Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-10-19
REAR ADMIRAL MELVILLE.
How the Modest Naval Hero Found
DE Longs Body.

That navy building is an interesting
place. One is constantly humping up
against men whose lives are stories
more stories than Kipling or any other
writer cal. ever write. All of the men in
this building have stood in imminent peril
and have experienced hairbreadth es-
capes scores of times. They think no
more of it than an ordinary man does of
taking n street car ride.
Some OF their MINES are not so well
known, because they were assigned to
shore duty during the Spanish a merican
war-a duty which was onerous to all Of
them, but which had to be performed.
They did not get their names in the news
papers, but they are Dewcys, Simpsons
and Schlcys, all of them.
Take the case of George Wallace Mel
vile, the rear admiral in charge of the
bureau of steam engineering. One finds
him at 20 ramming the Confederate crus
or Wachusett in the harbor OF Bahia
Brazil and at 40 an intrepid explorer of
the frozen north in the Jeanette. The
vessel was crushed in the ice and COM
pletely destroyed, and the crew was left
to drift on foe in midoccan. The boat
itself had drifted for two years into the
unknown before it was wrecked. The
journey across the drift ice, 500 miles
from the Lena delta and $50 miles from
the nearest known land, was full Of peril.
| Dragging the rowboats after them, they
reached Bennett island at the end of the
fortyfrst day, but they were still 80
miles from the shore. There were many
water leads in sight, and after rest of
ten days De Long, who commanded the
| Ill fated Jeanette, embarked his rev in
three boats, one of which was command
ed by Melville. A living gale sprang up,
| and one of the boats was almost instant
| ly wrecked. The remaining boats, with
| De Long in one and Melville in the other,
parted In the night Melville finally sue
cceded in reaching the Russian village OF
Geeomovialocke, where, thoroughly ex-
hausted, his crew lay for three weeks re-
cuperating.
AT the end of the third week courier
came in bringing message from De
Long. De Long had landed on the bar
rem south shore Of the Lena with nearly
all of his crew sick Melville knew that
De Long, entirely out OF provisions, could
not now be alive. On the one side of him
were the blue sea and home; on the other
side was the desolate and frozen north.
Melville did not hesitate. He held it to
be his duty to find the body of De Long.
And so, starting out with two natives
two dog teams and FIVE days food, he be
gan search which extended through D
days and over 900 miles OF travel in the
deadly cold of the arctic winter at n time
when there were but two hours Of day
light in the "a. Their limbs swelled and
their skins cracked, but still they went
on. The two natives finally rebelled, and
Melville's answer to them was:
II will go on. We shall eat the dogs
first, and after that l will, if necessary
eat you, Yakutsk. but | will go on"
1t was in the early spring that he found
De Long lying dead on the river bank.
And you may see him any day in the
week, this man Melville, doing his work
very modestly and very well in the bu
reau of steam engineering in the navy
department.-Wa shington Letter in Cleve
land Plain Dealer.