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Charles Francis Hall (1821 – November 8, 1871) was an American Arctic explorer. Little is known of Hall's early life. He grew up in Rochester, New Hampshire where he was apprenticed to a blacksmith as a boy. Eventually, he turned up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he went into business making seals and engraving plates, and later began to publish a newspaper. Image File history File links Circle-question. ... There are several notable people named Charles Hall. ... The coronation banquet for George IV 1821 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 53 days remaining. ... 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The red line indicates the 10°C isotherm in July, commonly used to define the Arctic region border The Arctic is the area around the Earths North Pole. ... Exploration is the act of searching or traveling for the purpose of discovery, e. ... Rochester is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 28,461, the largest in the seacoast region. ... A blacksmith A blacksmith at work A blacksmith at work A blacksmiths fire Hot metal work from a blacksmith A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by forging the metal; i. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Queen City Location Location in Hamilton County, Ohio Coordinates , Government Country State County United States Ohio Hamilton Mayor Mark L. Mallory (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 206. ... Seal on envelope A seal is an impression printed on, embossed upon, or affixed to a document (or any other object) in order to authenticate it, in lieu of or in addition to a signature. ... Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. ...

Around 1857, Hall became interested in the Arctic and spent the next few years studying the reports of previous explorers and trying to raise money for an expedition. Hall's first two expeditions, in 1860-1863 and 1864-1869, were essentially lengthy solo travels among the Inuit. On the first expedition, the Inuit told Hall of surviving relics from Martin Frobisher's mining venture at Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island. Hall travelled there to see them first-hand. Hall also learned what he interpreted as evidence that some members of Sir John Franklin's lost expedition might still be alive. This formed the basis of his second expedition to King William Island, where he found remains and artifacts from the Franklin expedition and made more inquiries about their fate from natives living there. Hall eventually realized that the stories of survivors had been exaggerated either by the Inuit or his own imagination. He also became disillusioned with the Inuit by the discovery that the remnants of Franklin's expedition had deliberately been left to starve. He failed to consider that it would have been impossible for the local population to support such a large group of supernumeraries. 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The red line indicates the 10°C isotherm in July, commonly used to define the Arctic region border The Arctic is the area around the Earths North Pole. ... 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ... 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar). ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... 1869 (MDCCCLXIX) is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Inuit (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᓄᐃᑦ, singular Inuk / ᐃᓄᒃ) is a general term for a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic coasts of Siberia, Alaska, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec, Labrador and Greenland (see Eskimo). ... Martin Frobisher by Cornelis Ketel. ... Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. ... Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. ... Sir John Franklin FRGS (April 15, 1786 – June 11, 1847) was an English sea captain and Arctic explorer whose expedition disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. ... King William Island, Nunavut NASA Landsat satellite image of King William Island King William Island is a Canadian Arctic island, in the Nunavut Territory. ...

Polaris expedition

Main article: Polaris expedition

Hall's third expedition was of an entirely different character. He received a grant of $50,000 from the US Congress to command an expedition to the North Pole in the ship Polaris. The party of 25 also included Sidney Budington as sailing master, George Tyson as navigator, and Dr. Emil Bessels, a German physician and naturalist, as chief of the scientific staff. The expedition was troubled from the start as the party split into rival factions. Hall's authority over the expedition was resented by a large portion of the party, and discipline broke down. The Polaris expedition (1871) was led by Charles Francis Hall to explore the North Pole. ... The North Pole is the northernmost point on the Earth. ... Formerly known as the USS Periwinkle and the USS America, this wood-hulled, 387 ton, schooner screw tug first saw duty on Chesapeake Bay and the Rappahannock River with the U.S. Navy. ... Emil Bessels (1846 1888) was a German physician and arctic explorer. ...

Polaris sailed into Thank God Harbor (now called Hall Bay) on September 10, 1871 and settled in for the winter on the shore of northern Greenland. That fall, upon returning to the ship from a sledging expedition with an Inuit guide, Hall suddenly fell ill after drinking a cup of coffee. He collapsed in what was described as a fit. For the next week he suffered from vomiting and delirium, then seemed to improve for a few days. At that time, he accused several of the ship's company, including Dr. Bessels, of having poisoned him. Shortly after, Hall began suffering the same symptoms, and finally died on November 8. Hall was taken ashore and given a formal burial. September 10 is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years). ... 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 53 days remaining. ...

Command of the expedition devolved on Sidney O. Budington, who dispatched an expedition to try for the Pole in June 1872. This was unsuccessful and Polaris turned south. On October 12, the ship was beset by ice in Smith Sound and was on the verge of being crushed. Nineteen of the crew and Eskimo guides abandoned ship for the surrounding ice and fourteen crew remained on the ship. Polaris was run aground near Etah and crushed on October 24. After wintering ashore, the crew sailed south in two boats and were rescued by a whaler, returning home via Scotland.

The following year, the remainder of the party attempted to extricate Polaris from the pack and head south. A group, including Tyson, became separated as the pack broke up violently and threatened to crush the ship in the fall of 1872. The group of 19 drifted on an ice floe for the next six months over 1,500 miles before being rescued off the coast of Newfoundland by the whaler Tigress on April 30, 1873, and probably would have all perished had the group not included several Inuit who were able to hunt for the party. 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Newfoundland (French: Terre-Neuve; Irish: Talamh an Éisc; Latin: Terra Nova) is a large island off the northeast coast of North America, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. ... April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years), with 245 days remaining. ... 1873 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calaber). ...

Investigation

The official investigation that followed ruled that Hall had died from apoplexy. However, in 1968, Hall's biographer Chauncey C. Loomis, a professor at Dartmouth College, made an expedition to Greenland to exhume Hall's body. Due to the permafrost, Hall's body, flag shroud, clothing and coffin were remarkably well preserved. Tests on tissue samples of bone, fingernails and hair showed that Hall died of poisoning from large doses of arsenic in the last two weeks of his life. This diagnosis is consistent with the symptoms party members reported. It is possible that Hall dosed himself with the poison, as arsenic was a common ingredient of quack medicines of the time. But it is considered more probable that he was murdered by one of the other members of the expedition, possibly Dr. Bessels. No charges were ever filed. Apoplexy is an old-fashioned medical term, generally used interchangeably with cerebrovascular accident (CVA or stroke) but having other meanings as well. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Dartmouth College is a private academic institution in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. ... In geology, permafrost or permafrost soil is soil that stays in a frozen state for more than two years in a row. ... General Name, Symbol, Number arsenic, As, 33 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 15, 4, p Appearance metallic gray Atomic mass 74. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Emil Bessels (1846 1888) was a German physician and arctic explorer. ...

References

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Berton,Pierre. "The Arctic Grail."
• Old News article from Old News Publishing
• Kind, Stuart and Overman, Michael. "Science Against Crime". Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1972. ISBN 0-385-09249-0.
• Loomas, Chauncey C. "Weird and Tragic Shores."
• Thr Royal Navy in Polar Exploration from Franklin to Scott, E C Coleman 2006 (Tempus Publishing)