The USS Jeannette Disaster: Arctic Expedition Crushed by Ice

1879. USS Jeannette sails from San Francisco seeking open polar sea.

33 men under Lt. Cmdr. George De Long trapped in ice pack north of Siberia.

Nearly 2 years adrift. Ship crushed June 1881—300 miles from land.

Crew drags boats across ice. Storm separates boats. Starvation. Scurvy. Exposure.

Captain De Long's party starves on Lena Delta. Final diary entry: "So perish all."

Chief Engineer Melville rescues 11 men. 20 total dead.

HistMuse reveals the Arctic voyage that proved polar sea theory wrong—at ultimate cost.