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. 



