Jeannette Expedition

The Jeannette expedition was the 1879 to 1881 United States Arctic venture led by Lieutenant Commander George W. De Long aboard USS Jeannette, which aimed to reach the North Pole via the Bering Strait. The ship was beset in the pack ice north of Siberia in September 1879, drifted for nearly two years, and was crushed and sank on 13 June 1881 near the New Siberian Islands. The crew hauled boats toward the Lena Delta; De Long and most of his party died, and only a minority survived.