616 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



the government sent a steamer to bring them to Washington. 

 Here they were examined by a commission, and their story, 

 which had been already gathered by a correspondent at St. 

 John's, made public. A diary of their experience upon the ice 

 had been kept by John Heron, the steward, from which extracts 

 will be given further on. They brought the news of Hall's 

 death and burial. He had died November 8th, 1871, a little 

 more than a week after his return to the Polaris, then in winter 

 quarters in a cove on the Greenland shore, in latitude 81° 38', 

 and named Polaris Bay. After leaving Tessuisac, the Polaris 

 passed Northumberland Island, and through Smith's Sound, 

 into Kane's Sea, the body of water which had been supposed by 

 Kane and Hayes to be the open Polar Sea. Steaming up this 

 sea to a point which Hall's reckoning made 82° 29', and Meyer 

 subsequently 82° 16', the difference between the two being only 

 about fifteen miles, the channel was found blocked, on the 30th 

 of August, by heavy masses of floating ice. Here, while de- 

 bating where it would be best to winter, the ice closing round 

 the Polaris drifted her back four days, until, on the 3d of Sep- 

 tember, the pack opened, and allowed her to enter a small cove 

 on the Greenland shore. 



This cove was protected by an immense iceberg, and here it 

 was determined to winter. This cove was called Polaris Bay, 

 and was in latitude 81° 38'. The iceberg that sheltered it was 

 christened Providence berg. Upon this, Hall, on the evening 

 of September 3d, landed, and raised the American flag. 



If the calculations are correct, Polaris Bay is three minutes, 

 or about three miles, further north than the point reached by 

 Hayes on the opposite side of the strait, and about two hundred 

 miles further north than the point which Kane made his winter 

 quarters. Upon this iceberg an observatory was built, and a 

 series of scientific observations begun. Hall, eager to press 

 forward, could not rest quiet, with the prospect of remaining 

 here inactive the rest of the winter, and te^an his preparations 



