184 



The Crew of the " Polaris.' 1 '' 



Inlet on our way to the middle ice. As the infor- 

 mation was not very interesting to me, I endeavoured 

 to get to sleep, when the engines were stopped, and 

 I heard the captain hailing. Suddenly I caught 

 the sound of the word " Polaris " and ' ' survivors," 

 which caused me to jump speedily out of bed ; but 

 before I could dress, a messenger had been sent 

 down to tell me that a portion of the crew of the 

 " Polaris " had been picked up by the " Ravens- 

 craig," and that our captain had gone on board. 

 Hastily dressing, I lost no time in following him, 

 and on the quarter-deck of the " Ravenscraig " was 

 introduced to Captain Buddington and Dr. Bessels 

 of the ill-fated exploring ship. The news that we 

 heard at Lievely, relative to a part of the crew of 

 the " Polaris " having been picked up off the coast 

 of Labrador, was now corroborated, eighteen 1 of 

 them having been drifted off on a floe ; and the 



