The third USS Tigress was a screw steamer of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, chartered during 1873 to mount an Arctic rescue mission.

Whaler, 1871–1873

Constructed in Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, by Harvey and Co. in 1871, she was originally a civilian whaler

Whaler

A whaler is a specialized ship, designed for whaling, the catching and/or processing of whales. The former included the whale catcher, a steam or diesel-driven vessel with a harpoon gun mounted at its bows. The latter included such vessels as the sail or steam-driven whaleship of the 16th to early...

 with a home port of Newfoundland. In May 1873 she was instrumental in the rescue of 19 members of the United States Navy Polaris expedition

Polaris expedition

The Polaris expedition was led by the American Charles Francis Hall, who intended it to be the first expedition to reach the North Pole. Sponsored by the United States government, it was one of the first serious attempts at the Pole, after that of British naval officer William Edward Parry, who in...

 from an ice flow in Baffin Bay

Baffin Bay

Baffin Bay , located between Baffin Island and the southwest coast of Greenland, is a marginal sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is connected to the Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea...

, and brought them into her home port, St. John's, Newfoundland

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...

, with the first reports of the loss of the expedition's ship, Polaris. She was so well-suited structurally for cruising icy Arctic waters that she was chartered by the United States Navy for service during the search for Polaris and the remainder of that ship's company. She was then manned by a Navy crew under the command of Comdr. James A. Greer

James A. Greer

James Agustin Greer was a rear admiral in the United States Navy, who served during the Civil War.-Early years:...

.

Searching for Polaris, July–November 1873

Tigress orders were to make her way as near to Polaris last reported position and there to begin the main portion of the search. She cleared New York on 14 July, visited St. John's, and put in at Godhaven, Greenland

Qeqertarsuaq

Qeqertarsuaq is a port and a town in Qaasuitsup municipality, located on the south coast of Qeqertarsuaq Island, an island on the west coast of Greenland. Founded in 1773, it is home to a campus of the University of Copenhagen...

, on 6 August for coal. Between the 8th and the 10th, she moved from Godhaven to Upernavik where she took on coal and provisions from the sloop . The next day, the steamer headed north, following the Greenland shore as closely as she dared. On her way, she searched North Star Bay

North Star Bay

North Star Bay is a bay in Wolstenholme Fjord, Greenland.The bay was the site of a Cold War nuclear accident when a B-52 bomber carrying four thermonuclear bombs crashed, spreading contaminated material over the area. Thule Air Base is located at the edge of the bay....

, Northumberland Island

Northumberland Island

Northumberland Island is an island off the coast of northern Greenland....

, and Hartstene Bay

Hartstene Bay

Hartstene Bay is a small bay on the north-west coast of Greenland....

 without success. On 14 August, she discovered the camp on Littleton Island

Littleton Island (Arctic)

Littleton Island is an island approximately from Greenland’s coast right in Smith Sound. It is about south of the island today called Hans Island. Around it and the coast of Greenland lay dozens of tiny Islands, and Kane names one of them Hans Island after Hans Hendrik, the native Greenlandic...

 at which the people from Polaris had passed the previous winter. From the natives then in possession of the camp, the searchers learned that the Polaris crew had departed the previous June in boats constructed of materials salvaged from the ship and that Polaris herself sank soon thereafter. Tigress crew gathered what papers and instruments they found in the camp and reembarked.

On the 16th, the steamer shaped a course to the south and, following a stop at Melville Bay

Melville Bay

Melville Bay , is a large bay off the coast of northwestern Greenland. Located to the north of the Upernavik Archipelago, it opens to the south-west into Baffin Bay. Its Kalaallisut name, Qimusseriarsuaq, means "the great dog sledding place"....

 to communicate with the authorities at Tessuisak, reentered Godhaven on 25 August. After coaling from Juniata again Tigress resumed the search by crossing Baffin Bay

Baffin Bay

Baffin Bay , located between Baffin Island and the southwest coast of Greenland, is a marginal sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is connected to the Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea...

 and heading southward along the coast of Baffin Island

Baffin Island

Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is and its population is about 11,000...

 to Cumberland Sound

Cumberland Sound

Cumberland Sound is an Arctic waterway in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is a western arm of the Labrador Sea located between Baffin Island's Hall Peninsula and the Cumberland Peninsula...

 and back to the coast of Greenland. There, she searched the area between Ivigtut and Liskenaes. She searched the Davis Strait

Davis Strait

Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Nunavut, Canada's Baffin Island. The strait was named for the English explorer John Davis , who explored the area while seeking a Northwest Passage....

 until 16 October when she had to put into St. Johns for coal. There, she learned that the rest of Polaris crew had been rescued and had arrived in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. After a fortnight in port, Tigress cleared St. John's on 30 October and, on 9 November, returned to New York where she was returned to her civilian crew.