Trial by Ice

by Richard Parry

  “No, sir,” Tyson answered quickly. But then he reflected and replied, “unless a man were a monster he could not do any such thing as that.”

  What were Bessel's motives? Surely his intense dislike for Hall was enough. As Noah Hayes noted, “the one long night” went far to destroy “moral responsibility.” A grain of hatred grows in the Arctic darkness to monstrous proportions. Jealousy, envy, a desire to lead the expeditionall add to the possible reasons. In France arsenic was known as “the inheritance powder,” and Emil Bessel's actions prove that he felt himself best suited to inherit overall command of the expedition. But first he had to create the vacancy. There is no doubt that Bessel underestimated the physical requirements and stamina needed to reach the North Pole by sled. Most members of the expedition did. Since Bessel already considered himself superior to Hall as a scientist, it is easy to surmise that the German doctor felt he would also be a better explorer. The glory of reaching the North Pole would be added to his scientific achievements. Only Charles Francis Hall stood in his way.

  Possibly Bessel was working under orders from Bismarck to sabotage the American effort. Did Germany feel threatened by the prospect of an American presence at the North Pole and by closer ties between Denmark and the United States? A strong ally like the United States backing Denmark would not suit Bismarck's goals. Killing Hall guaranteed failure of the expedition and weakened the American presence in the Arctic. In those days an American flag planted at the North Pole would have laid claim to the area for the United States. Looking across the globe, one sees that the North Pole is dangerously close to Germany's North Sea. No documents could be found to substantiate a Prussian plot. But Germany had sought to alter America's actions before this and would attempt to do so in the years to come. The use of Hessian soldiers during the American Revolution and the Zimmerman telegram promising Mexico the return of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico are two examples, along with two world wars.

  Nevertheless, Bessel's ongoing loyalty to Germany demonstrated that he had not transferred his allegiance to the United States. His first telegrams on being saved were to Germany. His first publication of his scientific findings from the Polaris expedition was also in German, and he was in no hurry to produce an English version. Eventually he would return to die in the fatherland. Clearly Bessel's allegiance lay somewhere other than the United Statesbut that alone is not enough to convict a man. However, given the presence of motive, opportunity, and in all likelihood access to the substance that killed Hall, Bessel is the most logical choice.

  Was Buddington a willing or unknowing accomplice? His actions after Hall's death suggest that he knew or suspected more than he let on. In E. Vale Blake's Arctic Experiences, George Tyson's diary alludes to “an astonishing proposition” made to him by Buddington. Tyson told this to Captain Bartlett while aboard the Tigress. Tyson accused Buddington of proposing that the two men take the Polaris south into heavily traveled whaling waters and scuttle the ship. According to Buddington, they could then winter on land in i elative safety until spring. After being rescued by whalers, the two could collect their pay and avoid any risks. When the Tigress's owner passed this information on to the American Consulate in Scotland, he was advised to keep it secret. Fifty years after the rescue, the family of the owner of the Tigress repeated the story.

  One other event raises the question of Buddington's complicity with Bessel. On June 4, 1873, when prospects of his two boats' being rescued by sealing ships grew certain, Captain Buddington became deathly ill after eating supper. Davis notes, “Captain Buddington suddenly became very sick, and for a time there was doubt of his recovery. …” No one else got sick, and they had all eaten the same hot soup made from captured auks. Buddington's abrupt, severe illness to the point that he was expected to die, followed by an equally rapid recovery, raises the question of another poisoning attempt.

  Was Emil Bessel trying to tie up loose ends? Had he tried to poison Buddington because he knew too much? Both men took that answer to their graves.

  What we do know is that what came to be called the Polaris expedition was beset by problems from its inception. Polar exploration is a daunting task, and the toll that the natural elements exact or human beings is heavy. Charles Francis Hall and the men of the Polaris not only had to face the worst that the implacable Arctic had to offerbiting winds, fierce cold, and spirit-numbing darkness. They also engaged in a battle with the darker parts of their own fragile human nature as they explored the other side of heroism That all but one of them returned from that journey is a remarkable testament both to the whims of fate and to the raw power of human will.

  AFTERMATH

  In 1874, a year after the Polaris inquiry closed, a British admiral wrote, “The navy needs some action to wake it up from the sloth of routine and save it from the canker of prolonged peace.” In a direct reference to Charles Francis Hall's grave, he continued, “The rude wooden monument to the intrepid American, standing lone in the Polar solitude, is at the same time a grand memorial, a trophy, and a challenge”

  Accordingly the Royal Navy launched the Alert and the Discovery under Capt. George Nares, with Captain H. F. Stephenson second in command, to assault the North Pole. In the spirit of cooperation, Secretary Robeson offered the British expedition the use of the American stores of coal and supplies stockpiled at Disko and Thank God Harbor. The British gratefully accepted.

  While cohesion of their party was far superior to that of the Polaris, the Nares expedition fared little better. To guide them, they enlisted the services of Hans, the Inuit, by now a legend in his own time. Retracing Hall's path, Captain Nares stopped at Buddington's winter camp, where “some boxes of books, instruments, etc. were found.” Making no attempt to bring them back, the British pushed on. The Discovery, under Stephenson, wintered at Lady Franklin Sound, opposite Thank God Harbor, while Nares, in the Alert, beat northward.

  On their way north, the British passed through Polaris Bay. The ruined remains of Bessel's observatory greeted them in mute testimony. A coil of wire, an ice saw, and the tattered remnants of a canvas tent littered the field. The weathered piece of door marking the head of Hall's grave rose some distance away. Noah Hayes's crowbar maintained its lonely vigil about a foot from the head board. Ttie ground willow that Sieman had planted covered the mound.

  On May 13 Captain Stephenson raised an American flag over the grave and erected a brass plaque at the head of the mound. Brought from England, the tablet read:

  Sacred to the Memory of

  CAPTAIN C. F. HALL

  Of the U.S. ship ‘Polaris’

  Who sacrificed his life

  in the advancement of Science

  on Nov. 8,1871

  This Tablet has been erected by the British Polar Expedition

  of 1875, which, following in his footsteps, has profited

  by his experience.

  Within weeks disaster would strike the Nares expedition. In a fateful preview of things to come, the British elected to explore northward using manpower instead of dogs to pull their sleds. One group used fifteen men to pull three sledges loaded with two whale-boats and sixty-three days of provisions. With every sled weighing more thai two thousand pounds, each crewman pulled four hundred pounds. To cross the hummocks and sastrugi, they were forced to cut a road with picks and shovels. Men died of exposure, scurvy, and frostbite before they turned back. For all their sacrifice, they readied 83°71' N, not much farther than Hall had got.

  Stumbling back, the party returned to Polaris Promontory. There James Hand, one of their crew, died of scurvy. On June 8, 1875, they buried Hand near Captain Hall's grave. After the turn of the century, Scott would repeat the same fatal mistake of substituting men and ponies for dogs when he attempted to reach the South Pole.

  Six ye ars later Adolphus Greely with members of his expedition crossed the straits to visit the site. The lonely, windswept spot had acquired rhe name of Hall's Rest by now. While Greely searched for cached supplies amid the ruins, a bored
Sgt. William Cross carved his name on a broken board at Bessel's observatory. Scarcely one year later the Arctic would claim the life of Sergeant Cross along with eighteen other members of the ill-fated Greely expedition. On that score Greely's group fared far worse than the Polaris expedition. Forced to eat their leather clothing to stay alive as George Tyson's party had done, only Greely and six of his men survived.

  Ironically among the dead was Dr. Octave Pavy. In a bizarre twist of fate, Dr. Pavy had listened to Charles Francis Hall give his impassioned speech to the American Geographical Society before the Polaris sailed. Pavy would accompany Greely as his chief scientist. The European-educated Pavy would hamper Greely's efforts just as Emil Bessel had Hall's. The soldier Greely found Pavy insubordinate and disobedient, while Pavy condescended to deal with his uneducated commander. History repeated itself with fatal results.

  The quest to reach the North Pole would continue. Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, and the United States mounted further explorations. Most amassed mountains of scientific data but scarcely passed the highest point reached by Captain Hall. Thirty-eight years after Hall's death, Robert E. Peary reached the top of the world by dogsled with his companion Matthew Henson. Even now controversy swirls about this claim. Richard E. Byrd did land at the North Pole using an airplane in 1926, followed in that same year by Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth in a dirigible flown by the Italian Umberto Nobile.

  In regard to the survivors of the Polaris, some fared better than others. The Inuit Hans almost lost his life when a fit of depression caused him to desert the Nares party. What caused his despair is not mentioned, but it may have been alcohol. British ships even now are not “dry,” as the U.S. Navy ships are. Perhaps some infirmity convinced him his useful life was done, and he chose the time-honored Inuit way of removing an unnecessary mouth to feed. Tracking the despondent native down, the British found him huddled in a hole in the snow, prepared to die. They brought him back to camp, and eventually he recovered.

  Ebierbing and Tookoolito bought a piece of land with a small house near New London, Connecticut. With their adopted daughter Puney, they lived the life of celebrities while Ebierbing fished the warmer waters.

  Tragedy touched the valiant Tigress. After she was sold back to the sealing enterprise of Harvey & Company, of St. John's, Newfoundland, her boilers exploded while she was sailing amid the ice. Coming one month shy of a year after the ship had rescued George Tyson and his men, the explosion killed ten of the Tigress's crew outright and burned another eleven so badly that they died the next day. Captain Bartlett emerged unscathed and brought the ruined ship safely home.

  Sidney O. Buddington's reputation and career were ruined. He never captained another whaling vessel. In fact, he never returned to sea at The head of any sailing vessel.

  Capt. George Tyson returned to the Arctic as the sailing master of another Arctic exploration, headed by Capt. Henry Howgate.

  As the only one to salvage his scientific records, Emil Bessel publishec the findings of his studies in German. Over a period of ten years, he represented a thorn in the side of the Smithsonian. Despite letters from Spencer Baird urging him to accelerate his efforts, Bessel dragged out his work to compile an English version. Ensconced in a small room at the Smithsonian, Bessel grew more acerbic aid eccentric with each passing year. A New York Herald reporter described Bessel's strange office: “When the portals are entered, passing under the heavy folds of green drapery which nearly hide the entrance, the visitor would suppose he had been suddenly translated into the retreat of Faustus.”

  Interviewed while the United States prepared for the International Polar Year of 1882, Bessel criticized a failed Arctic exploration under the command of Capt. Henry Howgate, the same Signal Corps officer who had served on the Polaris board of inquiry. In discussing Howgate's adventure, Bessel slipped into blending it with his own experience with Captain Hall. Referring to the scientists aboard, he snapped, “They had to submit to the orders of an incompetent, harsh skipper, who most seriously interfered with their duties.” However, this time the “incompetent, harsh skipper” was George Tyson.

  By 1883 Spencer Baird had had enough. Bessel's salary was cut off, and he received a pithy note from William Rhees, Baird's secretary:

  Dear Doctor:

  We need immediate possession of the room now occupied by you near the north entrance, as we find it necessary to make improved toilet arrangements for visitors. Please therefore remove your property and greatly oblige.

  Yours truly, Wm. J. Rhees

  Displaced by a toilet, Bessel returned to Germany. In another twist of fate, in 1888 he died from apoplexy.

  SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Blake, E. Vale, ed. Arctic Experiences, Containing Capt. George E. Tysen's Wonderful Drift on the Ice-Floe, a History of the Polaris Expedition. New York: Harper &c Brothers, 1874.

  Davis, C. H. Narrative of the North Polar Expedition, U.S. Ship Polaris, Captain Charles Francis Hall Commanding. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1876.

  Governrient Printing Office. Examination of the Party Separated on the Ice from the United States Steamer Polaris Expedition toward the North Pole. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1873.

  Hyde, A., A. C. Baldwin, and W. L. Gage. The Frozen Zone and Its Explorers: A Comprehensive History of Voyages, Travels, Adventures, Disasters, and Discoveries in the Arctic Regions. Hartford, Conn.: R. W. Bliss & Company, 1880.

  Loomis, Chauncey C. Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer. New York: Knopf, 1971.

  Sargent, Epes, and W. H. Cunnington. Wonders of the Arctic Worfd: Together with a Complete and Reliable History of the Polaris Expedition. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Book Company, 1873.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Richard Parry is a retired surgeon whose practice was based in Fairbanks, Alaska. He now lives in Sun City, Arizona. He is the author of three acclaimed novels about Wyatt Earp, as well as That Fateful Lightning: A Novel of Ulysses S. Grant.

  A Ballantine Book

  Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group

  Copyright © 2001 by Richard Parry

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