The party from the Jeannette, after reaching…

The party from the Jeannette, after reaching several small islands in the Siberian group and gaining some food and rest, had taken to their three boats on September 12 in hope of reaching the mainland.

As a violent storm blew up, one of the boats (with Lieutenant Charles W. Chipp and seven men) had capsized and sunk.

The other two, commanded by DeLong and Chief Engineer George W. Melville with respectively fourteen and eleven men, had survived the severe weather but landed at widely separated points on the delta.

The party headed by DeLong had begun the long march inland over the marshy, half-frozen delta to hoped-for native settlements, and one by one the men had died from starvation and exposure.

Finally DeLong had sent the two strongest, William F. C. Nindemann and Louis P. Noros, ahead for help; they eventually find a settlement and survive.

DeLong and his eleven other companions die on the Siberian tundra.