Jeannette Arctic Expedition survivors in a hut, by the Lena
Some of the survivors of the Jeannette Arctic Expedition of 1879-1881, in a hut by the mouth of the Lena River, Siberia, 1881. In 1879, an US Navy crew, led by Lieutenant Commander George Washington Delong, embarked aboard the private yacht Jeannnette in an attempt to sail to the North Pole. The Jeannette entered the ice pack, near Wrangell Island, in September 1879 and then drifted north-west, surrounded by ice until June 1881. On the 12th June, the Jeannette was crushed by the ice and sank, leaving its crew 700 miles from the nearest human habitation in Siberia. The crew of the Jeannette then dragged their three life-boats over the ice to clear water and set sail for the Lena River Delta. Unfortunately, one boat was lost in a storm and another made landfall on the delta, only for the majority of its crew to die of starvation or exposure. One boat, captained by Lt. Danenhauer, carried all it's crew to safety
