Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1871 — The New Arctic Expedition. [ARTICLE]

The New Arctic Expedition.

Captain Hall and his party are now on the eve of leaving us for a long and perilous voyage, that will probably cover aperiod of three years, or perhaps more. We yesterday visited CaptainL Hall on board of his ship, the Polaris, aflMe Navy Yard, “for the purpose of bidding him good bye, and wishing him n prosperous and successful voyage. The Polaris, formerly the Periwinkle, is a vessel belonging to the government, but rebuilt and fitted for this expedition in such a manner as almost to be a new and very superior craft. She is of about four hundred tons measurement, considerably larger than the Advance, in which Dr. Kane undertook his famous voyage, and about the same size as the Germania, which left Bremen two years ago on an expedition to the Arctic seas. She has been planked all over her sides with sic inches of solid white oak timbers, and has throughout been nearly doubled in strength; her. bowfl being almost a solid mass of timber, sheathed with iron, and terminating in a sharp iron prow with which to cutthrough the ice. Her eDgine, is exceedingly powerful and compact, taking up but comparatively little space, and being peculiarly adapted for hard and. severe work, andj the propeller is arranged in such a

i manner that it can be unshipped and lifted I upon deck, through a shaft or “ propeller | well” in tho stem, which is a great advantage when the vessel is under sail or surrounded by floating ice that might easily damage the blades. And, even in the worst case, a supply of extra blades has been provided, so that if one should by accident be broken, it can always be replaced. There is also an .extra rudder on board, and several suits of sails and sets of spars of all dimensions. Of the two boilers, one is supplied with an ap paratus to use whale oil for the generation of steam, as t his will, in all probability, lfaVe to be relied upon when other fuel gives out, not only to furnish the propellng power, but also to heat up the vessel throughout by steam, which will, of course, be necessary as soon as the cold and wintry reijjons have been reached. Steam will merely be used as an auxiliary, as the Polaris is rigged as a foretopsail schooner, and fully able to sail and steer under canvass only. A novel and interesting feature in her construction is a new sort of life preserving buoy, which is placed on the outside of the vessel, in the stern, and can be lowered into the water by touching a spring which is placed near the pilot-house. By touching another spring, an electric light, which is fixed upon the buoy aboift two feet above the water, is ignited by completing the circuit of an electric current from a galvanic baltery on board; and no matter how dark the night, or how obscure the Arctic winter, the buoy can always be distinctly seen, and the man who has fallen overhoard will know in wnat direction to swim for hope and help. Another excellent aud peculiar part of her outfit is a canvas boat, the invention of Mr. John Hegeman, of Saratoga County, N. Y., by whom it has been patented, and from which Captain Hall expects great results. As yet but one of these boats has been received, but another and smaller one will tie added before the vessel leaves New York. The boat that we saw is twenty feet long, four feet wide and two deep, has a carrying capacity Of fyur tons, weighs only 330 pounds, and can carry with perfect ease and safety twenty men. It consists of an interior frame, built of hickory and ash woods, over-which is stretched a canvas cover, that has been previously soaked in a preparation to render it perfectly water-proof, and the whole boat can be taken apart and folded together, in a space less than one-eighth of its original size, in about three minutes, and by the assistance of a couple of men only. When folded up it is perfectly flat, and can be transported on a sledge across the ice without the least difHculty.. When open water is reached, the order of things is exactly reversed—the boat is unpacked and spread out, and the sledge and its contents taken on board, dog team and all. As to those who are going to be the principals in this adventurous and dangerous expedition, they arc, all told, twenty-' nine men.. There is not a mad among them whose qualities and character have not been well tested, from the captain down Jo the cook. The leader and com-mander-in-chief is, of course, Captain Hall; next in the command comes Captain 8. O. Buddington, of New London, an old whaling-master of thirty years’ experience, twenty-one of which were spent in the Davis Strait and Baffin’s Bay. He is an old and trusted friend of Captain Hall, who has implicit faith in his long experience and acknowledged ability. ’The second officer is Mr. 11. 0. Chester, also a whaling man, of twelve years’ experience among the ice; and the third officer is Mr. William Morton, who was Dr. Kane’s trusted friend and companion, and is the only living mortal to whom it was ever permitted to look upon the open Polar sea. He had the sad privilege to accompany Dr. Kane to Havana, and to bring his remains from there to Philadelphia for interment. Mr. Emil Schumau occupies the post of First Engineer, and the scientific corps will consist of three gentlemen, one of whom, Dr. Emil Bissells, of Heidelberg, Germany, will attnd the expedition as surgeonnaturalist. A student from the Observatory at Ann Arbor, Michigan, will probably be the astronomer; and an officer in the Signal Service Department will be aboarifin the capacity of meteorologist. Besides these, there will be a blacksmith, carpenter, steward and fourteen sailors, besides the Esquimaux interpreter, Joe, and his wife, Hannah, This latter interesting couple, With their little daughter, are genuine specimens of the Esquimaux, lint having been in constant company with Captain llall for eight years past, they speak very good English, ami have acquired civilized manners. Joe is a famous hunter and “sealer,” and his wife is quite an an accomplished woman in a “ small ” way, with considerable talent for languages aud for music. Their little daughter, who will accompany them, is five years old,.and lias been for some time at school in Connecticut, where her parents have been lately residing, the guests of Captain Buddington. They will join the-ship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and a nice and cozy little cabin has been fitted up for the exclusive use of them.and their childThey are glad to visit once more their native fields of snow and ice; and it is not at all certain that they will again return with the expedition. Although Captain Hall expects to accomplish’his purpose of penetrating into the great Polar basin, if such a one really exists, and visiting the North Pole, in less than three years, tlie Polaris has been provisioned for four years, wh’cli can be extended to six with a little economy and judicious distribution of rations. The, ■great staple of provisions is the so called “ pemmican,” which is composed of three parts of selected dried meat to one part of tho best suet, mixed witli some other ingredients. The food is both nourishing and wholesome, and, through the absence of salt, there is no danger of scurvy—-that pestilence of Arctic travelers—to be feared from its use. It is packed in 45-pouud tin cans, hermetically sealed, and of this there is no less than 10,000 stowed away in the hold, the manufacture of which consumed anjl condensed 23,000 pounds of ordinary, beef and 5,000 pounds of suet. Besides this there is any quantity of dried aud dissicated vegetables, such as potatoes, tomatoes, onions, etc., and a ( largo stock of flour, biscuits, sugar, coftee, tea, condensed milk, canned fruits, and other necessaries for a protracted voyage. Captain llall, however, expects to bo able to economize with these provisions to a very considerable extent by substituting'in their place the moat of the reindeer, musk ox, walrus, and other game of the regions that he is about to explore. Everything has been done to make the quarters of both crew add officers as comfortablo as tho rather limited space would permit; end the be-tween-depks and cabins are perfect models of cleanliness. The state rooms for the officers and scientists, are plain, but gotten up in good and convenient style, and the

cabin aft is a perfect drawing-room in miniature. Handsome chromos decorate the wall, and a fine cabinet organ, a present to Captain Hall from the Smith American Organ Company, of Boston, promises cheer during the long Arctic night. A handsome carpet covers the floor, and there is an air of calm comfort about the little room. The plan of the voyage will be first to New York, where Joe and Iltfnnah will join the ship, and from there to St. John, Newfoundland, where the Polaris will take on board a fresh supply of coal. From there the route will be to the Danish colonies of Holsteinborg and Levele, on the west coast of Greenland, and thence to the still more northerly Esquimaux settlements of Upernaick and Disco, at one of which places a depot will be established. A government transport has been detailed to accompany the expedition as far as this, carrying coal, lumber and other heavy articles to this reserved station. In August Captain Hall expects to be able to push up through Jones’ Sound; as far as to latitude 80 or 81°, where winter quarters will be established, and the dark and dreary Artie night passed, during which it is impossible to" push further on. But, with early spring, or as soon as the weather permits, the voyage will be continued until solid land or ice shall effectually stop further progress, when the expedition will proceed on sledges, to be obtained ..from the Esquimaux tribes that inhabit this region.— Washington Patriot.