CHAPTER IV. 



SEARCHES FOR THE JEANNETTE 1881. 



(SUMMER CRUISE OP THE RODGERS.) 



ON the 16th day of June, 1881, two United States steam- 

 ships, commanded and manned by officers and seamen 

 of the United States navy all of whom had volunteered 

 for the perilous service started north to join in the search 

 for DeLong. One of them the Alliance went from Nor- 

 folk navy yard, on the Atlantic, and the other one the 

 Rodgers steamed out through the Golden Gate of the 

 Pacific coast. 



Only three months before her departure, the Rodgers was 

 known in San Francisco as the Mary and Helen, a staunch 

 and ice-tried steam-whaler of 420 tons. She was built in 

 Bath, Maine, in 1879, was bark rigged, and carried a great 

 spread of canvas. Her length was one hundred and fifty- 

 five feet, breadth of beam thirty feet, depth sixteen feet. 

 She -was bought by the Secretary of the Navy for $100,000, 

 and re-named the Rodgers, in compliment to the distin- 

 guished naval officer who was the president of the Jeannette 

 Relief Board. 



The Rodgers was overhauled and strengthened at the navy 

 yard, Mare Island, and ample provisions and supplies for her 

 own crew during a long voyage, and for the relief of any ship- 

 wrecked seamen who might be fallen in with, were taken on 

 board. The command of the expedition was given to Lieut. 

 Robert M. Berry, a native of Kentucky, an officer in whom 

 the Navy Department had the greatest confidence. All of 

 the officers, as well as the crew, were volunteers ; and, as 

 on previous occasions, when bold and hazardous services 

 have been required of our naval officers, it was difficult for 



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