Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-04-17
9aitp Aennfbet yournal.
4 VICTIM OF THE PoLARIs EXPEDITION

Pony Eberbing, an Esquimaux girl, OF
Renplse Bav, aged nine years, recently
hre.tbed her last in Groton, Conn. She
was the adopted daughter of Esquimaux
Toe. the interpreter and companion for
many years of the late Captain G. +. Hall,
the Arctic explorer The history OF this
child is somewhat romantic one. When
the wife Of Esquimaux Joe. Hanna, lost
her two children she became broken-heart-
ed, and Captain Hall, to console her, sue
ceeded in obtaining for her bright infant
girl in exchanges for a sleigh at Repulse
Bay in 1868. After Hall had been absent
from the United States for five years he
returned to this country, in 1869. by the
whaling bark Ansell Gibbs, Of New Bed
ford, from HUDSON Bay. bringing with
him Joe, Hanna and Pony. While Hall
was making arrangements for the equip
ment of the Polaris expedition. Pony, with
her adopted parents, resided at Groton.
Conn., in house belonging to Commander
Sydney o. Buddington, an old whaling
captain.
when the Polaris left American waters,
on the 10th of June, 1871, on her mission
to discover the North Pole, Captain Hall
took Pony and her parents with him.
They had stateroom fitted up for them
on that vessel, and were much liked for
their gentle manners and kind and oblig-
ing behavior. Captain Buddington went
out on the expedition as sailing master,
and after Captain Halls death, became its
commander
On the 10th of October, 1872, Il number
of the Polaris' crew were suddenly carried
away on the ice while landing provisions
from the ship, among them Pony and her
parents. For 1876 days the unfortunate
party remained floating to the south in al
most .Cimmerian darkness and living in
ice houses. For ten days on one occasion
the party remained without food. saving
such sustenance as could be derived by
gnawing the skins of some seals
that had been killed some time pre-
viously and eaten, as always. raw. En-
trails were greedily devoured, SO terrible
was the hunger! Esquimaux Joe did the
party good service in capturing seals, &c.
Finally the party, by miraculous chance.
were picked up by the steamer Tigress off
the coast of Labrador. From the hard
ships endured on this occasion Pony never
recovered. Another young traveller who
lived was an Esquimaux baby, called
months. Pony attended the public school
at GTUtOu, anu was COHSluCISu Nciy III
telligent pupil, being able to read and
write with fuency. One of her delights
was playing cards with her father. She
always spoke in Esquimaux with her pa
rents. Hanna, (Pony's foster mother) has
been very sick of late at Groton, and it is
possible that she and Joe may go back to
their native home, Cumberland Inlet and
end their days in their well-beloved Polar
regions. Joe applied about two months
ago to the British government to be at
tached to the English Polar expedition
about starting, but has not yet received
any answer. Pony had fair complexion,
and it is thought by members of the
Polaris expedition that she was the daugh
ter of some American whaler, otherwise
it was conjectured she would not have
been bartered away. She was the only
Esquimaux child on record which ever
lived over two or three years in this coun-
try, other Esquimax children having died
here within year. One of Hanna's chill
dren died here in this city during the war,
owing to the effects of civilized food and
the climate.