The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-09-11
THE POLARIS.
CONTINUED FROM FIFTH PAGE.

they had sailed south. The building OF boats
was the plan adopted already during my pres
ence on board the Polaris while drifting in
Smiths Sound but then it was gen.
orally acknowledged to be impossible
70 build anything but scows. ! feel
great anxiety for the party, 80
embarked especially as Commander Greer
appears to have had no tidings of them on
the east coast of the channel Shall it be
their fate to encounter the dangers and feel
the misery of an ice drift, or will they be res
cued by whaler? Or will Commander
Greer fall in with them on his proposed trip
to the Labrador coast? They started early,
almost too early, according to the despatch, in
the latter part Of June, when the strait is full
of heavy ice and navigation in two weak boats
rs the despatch says, is very difficult matter,
even so difficult as to be only taken in consid-
GRAFTON by desperate crew.
hope they had to make use of their boats
emily for distance of two degrees and
half and when near Cape York
they were rescued by q whaler. The fate
of the Polaris grieves me deeply, having
borne me to latitude 80 deg. Is min, and
having been my abode for over year, having
carried me bravely through the thickest of
Smiths Sound ice, and before all, having
had on board almost to the last brave and
fearless men, who stood by me always but on
that one day after our disaster. But now oc-
ours to me an explanation of all the mystery
which / cannot withhold.
On the 10th of October, 1872, the Polaris
steamed south on the lookout for her lost
crew. She deserted us when near Northumber-
land Island Then q northeast storm sprung
mp and she sought shelter behind the island,
hoping that we would reach land
and might be taken to the vessel
on the following day, and knowing also
that if she was exposed to the gale
she would only be in great danger herself and
lose sight of u.s. When, afterwards, she found
that we had drifted away or persisted she
steamed to Littleton Island, in the neighbor-
hood of which she expected to find DR.. Hayes
deposit of provisions and clothing. Knowing
the difficulty of managing the Polaris without
steam and keeping in action the ships pump
with only fourteen hands, Captain Bud
liington and party were determined, as
soon as they had established their second win
ter quarters, to build boats, prepare for an
early departure in the same, and make one
desperate effort to either reach port of
Greenland or to be rescued by whaler.
Now that nothing of them has been heard
On the east coast, there are only two sides to
the case-either they have been already res
cued, or their boats became unmanageable and
were crushed in the ice or driven by current
and wind, which both are westerly inclined,
are drifting on the Labrador coast. Even if
the boats have been crushed, the men likely
have saved their lives, and are on the ice
drifting down the Labrador coast.
This was all Sergeant Meyer thought proper
10 say in the absence of more definite informa-
fion, but promised, when more accurate facts
were received, to give more explicit views on
the probable fate of the crew of the Polaris.
For Map OF Arctic Regions See sixth
Page.