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In the Lena Delta is a compelling narrative of The Jeannette Expedition to the Arctic, 1879-1881. Written in intricate detail, this first-hand account recalls the unfortunate fate of the ship and its 33 crew members after setting out on a voyage to reach the North Pole. This work by George Melville, the ship’s engineer, narrates the catastrophic events that followed the ship’s demise.

After some time at sea, the ship became stuck in the ice near Siberia and drifted for over two years before crashing and sinking off the coast. The crew eventually reached dry land and attempted to find civilisation to report their failure and return home. After months of travelling in desolate conditions, many of the crew perished. Of the 33 crew members that departed, only 13 arrived safely back on US soil.

Told in intimate detail, Melville recalls his experiences as a man against the elements: from living with Yakut natives to the heart-breaking discovery of his lost shipmates. This edition from Read & Co. History also includes an account of the Greely Relief Expedition (1884) and Melville’s plan to reach the North Pole on a future voyage. In the Lena Delta is an excellent read for any interested in maritime history and those looking to learn more about the arctic explorations of the past.

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Publié par	Read Books Ltd.
Date de parution	06 septembre 2016
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781473350533
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	4 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

IN THE LENA DELTA
A Narrative of the Search for Lieut. Commander Delong and his Companions Followed by an Account of the Greely Relief Expedition and a Proposed Method of Reaching the North Pole
By
GEORGE W. MELVILLE
Edited By
MELVILLE PHILIPS

First published in 1885

Copyright © 2021 Read & Co. History
This edition is published by Read & Co. History, an imprint of Read & Co.
This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Read & Co. is part of Read Books Ltd. For more information visit www.readandcobooks.co.uk

Contents
George Washin gton De Long
EDIT OR’S PREFACE
IN THE LENA DELTA
CHAPTER I
OFF FOR THE POLE
CHAPTER II
DRIFTING
CHAPTER III
CAST UPON THE ICE
CHAPTER IV
RETREATING O VER THE PACK
CHAPTER V
VOYAGE OF TH E WHALE–BOAT
CHAPTER VI
ON TH E LENA DELTA
CHAPTER VII
UP THE LENA
CHAPTER VIII
A T JAMAVELOCH
CHAPTER IX
S IBERIAN LIFE
CHAPTER X
KUSMA T O OUR RESCUE
CHAPTER XI
A STEP FORWARD
CHAPTER XII
AT BELUN
CHAPTER XIII
SEARCHING FOR DE LONG
CHAPTER XIV
LOSI NG THE TRAIL
CHAPTER XV
A TRIP TO THE ARCTIC SHORE
CHAPTER XVI
STRUGGLING WITH BOREAS
CHAPTER XVII
END OF MY FIRST SEARCH
C HAPTER XVIII
FROM BELUN T O VERKERANSK
CHAPTER XIX
FROM VERKERANS K TO YAKUTSK
CHAPTER XX
AT YAKUTSK
CHAPTER XXI
NORTH AGAIN
CHAPTER XXII
STORM-BOUND
C HAPTER XXIII
FINDIN G THE BODIES
CHAPTER XXIV
THE BURIAL
CHAPTER XXV
SEARCHI NG FOR CHIPP
CHAPTER XXVI
MY FINAL SEARCH TO TH E JANA RIVER
C HAPTER XXVII
THR OUGH SIBERIA
CH APTER XXVIII
HO MEWARD BOUND
THE GREELY RELIEF EXPEDITION
CHAPTER I
NORTHWA RD ONCE MORE
CHAPTER II
RACING IN THE A RCTIC WATERS
CHAPTER III
THE RESCUE
CHAPTER IV
THE R ETURN VOYAGE
A PROPOSED METHOD FOR REACHING TH E NORTH POLE
APPENDIX
THE M ELVILLE SLED
EQUIPMENT OF ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS

Illustrations
PORTRAIT OF CHIEF ENGIN EER MELVILLE
THE JEANNETTE LEAVING S AN FRANCISCO
TAKING POSSESSION OF BE NNETT ISLAND
THE SEPARATION OF THE BOATS IN THE GALE
EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR OF EXILE HOUSE S IN SIBERIA
DE LONG AND COMPANIONS W ADING ASHORE
THE RESCUE OF NINDEMA NN AND NOROS
NATIVE HOUSES AND STATION IN THE DELTA
TH E LENA DELTA
STARTING OFF ON THE SEARCH FOR DE LONG
THE COURSE OF T HE JEANNETTE
THE CITY OF YAKU TSK, SIBERIA
FINDING THE BODIES OF DE LONG AND HI S COMPANIONS
MONUMENT HILL , LENA DELTA
LANDING LIEUTENTANT GREELY AT LADY FRANKLIN BAY
THE CHANNEL NORTH OF BAFFIN'S BAY
INCIDENTS IN THE RESCUE OF THE GREELY PARTY
THE CIRCUM POLAR REGION
MELVILLE ONE-MAN SLED
A "KIT" OF ARC TIC CLOTHING

George Washington De Long
An American explorer. Born in New York city on the 22nd of August 1844. He graduated at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1865, and spent the next fourteen years in naval service in various parts of the world, attaining the rank of lieutenant in 1869, and lieutenant-command er in 1879.
In 1873 he took part in the voyage of the “Juniata,” sent to search for and relieve the American Arctic expedition under Hall in the “Polaris,” commanding a steam launch which was sent out from Upernivik, Greenland, to make a thorough search of Melville Bay. On his return to New York the same year he proposed to James Gordon Bennett, of The New York Herald , that the latter should fit out a Polar expedition. It was not until 1879 that the final arrangements were made, the “Pandora,” a yacht which had already made two Arctic voyages under Sir Allen Young, being purchased and rechristened the “Jeannette” for this voyage. The story of this expedition is chiefly remarkable on account of the long and helpless drifting of the “Jeannette” with the polar ice-pack in which she was caught (September 5, 1879) and by which she was finally crushed and sunk on the 13th of June 1881. The members of the expedition set out in three boats, one of which was lost in a gale, while another boat-load under De Long died from starvation after reaching the mouth of the Lena river. He was the last survivor of his party. His journal, in which he made regular entries up to the day on which he died (October 30, 1881) was edited by his wife and published in 1883 under the title Voyage of the “Jeannette” ; and an account of the search which was made for him and his comrades by his heroic companion George W. Melville, who was chief engineer of the expedition and commanded the third of the retreating parties, was published a year later under the title of In the Lena Delta .
The fate of the “Jeannette” was still more remarkable in its sequel. Three years after she had sunk several articles belonging to her crew were found on an ice-floe near Julianshaab on the south-west coast of Greenland; thus adding fresh evidence to the theory of a continuous ocean current passing across the unknown Polar regions, which was to be finally demonstrated by Nansen’s voyage in the “Fram.”
By direction of the United States government, the remains of De Long and his companions were brought home and interred with honour in his native city.
A bio graphy from 1911 Encyclopædia Britanni ca, Volume 7

EDITOR’S PREFACE
IF it be true—and Emerson affirms as much—that great deeds deserve a fit and permanent record, then assuredly there can be no need of explanation, much less of apology, for the appearance of this work. “We need books of this tart cathartic virtue,” wrote our New England sage; and so the editor flatters himself for having contributed to the birth of this one.
The world knows the story of the lost Jeannette, the luckless cruise and tedious drift of many months, the amazing march and terrible tribulation, the heroic endeavor and sad ending,—the world is aware of all this, to be sure, because in all the world’s history it has no parallel; and no matter the why or the wherefore, there is yet in this story a human sympathy that cannot be disguised, an abiding interest that overlooks the question of utility.
Perhaps there will be readers of this volume who, already acquainted with the prominent part played by our author in the many adventures attending the long ice-blockade of the Jeannette, may have expected a fuller account of that interesting period than will be found herein; and will consequently regard our brief narrative of it as insufficient and unsatisfactory. Certainly it does appear, considering the few pages devoted to this prolonged and remarkable drift, that we have treated it too lightly and displayed an undue haste in transporting the reader to the shores of Siberia.
Not all, it is true, of the Jeannette’s experiences in the ice have been chronicled, but then more than enough have been published to enable the reader to gain an adequate idea of the wonderful voyage and retreat, and in the melancholy “ice-journals” [ 1 ] of Commander De Long these may be found embodied in their most permanent, authentic, and interesting form. Hence it was deemed advisable for this work, after affording the reader a running survey of the cruise and march, to begin its more elaborate discourse at the date of the separation of the three boats in the gale of September 12, 1881. The events, indeed, which followed can have no competent historian save Chief Engineer Melville. He it was who directly gave rise to them, and was the prime mover and central figure in all the exploits “In the Lena Delta.”
The greater portion of the author’s manuscript was prepared between the months of January and April of this year (1884), and the final chapters were written at sea; for, undaunted by his previous experiences, he sailed again in Arctic waters to the relief of Lieutenant Greely; and, moreover, he herein proposes, upon an original plan, to attain, the goal that has baffled the daring of Parry and of Franklin.
Cui bono? asks the utilitarian. There are numerous and well-known advantages that would result from the success of such a venture. Aside from the many useful facts that would be established concerning the laws of storms and wind-waves, the flattening of the earth at the pole would be measured, and geographical science be plainly benefited. Additional information, too, would be gained in astronomy, meteorology, ocean physics, and natural history, a more thorough knowledge of which would certainly add directly or indirectly to the comfort and safety of mankind.
As to the rest, I refer the reader to the theory itself, merely observing that—“Prejudice, which man pretends to hate, is,” according to Carlyle, “his absolute lawgiver. . . . Thus, let but a rising of the sun, let but a creation of the world, happen twice , and it ceases to be marvelous, to be noteworthy or noticeable.”
In other words, let but Chief Engineer Melville reach the North Pole, and besides the scientific benefits issuing from the event will doubtless be another and perhaps more important one to the world at large—his success, in his own words, “may prevent other fools from g oing there.”
Melvi lle Philips, Octob er 16, 1884.

1 Voyage of the Jeannette , etc., Houghton, M ifflin & Co.

PORTRAIT OF CHIEF ENGIN EER MELVILLE

IN THE LENA DELTA

THE JEANNETTE LEAVING S AN FRANCISCO

CHAPTER I
OFF FOR THE POLE
The Jeannette Expedition.—Our Departure.—Unalaska.—St. Mi