340 MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 



Mr. Melville strongly interested himself in polar research and 

 has taken part in three separate expeditions to the Arctic seas. Of 

 these the most important is that in connection with the "J eannette " 

 enterprise, which he joined as engineer. His heroic conduct in this 

 unlucky voyage was fully recognized in this country and was 

 rewarded by Congress in a special act in 1890, by which he was 

 advanced one grade in the service. It is the detail of this part of 

 his career with which we are here concerned. 



Melville's comrades in the whale-boat cruise were nine in 

 number, comprising Lieutenant Danenhower and eight of the crew, 

 among the latter being the Chinese steward and one of the Alaska 

 Indians, named Aneguin. The whale-boat was twenty-five feet four 

 inches long and strongly put together. Like the cutters, it was 

 clinker-built, copper-fastened, and with inside lining. And like the 

 others, its draught was deep, this being due to the heavy oak keel 

 pieces put upon the boats to strengthen them for the wearing work 

 of hauling over the ice. 



The severe gale which had separated the boats off the Siberian 

 coast gave exhausting labor to Engineer Melville's crew, who were 

 kept busy pumping or baling out the water which poured in from 

 the combing waves. The pocket prismatic compass they had was 

 here of no avail, and they had to steer by the sun or moon, in which 

 work the professional skill of Lieutenant Danenhower, still on the 

 sick list, was of great service. He carried the chronometer and 

 chart and could lay the proper course of the boat very closely by the 

 bearings of the sun. By this means he was fortunate in bringing 

 the wave-tossed craft safely to land at one of the eastern mouths of 

 the Lena River on September I5th, three days after they had left 

 Semenovski Island. 



Favoring fortune had brought them ashore in an inhabited 

 region, the river was still open, and a Tungus Indian whom they 

 met and engaged as pilot took them in safety up its course for the 

 following eleven days, at the end of which a village was reached. 



