1'HP. WORLD'S WONDERS. 709 



Puney (child), Hans.. Merkut or Christiana (Han's wife), Augus- 

 tina, Tobias, Succi (children), Charley Polaris (baby of Hans). 

 The Polaris sailed firm the Brooklyn navy y aid June 29, 1871, 

 in command of Capt. C. E. Hall, whose consuming ambition had 

 been, for many years, to reach the North Pole. The Polaris 

 was housed in winter quarters at Thank God Harbor, Hall intend- 

 ing to proceed from there by sledge toward the North. About 

 the 1st of November, however, he fell sick of a strange malady 

 some say poison and on the 8th died in great agony. He was 

 buried, wrapped in the national colors, in a shallow grave, dug 

 only by great labor in the hard, frozen earth. Capt. S. O. Bud- 

 dington, who had been acting as sailing and ice-master, succeeded 

 to the command. Immediately upon assuming charge of the 

 expedition, Capt Buddington abandoned every effort to carry 

 out the objects for which it was dispatched, and awaited, with 

 much impatience, the coming of spring and the breaking tip of 

 the ice, that he might return to the United States. Capt. Tyson 

 begged Buddington to remain, or bold the Polaris until he could 

 himself make a sledge journey to the north. This was refused 

 upon the most unjustifiable grounds, and on July 25, 1872, the 

 season being very late, there was a break-up in the ice sufficient 

 to allow them to sail, bat being in a bay the ice was found thirl; 

 at the mouth, and the ship was soon so beset that it became neces- 

 sary to anchor to a floe, in latitude 80 2' N. They now drifted 

 helplessly until October 15th, when there was so much danger 

 from being nipped and the vessel crushed, that a considerable 

 quantity of provisions was thrown off the steamer onto the ic-e 

 as a precaution. At six o'clock in the afternoon of that day all 

 hands were at work throwing off packages, as the vessel was 

 already leaking badly, and her timbers were cracking under the 

 great pressure of ice about her. Suddenly, at ten o'clock at 

 night, while a gale was blowing, the vessel was released and 

 blown out to sea, through a large rift, giving no one time to antici- 

 pate such an accident ; thus several were left on broken bi* of 

 ice struggling for their lives, while others were on the main flo*,. 



