Murder at the North Pole?

In 1873, nineteen men, women and children were found floating adrift in Baffin Bay on an ice floe. They were members of the ill-fated U.S. Polaris Expedition, whose ship had sunk 6 months earlier. Their epic rescue brought back tales of dissent, sabotage, and even accusations of murder of the expedition leader. Against this backdrop of tragedy and turmoil, a new cartographic myth also emerged: “President Land”.

The saga of the Polaris Expedition

The Polaris Expedition was launched in 1871 with considerable national backing, funded by the U.S. government to the tune of $50,000 (equivalent to >$1.3 million today). Its ambitious aim was to be the first to reach the North Pole. Command was entrusted directly by President Ulysses S. Grant to Charles Francis Hall, an explorer seasoned by years living with the Inuit. However, Hall lacked any formal naval command experience.

The only known photograph of Charles Francis Hall (centre, sitting), 1870

From the outset, the expedition was plagued by desertions and infighting, particularly between Captain Hall and the scientific staff, led by the German chief scientist Dr. Emil Bessels and meteorologist Frederick Meyer, who openly challenged Hall’s authority.

[Bessels] always had something to complain about, something to say against Captain Hall. Bessels and Hall quarrelled several times in the [Naval Paymaster’s] office, and upon one occasion nearly came to blows.
New York Herald, Sept. 12 1873

This internal friction was exacerbated by nationalistic divisions among the crew and even acts of sabotage, such as the mysterious disappearance of specially designed blubber-fired boilers, apparently thrown overboard somewhere along the Greenland coast. Assistant Navigator George Tyson’s diary grimly noted the sentiment on board:

All the foreigners hang together, and expressions are freely made that Hall shall not get any credit out of this expedition. Already some have made up their minds how far they will go, and when they will get home again – queer sort of explorers these!
Arctic experiences, p. 144

Meanwhile, the Polaris advanced ever northwards, reaching latitude 82° 29′ N, the farthest north reached by any ship at the time. Ice in the Lincoln Sea forced the Polaris to turn back south and overwinter in a bay Hall called “Thank God Harbor” (now named Hall Bay), some 800 km south of the pole.

Polaris expedition route — Route of the Polaris Expedition

A mysterious death

The simmering tensions boiled over into tragedy in October 1871. Soon after Captain Hall had returned from a two-week scouting sledge trip north, he became violently ill. Joe, an Inuk guide who accompanied Hall on the recce, recounted:

I had driven sledge very hard, and after supper went to sleep down stairs. Captain Hall did not eat supper, but only took cup of coffee. I did not see him that night. I saw him next morning, Sunday morning. He did not speak. He remained abed. After breakfast he asked to speak to me. He says, ‘ Very sick last night.’ I asked him ‘ What is the matter.’ He says, ‘ I do not know. I took a cup of coffee. In a little while very sick and vomiting.’
The Frozen North and its explorers, p. 718.

Further symptoms over the next two weeks included delirium and partial paralysis, with Hall explicitly accusing members of his crew, particularly Dr. Bessels, of poisoning him. Their animosity towards each other was well known, even before the Polaris departed America.

The Polaris. History of the Expedition in the Polar Sea---Why it failed. The mystery of the death of Captain Hall. Was he poisoned? Significant statements by the Esquimaux---Quarrels on Board. — New York Herald, May 21 1873

Statement by steward John Heron on Captain Hall's death. New York Herald, May 21 1873 — New York Herald, May 21 1873

After a brief period of apparent recovery, Hall relapsed and died on November 8, 1871. His body was buried in Polaris Bay. On the summation of witness testimonies, a naval board of inquiry later concluded that Hall had died of apoplexy (a stroke). Yet this did not stop many people at the time from considering his death to be foul play, including the Royal Inspector of North Greenland.

The official verdict was dramatically challenged a century later when, in 1968, Hall’s body was exhumed from its permafrost grave. Forensic analyses of his hair and fingernails revealed that he had ingested large quantities of arsenic in the last two weeks of his life. Had Hall been poisoned?

Charles Francis Hall's exhumed body — Charles Francis Hall’s exhumed body, 1968

Dr. Bessels, who had administered medical treatment to Hall, was certainly now a prime suspect. As the Chief Surgeon and naturalist of the Polaris, he had access to multiple forms of arsenic.

His suspicion has been further fuelled by a letter unearthed in 2016 pointing towards a potential romantic rivalry over the sculptor Vinnie Ream. Before sailing on the Polaris, both Hall and Bessels had socialised with Miss Ream in New York.

Dr Emil Bessels 1871 — Dr Emil Bessels in 1871

Vinnie Ream, c.1870, albumen print (carte-de-visite) by Mathew B. Brady — Dr Emil Bessels in 1871

The crew float to rescue

Command of the expedition was turned over to Sidney O. Budington, and the following spring a last attempt was made for the pole in whaleboats. The attempt was short-lived with one boat crushed by ice within a few miles. The expedition had no option but to turn south for home.

Disaster compounded disaster in October 1872 when, during a violent storm, Polaris struck an iceberg, damaging the hull. Budington ordered all the cargo onto the ice in order to help buoy the ship. Yet in the confusion, Polaris had worked itself free of the ice and drifted away, abandoning nineteen members of the expedition on a large ice floe.

USS Polaris stuck in ice. Crew offload cargo onto sea ice to lighten the ship. — USS Polaris stuck in ice, while the crew offload cargo onto the ice floes to lighten the ship.

This group endured an astonishing six-month, 2,900-kilometre drift on the ice before their miraculous rescue off the coast of Labrador. Their survival, chronicled in Tyson’s “Arctic Experiences,” was a testament to human endurance and, significantly, the indispensable skills and knowledge of the Inuit members of the team.

Plan showing the drift of the ice-floe party (H. Lindenkohl, 1876)

Source: University of Wisconsin

Meanwhile, the badly damaged Polaris, with the remaining crew including Bessels and Budington aboard, was forced aground near Etah, Greenland, where it was eventually wrecked. This party, too, survived the winter with Inuit assistance and was rescued the following summer.

“President Land” emerges

Amidst this backdrop of turmoil and tragedy, the Polaris Expedition returned with claims of a significant geographical discovery. Two crew members, Robert and Heinrich, reported sighting a new body of land from Cape Breevoort, separated from Grant Land by a channel (Navy Opening). The air happened to be so clear that they could even make out individual snow features of this distant land with the naked eye.

This land was placed at a latitude of 84° 20’N and named “President Land”. The name was almost certainly a nod to U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, who had personally appointed Hall as commander and whose administration had provided the crucial government funding for the venture.

Despite the fact that no one had visited this island, the sighting of President Land began to appear on contemporary maps.

The Arctic Sea. The discoveries north of Smith Sound by the U.S. ship Polaris under command of C.F. Hall 1871-1873. (US Hydrographic Office, 1874)

The Arctic Expedition: Map of the Smith Sound route to the North Polar Sea. (E.G. Ravenstein, 1875)

Chart of the regions of Smith Sound and Baffin Bay: showing the tracks and discoveries of the U.S.S. Polaris (H. Lindenkohl, 1876)

The myth debunked

The cartographic existence of President Land, however, was to be short-lived. Its refutation came swiftly with the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-1876, a major undertaking led by Captain George S. Nares aboard HMS Alert, accompanied by HMS Discovery under Captain Henry Stephenson. This expedition, also aiming for the North Pole via the Smith Sound route, was characterised by a more systematic scientific approach and extensive surveying capabilities.

Alert stopped by ice. summer 1876 — Alert stopped by ice. Summer 1876

Nares’ ships successfully navigated the treacherous waterway between Greenland and Ellesmere Island – a channel now fittingly named Nares Strait in his honour – and became the first to enter the Lincoln Sea. In doing so, they meticulously charted the coastlines of northern Greenland and Ellesmere Island, the very region where President Land was purported to lie. The findings were conclusive: there was no such landmass.

President Land does not exist. New York Herald, October 28, 1876

The relatively rapid sequence of claim, mapping, and refutation – all within a span of about five years – speaks to the dynamic and competitive nature of Arctic exploration in the late 19th century.

This probable mirage, perceived under the strained and chaotic circumstances of the Polaris Expedition, stands as a classic example of how such geographical myths are born and the immense pressure on expeditions to return with new findings and territorial claims.

Further reading:

Barr, W., 2016. Epilogue: Motive for Murder, in: Polaris, The Chief Scientist’s Recollections of the American North Pole Expedition, 1871-73. University of Calgary Press, pp. 537–542.

Bessels, E., 2016. Polaris – The Chief Scientist’s Recollections of the American North Pole Expedition, 1871-73. University of Calgary Press.

Blake, E.V., 1874. Arctic experiences. Harper & Brothers, New York.