“The Voyage of the Jeannette: The Ship and Ice Journals of George De Long” is a book from the “Polar Library” series published with the support of the All-Union Arctic Institute and is a bibliographic rarity. It tells the story of the expedition of the American lieutenant of the Navy, Captain George Washington De Long.
The narrative in the book resembles an adventure novel with all the attributes of the genre: the death of the captain and the ship, the rescue of part of the crew, unexpected finds and mysteries. The book tells of the strength of spirit, patience, courage and faith of polar explorers — the true heroes of the Arctic.
George Washington De Long was born in New York City on August 22, 1844. He was a participant in the Civil War and graduated with honors from the Naval Academy. He spent around ten years sailing the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea on warships. In the 1870s, he decided to take the ship “Jeannette” to the North Pole to test the hypothesis of an ice barrier.
The crew of the ship consisted of 33 people. After stopping in Alaska, they headed for Chukotka, but soon froze into the ice and sprung a leak. Together with a large ice floe, the ship drifted for a year and a half until it landed on the shore.
After a short break, the team continued their journey on three boats that were caught in a strong storm. The bodies of Captain De Long and his sailors were found only six months later. They all died of hunger and cold. De Long made notes in his journal until the very last minute. The following are excerpts from this journal:
