Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Materials on the history of captain De Long's American polar expedition aboard Jeannette

1983; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 7; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10889378309377205

2377-7702

S. N. Laptev,

Indigenous Studies and Ecology

Abstract Just over a century ago, on 13 June 1881, Jeannette the expedition vessel of Lieut. George W. De Long's expedition to the North Pole, was crushed by the ice and sank to the north of the New Siberian Islands. Her crew headed south across the ice by sledge and boat, through the New Siberian Islands and then across the Laptev Sea, bound for the Lena Delta. The three boats became separated in a gale and one disappeared completely. Of the other two boats, that commanded by engineer George W. Melville reached land safely and her crew was fortunate enough soon to make contact with the local inhabitants; they were all saved. The crew of the other boat, commanded by De Long himself, wandered through the desolate winter landscape of the Lena Delta, until all but two men died of starvation and exposure. A complex search operation was mounted, with the full‐scale co‐operation of the Russian Government. Later, a party led by Lieutenants Harber and Schuetze, U.S. Navy, was ordered by Washington to transport the bodies of De Long and his boat's crew overland from the Lena Delta to European Russia, then by sea to the United States for burial. The details of these searches and of the transport of the bodies have been dealt with in considerable detail in English‐language books and articles. The author of the present article has drawn attention to the substantial amount of archival material on these topics still extant in Siberia, and using these materials has been able to add some very interesting detail to the story. Of particular interest is his treatment of the matter of the reaction of the Russian authorities at various levels to the proposal to transport the bodies of the dead Americans overland to European Russia; particular concern was expressed as to the disruption and possibly real hardship which would arise from this project's inevitable demand for sledge reindeer on the local people of the Lena Valley. Perhaps the most striking aspect is the enormous amount of purely humanitarian assistance and co‐operation extended to the American survivors and the various search parties not only by Russian officialdom, but by the local people of the Lena Delta, often at considerable inconvenience and expense to themselves. (The translation is by William Barr, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.)