Charles Francis Hall

Arctic explorer

• Born: 1821
• Place of Birth: Rochester, New Hampshire
• Died: November 8, 1871
• Place of Death: Greenland

Significance: Charles Francis Hall was a blacksmith and businessperson who started a newspaper in Ohio during the nineteenth century. His fascination with the Arctic led to several low-budget expeditions to find a missing crew and reach the North Pole. He died under suspicious circumstances during one such expedition.

Background

Charles Francis Hall was born in 1821 in Rochester, New Hampshire. Little is known of his early life, but his family moved to Vermont sometime during his childhood. Hall never graduated from high school and instead began working as a blacksmith. He worked in journalism and engraving before he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, while still a young man. Hall opened an engraving shop that sold stationery, business cards, and ink stamps. He specialized in making embossing seals used on various types of formal documents.

Life's Work

In 1858, Hall started a newspaper called the Cincinnati Occasional. The paper featured stories about things that fascinated Hall, such as new technology and exploration. Hall had a great interest in Arctic exploration, and he featured many stories about this subject when he renamed the paper the Cincinnati Daily Press in 1859.

One story held a particular fascination for Hall. British explorer Sir John Franklin and his ship, HMS Erebus, sailed in 1845 on a mission to find a northwest passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The expedition had adequate supplies and equipment for the journey but disappeared near Greenland. It would be many years before the remains of the crew would be found near King William Island. It was determined all 129 crew members died in the worst disaster in the history of Arctic exploration.

Hall and many others were intrigued by Franklin's disappearance. More than fifty missions were launched with the intent of finding Franklin and his men. Hall used his newspaper to gather support for his own effort. In 1860, he sold the paper, left his young family behind, and set out for the Arctic. He arranged passage on a whaling vessel whose captain agreed to transport him to Baffin Island near the last known location of Franklin and his party. The captain would leave Hall there for several months and return for him at the end of the whaling season. Hall took little with him, intending to learn to live as a native when he arrived. Hall's low-budget approach was very different from the way most explorers began their voyages. Experienced explorers usually had large stores of food, water, and supplies with them.

At Baffin Island, Hall met a husband and wife team of Inuit guides, Ebierbing (whom Hall called Joe) and Tookoolito (whom he dubbed Hannah). They had previously spent time in London, England. The pair became Hall's companions on his Arctic quests. They taught him how to dress, eat, and live as a native so he could endure the brutal Arctic weather.

At Baffin Island, Hall found evidence of English privateer Martin Frobisher's 1576 expedition. In so doing, Hall confirmed Frobisher's previously doubted claim that he had reached the area. He also determined that what Frobisher had thought was a strait was actually a bay. Hall returned from this voyage in 1862 and immediately set about raising funds for another expedition. He turned his Inuit companions, along with their daughter and their dog, into something of a sideshow to help raise funds for his journey. He arranged for them to be shown as headline attractions at the P.T. Barnum's American Museum in New York City. The Inuit guides also accompanied Hall on a fundraising lecture tour in 1862 and 1863.

In 1864, Hall embarked on a five-year journey back to the Arctic, where he hoped to find signs of Franklin. Eventually, Hall determined that Franklin and his men made it to King William Island, where the Indigenous peoples allowed most of Franklin's men to starve to death before robbing their bodies of all their weapons and valuables. This discovery and several other experiences seemed to sour Hall's opinion of the local population, whom he previously admired.

As a result, Hall arranged for some non-Indigenous help for his quest in 1867. However, Hall became suspicious that the men were plotting behind his back and shot one of them. The wounded man, Patrick Coleman, died, and Hall, though apologetic, excused his action as necessary to forestall mutiny. At around the same time, Hall finally became convinced that the search for Franklin was futile.

Around 1871, Hall was given $50,000 by the US government to lead an expedition to the North Pole. Hall had the use of the Polaris, and he was given a crew and supplies. The expedition included Ebierbing and Tookoolito, their daughter, and another Inuit family of six. Also included in the expedition were Captain Sidney Budington and assistant navigator George Tyson. Nine Germans were part of the crew, including Emil Bessels, the ship's doctor and scientist.

The Polaris made good progress and pushed farther north than any previous vessel before becoming iced in. Hall and several members of the crew spent about fourteen days traveling north on land to plot a course for the spring. When they returned to the Polaris, Hall had a cup of coffee. Almost immediately, he became ill. Hall accused his shipmates of trying to poison him and seemed especially suspicious of Bessels. After initially refusing treatment and self-medicating, Hall eventually allowed Bessels to treat him. He died on November 8, 1871, and was buried on the shores of Greenland. The cause of death was initially listed as a seizure; however, one hundred years later the body was recovered and tested, revealing the presence of arsenic, which had been ingested within two weeks of Hall's death. It was never determined if Hall was poisoned by someone else or ingested arsenic in one of the medications he used to treat his illness. The remainder of Hall's crew would endure hardships when the Polaris sank and left them stranded on the ice, but they all eventually returned from the expedition.

Impact

Hall is remembered for his dogged efforts to find Franklin and for the information his explorations provided about the Inuit and the Arctic area. The American government later bought his research papers and writings for $15,000. These documents included diaries, maps, letters, and ships’ logs and as of 2024 were on virtual display at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, as the Charles Francis Hall Collection.

Personal

Hall left behind a widow and two children.

Bibliography

"Charles Francis Hall (1821-1871)." University of Calgary, pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic35-3-442.pdf. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

Hand, Greg. "Cincinnati's Very Own Arctic Explorer: Charles Francis Hall." Cincinnati Magazine,17 Sept. 2015, www.cincinnatimagazine.com/citywiseblog/cincinnatis-very-own-arctic-explorer-charles-francis-hall/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

Karpoff, Jonathan M. "Charles Francis Hall." Washington University, faculty.washington.edu/karpoff/research/Hall.pdf. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

Neatby, Leslie H., and Keith Mercer. "Sir John Franklin." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2 Mar. 2018, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sir-john-franklin/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2017.

Page, Jake. "Arctic Arsenic." Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Feb. 2001, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/arctic-arsenic-71724451/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

Potter, Russell A. "The Arctic Shows of Charles Francis Hall, 1862–1863." Rhode Island College, www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/hall.html. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

"Preliminary Guide to the Charles Francis Hall Collection." Smithsonian Institution, 2024, sova.si.edu/record/nmah.ac.0702. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.