USS Jeannette (1878)
Encyclopedia
The first USS Jeannette was originally HMS Pandora, a Philomel-class
gunvessel of the Royal Navy
, and was purchased in 1875 by Sir Allen Young
for his arctic voyages in 1875-1876. The ship was purchased in 1878 by James Gordon Bennett, Jr.
, owner of the New York Herald
; and renamed Jeannette. Bennett was an Arctic enthusiast, and he obtained the cooperation and assistance of the government in fitting out an expedition to the North Pole
through the Bering Strait
.
officers on the voyage, and Lieutenant
George W. DeLong
— a veteran Arctic explorer — accompanied Bennett to Europe
to select a ship. When Jeannette was chosen and named, DeLong sailed her from Le Havre
to San Francisco, California
during the summer and fall of 1878.
At Mare Island Naval Shipyard
, Jeannette was fitted with new boilers and other equipment. Her hull was massively reinforced to allow her to navigate in the Arctic icepack.
Jeannette was to sail under the orders of the Navy and subject to naval laws and discipline, even though privately owned. The crew consisted of 30 officers and men and three civilians. The ship contained the latest in scientific equipment; and, in addition to reaching the Pole through Bering Strait, scientific observation ranked high among the expedition's list of goals.
led by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
, who successfully had traversed the Northeast Passage
. Jeannette pushed northward to Alaska
's Norton Sound
and sent her last communication to Washington
before starting north from St. Lawrence Bay, Siberia
on 27 August.
The ship sailed across the Chukchi Sea
and sighted Herald Island
on 4 September. Soon afterward she was caught fast in the ice pack
near Wrangel Island
at 71°35′N 175°6′E. For the next 21 months, Jeannette drifted to the northwest, ever-closer to DeLong's goal, the North Pole itself. He described in his journal the important scientific records kept by the party: "A full meteorological
record is kept, soundings are taken, astronomical
observations made and positions computed, dip and declination of the needle observed and recorded… everything we can do is done as faithfully, as strictly, as mathematically as if we were at the Pole itself, or the lives of millions depended on our adherence to routine." In May 1881, two islands were discovered and named Jeannette
and Henrietta
. In June, Bennett Island
was discovered and claimed for the U.S. On the night of 12 June, the pressure of the ice finally began to crush Jeannette when they had reached 77°15′N 154°59′E. DeLong and his men unloaded provisions and equipment onto the ice pack and the ship sank the following morning.
and seven men) capsized and sank. The other two, commanded by DeLong and Chief Engineer George W. Melville
with respectively 14 and 11 men, survived the severe weather but landed at widely separated points on the delta.
The party headed by DeLong began the long march inland over the marshy, half-frozen delta to hoped-for native settlements, and one by one the men died from starvation and exposure. Finally DeLong sent the two strongest ahead for help; they eventually found a settlement and survived. DeLong and his 11 other companions died on the Siberian tundra
.
In the meantime, the intrepid Melville and his party had found a native village on the other side of the delta and were rescued. Melville then started for Belun, a Russian outpost, where he found the two survivors of DeLong's boat and induced a group of natives to go with him in search of his commander. He succeeded in finding their landing place on the Lena and recovered Jeannettes log
and other important records, but returned to Belun on 27 November without locating the DeLong group. Keeping only two of his party, Melville then turned northward once more, and finally found the bodies of DeLong and two of his companions on 23 March 1882. He built a large cairn
over the grave of his friends, a monument which has been reproduced in granite and marble at the United States Naval Academy
.
, the capital of Siberia on 5 July 1882, almost three years since his departure from San Francisco in Jeannette. The results of the expedition, both meteorological and geographic, were important. Melville was rightly honored for his courage and tenacity, and the name of George Washington DeLong is considered among the ranks of the Navy's explorer heroes.
Search and rescue efforts included those with the revenue cutter Thomas Corwin
and former steam whaler, . They established that the Jeannette had been seen, in good condition and steaming west; that she had not landed parties on Herald or Wrangell Island; and that no survivors had come ashore within reach of their shore searches. A party from the Rodgers, upon reaching Srednekolymsk
received word of the landing of the Jeannette survivors in the Lena delta; this party then traveled to join the Jeannette survivors.
On June 18, 1884, wreckage from Jeannette was found on an ice floe near Julianehåb (now Qaqortoq
) near the southern tip of Greenland
(60°43′20"N 46°02′25"W). This suggested to Fridtjof Nansen
the hypothesis that the ice of the Arctic Ocean was in constant motion from the Siberian coast to the American coast. To prove this, Nansen planned and executed the Fram
expedition 1893-1896, which confirmed the motion of the Arctic sea-ice.
Philomel class gunvessel
The Philomel-class gunvessel was a class of wooden-hulled screw-driven second-class gunvessels built for the Royal Navy between 1859 and 1867, of which 26 were ordered but only 20 completed. They had a mixed history, with some serving for as little as 5 years, and others surviving into the 1880s...
gunvessel of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, and was purchased in 1875 by Sir Allen Young
Allen Young
Sir Allen Young was an English master mariner and explorer, best remembered for his role in Arctic exploration including the search for Sir John Franklin.-Early life:...
for his arctic voyages in 1875-1876. The ship was purchased in 1878 by James Gordon Bennett, Jr.
James Gordon Bennett, Jr.
James Gordon Bennett, Jr. was publisher of the New York Herald, founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett, Sr., who emigrated from Scotland. He was generally known as Gordon Bennett to distinguish him from his father....
, owner of the New York Herald
New York Herald
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...
; and renamed Jeannette. Bennett was an Arctic enthusiast, and he obtained the cooperation and assistance of the government in fitting out an expedition to the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
through the Bering Strait
Bering Strait
The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...
.
Detailing and fitting
In March, Congress authorized the detailing of navalUnited 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...
officers on the voyage, and Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
George W. DeLong
George W. DeLong
George Washington DeLong was a United States Navy officer and explorer.- Biography :Born in New York City, he was educated at the United States Naval Academy in Newport, Rhode Island...
— a veteran Arctic explorer — accompanied Bennett to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to select a ship. When Jeannette was chosen and named, DeLong sailed her from Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
to San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
during the summer and fall of 1878.
At Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Mare Island Naval Shipyard
The Mare Island Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located 25 miles northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates the peninsula shipyard from the main portion of the...
, Jeannette was fitted with new boilers and other equipment. Her hull was massively reinforced to allow her to navigate in the Arctic icepack.
Jeannette was to sail under the orders of the Navy and subject to naval laws and discipline, even though privately owned. The crew consisted of 30 officers and men and three civilians. The ship contained the latest in scientific equipment; and, in addition to reaching the Pole through Bering Strait, scientific observation ranked high among the expedition's list of goals.
Arctic voyage
Jeannette departed San Francisco on 8 July 1879, the Secretary of the Navy (SecNav) having added to her original instructions the task of searching for the Swedish polar expedition long overdue in the ship VegaVega (ship)
SS Vega was a Swedish barque, built in Bremerhaven Germany in 1872. She was the first ship to complete a voyage through the Northeast Passage, and the first vessel to circumnavigate the Eurasian continent.-Construction:...
led by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
Freiherr Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld , also known as A. E. Nordenskioeld was a Finnish baron, geologist, mineralogist and arctic explorer of Finnish-Swedish origin. He was a member of the prominent Finland-Swedish Nordenskiöld family of scientists...
, who successfully had traversed the Northeast Passage
Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route is a shipping lane officially defined by Russian legislation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from Murmansk on the Barents Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait and Far East. The entire route lies in Arctic...
. Jeannette pushed northward to Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
's Norton Sound
Norton Sound
Norton Sound is an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, south of the Seward Peninsula. It is about 240 km long and 200 km wide. The Yukon River delta forms a portion of the south shore and water from the Yukon influences this body of water...
and sent her last communication to Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
before starting north from St. Lawrence Bay, Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
on 27 August.
The ship sailed across the Chukchi Sea
Chukchi Sea
Chukchi Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the De Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, beyond which lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific...
and sighted Herald Island
Herald Island (Arctic)
Herald Island or Gerald Island is a small, isolated Russian island in the Chukchi Sea, to the east of Wrangel Island. It rises in sheer cliffs, making it quite inaccessible, either by ship or by plane. The only sliver of shoreline is at its northwestern point, where the cliffs have crumbled into...
on 4 September. Soon afterward she was caught fast in the ice pack
Sea ice
Sea ice is largely formed from seawater that freezes. Because the oceans consist of saltwater, this occurs below the freezing point of pure water, at about -1.8 °C ....
near Wrangel Island
Wrangel Island
Wrangel Island is an island in the Arctic Ocean, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea. Wrangel Island lies astride the 180° meridian. The International Date Line is displaced eastwards at this latitude to avoid the island as well as the Chukchi Peninsula on the Russian mainland...
at 71°35′N 175°6′E. For the next 21 months, Jeannette drifted to the northwest, ever-closer to DeLong's goal, the North Pole itself. He described in his journal the important scientific records kept by the party: "A full meteorological
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
record is kept, soundings are taken, astronomical
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
observations made and positions computed, dip and declination of the needle observed and recorded… everything we can do is done as faithfully, as strictly, as mathematically as if we were at the Pole itself, or the lives of millions depended on our adherence to routine." In May 1881, two islands were discovered and named Jeannette
Jeannette Island
Jeannette Island is the easternmost island of the De Long Islands archipelago in the East Siberian Sea. It is the second smallest island of the De Long group, being only 2 km in length. It has an area of approximately . The highest peak of the island is...
and Henrietta
Henrietta Island
Henrietta Island is the northernmost island of the De Long archipelago in the East Siberian Sea. 40% of the island is covered with glaciers. Henrietta is roughly circular in shape and its diameter is about 6 km...
. In June, Bennett Island
Bennett Island
Bennett Island is the largest of the islands of the De Long group in the northern part of the East Siberian Sea. The area of this island is approximately 150 km² ...
was discovered and claimed for the U.S. On the night of 12 June, the pressure of the ice finally began to crush Jeannette when they had reached 77°15′N 154°59′E. DeLong and his men unloaded provisions and equipment onto the ice pack and the ship sank the following morning.
Abandonment and trek to Siberia
The expedition now faced a long trek to the Siberian coast, with little hope even then of rescue. Nonetheless they started off for the Lena Delta hauling their sledges with boats and supplies. After reaching several small islands in the Siberian group and gaining some food and rest, they took to their three boats on 12 September in hope of reaching the mainland. As a violent storm blew up, one of the boats (with Lt. Charles W. ChippCharles W. Chipp
Charles Winans Chipp was a United States Navy officer and explorer.-Biography:Born in Kingston, New York, he was educated at the United States Naval Academy in Newport, Rhode Island and Annapolis, Maryland. After graduating in 1868, he served in the steam frigate USS Franklin, flagship of the...
and seven men) capsized and sank. The other two, commanded by DeLong and Chief Engineer George W. Melville
George W. Melville
George Wallace Melville was an engineer of the United States Navy who became a rear admiral.-Civil War:Melville was born in New York City on 10 January 1841. After graduating from Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, he entered the U.S...
with respectively 14 and 11 men, survived the severe weather but landed at widely separated points on the delta.
The party headed by DeLong began the long march inland over the marshy, half-frozen delta to hoped-for native settlements, and one by one the men died from starvation and exposure. Finally DeLong sent the two strongest ahead for help; they eventually found a settlement and survived. DeLong and his 11 other companions died on the Siberian tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
.
In the meantime, the intrepid Melville and his party had found a native village on the other side of the delta and were rescued. Melville then started for Belun, a Russian outpost, where he found the two survivors of DeLong's boat and induced a group of natives to go with him in search of his commander. He succeeded in finding their landing place on the Lena and recovered Jeannettes log
Logbook
A logbook was originally a book for recording readings from the chip log, and is used to determine the distance a ship traveled within a certain amount of time...
and other important records, but returned to Belun on 27 November without locating the DeLong group. Keeping only two of his party, Melville then turned northward once more, and finally found the bodies of DeLong and two of his companions on 23 March 1882. He built a large cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
over the grave of his friends, a monument which has been reproduced in granite and marble at the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
.
Aftermath
Before leaving Siberia, Melville made an attempt to find the remains of Jeannettes third boat, even though the chance of survivors was slim. He returned disappointed to IrkutskIrkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
, the capital of Siberia on 5 July 1882, almost three years since his departure from San Francisco in Jeannette. The results of the expedition, both meteorological and geographic, were important. Melville was rightly honored for his courage and tenacity, and the name of George Washington DeLong is considered among the ranks of the Navy's explorer heroes.
Search and rescue efforts included those with the revenue cutter Thomas Corwin
USRC Thomas Corwin (1876)
The Thomas Corwin was a United States Revenue Cutter and subsequently a merchant vessel. These two very different roles both centered on Alaska and the Bering Sea...
and former steam whaler, . They established that the Jeannette had been seen, in good condition and steaming west; that she had not landed parties on Herald or Wrangell Island; and that no survivors had come ashore within reach of their shore searches. A party from the Rodgers, upon reaching Srednekolymsk
Srednekolymsk
Srednekolymsk is a town and the administrative center of Srednekolymsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located northeast of Yakutsk on the left bank of the Kolyma River. Population: -History:...
received word of the landing of the Jeannette survivors in the Lena delta; this party then traveled to join the Jeannette survivors.
On June 18, 1884, wreckage from Jeannette was found on an ice floe near Julianehåb (now Qaqortoq
Qaqortoq
Qaqortoq is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. With a population of 3,230 as of 2011, it is the most populous town in southern Greenland, and the fourth-largest town in the country. The name is western Greenlandic and means "[the] white [one]".- History :The area around...
) near the southern tip of Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
(60°43′20"N 46°02′25"W). This suggested to Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
the hypothesis that the ice of the Arctic Ocean was in constant motion from the Siberian coast to the American coast. To prove this, Nansen planned and executed the Fram
Fram
Fram is a ship that was used in expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions by the Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912...
expedition 1893-1896, which confirmed the motion of the Arctic sea-ice.