4697 x 6357 px | 39,8 x 53,8 cm | 15,7 x 21,2 inches | 300dpi
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Vintage portrait photo circa 1900 of Rear Admiral George Wallace Melville (1841 - 1912) - noted US Navy engineer and Arctic explorer. Melville enlisted in the navy in 1861 and became an officer of the Engineer Corps before seeing action in the US Civil War. He subsequently served on several ships before volunteering in 1873 as chief engineer aboard the USS Tigress for the Arctic mission to find the missing Polaris expedition. In 1879 Melville volunteered to serve on the USS Jeannette for the Arctic expedition under George W DeLong which aimed to find a quick way to the North Pole via the Bering Strait. The Jeannette soon became icebound and drifted for 21 months before being crushed and sinking in 1881 - leaving her crew stranded on ice floes with three small boats and limited provisions. The men attempted to reach the Siberian coast but were separated after taking to the boats and only the boat commanded by Melville reached safety. Melville subsequently went back to search for the other boats - travelling over 1, 000 miles before finding the bodies of DeLong and others who had been in a second boat. The third boat was never found. The US Congress awarded Melville the Congressional Gold Medal for his efforts and he later returned to the Arctic in 1884 aboard USS Thetis in the Greely Relief Expedition. He became chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering in 1887, helped develop a modern navy and rose to the rank of Rear Admiral before retiring in 1903. He also served as president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Photo by Levin C Handy.
