602 TESTIMONY OF JOHN HERKON. 



gale drove the ice in upon her, and she was raised out of 

 the water and thrown over on her beam ends, and was of 

 course entirely unmanageable. 



The Innuit women and children* were at once sent upon 

 the ice for safety, and the boats, provisions, etc., followed; 

 in the haste, many of the articles were in danger of being 

 lost, and half the crew were ordered to go down on the ice 

 and see to the placing of the goods in comparative safety. 

 Among those sent upon the ice were Captain Tyson and 

 Mr. Meyer, and the Innuits Joe and Hans. 



Scarcely had this much been effected when, the night 

 being dark and a blinding snow steadily falling, the gale, 

 still at its height, forced the Polaris from her fastenings, 

 and she soon passed from sight. 



So forcibly does John Herron, in his testimony before 

 the naval court of inquiry, state the thrilling incidents 

 of this terrible hour that we quote a few extracts : 



" I remember the night we got separated from the ship ; 

 it was the 15th of October ; it was almost altogether dark 

 hi that latitude then ; it happened in the evening ; wind 

 was blowing ; cannot say if it was snowing ; it is always 

 drifting there ; the ice came pressing in on our starboard 

 side ; Captain Buddington gave the word for every man 

 to save what he could, and look out for his life ; we had 

 everything brought on deck for such an occasion ; every- 

 thing was in readiness ; the first thing we did was to place 

 the women and children on the ice, expecting the ship to 

 go down every minute ; next thing we threw over provi- 

 sions ; we threw them so fast that some of them were get- 

 ting lost ; Captain Buddington sang out for some of the 

 men to get on the ice ; we got on the ice to move the things 

 back, and then went aboard to get some cooking utensils ; 

 I went aboard to hand some things out ; I had been out 

 again but a few minutes when they sang out, ' Lower the 

 boats ;' the ice we were on was cracking. The ship slipped 

 anchor, and in three or four minutes we were afloat on dif 



