 The attempt failed; Little Juniata faced extreme weather conditions, and was forced to retreat a few miles from Cape York. De Long returned to Juniata in mid-August, having found no trace of the Polaris crew (who had meanwhile been rescued by the Scottish whaler Ravenscraig), but the experience had profoundly affected his outlook. Having earlier described the Greenland coast in a letter to his wife Emma as "a dreary land of desolation ... I hope I may never find myself cast away in such a perfectly God-forsaken place", he returned home captivated by the Arctic. Emma later wrote: "The polar virus was in his blood and would not let him rest".
