Description:

GEORGE W. DELONG
(1844 - 1881) United States Naval Academy graduate and leader of the doomed 1879 expedition to the North Pole via the Bering Straits. DeLong has several islands, two United States Navy ships, and a mountain range named in his honor. Fine content A.L.S. as expedition captain, 2pp. 4to., "Arctic Steamer Jeannette, at sea making a passage to Unalaska", July 22, 1879, a report of progress to a fellow captain named Tanner. In part: "...Though I had been preparing and planning and providing for the expedition ever since my first arrival in San Francisco on December 28, there seems almost as much to do on the last day as on the first... Expeditions of this kind require an awful amount of thinking and consideration; and I think that if I had to do it again I should begin at least a year earlier...I did it all in 18 months it is true, but it was at the cost of a great amount of brain tissue of which I have no great quantity...Be assured I shall do all I can for the good of our service...if I make a mess of it I hope they will be as charitable in the future as they are generous in the present...". DeLong's words hold the ring of prophecy, as he froze and starved to death in Siberia after his ship broke apart in arctic ice. Age toned with minor foxing and an ink stain on the upper right section of verso, none affecting signature and contrast still excellent, else fine.

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May 14, 2009 10:00 AM EDT
Stamford, CT, US

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