The USS Jeannette: Shattered Ambitions (Part 2)

Thursday, October 6th, 1881. 

One hundred and sixteenth day. Called all hands at 7.30. Had a cup of thirdhand tea with one half ounce of alcohol in it. Everybody very weak. Gale moderating somewhat. Sent Alexey out to hunt. Shall start Nindemann and Noros at noon to make the forced march to Ku Mark Surka. At 8.45 a. m. our messmate Erichsen departed this life. Addressed a few words of cheer and comfort to the men. Alexey came back empty-handed. Too much drifting snow. What in God's name is going to become of us, — fourteen pounds dog meat left, and twentyfive miles to a possible settlement? As to burying Erichsen, I cannot dig a grave, for the ground is frozen and we have nothing to dig with. There is nothing to do but to bury him in the river. Sewed him up in the flaps of the tent, and covered him with my flag. Got tea ready, and with one half ounce alcohol we will try to make out to bury him. But we are all so weak that I do not see how we are going to move.

Part 2, and the conclusion of the USS Jeanette: Shattered Ambitions, today, on Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs.

Hello and welcome to Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs, tales of mishaps, misfortune, and misadventure. I’m your host, Rich Napolitano. 

In part 1 of this series, you heard of the first stages of the USS Jeanette expedition, its two years trapped in Arctic ice, and its eventual destruction due to the crushing pressure of the ice. A desperate struggle to make it to mainland Siberia commenced, and we left off as the men departed Semonovsky Island in their three small boats.

Almost immediately upon departing the island, the boats were beset in a strong northeastern gale. They were tossed violently in the rough seas, and the three boats were scattered, permanently losing sight of each other. De Long wrote, very matter of factly, “At nine p. m. lost sight of whaleboat ahead ; at ten p. m. lost sight of second cutter astern ; wind freshening to a gale. Step of mast carried away ; lowered sail and rode to sea anchor ; very heavy sea and hard squalls. Barometer falling rapidly.”

De Long and the thirteen men in the larger cutter fought miserably for a week in the icy, storm-tossed seas, doing everything they could to keep from capsizing. On September 17th, the boat was grounded a mile and a half from shore in the Lena River delta, and could not get any closer to shore. They had no option but to enter the freezing water and make for shore. Before departing, De Long had the men prepare one last meal. They would take only necessary items, and leave everything else behind.

On September 19th, after enduring tremendous suffering and misery, the men made it to the Siberian coast in the Lena delta. This is one of the most isolated, treacherous places on the planet. In the spring and summer, it is low and swampy. In the fall and winter, the windswept, barren region is covered in ice and snow. Water freezes over making for slushy, treacherous terrain, and the ice often cannot support the weight of a man. 

Upon arrival, De Long left another message behind in an instrument box. The message included a grim statement, “I abandoned my boat, and we waded one and a half miles ashore, carrying our provisions and outfit with us. We must now try with God's help to walk to a settlement, the nearest of which I believe to be ninety-five miles distant. We are all well, have four days' provisions, arms and ammunition, and are carrying with us only ship's books and papers, with blankets, tents, and some medicines ; therefore, our chances of getting through seem good.” De Long had no knowledge of what became of the men in the other two boats.

De Long’s party set out for a village marked on his map, but only a few miles a day could be achieved over this frozen hellscape. After enduring such tortures as they had already, many of the men were in constant pain and could barely do more than hobble along. They spent the previous week sheltering in a boat, soaking wet and starving. None of them had feeling in their toes, and their boots frequently broke through the ice into the frigid water, bringing more misery. Alexey shot another deer, providing for a glorious meal, but it did little to ease their suffering. To lighten the loads being carried, De Long sent various materials back to safe ground, including his logbooks, where they might be recovered in the future.

The confusing network of tributaries and streams of the river delta proved quite challenging. At times, they were walking in circles, with very little to indicate in which direction they were traveling. On September 21, they were forced to stop and rest for three days, as the sick and injured could go no further. Down to just three more meals remaining, Alexey brought back yet another deer, a large buck, providing food again to last a few days.

In the coming days, Seaman Hans Erickson’s toes had to be amputated due to severe frost-bite. On October 3, with the deer meat long gone, De Long wrote of their miserable plight, “There is no denying it; we are pretty weak." They were forced to eat their beloved dog, Snoozer, the last of the sled dogs, who was also starving and in poor condition. 

That night, the temperature dropped to its coldest yet and the men could not sleep, with De Long writing, “Erichsen seems failing. He is weak and tremulous, and the moment he closes his eyes he talks incessantly in Danish, German, and English. No one could sleep even if our other surroundings permitted. If Alexey had not wrapped his seal skin around me and sat down beside me, I think I would have frozen to death."

Alexey continued to display courage and selflessness, as he tirelessly hunted for game to feed his shipmates. Although, he too was very weak, and just as hungry as the next man. On October 6th, Hans Erickson became the first of De Long’s party to die. Alexey once again showed his compassion by cutting a hole in the ice to give Erichssen somewhat of a proper burial. The following day, De Long ordered carpenter William Nindemann and Seaman Louis Noros, on a forced march south to find the village of Ku Mark Surka, just twelve miles south. The two men were the strongest men still capable of traveling. De Long provided a chart, and pointed out the village’s location, as well as the expedition’s current location at Tit Ary, at least as far as he reckoned. It was hoped the two men could reach the village in three or four days, and then return with help.

With no food remaining, the men began eating the soles of their boots. By October 11, they were too weak to push on any further; barely even able to crawl. What little hope they once had was gone. De Long’s journal entries became brief, and ever more despondent. “October 11th 1881 - One hundred and twenty first day. S. W. gale with snow. Unable to move. No game. One spoonful glycerine and hot water for food. No more wood in our vicinity.”

Alexey died on October 17th. Machinist Walter Lee and Seaman Heinrich Kaack perished on the 21st. The final week of De Long’s journal conveyed only the day of the journey, and which men died. “One hundred and thirty eighth day. Iversen died. One hundred and thirty ninth day. Dressier died during night. One hundred and fortieth day. Boyd and Goertz died during night. Mr. Collins dying.” This was the final entry of George De Long.

Seaman Ah Sam, Ship’s Surgeon James Ambler, and Lieutenant George De Long died October 30th, or very soon thereafter. It is impossible to know exactly when.

William Nindemann and Louis Noros, whom De Long sent ahead to find Ku Mark Surka, faced incredible hardships of their own. They set out on foot across the frozen, waterlogged labyrinth of tundra, mud, and shallow channels. Temperatures were well below freezing, with relentless wind and sleet. Their clothing, which was already wet when they set out, offered little insulation. The two men carried only minimal rations, not nearly enough to sustain them.

Staying on the west bank of the Lena River, the men moved south. Hunting was difficult, but Nindemann managed to bring down one ptarmigan with a rifle. In desperation, they resorted to drinking willow bark tea, and eating the soles of their boots. When old bones from a deer were found, the bones were thrown on a fire, and the men ate the charred remains. Sleep was virtually impossible; their bed being simply a hole in the ground. They slept in shifts, only five minutes at a time, waking each other to prevent freezing to death. Exhaustion and hunger were constant; and both men were already emaciated when they began the trek.

Nindemann and Noros trudged on, each step more difficult than the last. Guided largely by instinct, their  hope was to reach a village along the Lena River. On October 13th, they spotted a small hut, and crossed the river on ice sheets to reach it. They scrambled up the mud and slush of the river bank to the ruined hut, and found it almost entirely filled with snow. As they searched the area and gathered firewood, timbers were found arranged side by side on the ground. Under the timbers were two rotten fish carcasses, as well as a lemming that had darted out of his hole. The men cooked the remains of the fish on a hot stone, and roasted the lemming on a spit. The following day, a portion of Nindemann’s sealskin pants were torn off and roasted, which served as a pathetic supper. 

The men subsisted on bits of rotten fish, sealskin clothing, and willow tea. Every day, they grew weaker and their hope grew dimmer. On October 22nd, shambling and suffering from dysentery, they sheltered in a small, ruined hut, unable to continue. Suddenly a dark figure appeared at the door of the hut; a local Yakut man from a nearby village. 

The man took Nindemann and Noros to his village, where they received food, blankets, and dry clothes. They rested and recovered, while trying unsuccessfully to communicate. Nevertheless, they had been rescued. After several more days of rest, they were taken by a Russian officer to the village of Bulun. William Nindemann and Louis Noros were the only survivors of the 14 men who boarded George De Long’s cutter from the Jeanette.

As it turned out, De Long’s instructions and chart were very much in error.  Tit Ary, where De Long believed himself to be, was very near the point where Nindemann and Noros were rescued by the local Yakut man, after traveling nearly a hundred and twenty miles in seventeen days. Their intended goal was to reach the village of Ku Mark Surka, which was still another thirty-three miles beyond that. The chart used by De Long included the most up-to-date information at the time, but it was entirely inaccurate. 

De Long’s party was just one of the three boats that were scattered in the storm.  The whaleboat and its eleven occupants, led by engineer George Melville, came close to capsizing. At the mercy of the sea, the cutter drifted until September 16th, when it ran aground near the Siberian coast. Suffering from the same physical conditions and miseries as De Long’s party, Melville and his men pushed south through the ice and snow on foot until September 19th, when they came across three native men. Although communication was virtually impossible, the natives escorted them to a remote fishing camp, named Cape Buor-Khaya. The entire party from the whaleboat survived: George W. Melville, Raymond Lee Newcomb, Jack Cole, John W. Danenhower, Charles Tong Sing, John Lauterbach, Herbert Wood Leach, James H. Bartlett, Frank E. Manson, Henry Wilson, and an Inuit dog-sled driver named Aniguin, although he later died of smallpox in Siberia in 1883.

At Cape Buor-Khaya, Melville learned from a Russian Commandant that Nindemann and Noros had been rescued and taken to Bulun. Immediately, Melville departed for Bulun by dog sled, accompanied by a native sled-driver, leaving Lt. John Danenhower in command of the men. Almost a month later, Melville was joyfully reunited with the two men at Bulun. It was here that Melville learned of the desperate condition of De Long’s men, and he immediately organized a search party. Still himself very weak and exhausted, Melville headed north with two dog-teams and native drivers. Through the agonizing winter cold, and with only ten days of supplies, he pushed on with great effort and sacrifice. Melville covered over six-hundred miles and found evidence such as papers and a belt buckle from the Jeanette expedition. However, due to extreme exhaustion and lack of food, he was forced to turn back on November 21st. He arrived back at Bulun on the 27th, where Danenhower and the rest of the whaleboat crew were waiting, after making the trek from Cape Buor-Khaya.

Melville led a second search expedition into the Siberian wilderness in January of 1882, this time joined by the fiercely loyal William Nindemann and seaman John Bartlett. Following frozen traces of George De Long’s final march, they pushed north along the desolate banks of the Lena. Finally, on March 24, five months after De Long’s death, they came across four poles lashed together, just visible above the snow. A silent marker of death in the endless white terrain. Nearby, the barrel of a Remington rifle jutted up out of a snowdrift. In his log, Melville described, “In proceeding to a point to set up the compass I saw a tea-kettle partially buried in the snow. One of the natives had followed me, and I pointed out to him the kettle, and advancing to pick it up I came upon the bodies of three men, partially buried in the snow, one hand reaching out with the left arm of the man raised way above the surface of the snow — his whole left arm. I immediately recognized them as Captain De Long, Dr. Ambler, and Ah Sam, the cook.”

De Long’s journals and other items belonging to him and the men were gathered from the surrounding area and preserved. With great effort, the remaining men were found under the ice and snow, marked by the lonely poles, and dug out from their frozen tombs; all except that of Alexey. Melville learned of Alexey’s prior death and burial after reading De Long’s journal, explaining why his body was not found with the others. 

On a large, flat rock on a nearby hill, a Christian cross was hewn of driftwood, standing 22 feet high. At its base, the men built a box made from the timbers of an old flatboat to hold the bodies. Stones were placed to surround the box, and the entire tomb was covered with earth. The entirety of the memorial resembled a pyramid, with the cross erected at its top. An inscription was engraved on the cross to memorialize the dead, reading, “In memory of twelve of the officers and men of the Arctic Steamer ‘Jeannette’ who died of starvation in the Lena Delta, October, 1881.” 

The tragedy of the De Long party’s final days is sharpened by how close they truly were to receiving help. Just a few miles from where they lay starving in the snow, small groups of Yakut natives were moving south across the delta. These same travelers had already encountered William Nindemann and Louis Noros, who desperately urged them to turn back and rescue the others.

But the language barrier was the cause of a deadly miscommunication. The natives had already heard of the arrival of George W. Melville’s party elsewhere in the delta, and they believed Melville to be this “captain” the two men spoke of. They continued on, unknowingly in the wrong direction, believing they were heading toward the source of help. In reality, they were traveling away from dying men. 

In another cruel twist of fate, De Long had made landfall just thirty miles from a native village. But once again, De Long’s maps betrayed him, and the village was not where his maps indicated. Instead of making for the village, De Long set out in another direction, unaware that salvation was within reach.

More haunting still, the party came within ten miles of a small hut stocked for winter. Twenty reindeer carcasses were hanging, preserved in the cold. Food, shelter, and a chance to survive were all heartbreakingly close, but never seen by the doomed party.

We have definitive evidence of what happened to the De Long and Melville parties. However, the third boat, the cutter commanded by Lt. Charles Chipp, was last seen on September 12, 1881. After becoming separated in the storm upon departure from Semenovski Island, the boat and the eight men aboard it were never seen again. The fates of William Dunbar, Charles Chipp, Alfred Sweetman, Walter Sharvell, Albert G. Kuehne, Edward Star, Henry Warren, and Peter Johnson remain a mystery.  Although it is quite likely, and entirely plausible that the cutter capsized in the storm, killing everyone on board, there are no first hand witness accounts, and no wreckage from the boat. None of the bodies from this cutter were ever found.

Of the 33 original members of the Jeanette expedition, only 13 survived. The surviving crew were welcomed as heroes upon their return to the United States. A celebratory banquet was thrown in their honor at the famous Delmonico’s restaurant in New York City. The most prominent survivor, George W. Melville, became a national figure. Newspapers portrayed him and the other survivors as men with extraordinary endurance, who had survived one of the most harrowing Arctic retreats in exploration history. 

An expedition from the U-S was sent back to Siberia to recover the remains of George W. De Long and his men from their lonely cairn in the Lena Delta. George De Long and five of his crew, who had no next of kin, were laid to rest in the De Long family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery, in the Bronx, New York. These men were Carl Gortz, Adolph Dressler, Nelse Iverson, Walter Lee, and Henry Kaack. Emma De Long had a striking statue erected at the site two years later, depicting George De Long wearing full Arctic gear, pressing forward into a relentless polar gale; a lasting tribute to his endurance and leadership. Others were returned to their home countries for burial, such as Meteorologist Jerome Collins, who was returned to County Cork, Ireland.

A Naval inquiry into the loss of the Jeanette was launched in October of 1892, and its findings were published in February of 1893. The Jeanette was found to be fit for the Arctic expedition, and that delays in departure, and then again in searching for the Vega expedition were not De Long’s fault. The inquiry found no fault in how De Long handled the expedition, including his retreat to Siberia.

Wreckage from the Jeannette was found on June 14, 1884 on the southwestern shores of Greenland. This provided evidence of an ocean current flowing east to west across the polar sea, providing the inspiration for Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen's Fram expedition of 1893–1896. 

In 1890, the U-S Congress approved the Jeanette Medal, awarded to every member of the expedition. 25 Congressional Gold Medals, and 8 Silver Medals were awarded. That same year the U-S Naval Academy unveiled a monument honoring the men of the USS Jeanette expedition. The structure is a recreation of the original burial cairn, featuring a partial stone pyramid base, topped by a cross with an anchor at its base. An inscription reads, “COMMEMORATIVE of the heroic officers and men of the UNITED STATES NAVY who perished in the Jeannette Arctic Exploring Expedition 1881.”

Further honors were added to remember George De Long. A mountain range in Alaska and two naval ships were named after him, as well as the three Arctic islands discovered during the expedition and two more discovered a few years later. These islands form an archipelago that are named the De Long Islands, of the New Siberian Islands, and are now part of Russia.

George Melville was the only survivor to return to the Arctic, when he joined an expedition to rescue survivors of Adolphus Greely's Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881–1884. He continued on with a successful naval career, reaching the rank of Rear Admiral. George Melville died in 1912.

John Danenhower continued to have physical maladies, including poor eyesight due to syphilis. In 1887 he was made commander of the USS Constellation, but it was immediately grounded while leaving Hampton Roads. Danenhower, severely depressed over the grounding and his failing health, took his own life nine days later.

Fireman James Bartlett struggled with mental illness following the Jeanette expedition. In 1892, he shot his wife and niece, and them himself. His wife survived but both Bartlett and his niece were killed.

William Nindemann continued his career with the navy as an engineer until his death in 1913. Seaman Herbert Leach was the last survivor from the Jeanette. He had a long career as a factory worker, and died in 1935. 

Emma De Long collected, curated, and edited the journals of George De Long, as well as testimony from survivors, and published, “The voyage of the Jeannette. The ship and ice journals of George W. De Long, lieutenant-commander U.S.N. and commander of the Polar expedition of 1879-1881.” The direct quotes from George De Long used in this episode come from this publication. Emma De Long further published an autobiography, titled, Explorer’s Wife in 1938. This is a heartfelt account of her life and times with her husband, including the preparation for the Jeanette expedition, and the mourning of her husband’s loss. 

Perhaps the memory and importance of the Jeanette expedition is described best by Emma De Long. In 1929, she was asked to write a forward to a publication by Commander Louis J. Gulliver, of the U-S Navy. 

She very eloquently writes, 

In July, 1929, fifty years had rolled by since my husband, Lieutenant Commander George W. De Long, steamed out of San Francisco harbor on the U. S. S. Jeannette, with high courage and high hopes. For him these hopes were not realized, and he died a disappointed man, patiently, nobly accepting his cross. But time has changed the world's opinion of the results of his expedition, and now his achievement looms large as a success, and not as a tragedy and a failure.

It is now recognized that he was the pioneer through the Bering Strait, that he discovered there was no continent to the north of Siberia-that there was no open Polar Sea. His was the first lengthy Arctic expedition whose men escaped the scurvy and Were in good health when their ship sank, after two years of drifting with the ice currents, and were then able to make a march of over five hundred miles of shifting ice to the coast of Siberia, with all their impedimenta.

He was therefore a great pioneer in showing how the health and spirits of an isolated expedition could be conserved through a period of years.

The whole story of the Jeannette voyage made it clear that there was available a new method of exploration-that of drifting with the ship. It was therefore upon the Jeannette voyage that Nansen built all the plans that led to his great success, which belonged in considerable part to De Long.

In conclusion, it is believed by Arctic explorers to be a certainty that a study of the history of Arctic exploration will the more enhance the credit of De Long, the more accurate and thorough it becomes, until his expedition will eventually stand among the three foremost that have ever been commanded by Americans, and among the six or ten most significant northern expeditions.

Much was added to the stock of the world's knowledge; a gain was made in the solution of the Arctic problem. Sacrifice is nobler than ease, and the world is made richer by this gift of suffering.

Emma De Long died in 1940, at the age of 91.

Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs is written, edited, and produced by me, Rich Napolitano. Original theme music is by Sean Sigfried. You can find transcripts, show notes, and show merchandise at shipwrecksandseadogs.com

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