112 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



and easy access. If the boat in which I embark is sep- 

 arated from the other boats, you will at once place yourself 

 under the orders of Lieutenant C. W. Chipp, and so long as 

 you remain in his company obey such orders as he may give 



you. 



Very respectfully, 



GEORGE W. DELONG, 

 Lieutenant U. S. Navy, Commanding Arctic Expedition. 



Mr. Melville's personal narrative, made up from his letters 

 and reports to the Secretary of the Navy, describes the 

 voyage and wreck of the Jcannctte, and subsequent events, 

 as follows: 



We arrived in the harbor of Lutkc, Bay of St. Lawrence, 

 on the 25th of August, and on the 27th completed our supply 

 of stores from the schooner, and sailed for the Arctic Ocean, 

 to visit Kolyutschin Bay to search for Nordcnskiokl, and then 

 to continue our voyage of discovery. We arrived at Kolyuts- 

 chin Bay on August 31st, and having found satisfactory 

 proof of the safety of Nordenskiold we continued our voyage 

 to the northward. 



On September 3d we came up with (lie ice, and on the 4th 

 sighted Herald Island. We continued to work through the 

 ice until the 6ih of September, when we became finally fixed 

 in the ice. On September 13th an attempt was made to land 

 on Herald Island, but it was unsuccessful, and the traveling 

 party returned to (he ship on the 14lh. We continued to 

 drift with the ice toward the northwest, and on October 21st 

 sighted Wrangel Land, bearing south. We continued fast 

 in close-packed ice until November 25th, when, after several 

 days' severe crushing of the ice and nipping of the ship, she 

 was forced into open water, and drifted northwest without 

 control until the evening of the same day, when we brought 

 up against a solid floe piece and made fast, where we again 

 froze in, and remained until the vessel was eventually de- 

 stroyed. 



On January 19th, after several days' anxiety from the 

 crushing strain of the ice on the ship and the noise made by 



