In the Lena Delta: A Narrative of the Search for Lieut-Commander De Long and his Companions, Followed by an Account of the Greely Relief Expedition and a Proposed Method of Reaching the North Pole

George W. Melville (1841–1912) was a member of an 1879 American Arctic expedition seeking a northern passage from the Bering Strait to the Atlantic. Its ship was trapped in ice for nearly two years, and was eventually crushed and sank. The crew, stranded in three small boats, were left with few provisions and little hope of rescue. Melville was the only boat commander to bring his men to safety, assuming leadership of the survivors after landing in Siberia in 1881. He returned to search for...