| George W. Delong |
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| 1844 births | |
| 1881 deaths | |
| deaths by starvation | |
| american explorers | |
| explorers of the arctic | |
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George Washington DeLong ( August 22 , 1844 – October 31 , 1881 ) was a United States Navy officer and ill-fated explorer. Born in New York City , he was educated at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland . In 1879 , backed by James Gordon Bennett, Jr. , owner of the '' New York Herald '' newspaper, and under the auspices of the US Navy, Lieutenant Commander DeLong sailed from San Francisco, California on the ship USS ''Jeannette'' with a plan to find a quick way to the North Pole via the Bering Strait . The ship became trapped in the ice and eventually was crushed and sank. DeLong and his crew abandoned ship and set out for ) The third boat, under the command of Chief Engineer George W. Melville , reached the Lena delta and was rescued. DeLong died of starvation near Mat Vay, Yakutsk , Siberia. Melville returned a year later and found the body of DeLong and his boat crew. Overall, the doomed voyage took the lives of nineteen men. Two US Navy ships were named USS ''DeLong'' in his honor, as were the DeLong Mountains in northwest Alaska . PUBLICATIONS
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