Jerome J. Collins was born in County Cork, Ireland, on 17
October 1841. A journalist with James
Gordon Bennett's New York "Herald" newspaper, 1879
he was assigned to the Jeannette expedition as correspondent and
meteorolgist, spending the next two years in the Arctic north
of Siberia. A member of expedition commander George
W. DeLong's boat party that landed on the northern end of
the Lena River Delta in September 1881, Collins shared the grim
fate of all but two of his companions, dying of exposure and starvation
at the end of October.
Photo #: NH 92109
Jerome J. Collins
Vignette engraving copied from "The Voyage of the Jeannette
...", Volume I, page 66, edited by Emma DeLong, published
in 1884.
Mr. Collins, a correspondent for the "New York Herald"
newspaper, was a member USS Jeannette's 1879-1881 Arctic
exploring expedition, serving as meteorologist.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
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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.
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Photo #: NH 92144
Jeannette Arctic exploring expedition, 1879-1881
Facsimile of the next-to-last page of Lieutenant Commander George
DeLong's journal, covering 21-24 October 1881, as his party was
dying of starvation at the head of the Lena River Delta, Siberia.
Numbered days reflect the time since USS Jeannette was
abandoned in the ice north of Siberia.
Copied from "The Voyage of the Jeannette ...", Volume
II, page 798, edited by Emma DeLong, published in 1884.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 80KB; 500 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 92145
Jeannette Arctic exploring expedition, 1879-1881
Facsimile of the last page of Lieutenant Commander George DeLong's
journal, covering 25-30 October 1881, as his party was dying
of starvation at the head of the Lena River Delta, Siberia. Numbered
days reflect the time since USS Jeannette was abandoned
in the ice north of Siberia.
Copied from "The Voyage of the Jeannette ...", Volume
II, page 799, edited by Emma DeLong, published in 1884.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 73KB; 560 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 92152
"Plan of the Last Camp, Showing the Position in which the
Bodies were Found."
Plan of the final camp of Lieutenant Commander George DeLong
and his men from the Arctic exploration ship Jeannette,
in the Lena River Delta, Siberia. All members of the party perished
there in October-November 1881. Their bodies were found the following
March.
Copied from "The Voyage of the Jeannette ...", Volume
II, page 854, edited by Emma DeLong, published in 1884.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 325 pixels |
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