586 IMPRISONED BY THE ICE. 



lieved by the arrival of the United States transport Con- 

 gress, which he had expected to meet earlier, at Holstein- 

 borg. On the 17th the Polaris again weighed anchor 

 for Upernavik, where she arrived the next day. Here 

 the captain succeeded in finding and engaging Hans 

 Christian, and he and his family came aboard ; he 

 also engaged Jensen, a Dane, who had been a valu- 

 able worker in the Hayes expedition. On the 21st, 

 having secured dogs and such other supplies as were 

 requisite for the work before him, Captain Hall fairly 

 entered upon active operations. Steaming across Mel- 

 ville Bay, the Polaris entered Smith's Sound. Thence 

 she passed through Kennedy Channel. Thence again 

 she pushed on into what was supposed to be Kane's Open 

 Polar Sea ; Captain Hall found this to be only a moder- 

 ately large bay, and he named it Polaris Bay. Farther 

 on, he discovered another bay or strait, about thirty miles 

 across ; this he called Robeson Channel or Strait, in honor 

 of the Secretary of the Navy. Up this channel, he suc- 

 ceeded, August 31st, in reaching a higher latitude than 

 any vessel had before attained 82 29'. The energetic 

 captain made several efforts to work his steamer still 

 farther up, but found it impossible ; vast floes and fields 

 stretched quite across the strait, and completely blocked 

 up the passage. The Polaris became imprisoned in somo 

 of these huge fields, and drifted with them down to about 

 81 30', when the captain succeeded in extricating her, 

 and steered into a small cove in Polaris Bay, in latitude 

 81 38' ; in this cove, on September 3rd, the captain 

 anchored his gallant steamer for the winter. The name 

 of this harbor was suggested by a very narrow escape 

 from total shipwreck in seeking its grateful shelter; so 

 imminent was the peril that everything was got in readi- 

 ness to abandon her at a moment's notice. But, " Thank 

 God !" the captain succeeded in saving her and taking her 

 into safe quarters, and he recognized the divine Hand hi 



