum being 58° in January, although March proved to be the coldest month. The prevailing winds were from the northeast, although there were occasionally violent tempests from the southwest. Light winds were noticed, however, from all points of the compass. Rain was occasion¬ ally observed, only on the land, however, the precipitation presenting itself over the ice in the form of snow. During the summer the entire extent of both low lands and elevations are bare of both snow and ice, excepting patches here and there in the shade of the rocks. The soil, during this period, was covered with a more or less dense vegetation of moss, with which several arctic plants were interspersed, some of them of considerable beauty, but entirely without scent, and many small wil¬ lows scarcely reaching the diguity of shrubs. The rocks noticed were of a schistose or slaty nature, and in some instances contained fossil plants, specimens of which were collected. Distinct evidence of former glaciers were seen in localities now bare of ice, these indications con¬ sisting in the occurrence of terminal and lateral moraines. Animal life was found to abound, musk-oxen being shot at intervals throughout the winter, their food consisting of the moss and other vege¬ tation obtained during this season by scraping off the snow with their hoofs. Wolves, also bears, foxes, lemmings, and other mammals, were re¬ peatedly observed. Geese, ducks, and other water-fowls, including jfiover and other wading-birds, abounded during the summer, although the species of land-birds were comparatively few, including, however, as might have been expected, large numbers of ptarmigan or snow-par¬ tridge. No mention is made by the rescued party of the occurrence of hawks and owls. No fish were seen, although the net and liue were XIII frequently called into play in the attempt to obtain them. The waters, however, were found filled to an extraordinary degree with marine in- vertebrata, including jelly-fish and shrimps. It was believed by the party that the seals depend upon the latter for their principal subsist¬ ence, the seals themselves being very abundant. Numerous insects were observed, also, especially several species of butterflies, specimens of which were collected ; also, flies and bees and insects of like char¬ acter. The geographical results of the expedition, so far as they can now be ascertained from the testimony of Messrs. Tyson, Meyer, and their comrades, may be summed up briefly as follows : The open polar sea laid down by Kane and Hays is found to be in reality a sound of considerable extent, formed by the somewhat abrupt expansion of Kennedy’s Channel to the northward, and broken by Lady Franklin’s Bay on the west, and on the east by a large inlet or fiord, twenty-two 4niles wide at the opening, and certainly extending far inland to the southeast. Its length was not ascertained, and Mr. Meyer thinks that it may be, in fact, a strait extending till it communicates with the Francis Joseph Sound of the Germania and Hansa expedition, and with it defining the northern limits of Greenland. This inlet was called the Southern Fiord. North of it, on the same side, is the indenta¬ tion of the shore called Polaris Bay by Captain Hall, where the Polaris wintered in latitude 81° 38' north. The northern point of this bay was named Cape Luptou. Its southern point is yet without a name. From Cape Luptou the land trends to the northeast, and forms the eastern shore of a new channel from twenty-five to thirty miles wide, opening out of the sound above mentioned, to which Captain Hall, as has already been stated, gave the name of Robeson Straits. The west¬ ern shore of these straits, north of Grinnell’s Land, is also nameless. Northeast of Cape Lupton, in latitude 81° 57', is a deep inlet, which Captain Hall called Newman’s Bay, naming its northern point Cape Brevoort, and its southern bluff Sumner Headland. From Cape Bre- voort the northeast trend of the land continues to Repulse Harbor, in latitude 82° 9' north — the highest northern position reached by land during this expedition. From an elevation of 1,700 feet at Repulse Harbor, on the east coast of Robeson Strait, the land continues northeast to the end of those straits, and thence east and southeast till lost in the distance, its van¬ ishing point bearing south of east from the place of observation. No other land was visible to the northeast, but land was seen on the west coast, extending northward as far as the eye could reach, and ap¬ parently terminating in a headland and near latitude 84° north. Mr. Meyer also states that directly to the north he observed, on a bright day, from the elevation mentioned, a line of light apparently circular in form, which was thought by other observers to be land, but which he supposed to indicate open water. XIV Besides ascertaining accurately the condition and extent of what was before supposed to be an open polar sea, discovering the southern fiord to the southeast and Robeson’s Straits to the north, with another wide expanse of water beyond it, and extending, by examination and survey, the coast-line on the east up to latitude 82° 9' north, and by observa¬ tion somewhat further, prolonging the west coast to the northward, and reaching with the Polaris, under steam, the high latitude of 82° '10' north — a point far beyond the limits of all previous navigation toward the pole — errors in the shore line of the west coast, as laid down by Dr. Hays, and also errors in the shore line of Greenland, as laid down by Dr. Kane, were observed and corrected. Of course the full scientific results of the Polaris expedition cannot be known until that vessel shall have been found and brought back with the treasures she has gathered, and the records and details of her arctic explorations. But enough is told by the witnesses whom we have examined to excite expectation and encourage the hope of large and valuable additions to the domain of human knowledge. GEO. M. ROBESON, Secretary of Navy. SPENCER F. BAIRD, Assistant Secretary Smithsonian Institution. WM. REYNOLDS, Commodore United States Navy. H. W. HOWGATE, Acting Signal- Officer, United States Army. Copy of draft of Captain RalVs dispatch. Sixth Snow house Encampment, Cape Brevoort, North side Entrance to Newman’s Bay, (latitude 82° 3' north , longitude 61° 20' west,) October 20, 1871. To the Honorable Secretary of the United States Navy, ( Ieorge M. Robeson : Myself and party, consisting of Mr. Chester, first mate, my Esqui¬ maux Joe, and Greenland Esquimaux Hans, left the ship in winter, quarters, Thank God Harbor, latitude 81° 38' north, longitude 61° 4P west, at meridian of October 10, on a journey by two sledges, drawn by fourteen dogs, to discover, if possible, a feasible route inland for ray sledge journey next spring to reach the north pole, purposing to adopt XV such a route, if fouud, better than a route over the old floes and hum¬ mocks of the strait, which I have denominated Robeson Strait, after the honorable Secretary of the United States Navy. We arrived on the evening of October 17, having discovered a lake and a river on our way; the latter, our route, a most serpentine one, which led us on to this bay fifteen minutes distant from here, southward and eastward. From the top of an iceberg, near the mouth of said river, we could see that this bay, which I have named after Rev. Dr. Newman, extended to the highland eastward and southward of that position about fifteen miles, making the extent of Newman’s Bay, from its headland or cape, full thirty miles. The south cape is a high, bold, and noble headland I have named it Sumner Headland, after Hon. Charles Sumner, the orator and United States Senator ; and the north cape, Brevoort Cape, after J. Carson Brevoort, a strong friend to arctic discoveries. 