Excerpt from The Voyage of the Jeannette, Vol. 1 of 2: The Ship and Ice Journals of George W. De Long, Lieutenant-Commander U. S. N., And Commander of the Polar Expedition of 1879-1881
IN the preparation of this volume the editor has availed herself first, of the private papers of Lieutenant Commander De Long, and her own recollection and notes; and secondly, of the testimony given in public and private by the survivors of the Jeannette. It seemed right, in a work which is essentially a tribute to human worth, to introduce the narrative with a brief biographical sketch of the commander of the ex pedition up to the inception of the undertaking, with special reference to the qualities of character and edu cation of circumstances which led directly to his pro posal of an Arctic expedition. The preparations for the voyage continue this personal sketch, as well as put the reader in possession of all necessary facts re lating to the plans of the projectors and the measures taken to ensure success.
So much was requisite as an introduction to the nar rative itself. For that recourse was had to the letters written by lieutenant-commander De Long after leav ing San Francisco, and before dismissing the consort which accompanied the Jeannette to St. Lawrence Bay; to the private journal which he kept from the begin ning of the voyage to the sinking of the ship, and to the two small journals in which he recorded the for tunes of the expedition after the ship was abandoned.
In preparing the closing chapters of the work, the testimonies given by the survivors have been carefully compared and made the basis for a consecutive narra tive which should complete the history of the expe dition.
The illustrations have been studied ‘with great care. The smaller ones in the text have been reproduced from diagrams and sketches made in the journals, by Mr. Newcomb, the naturalist of the party, and by Cap tain Gronbeck of the Lma; the larger ones have been from the hand of Mr. M. J. Burns, whose experience in the Arctic had given him special facility for making truthful renderings, and his work has been carefully examined and approved by officers of the expedition.
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