In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette

511 Pages·2014·23.62 MB·English

by  Hampton Sides

Copyright © 2014 by Hampton Sides
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Doubleday, a division of Random House
LLC, New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, Penguin Random
House companies.
www.doubleday.com
DOUBLEDAY and the portrayal of an anchor with a dolphin are registered trademarks of Random
House LLC.
Book design by Maria Carella
Maps designed by Jeffrey L. Ward
Endpaper illustration: William Bradford, Icebergs in the Arctic (1882)
Jacket design by John Fontana
Jacket photograph © Emmanuel Berthier/Hemis/Corbis
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sides, Hampton.
In the kingdom of ice : the grand and terrible polar voyage of the USS Jeannette / Hampton
Sides. — First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-385-53537-3 — ISBN 978-0-38553538-0 (ebook) 1. Jeannette (Steamer)—History.
2. Shipwrecks—Arctic Ocean—History—19th century. 3. Shipwreck survival—Arctic Ocean—
History—19th century. 4. Shipwreck survival—Siberia—History—19th century. 5. Bennett,
James Gordon, [date]. 6. De Long, George W. (George Washington), [date]. I. Title.
G530.J37S53 2014
910.4’52—dc23 2014004367
v3.1
To My Brother
LINK SIDES
1957–2013
In the kingdom of ice, far from the world, lamentations rise from
the ship, As she battles the slabs and the growling swirls, and
writhes in their throttling grip.
The crusted floes crack in fits and in sprees, and in fury flog her
planked hide, Spent sailors fall upon supplicant knees, yearning
for kith and hearthside.
The hungry ice clutches more tightly,
to check the flight of its prey, The captain’s command
rings forthrightly, “All hands quit while ye may!”
See how the rough men pine and weep,
as she falters and slips,
High in the masts, the haunted winds whine, a dirge to the truest of
ships That bore them so long, yet now in the murk, the proud
boat twists to her bed, And when the day hath ended its work,
Northern Lights paint her grave purple-red.
—“The Sinking of the Jeannette,” by Joachim Ringelnatz
The privilege isn’t given to everyone.… You must have suffered first,
have suffered greatly, have gained some miserable knowledge. In that
way your eyes are opened to it.
—Henry James, 1881
C
ONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
The Company of the USS Jeannette
Prologue: Baptism by Ice
PART ONE: A GREAT BLANK SPACE
1 · A Shocking Sabbath Carnival of Death
2 · Ne Plus Ultra
3 · The Lord of Creation
4 · For You I Will Dare Anything
5 · Gateways to the Pole
PART TWO: THE NATIONAL GENIUS
6 · The Engine of the World
7 · Satisfaction
8 · The Sage of Gotha
9 · Pandora
10 · Three Years, or Eternity
11 · A Benediction
12 · Second Chances
13 · The U.S. Arctic Expedition
14 · All That Man Can Do
15 · The New Invader
PART THREE: A GLORIOUS COUNTRY TO LEARN PATIENCE IN
16 · A Cul-de-Sac
17 · Nipped
18 · Among the Swells
19 · If by Any Mischance
20 · A Delusion and a Snare
21 · Forever, Almost
22 · Invisible Hands
PART FOUR: WE ARE NOT YET DAUNTED
23 · On the Lone Icebound Sea
24 · The Discovered Country
25 · Tidings
26 · Death Strokes
PART FIVE: THE END OF CREATION
27 · All Mucky
28 · Nil Desperandum
29 · The Phantom Continent
30 · A Second Promised Land
31 · Eight Precious Days
32 · The Known World
33 · Seas High and Spiteful
PART SIX: THE WHISPER OF THE STARS
34 · Lucky Fourteen
35 · Remember Me in New York
36 · If It Takes My Last Dollar
37 · Frantic Pantomimes
38 · Incubus of Horrors
39 · White Gloom
40 · The Russian Nation at Your Back
41 · They That Watch for the Morning
42 · A Wild Dirge Through Time
Epilogue: As Long as I Have Ice to Stand On
Acknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Photo Credits
About the Author
Illustrations
Additional Photos
Other Books by This Author
T C USS J
HE OMPANY OF THE EANNETTE
NAVAL OFFICERS
Lieutenant George De Long, commanding Lieutenant Charles Chipp,
executive officer Master John Danenhower, navigation officer George
Melville, engineer Dr. James Ambler, surgeon
CIVILIAN SCIENTISTS
Jerome Collins, meteorologist, correspondent to the New York Herald
Raymond Newcomb, naturalist
SPECIAL DUTY
William Dunbar, ice pilot John Cole, boatswain Walter Lee, machinist
James Bartlett, first-class fireman George Boyd, second-class fireman
Alfred Sweetman, carpenter
SEAMEN
William Nindemann Herbert Leach
Carl Görtz
Edward Starr
Heinrich Kaack
Frank Mansen
Adolph Dressler
Walter Sharvell
Louis Noros
Henry Wilson
Peter Johnson
Henry Warren
Albert Kuehne
Hans Erichsen
Nelse Iverson
George Lauterbach
COOK AND STEWARD
Ah Sam
Charles Tong Sing
INUIT HUNTERS AND DOG DRIVERS
Alexey
Aneguin