HISTORICAL SUMMARY 105 
records of the Erebus and Terror. He remained in the country 
for four winters before he succeeded in reaching the southern 
shores of King William island; he was unsuccessful in his 
quest. Hall throughout his journeys kept a voluminous jour- 
nal; he took meteorological observations and observations for 
his position. His instruments appear to have been not of the 
best, and Hall seems to have had a great faith in the statements 
of the natives, a faith that was often abused; in consequence, 
much of his information from that source is quite unreliable. 
To return to the Polaris expedition, fitted out by the United 
States government, with the object of reaching the North Pole. 
She left New York on the 29th of June, 1871, with a crew of 
twenty-three, which was increased by ten Greenlanders. Mel- 
ville bay was crossed in thirty-four hours, and Smith sound 
being free of ice, an almost uninterrupted passage was made 
through Kane basin and Kennedy channel, so that the Polar 
ocean was reached on the 31st of August in latitude 82 11', 
to the northwest of repulse harbour, where heavy, ancient, 
arctic ice stopped further progress. Returning southward, the 
Polaris went into winter quarters at Thank God harbour. Hall, 
in October, reached Cape Brevoort, but died suddenly shortly 
after his return, and this calamity put a stop to further efforts 
to reach the Pole. Some explorations were made in the early 
spring before it was decided to return home. On the way south 
the ship was caught in the ice in Kennedy channel, on the 14th 
of August, and remained fast in the pack until the 15th of 
October, when a furious gale broke up the pack, in sight of 
Northumberland island, after nearly destroying her in the pro- 
cess of disruption. When this occurred several of the party 
Who were on the ice landing stores were left, and drifted south- 
ward 1,500 miles on the ice, being rescued by the Tigress, off 
the coast of Labrador, on the 30th of April, 1872. The vessel 
was beached at Life Boat cove, and the remainder of the crew 
passed the winter in safety in a house built from the wreck. 
