Fatal North: Murder and Survival on the First North Pole Expedition

by Bruce Henderson

It began as President Ulysses S. Grant's bid for international glory after the Civil War—America's first attempt to reach the North Pole. It ended with Captain Charles Hall's death under suspicious circumstances, dissension among sailors, scientists, and explorers, the ship's evacuation and eventual sinking. Then came a brutal struggle for survival by thirty-three men, women and children, stranded on the polar ice—and two dramatic rescues by whaling ships. When news of the disastrous expedition and accusations of murder reached Washington D.C., it led to a nationwide scandal, an official investigation, and a government cover-up.

The mystery of the captain's death remained unsolved for nearly 100 years. But when Charles Hall's frozen grave in northern Greenland was opened, and hair and fingernail samples were retrieved, forensic scientists were finally able to reach a shocking conclusion.

Now, telling the complete story for the first time, acclaimed researcher and bestselling writer Bruce Henderson—whose works have been praised as "compelling" (LOS ANGELES TIMES Book Review) and "compulsively readable" (SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER)—has researched original transcripts of the U.S. Navy inquests, personal papers of Captain Hall, autopsy and forensic reports relating to the century-old crime, the ship's original log, personal journals kept by crewmen, and hero-survivor George Tyson's diary and family papers to bring to life one of the most mysterious tragedies of American exploration.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, True Crime, Adventure, Survival, Crime, Mystery

264 pages, ebook

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Bruce Henderson is the author of more than twenty nonfiction books, including a #1 New York Times that was made into a highly-rated network miniseries. His books have been published in more than two dozen countries. His latest book is Midnight Flyboys: The American Bomber Crews and Allied Secret Agents Who Aided the French Resistance in World War II. He is also the author of Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler, the NYT bestseller about "The Ritchie Boys" being developed for a feature film. He won the coveted 2023 Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize in recognition of the best English language book published in the field of American military history for Bridge to the Sun: The Secret Role of the Japanese Americans Who Fought in the Pacific in World War II. Henderson has taught reporting at USC School of Journalism and nonfiction writing at Stanford University. He lives in Menlo Park, California.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-Henderson...

Reviews

[Beata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr Henderson offers an insight into the fate of the first American expedition whose aim was to reach the North Pole. The mysterious death of Captain Charles Hall was the beginning of the tragedy. The book is an attempt to explain the reasons behind Captain Hall's demise and tell the tale of those brave people who dared to dare.
OverDrive, thank you!

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know from the beginning that the captain doesn’t make it. The question is why? If you’re looking for an inspirational or heroic book about polar exploration, this is not it. Read about the Endurance.

Fatal North is certainly very readable and interesting. Scratch some people’s skin and just beneath the surface you find cowardice, selfishness, calculating ambition, and even murderous psychopathy. I’d say those are all found in the Hall Expedition of 1871. Sent by the U.S. government to shine some of that popular polar glory on the States, they limped back as complete failures. Among a very small group there was heroism. I’d never heard of this expedition and the post-investigation would have been happy to have kept it that way.

Suggested to anyone with an interest in 19th century exploration and polar adventures in particular.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among the polar exploration stories of courage, heroism, and selflessness, we have this: the exact opposite of those things.

Charles Francis Hall was a well-meaning captain who set out, like many before and after him, to reach the North Pole. He had generous financial support, a fine ship, a noble plan—and a terrible crew.

Very shortly into the expedition, Hall found himself facing a crew that would stoop to sabotage, negligence, dishonesty, open rebellion, mutiny, and anything else required (maybe even…murder?!) to meet their nefarious aims. The result is one of the most riveting, incredible true stories I've ever read. This is a tale of man’s search for glory alongside his propensity for frailty; it’s at times an adventure story, a survival epic, a murder mystery, and a courtroom drama. Against the backdrop of the frozen and inhospitable North, the layers of intrigue are astounding, the heroes are hardy and memorable, and the villains—and there were so, so many villains—are so bad I kept wanting to reach back through history to kick them.

[Bon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another chilling - haha, get it?! - true, and harrowing arctic tale bites the dust! This was a really juicy one.

[Yibbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six months. On an ice floe. In the dead of winter. In Baffin Bay. With a baby. Eating seal skins. With suspicion of murder in the air. Would they survive? Not knowing anything about this disastrous, scandalous expedition before I read this book, I was kept in suspense till the very end.
Henderson did an excellent job of combining personal narratives and historic details. It becomes obvious very quickly that we are going to hear the story as George Tyson experienced and understood it. That makes vast sections of this book more biography than historic chronicle. It may be a one-sided way to chronicle an expedition, but was it ever enthralling. I almost felt as if I was reading a mystery/adventure novel, but then I would remember that these were real people making life and death decisions.
I believe the intrigue among all the different factions, the overwhelming environmental odds, and the diverse cast of characters will keep anyone’s interest. So I would recommend it to any mature audience. Mature, because serious sexual abuse is alleged against two members of the crew. That is handled delicately, but it is part of the story. There are also several sections that have several 'mild' curse words.

[Lissa Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm embarrassed to admit how long this book has been in my TBR pile. It didn't deserve that. It was great! Halfway through I found myself binge-reading in the middle of the night like a teenager with a new dystopia series. It's the true story of the 1870s era American quest to find the North Pole. The conflict and suspense created by staggering human incompetence paired with Mother Nature's abject domination of us lowly human beings rivals anything Michael Crichton ever came up with. I'd love to see this made into a mini-series. The History Channel wouldn't have to gussy it up with fictional drama. We've got action, adventure, pride, greed, sloth, envy, gluttony, lust, theft, murder - did I leave out any sins? Lest you be too put off, there's also bravery and heroics on the part of a few to keep it from being a complete buzzkill. If you have someone you're trying to convince that history is NOT boring, buy them this book.

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. A fine adventure tale about one of the earliest attempts to reach the North Pole. The author has combined information from a lot of sources and makes a very persuasive case for Murder. So many incompetents on the boat and crew, and there are a few definite heroes (many of which were the Eskimo guides) as well as much bumbling and ineptitude by those in the Grant Administration when it came to staffing the boat and the inquiry. Fast moving, well written with enough source material quoted to make this a fascinating study of an ill-fated attempt in the 1870's to reach the pole.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good. Nice look at the case as well as good use of first hand accounts.

[Stephanie Kemler · Rating 5 out of 5]

More thrilling than a thousand true crime podcasts. Un-put-downable.

[Barbara K · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two stories within this book. The one that is highlighted in the in the summaries, and is, in fact, the backbone of the book, is whether the captain of the expedition died a natural death, or was murdered. The other one is the harrowing story of 18 people who were separated from rest of the crew and then drifted on an ice floe for an unheard of 6 months.

The book opens and closes with a 20th century expedition to the Greenland grave of Captain Charles Hall to take samples in hopes of determining whether he had been poisoned. The rest is a detailed recounting of this polar journey, which was not yet another effort to find the Northwest Passage (or evidence of those who had not returned from their own explorations), but a campaign to get as far north as 90 degrees and locate the North Pole.

Aside from the circumstances involving Captain Hall, prior to reading the book I was ignorant of the outcome of the undertaking. Not knowing the fate of the residents of the ice floe created a tension through that section of the book that kept me completely engaged. Overall, despite a slow beginning, the combination of fighting the elements and coping with the frequently volatile personalities leant the book a true cinematic quality.

Highly recommended to those who enjoy true stories of polar exploration. My thanks to Beata, whose review brought this book to my attention.

Although

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following the Civil War President Grant wanted to unite the country through various ways, one being the exploration of the North Pole masterminded by a two-time Artic explorer from Cincinnati. Fatal North: Adventure and Survival Aboard the USS Polaris, the First U.S. Expedition to the North Pole by Bruce Henderson follows the internally divided and essentially doomed expedition that see’s its leader most likely murdered, and its crew allowed to go undisciplined afterwards that its surprising he was the only casualty.

Henderson essentially follows the expedition from the perspective of George Tyson, a subordinate officer on the ship, who like its leader Captain Charles Francis Hall, wanted to reach the North Pole but is stunned by the lack of motivation and decline of discipline by Hall’s successor. Tyson latter becomes the nominal leader—due to the drastic decline of discipline on the ship—of a group of crew and the expedition’s Inuit abandoned by the ship on the ice and survived six months before rescue. One of the biggest questions that Henderson attempts to tackle is if the expedition’s leader was murdered and if so who did the deed, but the evidence and time result in no hard conclusion.

Fatal North is historical book of adventure and survival with a dash of mystery that Bruce Henderson wraps together in easy-to-read prose that shows great research.

[༺Kiki༻ · Rating 4 out of 5]

You might also enjoy:

Arctic Explorers
✱ Arctic Dreams
✱ Farthest North
✱ The Ice Master
✱ Prisoners of the North
✱ In the Land of White Death
✱ True North: Peary, Cook, and the Race to the Pole
✱ Ninety Degrees North: The Quest for the North Pole
✱ In the Kingdom of Ice: The Voyage of the USS Jeannette

John Franklin: The Franklin Expedition
✱ Fatal Passage: The True Story of John Rae
✱ Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition
✱ Resolute: The Epic Search for the Northwest Passage

Ernest Shackleton: The Endurance Expedition
✱ South: The Endurance Expedition
✱ Ice Captain: The Life of J.R. Stenhouse
�� Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
✱ The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
✱ The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party

Shipwrecks & Castaways
✱ In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
✱ 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea
✱ Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World
✱ The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty
✱ Batavia's Graveyard
✱ Unbroken

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know the story of the Hall Arctic Expedition so it was all new and an exciting adventure, told well. The information for the account comes from the journal of one man, George Tyson, so he is the hero of the story and we see everything happening through his eyes. It couldn't have been otherwise as the other journals don't seem to have survived but I would have liked an acknowledgment of this problem in putting together an accurate account of the journey. Anyway I'm not challenging the hero status of George Tyson. I would have liked some other journals or a discussion of their relevance. But all in all an amazing story of bravery, venality and endurance. A good read.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars is maybe more appropriate. If I line this book up with the wildly popular "In The Kingdom of Ice", I would have to give it 5 stars, as there is far more material here to chew on, and lots of intrigue, adding spice to the usual struggle against the ice one can and should expect. Henderson does a great job of drawing the characters. I know I have read of the Eskimo families who are a crucial part of the book, but never before felt that I understood them so well. A very interesting and meaty book.

[RedRedtheycallmeRed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never heard of this story and I got sucked in pretty quickly. The opening chapter takes place in 1968 when the body of Charles Hall is unearthed from its arctic grave and autopsied. The samples were sent to a lab in Canada, and the findings are revealed in the epilogue.

Though it's Charles Hall's enthusiasm for all things arctic that gets the voyage going, George Tyson is the eyes of the book, due to the fact that his journals survived. And he seemed like a decent guy (him being against child molestation and cannibalism certainly helped). There were some pretty dark folks on that voyage.

I felt for Tyson, the level of incompetence and recklessness that surrounded him was crazy! The chapters that describe Tyson and 18 others being stranded on an ice floe for five months was some horrific reading. If not for the natives they wouldn't have lasted but a few days. The "investigation" into what happened on the POLARIS afterward was a study in ineptitude.

[Teresa Cervera · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most interesting true story I’ve ever read. It’s almost a comedy of errors, just when you think things can’t get any worse they do. With a commander who says “damn the pole! I came for the greenbacks.” You know you’re in for a wild ride

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

To get to the North Pole one must sail as far north as possible before winter. Then find a suitable place to dock the ship to hunker down to spend the winter months in sub degree snow and ice storms, with 24hrs of complete darkness, with a crew you barely know and trust, until spring comes and the ice gradually starts to melt and you can then push further north, eventually finishing the journey for hundreds of miles by sled dog. That is the BEST case scenario, so I was already in awe of what was to follow! Great read from start to finish.

[Leslie McNamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the first account of the 1871 POLARIS expedition that I have read and I likely would have rated this one higher had I not first read Richard Parry’s 2001 TRIAL BY ICE, which was exceptional. Henderson’s 2014 telling is not as thorough with details and factual information about the Arctic, but does recount the story mostly from the eyes and words of the Assistant Navigator, George Tyson (who in both books appears to be the person who possessed the most clear thinking about how to conduct the expedition and survive the ordeal, though his restraint in telling all his concerns at the hearing was disheartening, especially given the unjust results).
 
I was happy to see that Henderson included a map, which was sorely lacking in Parry’s telling. In addition, he included the names of the Inuit Eskimos in his “cast of characters” list, which was important to me, as they were some of the only reasons the crew survived and should receive due credit.
 
What nonsense it was for Commander Hall, who so yearned for the approval and funding for this expedition to state that he had “chosen his own men” who would “stand by me to the last” when both the Sailing Master Buddington and the Chief Scientist/Surgeon Bessels were far from his first choices, half the crew were not Americans, and almost none of the crew were servicemen on this U.S. Naval endorsed and sponsored expedition.
 
In addition to the actual attempts at reaching the North Pole, the infighting among the officers, scientists and crew, the probable murder, and the survival story, Henderson includes some interesting data, such as the common-sense survival aspects of marriage in Eskimo society.
 
The “aftermath” section in the back pages was much appreciated (especially in regards to Bessels and Tyson). A good read.

[Czar · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many unbelievably stupid people in one book.

[AltLovesBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Those who have baffled and spoiled this expedition ought not to escape."

This book was like a two-for-one special for me. Not only was it an arctic expedition book, which I automatically love, it comes with a bonus murder mystery for some added drama. The book opens with a group exhuming Captain Hall's grave for further study about the mystery, so you know up front that things don't go well for at least one of them, but how did he die? Two sides of the story exist, either he got sick after coming back from a cold expedition and drank hot coffee and died of apoplexy (the doctor's diagnosis), or something else was afoot.

Meanwhile, the rest of the expedition goes to pot fairly quickly after Captain Hall's death. Command fell to Sidney Budington, who (allegedly) couldn't find his way out of a bottle long enough to be a proper commander. Stores were burned through at an alarming rate as they were icebound, and the one attempt a group of people made at reaching the north pole via sled while bound led to Budington leaving them behind. The rest of the book is from the perspective of this group of stranded people and what it took to survive until their eventual rescue.

We also get a substantial amount of book after the rescue, covering the inquiry into What Really Happened, where we get one side (Tyson's, stuck on the ice), the other side (Budington, ran the ship aground, it sunk), and the doctor's side (with Budington, quinine is fine ok). The back and forth and finger pointing was amusing. The epilogue of the book covers what was uncovered by studying the samples from Captain Hall's corpse using modern medicine.

Just a really interesting book. I loved that just enough time was spent in the beginning setting things up without getting bogged down in expedition preparation minutiae. There was enough points of view in the beginning at least before things went south (err...north?) to already see how doomed the expedition was based on personnel conflicts alone. After being marooned, we narrow down to one point of view (Tyson's), and we see him struggle to keep their band together and moving in the right direction despite having zero authority and zero motivational tools. Loved the inclusion of the Where Are They Now after the investigation.

[Karyl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book I’ve read on the Polaris expedition to the North Pole. Not too long ago, I read Trial by Ice: The True Story of Murder and Survival on the 1871 Polaris Expedition, which I happened upon at my local library. While I did enjoy that book, this book was even better.

The book opens with a group of men who visited the grave of Charles Francis Hall and retrieved some specimens for testing, considering the questions raised by the surviving members of the expedition when both parties were rescued. Hall’s death looks very suspicious to anyone with half a brain, yet for some reason the surgeons-general who were part of the investigation agreed with Dr Bessels that Hall had died of natural causes. At the end, we learn that indeed, Hall’s tissues were rife with arsenic, making the likelihood of his death being natural almost non-existent.

What I did prefer about this book was how much it focused on George Tyson, the lead officer of the group of people, which included 9 Inuit (women and children included) who spent six months on ice floes after it seemed that the Polaris was in imminent danger of sinking. It boggles the mind how strong Tyson had to be to keep everyone alive in such dire circumstances, especially considering he had no winter gear to wear all those long months on the ice.

My issues with this book were that Henderson uses the word Eskimo when Inuit is more respectful, and that this particular ebook is rife with typographical errors. It’s never bad enough that I don’t know what word it’s supposed to be, but it’s annoying nonetheless.

[DancingMarshmallow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall: 4 stars.

This is a tale of man vs. both nature and his own stupidity. Shipwreck narratives are interesting to me because of the psychology of how people adapt and survive to harsh conditions. Usually it's a storm or some other accident that caused the wreck, but in this case, it's just sheer derpitude. Now, in all fairness, I don't claim to have any knowledge about how to pilot a wooden steamship through the Arctic, but when pretty much all of the decisions you make end in near loss of the ship or life, then I gotta figure you're terrible at your job. Arthur Budington is a bit of a villain in this story, and you'll hear plenty about his continued epic fails that leave the crew stranded on an ice floe.

I'm honestly amazed that more people don't die in this story - except for the guy who was murdered, of course.

Overall, it's a well-researched, well-told work of nonfiction, and if you are a nerd about Arctic exploration or shipwrecks, you'll probably enjoy this.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very entertaining account of a 19th century American polar expedition that I doubt many readers will have heard of beforehand. I know I hadn’t. The reason for this expedition being obscure becomes evident pretty quickly, as things get almost comedically bad right from the start, and then eventually gets just straight out disastrous. Definitely worth a look if you’re interested in reading about explorers and sailors being miserable.

[Cheryl Turoczy Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe not the best book to read just as I am preparing to leave for the Arctic but interesting. Quite sure I won't have to survive a winter confined by ice.

Interesting comment in the afterword about Grant being the most corrupt President in history because he named his friends to cabinet positions for which they were patently unqualified--for some reason that is all feeling very familiar.

[Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm genuinely surprised at how addicting, shocking, and finally heartfelt this book was. I've read my fair share of survival/disaster/exploration non-fiction books but this one might be the best. I'm very glad that the mystery of this murder was finally solved, and also DEEPLY sad at the end of the second protagonist of the story. This book caused me many a pang.

[Loksandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok I’m ready for spring now!

[Bookowl1000 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this adveture story. Ever since childhood I have been fascinated by exploration adventures, especially to the arctic/antarctic. I can't belive how unenthusisatic the people on this voyage were...why sign up to a trip to the north pole when you don't want to go? There was also a lot un unappreciation for those who were keeping them alive. I guess, in a desperate situation people allow there fear to turn them into morons!

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very cold case. Polar expedition adventure that's got pretty much everything. The reason for the expedition is the least interesting part of the book. The crew is so divided and untrustworthy that there's no way it's going to end well. The book only drags in a couple of spots, mostly I ripped through it. The author's other books are going to the top of my to read list.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well in my opinion old school arctic explorers are the toughest SOB's ever. I dread over a cold toilet seat. -40 degrees? Not bloody likely. This event being well documented made for a really good book. I've read quite a few arctic exploration books and I never grow tired of them. This was a well written book and I would gladly recommend it to anyone.

[Mark Barnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting tale of bravery, cowardice, loyalty, insubordination and a murder mystery that turns into a true-life tale of polar survival. Highly recommended if you enjoy true stories of arctic survival and adventure.