 Jeannette atLe Havre in 1878 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSPandora |
| Ordered | 8 April 1859 |
| Builder | Pembroke Dockyard |
| Laid down | 30 March 1860 |
| Launched | 7 February 1861 (1861-02-07) |
 United States | |
| Name | USSJeannette |
| Namesake | Jeanette Gordon Bennett |
| Expedition | Jeannette expedition |
| Departure | 8 July 1879 |
| Fate | Crushed in ice and sunk |
| Date sunk | 13 June 1881 (1881-06-13) |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Philomel-class gunvessel |
| Displacement | 570long tons (579.1 metric tons) |
| Tons burthen | 428 tons (bm) |
| Length | 142 feet (43.3 meters) |
| Beam | 24+1⁄3 feet (7.4 meters) |
| Draft | 13 feet (4.0 meters) |
| Sail plan | Bark-rigged |
| Speed | ~10 knots (11.5 mph; 18.5 km/h) |
| Complement | 60 officers and men |
USSJeannette was a naval exploration vessel which, commanded byGeorge W. De Long, undertook theJeannette expedition of 1879–1881 to theArctic. After being trapped in the ice and drifting for almost two years, the ship and her crew of 33 were released from the ice, then trapped again, crushed and sunk some 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) north of the Siberian coast. The entire crew survived the sinking, but eight died while sailing towards land in a smallcutter. The others reached Siberia, but 12 subsequently perished in theLena Delta, including De Long.
The vessel had begun her active career in 1861 as HMSPandora, aRoyal Navy gunboat. After more than a decade's service off the West African coast and in the Mediterranean,Pandora was retired from duty and sold as a private yacht to a British explorer,Allen Young. Young took her on two voyages to the Arctic, in 1875 and 1876, before selling her toJames Gordon Bennett Jr., proprietor of theNew York Herald, who changed her name toJeannette. Although she sailed to the Arctic under the U.S. flag as USSJeannette, subject to naval laws and discipline, Bennett remained responsible for the costs of the expedition.
The ship that became USSJeannette began her life as aRoyal Navy gunboat, built at thePembroke Naval Dockyards in 1860.[1] She was of wooden construction, 146 feet (45 m) in length and 25 feet (7.6 m) at the beam, with a draft of 13 feet (4.0 m). Her tonnage, calculated byBuilder's Measure, was 428 tons, with adisplacement of 570 tons. She was rigged as abarque, but her principal means of propulsion was by a steam-drivenscrew.[2]
After her launch on 7 February 1861,Pandora was taken from Pembroke toPortsmouth Dockyard, where she was fitted with her engines and boilers, and underwent trials before commissioning. On October 22, she concluded her trials successfully, achieving a speed of 9.25 knots over a measured mile.[1]
In November 1861, during theAmerican Civil War, the diplomatic incident known as theTrent affair caused theAdmiralty to bring additional ships into active service. On 27 December 1861,Pandora was formally commissioned, as tender toHMS Majestic, and the following day sailed forLiverpool whereMajestic was berthed.[1] The crisis was quickly resolved;[3]Pandora remained at Liverpool until January 1862 before returning to Portsmouth.[1]
In April 1863,Pandora left Portsmouth for service off the coast of West Africa.[1] On 2 October 1866, she collided with sister shipHMS Griffon offLittle Popo.Griffon sank; her crew were rescued.[4]Pandora returned in Portsmouth in 1867, and was transferred to the reserve. In April 1868, she was recommissioned, and returned to West Africa. Two years later she was transferred to the Mediterranean squadron, based atValletta,Malta. This was her last commission in British naval service. In July 1872, after two years in the Mediterranean, she returned toSpithead, where she was taken out of active commission and berthed in Portsmouth as part of the steam reserve.[1]
In 1875,Pandora was acquired from the navy by the yachtsmanAllen Young, for use in one of the last expeditions sent to the Canadian Arctic to investigate the disappearance, 30 years previously, of theFranklin expedition. Young sailed in June 1875, seeking not only for signs of Franklin, but to discover and complete theNorthwest Passage, then unconquered. He was unsuccessful on both counts; he found no traces of Franklin, was stopped by ice inPeel Sound, and he returned to England.[5] One of the financiers for this venture wasJames Gordon Bennett Jr., the owner of theNew York Herald.[6]
In 1876, Young tookPandora north again, for a second attempt on the Northwest Passage. He was diverted by a request from the Admiralty to look for theBritish Arctic Expedition underGeorge Nares, which was engaged in an attempt to reach the North Pole fromSmith Sound. The expedition did not requirePandora's assistance, and Young returned home.[7] In 1877, Young soldPandora to Bennett, who was planning his own Arctic expedition.[8]
Bennett's plan was to sail a vessel through theBering Strait, on the theory that the warm Pacific Ocean current known as theKuro Siwo would provide a "thermometric gateway" whereby a suitable ship might reach the North Pole.[9] This was the primary objective, but the ship was also equipped for scientific observation. By agreement with the U.S. Department of the Navy, Bennett would finance the expedition, but would sail under naval laws and discipline,[10] and would be commanded by a naval officer,George W. De Long.[11]Pandora was renamedJeannette, after Bennett's sister, and in January 1879 arrived at theMare Island Naval Shipyard, to be fitted for Arctic service.[12]
Jeannette departedSan Francisco on 8 July 1879.[13] She sent her last communication toWashington fromSaint Lawrence Bay, Chukotka, on 27 August.[14] Shortly afterwards she encountered ice, of increasing severity as she pushed her way forward toHerald Island.[15] On 7 September, she was caught fast in the ice at71°35′N175°6′E / 71.583°N 175.100°E /71.583; 175.100.[16][17] For the next 21 months,Jeannette drifted in an erratic fashion, generally to the northwest but frequently doubling back on herself.[18]
In May 1881, two islands were discovered, which De Long namedHenrietta Island—after Bennett's mother—andJeannette Island.[19] On the night of 12 June, when they had reached77°15′N155°0′E / 77.250°N 155.000°E /77.250; 155.000, the pressure of the ice finally began to crush theJeannette. De Long and his men unloaded provisions and equipment onto the ice, and watched until the ship sank in the early morning of June 13.[20]
The expedition began the long trek to the Siberian coast, hauling their sledges with boats and supplies. On their way they discovered a further island which they namedBennett Island in honor of the expedition's sponsor.[21][22] After reaching theNew Siberian Islands and gaining some food and rest, the party took to their three boats on September 12 for the last stage of their journey to theLena Delta, their planned landfall. As a violent storm blew up, one of the boats—with lieutenantCharles W. Chipp and seven men—capsized and sank. The other two craft, commanded by De Long and chief engineerGeorge W. Melville with 14 and 11 men respectively, survived the severe weather but landed at widely separated points on the delta.[23]
The party headed by De Long began the long march inland over the marshy, half-frozen delta to hoped-for native settlements. After much hardship, with many of his men severely weakened, De Long sent the two strongest,William F. C. Nindemann and Louis P. Noros, ahead for help; they eventually found a settlement and survived. De Long and his 11 companions died of cold and starvation.[24] In the meantime, on the other side of the delta, Melville and his party had found a native village and were rescued.[25] Melville persuaded a group of locals to help him search for his commander. He succeeded in finding their landing place on the delta, and recovered De Long's logbook and other important records but returned without locating the De Long group.[26] In the following spring, Melville set out again, and found the bodies of De Long and his companions on 23 March 1882.[27]
On 18 June 1884, wreckage fromJeannette was found on an ice floe nearJulianehåb, near the south-western corner ofGreenland. This indicated that an ocean current flowed from east to west across the polar sea. It gave the Norwegian explorerFridtjof Nansen the idea that a properly-constructed ship could enter the ice in the east, survive the pressure during the drift, and emerge in the Atlantic, perhaps having traversed the pole itself. This theory was the basis ofNansen'sFram expedition of 1893–1896.[28]
Although the open Polar Sea theory ended withJeannette's voyage, the ship's meteorological and oceanographic records have provided 21st-century climatologists with valuable data relating to climate change and the shrinking of the polar icecap.[29]
In February 2015 the Russian adventurer, traveler and media personalityAndrey Khoroshev [ru] announced that in consultation with theRussian Geographical Society, he was developing plans to locate and raise the wreck ofJeannette. Khoroshev toldThe Siberian Times: "This vessel lies at a depth of only 18 metres (59 ft), with the known location down to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). So in modern day conditions, to find and raise it is not such a hard task." He imagined that the event would be a great boost for Russia's relations with the United States, "which are not very good right now".[30] However, a survey of the area where the ship sank did not reveal any results and as of December 2019[update], it had not been found.[31]
CaptainEdward Ellsberg recounted the voyage of theJeannette in his bookHell on Ice published in 1938. It tells the journey through the eyes of the chief engineer.[citation needed]
The path and fate of theJeannette is mentioned several times in Buddy Levy's account of the disastrous journey ofHMCS Karluk,Empire of Ice and Stone. The crew of the Karluk were familiar with how eerily similar their circumstances were with those experienced by theJeannette.[citation needed]
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