One of the boats used on this retreat was brought back to civilization and presented to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. It was exhibited at the International Exhibition, Philadelphia, May 10, 1876, by the side of Kane’s boat Faith, and formed part of the Arctic Collection furnished for the Centennial by the United States Naval Observatory.
THE HARDSHIP OF THE CREW
To return to the nineteen souls adrift on the ice-floe; of the moment of parting from the Polaris, Captain Tyson writes:—
“The ice exploded and broke in many places, and the ship broke away in the darkness, and we lost sight of her in a moment.
“Gone!
But an ice-bound horror
Seemed to cling to air.
“It was snowing at the time also; it was a terrible night. On the 15th of, October it may be said that the Arctic night commences; but in addition to this the wind was blowing strong from the south-east; it was snowing and drifting, and was fearfully dark; and the wind was exceedingly heavy, and so bad was the snow and sleet that one could not even look to the windward. We did not know who was on the ice or who was on the ship; but I knew some of the children were on the ice, because almost the last thing I had pulled away from the crushing heel of the ship were some musk-ox skins; they were lying across a wide crack in the ice, and as I pulled them toward me to save them, I saw that there were two or three of Hans’ children rolled up in one of the skins; a slight motion of the ice, and in a moment more they would either have been in the water and drowned in the darkness, or crushed between the ice.
“It was nearly ten o’clock when the ship broke away, and we had been at work since six; the time seemed long, for we were working all the time. Hannah was working, but I did not see Joe or Hans. We worked till we could scarcely stand. They were throwing things constantly over to us till the vessel parted.
“Some of the men were on small pieces of ice. I took the ‘little donkey’—a small scow—and went for them; but the scow was almost instantly swamped; then I shoved off one of the whale-boats, and took off what men I could see, and some of the men took the other boat and helped their companions, so that we were all on firm ice at last.