Jeannette Expedition departs San Francisco for the North Pole

Background. The expedition was officially the U.S. Arctic Expedition, an attempt to reach the North Pole by pioneering a route from the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait. It was led by George W. De Long, a United States Navy officer and explorer. The venture was backed by James Gordon Bennett Jr., owner of the New York Herald, and operated under the auspices of the United States Navy.

Preparation. De Long spent early 1879 in Washington, D.C., promoting the expedition among officials and searching for crew members. In April, he learned the Navy could not provide a supply ship, a decision he thought left the expedition's fate "hanging by a thread." Bennett resolved this difficulty by chartering the schooner Frances Hyde to carry extra coal and provisions as far as Alaska.

Departure. Jeannette's departure from San Francisco on July 8, 1879, was a popular spectacle witnessed by large crowds from all quarters of the city. The ship, renamed Jeannette in July 1878, had undergone work at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in readiness for a prolonged journey in the Arctic ice. The event marked the beginning of the expedition's attempt to reach the North Pole.