USS_Jeannette;h52199

If you read my columns, you will have noticed that I enjoy embracing my inner nerd. In that spirit, let me share with you that my favorite author is Hampton Sides, who writes history books. Mr. Sides recently published a new book, In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette. Like his earlier books Ghost Soldiers and Blood and Thunder, it is fascinating, informative, and well written. As a bonus, this book has woolly mammoths! We will return to the woolly mammoths later, but first let me share the highlights of the remarkable journey of the Jeannette.

In the mid-to-late 1800s, the seafaring nations of the world were engaged in a competition to be the first to reach the North Pole. There had been many valiant attempts but all had failed, often tragically. Lack of knowledge about the Pole helped to inspire a wide range of imaginative theories about what conditions might exist there. It was during this time that the suggestion that Santa Claus and his elves might live at the North Pole entered popular imagination.

Another common theory about the North Pole was the alleged existence of the Open Polar Sea. Prior to the voyage of the Jeannette in 1879, all attempts to reach the North Pole had been voyages along the coast of Greenland. Each of these attempts was eventually thwarted when the ships reached an impenetrable wall of ice. Scientists at the time were aware of the existence of warm, northward-flowing ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic and the Kuro Siwo in the Pacific. The Open Polar Sea theory held that these warm currents passed below the Arctic ice and then surfaced near the Pole, melting the ice and creating a zone of warm, open water.

Open Polar SeaAs shown in this contemporary map,  scientists in the 1870s also believed (incorrectly) that at certain times of the year warm currents would create ice-free passageways to the Open Polar Sea. The Jeannette hoped to improve its chances of finding one of these elusive passageways by heading for the Arctic through the Bering straight, rather than using the standard Greenland route.

The inspiration and funding for the voyage of the Jeannette came from James Gordon Bennett, Jr., owner of the New York Herald, one of the most influential newspapers of its era. In 1871, Mr. Bennett and the Herald had risen to international prominence by sponsoring the expedition of Sir Henry M. Stanley to find the missionary Dr. David Livingstone in central Africa. While it is unknown whether or not Stanley actually spoke the words “Dr. Livingstone, I presume” when the two met, the stories of Stanley’s journey certainly sold a lot of newspapers.

By 1879, Bennett was looking for another epic story for the Herald to cover, and decided to try to sponsor the voyage that would be the first to reach the North Pole. He hired George W. Delong, who had experience in Arctic sailing, to procure a ship and to be its captain. The ship which Delong purchased, renamed the Jeannette for Bennett’s sister, had a steam engine to help power it through frozen seas, as well as sails to allow for travel when the wind was favorable without depleting the coal supply for the steam engine. The voyage of the Jeannette was intended to last three years, which included the expectation that for 8-9 months each year they would be stuck in Arctic Ice.

No expense was spared during the preparation of the journey, and Delong sought out the best technical and scientific advice available. He met with Thomas Edison and purchased a system of arc lights to raise the men’s spirits during the 24-hour-a-day darkness of the Arctic winters. He purchased a telephone system from Alexander Graham Bell to allow communication between the ship and the scientific observation tents which would be set up on the ice. Sadly, neither Edison’s lights nor Bell’s telephones actually functioned in the harsh Arctic conditions.

The Jeannette left the dock in San Francisco on July the 8th, 1879 with great fanfare. (The picture at the top of the page is of the Jeannette just after launch.) On her way northward she had been tasked with trying to confirm the existence island of an island which had been reported off of the north coast of Siberia which had been referred to as Wrangle Island. In early September, while ice was closing in much sooner and faster than Captain Delong had been told to expect, the crew spotted an island in the distance which they thought was Wrangle. (It was, but unfortunately they were unable to reach it.) Then, on September 4th, the Jeannette became trapped in the ice and it would remain so for the next 21 months!  During the long months lodged in the ice, Delong developed a rather low opinion of the scientists who had expounded to him on the wonders of the Open Polar Sea. Finally, after a nearly two-year wait, the ice pack broke up, allowed the Jeannette to float for a day or so, and then promptly reformed, crushed and sank her.

What followed next was possibly the most remarkable journey ever taken by human beings. They walked a thousand miles across a frozen ocean, discovering several islands along the way. They crossed stormy Arctic seas on tiny boats and wandered through the desolate tundra of northern Siberia. I refer you to Mr. Sides’ book for the full story. (Especially since one of the heroes is an engineer!)

As the crew of the Jeannette made its way through the Arctic, they had to rely on the resources they could find to build shelters and to repair the sledges they were using to haul their supplies and equipment. You may be surprise to learn that a key local resource that they relied on was the abundance of woolly mammoth bones. I find the thought that men were utilizing woolly mammoth bones as recently as 136 years ago to be rather stunning. It seems like something from a Jurassic Park movie. To hear the story of why Captain Delong and his men came across so many woolly mammoth bones, you’ll have to come back next week for Part II.

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