774 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



crews of the Erebus and Terror would have been saved. Ebierbing stands out every- 

 where as the hero of this wonderful story. Hardly less is he the hero of Hall's 

 account of his first expedition ; and should the records of his second expedition ever 

 be published, he will appear equally prominent there. The attachment of Ebierbing 

 for Hall was something which has no counterpart, saving in that to Robinson Crusoe 

 of his Man Friday." To him also we owe the preservation of the last dispatch 

 of Hall. It was contained in Hall's writing desk, which was thrown upon the ice 

 when the Polaris was left. All through that long drift the faithful Esquimaux kept 

 guard over it. When provisions, clothing, and almost everything else was thrown 

 overboard, he still held fast to that priceless document. If ever a man lived who 

 deserves an ample reward while living, and a noble monument when dead, it is this 

 little dusky Esquimaux, whose portrait appears in this volume, on page 434. 



Another thing which must strike every reader is the marvelous fidelity and brother- 

 liness of that strange party on the ice. Saving for the three instances where one of the 

 men appropriated a little of the scanty stock of provisions, there is not a word of im- 

 putation of blame upon one of them. The first thought of these sailors, comprising 

 almost as many nationalities as individuals, seems to have been for the Esquimaux 

 women and their children. And even in the case of the one person who is mentioned 

 with blame, any one who has felt for long weeks the keen gnawings of hunger, will 

 be slow to pass a very severe censure. All this is the more remarkable from the fact 

 that all this self-restraint was self-imposed. There was no one who really had any right 

 to command, or any power to enforce an order. In his testimony before the commis- 

 sioners, Herron says : " Captain Tyson had command on the ice ; but he never seemed 

 to take much of a lead. Everything seemed to go on very well. There was not a 

 great deal of commanding ; it was not wanted. When we did not do as he directed it 

 turned out wrong." 



The fate of the Polaris, and of the men left on board of her, is as yet uncertain. 

 When last seen she seemed safe from present danger. She had an abundance of 

 provisions on board, and so there is little apprehension that her crew have suffered 

 starvation. But she was most likely badly crippled by the storm which separated her 

 from the ice floe, and probably laid up at or near Northumberland Island. She had 

 not a single boat left, so that the crew could not by that means make their escape to 

 the Greenland settlements far to the south. To ascertain the facts in the case, the 

 Navy Department has promptly taken proper measures. The steamer Juniata, the 

 best for the purpose at the disposal of the Department, has been sent to the Green- 

 land ports ; but it is not expected that she can penetrate the icy region to the north. 

 If by the time, say late in July, 1873, when she reaches Disco, no tidings has 

 reached there of the Polaris, her work will have been accomplished. Meanwhile a 

 more effective expedition has been organized. The Tigress, built expressly for navi^ 

 gation in the ice, has been purchased and brought to New York, there to be fitted up 

 for a voyage to the far north. She set sail on the 18th of July, with orders, first of 

 all, to find if possible, the Polaris and her crew. That failing, she was to push north, 

 ward, and endeavor to complete the work begun by Hall. At best, however, she 

 cannot be expected to reach the icy seas during the summer of 1873. So that, 

 assuming that she sets out from Greenland, in the summer of 1874, and finds tha 



