Ixii GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



ty ill regard to tlie party remaining on board, induced the 

 Secretary of the Navy to send a relief expedition, consisting 

 of the Juniata and the Tigress^ the latter having been pur- 

 chased for the purpose. 



In the mean time the party on the Polaris went ashore, 

 and established a second winter camp, and early in the fol- 

 lowino; June started out in two boats for the western side of 

 Baffin's Bay, in hopes of meeting some whaling vessel. They 

 were found and picked up by a Dundee whaling steamer, 

 the Ravenscraig^ from which vessel they were transferred to 

 the Arctic and the Intrepid^ and carried in safety to Dundee, 

 Scotland, from which point they returned to Washington. 

 The only casualty during the expedition consisted in the 

 death of Captain Hall. 



Although many of the records and a large portion of the 

 natural-history collections were lost, the general results were 

 of the highest value, and will form the subject of a special 

 report on the j^art of Dr. Bessels, the chief of the scientific 

 corps. They embrace determinations of the tides, the mag- 

 netism, the meteorology, the hydrography, and the natural 

 history of the polar regions. 



A notable move in the way of arctic search was also made 

 by some Dundee steam whaling vessels, of which eight were 

 fitted out, and met with more or less success. One of these, 

 the Arctic^ was accompanied by Captain Markham, of the 

 Koyal Navy, who visited the Greenland seas for the purpose 

 of familiarizing himself with the details of arctic travel, ex- 

 l^ccting to be connected with the anticipated British expedi- 

 tion in 1874. This vessel touched at several portions of the 

 North, especially the old encampment of Captain Parry, of 

 fifty years ago, where they found stores and supplies in good 

 condition, including meat cans, with the contents still per- 

 fectly palatable. It was to this vessel that the Polaris crew 

 was transferred from the Pavenscraig and taken to Scotland. 



Less productive in scientific results than the voyage of the 

 Polaris was the Swedish expedition under Professor Nor- 

 denskjold, which had for its object the prosecution of arctic 

 search to the north of Spitzbergen by means of sledges drawn 

 by reindeer. This expedition proceeded to Spitzbergen dur- 

 ing the summer of 1872, but was unfortunately beset by the 

 ice earlier in the season than was anticipated ; and a supply 



