The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-05-13

Experienced Experts Expressing Their
Views ON the Expedition OF Captain
Hall.
The HERALD reporter subsequently conversed
yesterday with several experts who were promi-
nently connected with the Quitting OF the expedi
ton. They requested that their names be not pub
lished but the information they gave was OF i'm
portance. The interview with the first OF these
gentlemen will be found particularly interesting,
and is as foows:-
REpoRrER-what was the principal cause OF the
failure OF the expedition
EXPERT think there was dissenson among the
crew and the officers. think IL very strange that
they should have discharged such large quantities
OF provisions on the ice. reason that there was
some trouble between Captain Tyson and Captain
Buddington; and there can't be two bosses on
board ship. My idea is that they were trying TO
stop leak and tighten the vessel, but you would
think that after having stopped the leak
THE NATURAL PLACE OF SAFETY
for ali OF them would have been board the ship.
REPoRTER-Do you think they were driven from
the shipY
ExPERT-No; they could not have taken such
quantities of provisions with them II they had been
driven from the Ship You must remember that
they had provisions enough to last them 1877 days,
besides what was lost on the Ice and what was LETT
when they were rescued, aud also that they had
clothing and ammuaition; that was shown by the
killing OF seals and bears. l think that the party
who deserted the Polaris must have thought her
Still not reliable to live in, owing to some defects
in the hull; and although the leak might have
been stopped, they might have thought that they
had better trust themselves to the ice than to the
Ship which might leak again. l don't think the
separation was preceded by any fighting. think
IL was probably voluntary and amicable arrange
ment.
REPORTER Was Captain Hall careful in providing
himself with all that was necessary before he
started?
CAPTAIN HALLS OUTFIT.
ExPERT-No, can't say that he was. AS regards
arms and ammunition, for instance, he had for
gotten all about them till of the officers at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard asked him whether he had not
better take along to kill bears and seals with.
When they were finally brought he was Already
steaming up the East River. ana the Navy Yard
tug had TO chase him up to deliver them That was
certainly piece OF great careessness on his part
REPORTER-Was the ship fitted for the service?
EXPERT don't think the ship was as good for
the service as she ought to have been. think she
ought TO have been solid frame, corked, then
sealed inside and planked out and then she ought
to have had iron round her SIDES. She ought to
keeed over so much when on the ice. There were
several excellent suggestions which Captain Hall
disregarded. One OF them very important 1t
was suggested to him to take along small torpedoes
and use them from a pole to break up the ice at
the head OF the VESSEL he could nave accomplished
that by
GETTING THE roRpEDoEs UNDER THE ICE
and then discharging Them
REPoRTER-Was Captain Hail man who would
be able to maintain good discipline
ExPERr-Well, don't know about that When
no executive head. II you would go to see
Captain Hall about a matter he would refer you to
somebody else. VINO would most probably refer YOU
back to Captain Hall. That was the way they did
business ,%ss n ~, angnng Hall vas oveTrnn with visi
all the people who came to see him about this or
that. One wanted him to introduce new system
OF religion among the Esquimaux; the other
wanted him to bring back some real snow. DC. l
have to laugh when think OF it.
Another gentleman who has occupied high
position In the naval service, When called upon Tor
his opinion, said
II thought it very singular to send the ship
UNDER COMMAND OF LANDSMAN
like Captain Hall. lie was no seaman, and no
landsman could have maintained man-oi-war dis
opinion is that the vessel ought to nave been
placed under command OF sailor. It is true
as captain, but as first oflicer. From what
learned he was originally blacksmith then
changed his profession several times, and finally
became journalist, when he studied this cues
ton. He made two passages in whalers to become
familiar with the routine OF ships. That was all
he knew Of seafaring. AS regards the ship, |
think she was very well prepared to resist
the climate or the Arctic regions. She was well
decked over so that the crew need not have been
exposed to the atmosphere, and her appearance
above water was that OF a strong vessel. She
also had very line crew-they were a splendid lot
OF men.
ANOTHER CRITIC.
Mr.. Hardin, the foreman Of the Constructors De-
partinent or the Navy Yard, said he had always
thought that Captain Hall man who could
not maintain good discipline, because he treated
his men so badly. lie had even heard that Captain
Han mad shot one oil his lnen in former passage.
Chief Justice Daily and the Polaris-
Action To BE Taken by the Geographic
cal Socicty-The Proper Route to the
POle-The Geographical Features Of
the Expedition.
The American Geographical Society contemplates
q special meeting to consider the fate OF the
Polaris, after Captain Tyson shall have returned
to New York. The survivors will DC treated with
all the honors due to the fortitude which they OK
hibted during their extraordinary voyage On the
ice flee. Chief Justice Daily President of the
Geographical Society, informed a HERALD repre-
sentative last evening that he considered that
Captain Hall was hardly competent person to
lead an enterprise of the character or an Arctic
expedition. Judge DAILY remembers well when
Captain Hail first made his appearance
in New York. 1t the occasion
OF the Kane memorial before the Geograp hcal
Society. when Hail. an enthusiastic and blunt man,
approached Judge DAILY, sefntroduced, sayng:-"l
want to go and find the bones Of Sir John Frank
n" He asked to be permitted to explain bis
views TO the Society, and in exceedingly homely
address he gave what crude ideas he had formed.
Mr.. Grinnes attention was attracted to young
Hail. and, as he had patronlZed the Kane expedi-
tion he advised Captain Hall to proceed IN a whaer
to Frobsher's Sound, which was the first voyage
OF the deceased explorer. Judge Daily is Of the
opinion that great geographical triumph has been
gained in the fact that the Polaris able
to drop anchor in latitude 60 16 North al
most abreast OF Union Point where Dr.
Hayes planted the stars and Stripes in
q latitude never before reached by human being
1t is now only one month since Dr. Hayes from
the platform OF Association Hail. said And hope
that Captain Hall has taken that nag and has
ioated IL on the axis OF the earth.h Judge Daily be-
ieves that the only route Of practical exploration
Is the one favored by Captain Han. The President
Of q nhical Sn..eIN rhn sIl.innt