And it grew wondrous cold: And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald. —SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE,”THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER” Sensing that the ship might depart at a moment's notice, those men who loved Captain Hall did their best to improve his grave site. Herman Sieman, especially, spent his spare moments tending the mound while he prayed for his former captain's soul. Captain Tyson took the time to rearrange the stones ringing the grave into neat order. The crowbar driven into the frozen earth in the dark of the Arctic winter remained unmoved, but wind and drifting snow had played havoc with the penciled inscription and board Schuman had left. Realizing his former commander deserved something more, Mr. Chester secured a piece of pine an inch and one-half thick, planed it with loving care, and cut a more fitting inscription into its face: In Memory of Charles Francis Hall, Late commander U.S. Steamer Polaris, North Pole Expedition Died Nov. 8th, 1871 Aged 50 years I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
