Trial by Ice: The True Story of Murder and Survival on the 1871 Polaris Expedition by Richard Parry

Author:Richard Parry
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: History - General History, Polaris (Ship), General, American, History: World, Polar Regions, History, Arctic regions, Discovery and exploration
ISBN: 9780345439260
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2002-01-29T08:00:00+00:00

RETREAT

And now there came both mist and snow.

And it grew wondrous cold: And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald.

—SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE,

”THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER”

Sensing that the ship might depart at a moment's notice, those men who loved Captain Hall did their best to improve his grave site. Herman Sieman, especially, spent his spare moments tending the mound while he prayed for his former captain's soul. Captain Tyson took the time to rearrange the stones ringing the grave into neat order. The crowbar driven into the frozen earth in the dark of the Arctic winter remained unmoved, but wind and drifting snow had played havoc with the penciled inscription and board Schuman had left.

Realizing his former commander deserved something more, Mr. Chester secured a piece of pine an inch and one-half thick, planed it with loving care, and cut a more fitting inscription into its face:

In Memory of

Charles Francis Hall,

Late commander

U.S. Steamer Polaris, North Pole Expedition

Died

Nov. 8th, 1871 Aged 50 years

I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me,

though he were dead,

yet shall he live.

Later one evening while the waning summer sun watched from over his shoulder, Chester carried his work to the grave and planted it deep e lough to withstand the storms. Facedown across the grave lay Schuman's penciled work, while the angled crowbar jutted uprightboth untouched, for good reason. The dirt piled over Hall's mortal remains and everything connected with it had become a sort of shrine, not to be disturbed.

As conditions aboard the Polaris grew steadily out of control, Hall's fo-lorn grave presented a pilgrimage site for men to sit and think about what might have been. For all his faults in leadership, their dead commander had possessed the ability to travel and survive in the Ar :tic. Had Hall lived, no one doubted that things would now be quite different. His presence once instilled confidence, something even the meanest sailor among them longed for at this moment.

At odds with the crew's frequent visits were the actions of the two coccmmanders of the disintegrating expedition. Apart from his single failed attempt to photograph the site, Emil Bessel kept well away from the grave, and Buddington never approached it. Perhaps the sea captain already knew that the specter of the dead Hall would haunt him for the rest of his life. Perhaps it was conscience that bothered them both.

In th-3 early hours of July 11, the ice claimed another irreplaceable smdl craft. Before leaving the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Emil Bessel had ordered a boat built especially for him. Lightweight and flat-bottomed, the craft was affectionately called “the scow” and did useful service ferrying men back and forth from the ship to shore. Bit it was left tied carelessly to the side of the ship, and the night watch neglected to haul it aboard. One can only wonder if this oversight was deliberate, the result of some insult Bessel had inflicted on a crew member.

Marauding ice discovered the helpless boat, encircled it, and drove it hard against the side of the Polaris.

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