George W. De Long
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George Washington De Long (22 August 1844 – ) was a United States Navy officer and explorer who led the ill-fated ''Jeannette'' expedition of 1879–1881, in search of the Open Polar Sea.


Career


''Jeannette'' expedition

In 1879, backed by James Gordon Bennett Jr.—owner of the ''
New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. His ...
''—and under the auspices of the United States Navy, Lieutenant Commander De Long sailed from San Francisco on the ship with a plan to find a way to the North Pole via the Bering Strait. As well as collecting scientific data and animal specimens, De Long discovered three islands and claimed them for the United States in the summer of 1881. The government did not endorse this claim, and the islands are under Russian jurisdiction. The ship became trapped in the ice pack in the
Chukchi Sea Chukchi Sea ( rus, Чуко́тское мо́ре, r=Chukotskoye more, p=tɕʊˈkotskəjə ˈmorʲɪ), sometimes referred to as the Chuuk Sea, Chukotsk Sea or the Sea of Chukotsk, is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west b ...
northeast of Wrangel Island in September 1879. It drifted in the ice pack in a northwesterly direction until it was crushed in the shifting ice and sank on , in the
East Siberian Sea The East Siberian Sea ( rus, Восто́чно-Сиби́рское мо́ре, r=Vostochno-Sibirskoye more) is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the Arctic Cape to the north, the coast of Siberia to the south, the New Si ...
. De Long and his crew then traversed the ice pack to try to reach Siberia pulling three small boats. After reaching open water on September 11 they became separated and one boat, commanded by Executive Officer
Charles W. Chipp Charles Winans Chipp (August 23, 1848 – ) was a United States Navy officer and explorer.Burnett, Charles E. (1933). ''The Chipp Family in England and America, With Genealogical Tree''. Los Angeles: United Printing Company. pp. 49– ...
, was lost; no trace of it was ever found. De Long's own boat reached land, but only two men sent ahead for aid survived. The third boat, under the command of Chief Engineer
George W. Melville George Wallace Melville (January 10, 1841 – March 17, 1912) was an American engineer, Arctic explorer, and author. As chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, he headed a time of great expansion, technological progress and change, often ...
, reached the Lena Delta and its crew were rescued. Melville later found and brought to the U.S. the ships log books which now sit in the U.S. National Archives.


Death

De Long died of starvation near Matvay Hut, Yakutia. Melville returned a few months later and found the bodies of De Long and his boat crew. Overall, the doomed voyage took the lives of 20 expedition members, as well as additional men lost during the search operations. De Long's death – and that of the other men – was assumed to have occurred at or about the end of October.


Legacy

In 1890, the officers and men of the United States Navy dedicated the
Jeannette Monument The Jeannette Monument is the largest monument in the United States Naval Academy Cemetery. It memorializes the 1881 loss of while exploring the Arctic ice. ''Jeannette'', with a crew of 33, collapsed and sank under surging ice in the summer of ...
, a granite-and-marble monument designed by George P. Colvocoresses—a cross with carved icicles hanging from it that sits atop a cairn. The -high structure is in the United States Naval Academy Cemetery overlooking the Severn River. Union veterans in the Kingdom of Hawai‘i on September 23, 1882, named the post of the Grand Army of the Republic there after him. Two United States Navy ships have been named after George W. De Long. In addition to the De Long Islands, the De Long Mountains in northwest Alaska, and the De Long Fjord in Greenland bear his name.


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* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:De Long, George W. 19th-century American naval officers 1844 births 1881 deaths American polar explorers Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) Deaths by starvation Explorers of the Arctic Jeannette expedition Military personnel from New York City Shipwreck survivors United States Naval Academy alumni United States Navy officers