Jeannette Monument facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jeannette Monument
United States Naval Academy
Cemetery of the US Naval Academy
For the lost explorers of the 1881 Jeannette expedition
Unveiled	30 October 1890
Location	United States Naval Academy Cemetery near  Dorsey Creek
Designed by	George Partridge Colvocoresses
Commemorative of the heroic officers and men of the United States Navy who perished in the Jeannette Arctic Exploring Expedition·1881

The Jeannette Monument is the largest monument at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery. It remembers the brave explorers who were lost during the 1881 Jeannette expedition. This journey explored the icy Arctic region. The ship, named Jeannette, had 33 crew members. It got stuck in the ice and sank in the summer of 1881.

The crew, led by George W. DeLong, left the sinking ship. They dragged three small boats across the ice. When they found open water, they sailed towards the Lena Delta in Siberia. This was about 700 miles away. DeLong's boat had 14 crew members. Executive Officer Charles W. Chipp's boat had 8. Engineer Officer George W. Melville's boat had 11. Sadly, Chipp's boat was lost at sea with everyone on board. Engineer Melville's boat landed safely in the southern delta. DeLong's boat landed farther north on September 17, 1881. Melville quickly found help. Two of DeLong's strongest sailors also found help soon after. But the remaining 12, including DeLong, died from hunger or cold. In total, 20 of the original 33 explorers did not survive the expedition.

About the Jeannette Monument

The Jeannette Monument is a special memorial. It looks like a cairn, which is a pile of stones. This design was inspired by a stone pile built by Melville in 1882. That cairn marked where some of the lost crew members were first buried. The monument was designed by George Partridge Colvocoresses. He was a drawing instructor at the Naval Academy.

The monument has ice shapes draped over a cross. An old anchor sits at the cross's base. It is located near the cemetery's shore. This spot is close to Dorsey Creek and where it flows into the Severn River. The monument was revealed on October 30, 1890. This was exactly nine years after the last entry in DeLong's journal. No bodies are buried under this monument.

Names on the Monument

The monument has inscriptions to honor the lost crew.

On the side facing Cushing Road in the cemetery, it reads:

COMMEMORATIVE
of the heroic officers and men of the
UNITED STATES NAVY
who perished in the
Jeannette Arctic Exploring Expedition
1881

On the side facing Dorsey Creek, it lists some of the names:

Lieut. Comdr. Geo. W DeLong

Lieut. Chas. W. Chipp P.A. Surgeon, Jas. M. Ambler Meteorologist, Jerome J. Collins Ice Pilot, Wm. Dunbar Coppersmith, Walter Lee — Coal Heavers —

— Seamen — Heinrich H. Kaack Adolph Dressler Hans H. Ericksen Alfred Sweetman Henry D. Warren

For easier understanding, here are the names with full titles:

Lieutenant Commander George W. DeLong

Lieutenant Charles W. Chipp Passed Assistant Surgeon James M. Ambler Meteorologist Jerome J. Collins Ice Pilot William Dunbar Coppersmith Walter Lee — Coal Heavers —

— Seamen — Heinrich H. Kaack Adolph Dressler Hans H. Ericksen Alfred Sweetman Henry D. Warren

The Original Cairn

Jeannette Cairn designed and placed by George W. Melville, March 1882

Ten of the twelve lost from DeLong's boat were found by Melville. This happened on March 23, 1882. They were buried on the Lena Delta. A stone cairn was built there to mark their graves. Later, in 1884, their bodies were brought back to the United States.

Here is a description of the original cairn:

The tomb or mausoleum in which the bodies were deposited was constructed of the lumber of a broken-up flatboat. First a cross was made from timbers one foot square, hewn out of logs which had drifted down the river, and erected on the crest of the hill. It was twenty-two feet high, and the cross-beam was twelve feet long. Around this cross was built a box twenty-two feet long, six feet wide, and two feet deep, located exactly on a north and south line. After the bodies had been placed in the box it was covered with plank. A ridge-pole sixteen feet long was then framed into the cross five feet above the top of the box, and its ends were supported by timbers sloping outward. A roof was then formed by placing timbers side by side against the ridge-poles and ends. The whole outside was then covered with stones, and when completed it resembled a pyramidal mound of stones surmounted by a cross.

Names on the Cairn

The cross of the original Jeannette cairn had these names carved into it:

IN
MEMORY
OF 12
OF THE
OFFICERS
AND
MEN
OF
THE ARCTIC STEAMER "JEANNETTE"
WHO DIED OF STARVATION
IN THE LENA DELTA, OCTOBER, 1881.
LIEUTENANT
G. W. DE LONG
DR. J. M. AMBLER
MR. J. J. COLLINS
W. LEE
A. GORTZ
A. DRESSLER
H. H. ERICKSON
G. W. BOYD
N. IVERSON
H. H. KAACK
ALEXAI
AH SAM

Other Expedition Members

Officers of the Jeannette, clockwise from the top: DeLong, Ambler, Melville, Newcomb, Dunbar, Collins, Danenhower, Chipp

Here are some other important people from the Jeannette expedition:

• James Markham Marshall Ambler was the ship's doctor. He was with DeLong's boat crew. He tried to help his crewmates who were starving and freezing. Ambler was one of the last three to die, sometime after October 30, 1881.
• George W. Melville was an Arctic explorer. He was a famous naval engineer. Melville became a rear admiral later in his life. He passed away in 1912.
• Raymond Lee Newcomb was the naturalist, artist, and astronomer on the Jeannette. He was part of Melville's boat crew. He died in 1918.
• William Dunbar was the ice pilot on the Jeannette. He was in Chipp's boat crew. He was lost at sea and died on September 12, 1881.
• Jerome J. Collins was the expedition's weather expert. He also wrote for the New York Herald newspaper. He was part of DeLong's boat crew. DeLong's last journal entry mentions Collins dying.
• John Wilson Danenhower was the second officer of the Jeannette. He was in Melville's boat crew. His good sailing skills are credited with saving Melville's boat during a big storm. He died in 1887.
• William Friedrich Carl Nindemann was a seaman on the Jeannette. He was in DeLong's boat crew. He was one of two men who left DeLong to find help. Nindemann later returned with Melville to find DeLong's last camp.
• Louis P. Noros was also a seaman on the Jeannette. He was the other man who left DeLong to seek help. Language problems made the rescue efforts difficult.
• Ah Sam was the expedition's cook. He was part of DeLong's boat crew.