EXPERIENCES OF THE CREW. 



623 



a cooking-stove and other evidences of the presence of civilized 

 men. Around the hut were scattered broken instruments, pro- 

 visions, books, papers and other signs that the place had been 

 inhabited and abandoned after throwing away the things they 

 could not take with them. The site of the camp was in lat- 

 itude 78° 23' N., a little farther north than Hayes had built 

 his winter quarters in 1860-61. Having gathered what infor- 

 mation they could from the Esquimaux, and picked up such 

 articles as were worth carrying away, the exploring party 

 returned to New York, after coasting along the Greenland 

 shore, but finding no further traces of the presence of the 

 Polaris. 



The details of the experience of the crew which remained on 

 the Polaris, after, on the 15th of October, 1872, she broke from 

 her moorings, leaving the nineteen persons on the ice, are as 

 follows : Before the Polaris broke away she was found to be 

 leaking badly. The strain which had been put on her by the 

 ice had opened her seams, and at the time all hands were en- 

 gaged in transferring supplies and provisions to the ice, with 

 the expectation of being probably forced to abandon her. 

 When she broke away, it was soon evident that this must be 

 -done, and after a vigorous effort, in which hours were consumed 

 in forcing her through as many miles of the broken ice, she 

 was beached. From the timbers and planks between decks, the 

 hut was constructed on the shore, and all preparations made for 

 passing the coming winter. Though they were plentifully 

 supplied with provisions, yet it was evident that the consump- 

 tion of these was merely a question of time, so the winter was 

 spent in constructing two boats, out of planks and boards taken 

 from the Polaris, to be used when the ice should open in the 

 summer. About the middle of June the party embarked in 

 these frail boats, rowing by day, and at night dragging their 

 boats upon the ice. On the 20th of July they were discovered 

 by a whale ship, and being taken aboard were landed in 



