A sketch map of the Arctic showing the most northerly points reached by explorers prior to the U.S. Arctic Expedition in 1879. These include Parry, Payer, Markham, McClintock, Wrangel, Rodgers, and many others. The expedition's ship, the USS Jeannette, is illustrated above the map.

A former Royal Navy gunship, the Jeannette had been sold by the Navy to the Arctic explorer, Allen Young, in 1875. After two failed attempts to navigate the Northwest Passage, Young was convinced to sell the ship to his patron, James Gordon Bennett Jr., the wealthy publisher of the New York Herald. Bennett had previously funded Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa in search of David Livingstone, so he understood how valuable a successful expedition could be for newspaper sales.

Inspired by the ideas of the German scientist August Petermann, Bennett intended to send a vessel northwards through the Bering Straits hoping to find a theorized open Arctic sea beyond the barrier of ice. The Open Polar Sea theory had inspired a German Arctic expedition in 1869 and a Austro-Hungarian expedition in 1872, both of which failed to penetrate the ice. Bennett's Pacific approach through the Bering Strait had yet to be attempted, but was ultimately doomed to fail. By the time the expedition launched in 1879, the US Coast and Geodetic Survey had already debunked the Open Polar Sea theory, but this information did not reach the expedition's commander in time.

The expedition was led by G.W. De Long, a 34-year-old US naval officer with previous polar experience as a member of the Juniata expedition of 1873. De Long had been seeking sponsors for a new expedition when he met with Bennett in New York City in 1874. Bennett was enthusiastic, promising De Long the full support of the Herald for an expedition; however, it would take 5 years of preparations before the Jeannette was ready to sail. 

On 8 July 1879, the Jeannette departed San Francisco towards Alaska and the Bering Strait. By the end of August, the expedition had already encountered thick sea ice whilst trying to reach Wrangel Island. A week later, the ship was completely trapped in ice and unable to escape. For almost two years (21 months), the Jeannette and her crew drifted with the pack ice without being able to free themselves. The situation worsened in June 1881 when the ice finally began to crush the metal hull of the ship. On 13 June 1881, the Jeanette sank, leaving her crew stranded on the ice. Provisions and boats were loaded onto sledges and the crew began an arduous trek towards the northern coast of Siberia.

On 12 September, the expedition members launched three small boats towards the Lena delta where they hoped to find safety in a native settlement. One of the boats sank during a storm, killing 8 men. The other two boats carrying 25 men made it to the shore but were separated. Most of the men in De Long's boat failed died of starvation and cold after failing to find a native village - only two members of this group were sent ahead and did manage to survive. The members of the other boat under chief engineer George W. Melville were more fortunate, finding a native settlement and surviving the ordeal. The survivors went in search of De Long's remains, but initially only found the captain's logbook and other vital records. A second attempt by Melville in the Spring of 1882 did successfully locate De Long and his companions.

Though officially a failure, the expedition was not entirely for nothing. Wreckage of the Jeannette was later found near Greenland, confirming that a current did indeed flow from east to west around the pole. This inspired Fridtjof Nansen's Fram expedition in which he intentionally encased his ship in pack ice in order to ride the current northwards towards the pole.

[POLAR577]