F. GEOGRAPHY. 239 



being in command of the vessel, in accordance with the in- 

 structions of the Secretary of the Navy. They left Polaris 

 Bay on the 12th of August, 1872, and, after various adven- 

 tures, were beset hy ice on the 15th of October; and, being 

 pressed between the cakes of ice, the danger of being crush- 

 ed was so imminent that they immediately began to throw 

 provisions and supplies upon the large cake to which the 

 vessel had been attached, a portion of the crew being oc- 

 cupied in transferring the articles thrown out farther from 

 the side of the vessel, to a proper distance from it, when, a 

 sale comino: on, the Polaris was torn from her fasteninsfs and 

 driven to the northward, leaving nineteen persons on the ice, 

 comprising Captain Tyson, Mr. Meyer, both parties of Esqui- 

 maux, and certain members of the crew. 



The Polaris experienced very severe injury on this occa- 

 sion, and before a junction could be made between the sepa- 

 rated parties, the ice-floe broke away with its nineteen hu- 

 man beings, when there commenced the most remarkable 

 drift on record, lasting from the 16th of October, 1872, till 

 the 1st of April, 1873, and extending over a distance of near- 

 ly fifteen hundred miles. Strange to say, no loss of life was 

 experienced during this winter voyage upon the ice, and 

 comparatively little discomfort, although, of course, great 

 privations and hardships were encountered. 



Fortunately, by the time they reached the coast of Labra- 

 dor, they were met by the Newfoundland sealing steamer Ti- 

 gress, by which they were rescued and carried to St. John's, 

 and thence broua:ht toWashinoton in the United States steam- 

 er Frolic, dispatched by the Secretary of the Xavy for that 

 purpose, on board of which they were taken on the 27th of 

 May, reaching Washington on the 5th of June, a little less 

 than two years from the time of their departure. 



On arriving in Washington, a commission of inquiry into 

 the experiences of the Polaris, and the causes which led to 

 the separation of the party on the ice-floe, was instituted by 

 the Secretary of the Navy, consisting of himself. Commodore 

 William A. Reynolds, of the Bureau of Equipment and Re- 

 pairs ; Captain H. W. Howgate, of the Signal Corj^s ; and 

 Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution. 



In addition to this, it was thought expedient, in the event 

 of the ultimate loss of the Polaris and those remaining on 



