A tragedy of errors

The story of the Jeannette Expedition is one of incredible hardship, two winter ordeals, the crushing of the expedition ship Jeannette in the ice and the burning of a relief vessel, a desperate and fatal retreat by open boat, a lone journey thousands of miles across Siberia, death after death, insanity, starvation, amputation, and exhuming corpses from the grave. But even these narratives and the events upon which they were based did not give the tragic saga its lasting importance, nor did the massive cover-up by the American government afterwards. Rather, the Jeannette Expedition represents the beginning of a turning point that changed Arctic exploration and Arctic science forever as the inspiration of Fridtjof Nansen and his expedition in Fram (1893-96). The book is illustrated with original hand coloured lantern slides, maps, and letters and reports from the crew members written during and in the aftermath of the expedition.