The Polar Bear was an 81-ton schooner purchased by Vilhjalmur Stefansson for the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913–1916.
Heath Company of Seattle, the Polar Bear sailed two trading voyages to Siberia before being converted to a whaling vessel in 1913.
In 1915, Stefansson chartered the Polar Bear as a support vessel, but as costs mounted, he purchased the ship outright.
After its sale, the Polar Bear returned to Siberian trading voyages, eventually entering the service of the Soviet Union.
That nation renamed the ship Polyarnaya Zvezda (Pole Star) and operated it between 1925 and 1928 in Arctic coastal voyages.