The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-05-12

Our Washington dispatches state that the
thrilling account Of the Polaris disaster,
received specially and exclusively by the
HERALD, continues to excite earnest discus
sion and speculation in official circles at
the capital, and especially in the Navy
Department. Intense anxiety is now
felt for the fate of the Polaris
and of the fourteen persons remaining on
beard The doubts expressed by DR.. Hayes,
the well-known Arctic explorer, in his inter-
esting conversation with q HERALD reporter,
published yesterday, seem to be shared by the
Navy Department. It is considered singular
that the separation of the explorers should
have occurred, and it is the intention of Score
tary Robson to bring Captain Tyson. Fred
erick Meyer and one or two Of the rescued
Esquimaux to Washington as speedily as pos
sible, in order that the facts may be thoroughly
understood.
OF all the marvellous escapes from the
wintry terrors of Bafin Bay there is none
recorded 80 marvellous and astonishing as the
preservation Of the lives Of Captain Tyson
and his eighteen companions from the Polaris
whites and Esquimaux, through drifting
cruise Of one hundred and ninety-seven days,
on cake or island Of ice, in that stormy sea,
at the mercy Of the elements and through all
the trials Of cold and darkness of an Arctic
winter. But in the wonderful preservation
and escape Of these drifting mariners we are
encouraged to believe that Captain Budding
ton and the remnant Of the ships crew re-
naming on the Polaris, well provided and
equipped for the Winter, are also safe, and
that our next intelligence of the ship will
probably be from the Captain himself, report
ing her arrival at Newfoundland Compelled
to abandon the object Of the expedition, he
would surely avail himself of the earliest OPP
portunity for O return homeward. It is pos
sible, however, that the Polaris, in her leaky
condition, may have bec61iie dnssaSwdrthy:. Il
so, the Captain, in the nearest available inlet,
will doubtless remain with his ship and slen-
der ships crew, awaiting a rescue
To meet this possible contingency the gov
eminent, without loss Of time, should order,
equip and despatch steamer for the relief of
the Polaris. She may not need relief. Cap
tain Buddington may be able to bring her
out and we hope will bring her out without
assistance; but she was leaking in October
last, and after being locked up during the
Winter in the ice she may, for all useful pur-
poses, be reduced to the condition of q wreck.
With the drifting OF the Polar ice pack
against her on q lee shore she may be left hard
orrpund TY,o fha rpr,orf of Gor,-
tain Tyson is suggestive of danger to the ship,
o steamer should be detailed for her relief as
soon as practicable.
But is the North Pole to be abandoned?
Why not? Is there anything to be gained of
any practical value to mankind from the
planting of the United States flag or any
other flag, or from the erection of whaling
station or lighthouse on the North Pole? For
three hundred years sturdy navigators
had struggled and persevered in the
enterprise of discovering northwest
passage, and when Captain McClintock finally
discovered it, by making the trip from the
Pacific to the Atlantic by way of Behring
Straits and Bafin Bay, he only established
the fact that this northwest passage is of no
practical value whatever. But science will
have a solution of this mystery of the North
Pole. The question then recurs, How arc we
to solve it? How are those intervening icy
barriers to be passed which all the bold adj
venturers into Baflin Bay OF three hundred
years have failed to pierce? In our judgment
the work may be accomplished by very sim
pie change in the plan Of operations.
The plan followed up to this time has been
the plan of detailing one ship or two, three or
more ships upon Polar expedition, and they
have all failed because the North Pole is not
to be reached in this way. In military view
it is like undertaking to capture fortified city
by storm which can be carried only by regular
approaches. Or the experience of Russia in
the conquest of the Circassians will serve to
illustrate our idea. For years Russia pursued
the policy Of attempting to overrun and hold
the Caucasus in single campaign and in all
such attempts she was beaten or bafled and
compelled to withdraw. At length she
adopted the plan Of regular approaches. She
advanced to given point, and there, building
a fort, established garrison to hold it and
SO she advanced from point to point, till the
Circassians were completely subdued. BY
this same plan of operations the North Pole
may be reached. Taking, for example, the
route of Bafin Bay, let a harbor and mag
azine of supplies for several ships (steamers,
small, but powerfully first be established at
Upernavik, in Greenland. Next let the
ships be put in Winter quarters at Uper-
navik. Still maintaining there base Of sup
plies, next let second depot, the next season,
be established as near the head Of Bafin
Bay as practicable, and let whole season
be devoted to furnishing this station with
boats, sledges, dogs, equipments and sup
plies for the ice-pack which fringes the open
Polar Sen and Let the steamers lhuilt ex-