George W. De Long (1844–81) was a US Navy officer who set out to find a new route to the North Pole via the Bering Strait. During his voyage, which left San Francisco in 1879, he claimed the De Long Islands for the USA. But when his vessel, the Jeannette, sank, the crew abandoned ship, and he eventually died of starvation in Siberia. Compiled by his wife from his journals and the testimony of the survivors, these two volumes document De Long's doomed expedition. First published in 1883, Volume 2 records the Jeannette's final wreckage, and the crew's continuation of their perilous mission in smaller boats. It concludes with the discovery of De Long's records, and later his remains, by surviving crew member George Melville. Providing a vivid account of nineteenth-century Polar exploration, it remains of great interest to scholars of geography and maritime studies.
Contents
10. The return to cold and darkness; 11. The last of the Jeannette; 12. Leaving the ship behind; 13. The march over the frozen ocean; 14. Bennett Island; 15. In the boats; 16. The New Siberian Islands; 17. The Lena delta; 18. The fatal month; 19. Nindemann and Noros; 20. The fortunes of the whaleboat party; 21. The first search; 22. The final search; 23. Conclusion.
Printer friendly version