The Open Polar Sea

by Hayes, Isaac Israel

• ISBN13: 9781108049863
• ISBN10: 1108049869
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-05-10
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

The Open Polar Sea was one of the most prevalent myths of nineteenth-century Arctic exploration. Several explorers had hypothesised a stretch of ice-free sea between Greenland and the North Pole, and several expeditions set out in search of it. One of these was planned and led by Isaac Israel Hayes (1832-81), an American physician and explorer. This account of the expedition, first published in 1866, was compiled from his journals. Having left Boston in a small schooner so overloaded with equipment that a passenger could lean over the deck rail and touch the sea, Hayes and his crew almost faced shipwreck off Nova Scotia and regularly saw their cabins flooded on their way to Greenland, where, in calmer weather, they encountered the first palatial ice floes. Written for the general reader rather than for scientific purposes, this book still serves as an accessible, entertaining guide to the voyage.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Leaving Boston

Passage to the Greenland coast

The colony of Proven

Upernavik

Among the icebergs

Entering Melville Bay

Hans and his family

Our winter harbor

Sunset

Journey on the glacier

Important results of the recent journey

My cabin

Increasing darkness

Midwinter

The Arctic midnight

The New Year

The Arctic night

Prolonged absence of Mr Sonntag

Sonntag

Looking for the sun

Sunrise

Spring twilight

Kalutunah returns

Starting on my first journey

Sending forward supplies

The first day's journey

The storm continues

The difficulties multiplying

The main party sent back

The prospect ahead

A new start

The open Polar Sea

On board the schooner

Inspection of the schooner

The Arctic spring

The Arctic summer

Leaving Port Foulke

Leaving Smith Sound

Homeward bound

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