page_title: Polaris expedition
section_title: Inquiry
hierarchical_section_title: Polaris expedition / Aftermath / Inquiry
context_page_description: The Polaris expedition of 1871–1873 was an American expedition that was one of the first serious attempts to reach the North Pole, after that of British naval officer Sir William Edward Parry, who reached 82° 45′ N in 1827. The expedition's notable achievement was reaching 82° 29′ N by ship, a record at the time.
  The expedition was commanded by the experienced and self-taught Arctic explorer Charles Francis Hall, who had previously lived among the Inuit in the Arctic region while on his obsessive quest to determine the fate of Franklin's lost expedition of 1845. Hall possessed the necessary survival skills, but lacked an academic background, and had no experience leading men and commanding a ship. He had managed to secure the position of expedition commander based on his authority on the subject of the Arctic.
  Polaris departed from New York in June 1871. Barely underway, the expedition already found itself hampered by poor leadership. Insubordination loomed, mainly at the instigation of chief scientist Emil Bessels and meteorologist Frederick Meyer—both German—who looked down on what they perceived to be their unqualified commander.
context_section_description: On June 5, 1873, a United States Navy board of inquiry began. At this time, the crew and Inuit families had been rescued from the ice floe, however, the fate of Budington, Bessels, and the remainder of the crew was still unknown. The board consisted of Admiral Louis M. Goldsborough, Navy Secretary George M. Robeson, Commodore William Reynolds, Army Captain Henry W. Howgate, and Spencer Fullerton Baird of the Academy of Sciences.
  Tyson was the first to appear for questioning and related the friction between Hall, Budington, and Bessels, and Hall's deathbed accusations of poisoning. The board also inquired about the whereabouts of Hall's journals and records. Tyson responded that while Hall was delirious, he instructed Budington to burn some of the papers, and the rest had disappeared. Later, journals of other crew members were discovered at the site of the Polaris wreck, but these had the sections regarding Hall's death cut out. Meyer testified to Budington's drinking, saying that the sailing master was "drunk most always while we were going southward".
  Steward John Herron testified that he had not made the coffee that Hall had suspected of being laced with poison; he explained that the cook made the coffee and that he had not kept track of how many people had touched the cup before it was brought to Hall. After Budington and the remainder of the crew were rescued and returned to the United States, the board of inquiry continued. Budington attacked Tyson's credibility, disputing Tyson's claim that he had obstructed Hall's efforts to sail the ship further north. He also disputed reports of his drinking, saying that he "[made] it a practice to drink but very little".
  Bessels was questioned about Hall's cause of death. Bessels stated that "My idea of the cause of the first attack is that he had been exposed to very low temperature during the time that he was on the sledge journey. He came back and entered a warm cabin without taking off his heavy fur clothing, and then took a warm cup of coffee. And anyone knows what the consequences of that might be." Bessels testified that Hall was "taken by hemiplegia", and his left arm and side were paralyzed, and that he had injected Hall with quinine to correct his elevated temperature before he died.
  Faced with conflicting testimony, lack of official records and journals, and no body for an autopsy, no charges were laid in connection with Hall's death. In the inquiry's final report, the surgeons general of the Army and Navy wrote: "From the circumstances and symptoms detailed by him, and comparing them with the medical testimony of all the witnesses, we are conclusively of the opinion that Captain Hall died from natural causes—viz., apoplexy—and that the treatment of the case by Dr. Bessels was the best practicable under the circumstances."
caption: Based on circumstantial evidence, Emil Bessels is nevertheless strongly suspected of having killed Hall by means of arsenic poisoning
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