HAYES, HALL AND OTHER ADVENTURERS 313 



discovered through the fog, and so near them that Hans leaped into 

 his kajak and paddled towards her. Meantime, she perceived Cap- 

 tain Tyson's signals, and, to the intense joy of all these storm-beaten, 

 wan, attenuated, suffering castaways, bore down upon them. In a 

 few minutes she was alongside of their piece of ice. 



"On her approach, and as they slowed down," says Captain 

 Tyson, whose words we shall here adopt, "I took off my old Russian 

 cap, which I had worn all winter, and waving it over my head, gave 

 them three cheers, in which all the men most heartily joined. It was 

 instantly returned by a hundred men, who covered her top-gallant- 

 mast, forecastle, and fore-rigging. We then gave three more, and 

 a 'tiger;' which was appropriate, surely, as she proved to be the 

 sealer 'Tigress,' a barkentine of Conception Bay, Newfoundland." 



They found that in the 196 days they had spent on the floe they 

 had drifted over 1500 miles from the latitude in which the "Polaris" 

 was beset on October I2th. For the time they believed they were 

 the only survivors of the expedition, but in this they were wrong. 

 The remainder of the party also escaped, though without under- 

 going quite the same hardships as themselves. 



When the "Polaris" broke away from the ice, she did not sink, 

 but drifted rapidly before the gale through the open channel. Cap- 

 tain Buddington, who had assumed command when Captain Hall 

 died, and the twelve men who remained on board, managed to keep 

 the disabled vessel afloat, but they could do no more until she again 

 becarr- involved in the ice. By that time all hopes of returning to 

 the place where the other men were on the ice was abandoned, and, 

 as the water was fairly open, the efforts of the crew were mainly 

 directed to warping the ship towards the coast. By good fortune 

 she managed to escape from the crushing packs, and, with tireless 

 effort and great care, she was at length brought within sight of land. 

 Then she was caught in the ice along the shore and so severely 

 nipped that her ruin was complete. She, however, did not sink, and 

 her crew were able to reach the land. 



