Charles Winans Chipp was born in New York during the mid-1840s.
Appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy from that state in 1863, he
graduated in June 1868 and received his commission in the rank
of Ensign in April 1869. During the later 1860s Chipp was an officer
in the steam frigate Franklin,
flagship of the European Squadron. A tour in the Asiatic Fleet
with the steam sloop Alaska followed in the early 1870s,
during which time he was promoted to Master. He attained the rank
of Lieutenant late in 1872, with assignment to the steam sloop
Juniata beginning in that year and lasting until early
1876. A second assignment to the Far East, with service in the
gunboat Ashuelot, occupied him into 1879.
Soon afterwards Lieutenant Chipp became executive officer of
the Arctic exploration steamer Jeannette,
which began an an
expedition to penetrate the icepack north of Siberia in July
1879. After the ship was crushed by the ice and sank in June 1881,
he helped lead her crew in their long trek over the rugged ice
and commanded the ship's second cutter once open water was reached
in September. On 12 September 1881, while Jeannette's three
boats were sailing across the frigid Arctic seas toward the Siberian
mainland, they were separated in a storm. Lieutenant Charles W.
Chipp and the seven men with him were not seen again, and no trace
of their fate was ever discovered.
Photo #: NH 92100
Lieutenant Charles W. Chipp, USN
Vignette engraving, with a facsimile of his signature, copied
from "The Voyage of the Jeannette ...", Volume I, page
16, edited by Emma DeLong, published in 1884.
Lieutenant Chipp was second-in-command of USS Jeannette
during her Arctic expedition, 1879-1881.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 118KB; 620 x 765 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 52007
USS Jeannette (1879-1881)
Composite photograph of the ship, and the officers of her Arctic
expedition. Those shown are (clockwise from top center):
Lieutenant Commander George W. DeLong, USN, Commanding Officer;
Passed Assistant Surgeon James M. Ambler, USN;
Chief Engineer George W. Melville, USN;
Raymond Lee Newcomb, Naturalist and Astronomer;
William Dunbar, Pilot;
Jerome J. Collins, Correspondent for the "New York Herald";
Lieutenant John W. Danenhower, USN, Second Officer; and
Lieutenant Charles W. Chipp, USN, Executive Officer.
Donation of Captain T.S. Wilkinson, USN, 1934.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 131KB; 550 x 765 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 92131
Jeannette Arctic exploring expedition, 1879-1881
Plan of the camp set up on the ice after USS Jeannette
sank, circa 13 June 1881.
Copied from "The Voyage of the Jeannette ...", Volume
II, page 582, edited by Emma DeLong, published in 1884.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 43KB; 740 x 430 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 92137
Jeannette Arctic exploring expedition, 1879-1881
Sketch of USS Jeannette boats, which the ship's crew dragged
over the ice after she sank north of Siberia in June 1881, and
floated where open water was encountered. The three boats were
commanded by Lieutenant Commander George DeLong, Lieutenant Charles
W. Chipp and Chief Engineer George W. Melville.
Copied from "The Voyage of the Jeannette ...", Volume
II, page 693, edited by Emma DeLong, published in 1884.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 525 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 92141
Jeannette Arctic exploring expedition, 1879-1881
Woodcut engraved by George T. Andrew after a design by M.J. Burns,
depicting USS Jeannette's boats separating in a gale northeast
of the Lena River Delta, Siberia, on 12 September 1881. The boat
commanded by Lieutenant Commander George DeLong (depicted in
the foreground) landed at the northern end of the Delta. That
commanded by Chief Engineer George W. Melville (background, right)
landed on the Delta's eastern side. The boat commanded by Lieutenant
Charles W. Chipp (background, left) was not heard of again.
Copied from "The Voyage of the Jeannette ...", Volume
II, page 751, edited by Emma DeLong, published in 1884.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 152KB; 740 x 565 pixels |
 |