Report of Lieut. Giles B. Harber, U.S.N., concerning the search for the missing persons of the Jeannette Expedition, and the transportation of the remains of Lieutenant-Commander De Long and companions to the United States

Washington: House of Representatives, 1884. 75 pp. Octavo. Original blue printed wrappers. Slight minor chipping to the edges of the first leaf. Four photogravure plates. folding map. A fine clean copy in the fragile wrappers. In July of 1879 the U. S. North Polar Expedition departed from San Francisco for Alaska and Bering Straights under the command of George Delong. In 1881 under adverse conditions the Jeannette sunk with all hands abandoning the ship and making of in two cutters and a whaleboat. One of the Cutters under Lieutenant Chipp was lost, DeLong's boat made shore in the upper Lena Delta but most perished from starvation and the adverse conditions on their attempt to seek help. The chief engineer, G. W. Melville's boat made shore and were rescued by local hunters. In all on 13 of the 33 crew were saved. In 1882 the US Navy sent Giles Harber and W.H. Schuetze to look for survivors of the Jeannette expedition and bring home the remains of those who had died. On there trip they ran into Melville who was leading his own searching efforts. They were able to recover the bodies of 7 of the crew including DeLong and went through an arduous journey back to the US. The remains were buried in New York in February of 1883. This report to Congress details Harber and Schuetze's harrowing trip. The illustrations are very high quality and the folding map shows their route. This publication does not seem to be in Arctic Bibliography or any other standard bibliography. Only five copies on World Cat. We also have in this catalogue William Henry Schuetze's scarce account. 1884