LEFT UPON THE ICE. 



621 



shore, but after a day's progress the vessel being caught in the 

 floating ice, was made fast to a large floe, and drifted slowly 

 up and down the sound for nearly two months. On the 

 15th of October, 1872, a violent gale drove the floating ice 

 under her, so as to raise her from the water and throw her 

 on her beam ends. To provide against all possible contingen- 

 cies, a store of provisions was thrown out upon the ice, and half 

 the crew was ordered out to carry them up upon the ice. The 

 boats were all lowered also, when the gale increasing during 

 the night the Polaris broke away from her fastening to the floe, 

 and drifted away, leaving the nineteen persons, whose fortunate 

 discovery we have noted, on the ice. During the night these 

 persons thus left labored to preserve the provisions which had 

 been put out. 



After following the subsequent fortune of the Polaris, we 

 will return to the narration of that of these nineteen persons, 

 whose fortunate preservation we have already noticed. As we 

 have seen, in July, 1873, the Tigress had been dispatched from 

 New York to search for the Polaris, on the reception of the 

 news of the rescue of nineteen of her crew from the floating 

 ice. On the 10th of September a telegram from St. John's, 

 Newfoundland, brought the news that the place where the 

 Polaris had passed the preceding winter had been visited, but 

 that the vessel itself had disappeared, and was supposed to be 

 lost, and that the crew had gone south in boats they had con- 

 structed. About a week later a telegram from Dundee, Scot- 

 land, brought the news that the rest of the crew of the Polaris 

 had been all safely landed in Dundee from a whaling ship 

 which had picked them up. Of this, however, the crew of the 

 Tigress being ignorant, the search was continued. 



On the 14th of August the Tigress had reached the spot in 

 which it was supposed the crew of the Polaris had spent the 

 winter, and a boat was sent to investigate. Landing on the 

 shore they saw dimly through the fog a hut at a short distance, 



