search, so that when he reached the part of the river where De Long's party was last seen, he abandoned all hope of finding any of them alive, for they had been without provisions two days when Nindemann left them, and that part of the country was entirely destitute of food.
Yet Melville continued his search, determined to find the missing men, alive or dead. After heroic, untiring efforts, he found the dead bodies of his shipmates. They had perished five months before.
After attending to the burial of his brave comrades, and rewarding the natives who had assisted him, Melville set out for home. He arrived in New York, September 13, 1883, just one year from the day on which the three boats were separated in the gale. Due credit has been given Engineer Melville, both at home and abroad, for his promptness and energy in conducting the search for the lost crew of the Jeannette.
The fate of the Jeannette and her crew often leads people to overlook the results secured by her voyage. The long drift of twenty-one months enabled the voyagers of this expedition to acquire considerable knowledge of the ocean. The ship traveled over a large area, sometimes moving almost in a circle. The depth of the ocean, the character of its bed and its drift were determined. Many kinds of animal life were studied, and two islands were discovered.
