Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1872-05-17

turn to Greenland-She strikes an Ice snas
and Springs a Leak-Fresh and Strange Dis
coveries.
ST.. PIERRE, Newfoundland, Monday,
April Is, 1S72.-The Danish brig Meer-
bek, which arrived here yesterday brings
intelligence from the United States Arc
tic expedition under Captain Hail.
When the Meerbek left Disco, Green
land, on Friday, March /, the Polaris
had been two days at Disco, undergoing
repairs, aud procuring fresh supply of
provisions. On the afternoon of Febru-
ary 9Th, the Polaris encountered extre-
mely heavy weather, and while iayingto
ran among what Capt. Hall termed lice
snags," which could only be accounted
for by the extreme shallowness OF the
water, or high icebergs imbedded in sand
or mud. BY repeated collisions with
these breakers of ice, the Polaris sprung
leak, and on the morning succeeding
the gale Capt Hall gave orders to bear
up for Disco, where he always had in
tended to make his place of shelter, in
case of any accidents that would leave
him time to reach it. During the re-
turn to Disco the men, and even the Off
GERS and professional attaches of the ex-
pedition, sustained an unremitting work
ing of the pumps until the harbor was
| reached, and then the hold was SO wa
ter-logged and the men SO exhausted that
Capt. Hall announced that another day
at sea would have seen them abandon
| the Polaris. 1t was necessary to thow
overheard large quantity ofprovisions
and an equally great amount was so
damaged by bile-water as to be unfit for
use. except in time of extreme emer-
gency.
The log of the Polaris contained many
strange discoveries, which led 70 the con
viction that in the extreme and undis-
/ covered North there is at times a genial
atmosphere and open seas. Plants are
detected in the ice which are indigenous
to southern climates, and the examina-
tion of floating stick of wood found
on Saturday, January 18th, proved it to
be limb of some huge birch. On the
night of Sunday, February 14th, Cap
tain Hall sat on the deck all night read
ing, writing and making lunar and as
trail observations. Though the whole
month of January very little ice was
seen, and each night the sky on all sides
glittered with meteors of the most gor-
geous description, which flashed so bril-
liantly and widely across the armament
as to bedizzen the strongest eyesight.-
On the first of February the Polaris en-
countered field of ice which obstructed
her headway for several hours, and Cap
tain Hall proposed to run back into clear
water until the middle of February,
when he expected breaking up and
drifting of the fields of ice and icebergs
which infested the quarter he had aban
doned. To this determination Captain
Hall now owes the safety of his ships
company, for had he not put back over
one thousand miles, the Polaris would
have been too far from Greenland to
reach it before the water had gained too
rapid headway through the leak made
by the ice.
Christmas day was gala day on board
the Polaris. The good ship was hemmed
in by heavy field ice, but the weather
was as pleasant as an Italian spring day.
The Esquimaux and the dogs which
[ Captain Hall procured at St. Johns
, we're brought into requisition, and seal
, hunt was proposed as the object of the
day. The dogs were lowered to the ice
, in boat from the davits, and we're
tackled to low sledges by the Esqui-
maux. Captain Hall says that the sa-
gacity and tractableness of these ami
, mails were remarkable. After half an
hours stretch gallop over the heavy ice,
, the painting doys suddenly drew up and
! yelled and paved the surface. One of
the Esquimaux-th oldest of the lot
at once interpreted the warnings of the
: dogs, and quick as lightning he bounded
from his seat and turned the dogs heads
toward the ship. In half the time it
had taken to reach the distance they
had travelled from the Polaris, the eager
dogs pulled up beside the hull. Around
the horizon then there were murky clouds
assembling, and the atmosphere feltmis-
J ty and bleak. Within an hour after the
! warning of the sagacious animals, the
ice had been broken up and the Polaris
was separated from it by stormy chan
mel nearly half mile in width. Had
the seal-huntiDg party fulfilled their in.
tention of urging on the dogs and keep
! ing up the sport until moonlight few OF
them would have survived the excursion
: Upon another occasion these valuable
} dogs acted as settlers in scenting out a
large number of seals which would have