866 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



Under this comprehensive order the court conducted 

 its examination during eighty-five days, and received 

 the testimony of the survivors of the expedition, and 

 of a number of persons who had been personally cogni- 

 zant of the construction, alteration, and equipment of 

 the Jeannette. The log-books and journals of Captain 

 De Long were also read by the court as a part of the 

 testimony. The records of the proceedings of the court 

 form No. 108 of the Executive Documents of the Sec- 

 ond Session of the 47th Congress, House of Represen- 

 tatives. The finding of the court is reprinted in full 

 in the Appendix 1 to this volume. It is a summary of 

 the narrative which has been given at length, and a 

 professional judgment upon those points which were 

 contained in the instructions to the court. 



The reader who has followed attentively the history 

 of the expedition from its inception to its melancholy 

 close will have anticipated the judgment of the court, 

 and will be enabled to enrich its decisions with a 

 volume of illustrations. In one matter, the proceed- 

 ings of the court furnish fuller information than this 

 book. It was not thought necessary to burden the 

 unprofessional reader with a detailed description of the 

 measures taken to strengthen the Jeannette for her 

 northern voyage ; enough has been given to indicate 

 the character and extent of the work done. In the 

 testimony before the court, the observations of the offi- 

 cers of the Mare Island Navy Yard, and the experience 

 of the officers of the Jeannette, furnish additional evi- 

 dence ; and the reader who has attended to the vivid 

 description which Captain De Long gives of the terrible 

 power of the restless ice will scarcely need to be re- 

 minded that no vessel built by the hand of man could 



1 See Appendix T. 



