Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-05-23
pOL4RfS EXPEDITION.
Additional Statements OF SURVIVOR

of the unfortunates when left on the ice was
that Lieut. Buddington had willfully abandon
ed them. They also believed that Captain
Hall was poisoned. They lived principally up
on seals, occasionally INDUCING in roasted
dog. They attribute their wonderful preser-
walton to the sagacity and perseverance of
Capt. Tyson while the latter says the scien-
tfic results amount to nothing. The expedi-
ton demonstrated it is possible to penetrate
farther into the mysteriousIregion OF the sea
and ice than Franklin, Hayes or any other ex-
plorer proceeded. and furnished evidences of
the probable existence OF a Polar sea. John
Heron, steward of the Polars, makes the fol-
lowing statement regarding the sickness and
death of Captain Hall -
Capt. Hall had good health up to the time
of returning from the sledge expedition. He
was not sick when he came on board, but COM
planned soon afterwards, and said the heat Of
the cabin affected him. He got water to wash
and put on clean undertaking. / asked him
what he would have; was anxious 70 get him
something nice. He did not care about any
thing but some coffee, and he did not drink
that. / had no conversation with him when
he was sick except to ask him if he was better
occasionally, or how he was and such like.
He was sick fortnight and talked very little.
He was perfectly delirious for the last few
days. think he was paralyZed on one side.
Heard no one say so. 1t was my own opin-
ion. There was nothing sudden about his
death. He was attended by DIR. Bessels and
| Mr.. Morton, who did everything in their pow
er to alleviate his suffering, but without effect.
His illness cast a gloom over the entire com
pany, and was the first discouraging circum-
= stance which had occurred in connection with
the expedition. His death made US all very
=. sad.
Capt. Tyson, speaking Of Capt. Halls death
; says
- Capt. Hail was sick fifteen days. At first
= he was paralyzed and then deirious. He
u started from the ship on sled expedition
t, northwards on the 10th of October. He was
s absent fourteen days and returned on the 24th
. of October to the ship. On the Sth of No
~ vember he died and was buried. His grave
70 bore south southeast and about Ave hundred
id PAGES distant from the observatory in Polaris
bay, which was in lat. Sl.3S, lon. "A on the
shore. We erected n board ever his grave
n with an inscription cut, giving his name, age
- go years. date of death, and 'Commander
,e Of the North Polar Expedition. All hands,
-, except the cook, attended his funeral. 1t was
" a dark, dismal, cold, windy and disagreeable
e day. The wind was mournfully bowling and
N the hearts of all were enveloped in the deep
Ia est sadness. l held lantern. and by the
light of it the beautiful service of the Episco-
pal church read by Mr.. Bryant. As the
o soothing words, Il am the resurrection and
- the life; SO saith the Lord" fellupon the ears
of the auditors there were few dry eyes, and
: there, amid the desolation of nature most
e rugged the power of Christianity made itself
p felt by those who had never before acknowl-
: edged its influence. Few of those who were
d present at the burial will forget the deeply af-
g fecting scene. Old sailors, whose faces had
I been bronzed by summer suns and frozen in
Arctic seas. wept aloud. Captain Hall was
i" universally beloved, and his death, at the time
st when the enterprise promised so hopefully,
% was felt by his survivors to be an irretrieva-
- BILE loss These thoughts were uppermost in
IL the minds of all, and when the funeral party
y returned to the ship there was hushed ST.
e. ence attending the performance of every du-
~ ty
- Esquimaux Joe says that Capt Burlington
Is was quarreling all the time, and speaks in
G general disapprobation of him. He says also
that Capt. Hall was poisoned and that the lat
ter so expressed himself to him.
The prevailing impression among the I'M
3 fortunate nineteen who were left behind was
that Burlington had wilfully abandoned
them to their fate. He had been anticipating
the breaking up of the ice for some time, and
$ if he had wished to have Tyson and his COM
panions on board he could easily have repre-
T. scented matters to them in such light that
they would not have ventured to be absent at
so critical juncture, but no such intimation
was given to the men on the ice. The vessel
3 did not drift away SO suddenly that the men
r could not have been rescued from their peril
Gus position. Mr.. Heron says
Il l made a rush for the vessel and sung out
for the line, but they would not give me one.
Chester and Buddington we're standing on the
, gangway and could have thrown me one. |
? was with four others on a piece Of ice that had
provisions on it. 1t cracked off and went adrit.
We got back to the main foe in a scow or
boat which sunk under one of the men, hut
I we all got safely back.
Tyson says: 81 could have got aboard the
vessel that night and been there now, but
would not leave the women and children.
My duty was on the ice. | thought he would
get back to us next day, which he could have
done. The breaking away was caused by the
foe to which the ship was fastened drifting
in between the land and some icebergs that
were TANNED The jam broke up the foe,
and the vessel broke away. 1t was about 8
! or 10 o'clock at night The temperature was
about zero"
Capt. Tyson thinks the i'll feeling and bad
designs of BudIngton and few others, who
were his accomplices, had continued from the
first on account of Halls determination to go
as far north as possible, and Buddington's de-
, ermlnation, from fear or whatever cause, that
he should not After Halls death most of the
Others were in favor of continuing and push
30 "N. ~, ann A9sOh edSs l)uuuIHHtOu
. several times expressed his determination to
send Tyson and his party to he'll as soon as
an opportunity offered. He characterized
= burlington as a great scoundrel and declares
y that he purposely abandoned them to destruc.
} ton. He gives Myers the character of being
energetic and qualified in his department, bu,
) thinks he was not sufficiently aware of the
|; condition OF affairs at the time Of the separa
tion, aud the possibility of getting rescued, to
: be able to give any opinion upon it. The
s Germans, according to his account, ruled the
ship after Capt. Halls death, and there was
u neither law nor system on board, every one
Y working entirely on his own account. Bes-
sci and Bryant were anxious to get as far
1 north as possible. Myers had worked hard
I and lost all his labors.
Gansboro, Tenn, is agog at the miracul-
Gus performances Of an infant Babbage named
, Settle six years old, who doesn't know his
alphabet but who docs the most complicated
ari,hmetical calculations in his head at mo-