Polaris: The Chief Scientist's Recollections of the American North Pole Expedition, 1871-73 ...

• Main Authors: Bessels, Emil, Barr, William Editor And Translator
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: University of Calgary Press 2016
• Subjects: History; Arctic; Autobiography; Exploration; Adventure; Greenland; North Pole
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/prism/34619; https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/51750

Emil Bessels was chief scientist and medical officer on George Francis Hall's ill-fated American North Pole Expedition of 1871-73 on board the ship Polaris. Bessels' book, translated from the German in its entirety for the first time, is one of only two first-hand accounts of the voyage, and it is the only first-hand account of the experiences of the group which stayed with the ship after it ran afoul of arctic ice, leaving some of its crew stranded on an ice floe. Bessels and the others spent a second winter on shore in Northwest Greenland, where the drifting, disabled ship ran aground. Hall died suspiciously during the first winter, and Bessels is widely suspected of having poisoned him. Bill Barr has uncovered new evidence of a possible motive. Polaris includes considerable detail which does not appear elsewhere. It is the only account of the expedition which includes rich scientific information about anthropology, geology, flora and fauna. It provides much more information than other accounts on the ...