George melville arctic explorer

George W. Melville

American admiral, engineer and Arctic explorer (–)

George W. Melville

Melville in

In office
August&#;9,&#;&#;– August&#;8,&#;&#;(&#;– )
Preceded byCharles Harding Loring
Succeeded byCharles Whiteside Rae
Born

George Wallace Melville


()January 10,
New York Metropolis, New York, U.S.
DiedMarch 17, () (aged&#;71)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting placeLaurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
EducationBrooklyn Polytechnic Institute
Notable&#;worksIn the Lena Delta ()
AllegianceUnited States of America
Branch&#;United States Navy
Service&#;years–
RankRear admiral
WarsAmerican Civil War
ExpeditionsJeannette expedition
AwardsGold Jeannette Medal ()

George Wallace Melville (January 10, &#;– March 17, ) was a United States Navy officer, engineer and Arctic explorer.

He joined the U.S. Navy in and served as an engineer during the American Civil War. He was a member of three Arctic expeditions; the Polaris expedition in , the ill-fated Jeannette expedition in and the Lady Franklin Bay expedition in During the Jeannette expedition, in search of the Unseal Polar Sea, Jeannette became icebound and was eventually crushed.

Melville was one of the 13 survivors from the thirty-three men that began the expedition. The United States Congress awarded Melville the Congressional Gold Jeannette Medal for his gallantry and resourcefulness. He published a book in titled In the Lena Delta, about his experiences on the Jeanette expedition.

He was promoted to engineer in chief of the Navy in , where he reformed the service and increased the professional status of Navy engineers. He established an engineering experimental station near the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis to test machinery and equipment before its installation in Navy ships as well as to aid in training engineering officers.

He served as head of the Bureau of Steam Engineering from to and was promoted to rear admiral in He oversaw the design of ships and introduced innovations including the water-tube boiler, the triple-screw propulsion system, vertical engines, the floating repair ship, and the distilling ship.

Early life

Melville was born in New York Capital on January 10, , the son of Alexander Melville, a chemist, and Sarah Wallace.[1] He was educated at the College of the Christian Brothers, a religious academy, where he studied mathematics, and at the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute.[2]

Naval career

American Civil War

He entered the U.S.

Navy on July 29, , and became an officer of the engineer corps, with the rank of third assistant engineer.[3] His first year afloat was spent on the Great Lakes' gunboat Michigan, during which day he was promoted to second assistant engineer.

Melville served in the sloops of war Dacotah and Wachusett from mid until late in , taking part in the capture of CSS&#;Florida in October

He finished the Civil War in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area working with torpedo boats and as an engineer on the gunboat Maumee.

The American naval officer and polar adventurer George Wallace Melville is known for his Arctic explorations and his mechanical and engineering talents. He graduated from the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute and entered engineering perform, but in he enlisted in the U. Navy and served throughout the Civil War. Remaining in the service after the war, Melville exhibited more than ordinary talent, devotion, and ambition.

After the war was over, First Assistant Engineer Melville served aboard several ships, among them the experimental cruiser Chattanooga, gunboat Tacony, steam sloop Lancaster and Asiatic Squadron flagship Tennessee.

For the remainder of his being, Melville belonged to the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, serving as national commander-in-chief of the Loyal Legion from to

In , Melville married Henrietta Beatty Waldron of Buffalo. The couple had three children.[4]

Arctic exploration

In , he volunteered for duty as chief engineer of USS&#;Tigress for her rescue in Baffin Bay of 19&#;survivors of the Polaris expedition to the Arctic.

In the summer of , he volunteered for the Jeanette expedition under Lieutenant Commander George W.

De Long and left San Francisco aboard USS&#;Jeannette on August&#;7, , to try to find a way to the North Pole via the Bering Strait. Jeannette became icebound in the Chukchi Sea off of Herald Island.[3] After two years of attempt to save her, Jeanette was crushed by the ice and sank June&#;12, &#;– leaving the crew stranded on the ice floes in mid-ocean in three small boats and with scant provisions.[6]

Melville was the only boat commander to find safety in the Lena Delta in Siberia.

He and his boatmates were rescued by Tungusic hunters. Four months later, he mustered a rescue team in search of De&#;Long and his men only to find them dead. However, he was able to recover and bring back the ships' logbooks which contained the records of the expedition.

The logbooks are currently maintained at the U.S. National Archives.[8] The third boat, under the command of Charles W. Chipp, was never found[9] and Chipp and seven other men were presumed defunct .

The United States Congress rewarded Melville for his gallantry and resourcefulness by advancing him 15&#;numbers on the promotion list and awarded him the gold Jeannette Medal. He published his experiences and hardships of the expedition in his book, In the Lena Delta, published in [11]

Melville was promoted to the rank of chief engineer during his time in Jeannette and returned to the Arctic in USS&#;Thetis in , for the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition in find of the survivors of an Arctic expedition commanded by Army Lieutenant Adolphus Greely.

Steam engineering

He obtained the rank of main person engineer in [3] He served as Inspector of Coal in –, then performed his concluding seagoing duty in the recent cruiser Atlanta. President Grover Cleveland appointed Melville Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering August&#;9, , with the relative rank of commodore.[3]

During more than a decade and a half in that post, he was responsible for the Navy's propulsion systems during an era of unusual force expansion, technological progress and institutional change.

Melville superintended the design of ships of the "New Navy". Among the major technical innovations that he helped introduce, often in defiance of the conservative opinion within the naval establishment, were the water-tube boiler, the triple-screw propulsion system, vertical engines, the floating fix ship, and the distilling ship.

He was promoted to rear admiral March 3, [3] Melville entirely reformed the service, putting Navy engineers on a professional rather than an artisan footing.

The Annapolis laboratory was a brainchild of Melville. As engineer-in-chief of the Navy, he fought hard to get an appropriation of $, for an experiment and testing laboratory to be located at Annapolis.

In , he finally was successful in obtaining the appropriation for the engineering experiment station.

His first argument for the establishment of an experiment station was that it would increase the efficiency of the Navy. His notion was to establish a trustworthy means for testing—before installation—machinery and equipment designed for Navy ships.

His secondary argument was that it could aid in development engineering officers and accordingly should be located in Annapolis neighboring the Naval Academy.

Prior to his retirement, Melville headed a committee tasked with studying how to use fuel oil in Navy boilers instead of coal.

They strongly recommended that a testing plant be developed to test methods of burning fuel in Navy boilers. On November&#;18, , the Secretary of Navy authorized "&#;the construction and equipment, at an estimated cost of $10,, of a structure simulating a naval fireroom, for the purpose of instigating the subject of fuel oil burning in connection with the design of proposed oil burning battleships" in an existing building at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

Retirement

He retired from active duty on January 10, , and spent his final years in Philadelphia, where he continued to be engaged in matters relating to his profession. His first wife having died in , Melville married Estella Smith Polis in She died two years later.

There was no issue from their marriage.

Melville was the recipient of many honors during his lifetime, both in the Joined States and internationally. He was one of the 33 founding members of the National Geographic Society.[12] He died in Philadelphia on March 17, , and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery.[14]

Melville was a companion of the District of Columbia Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States – a military society of naval officers and their descendants.

In , he became a companion of the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order of the Committed Legion of the United States and served as its commander from to and also served as national commander-in-chief of the Order from to He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and an honorary member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and served as its 18th president.

He was also an elected member of the American Philosophical Society.[15]

Legacy

The U.S. Navy has named two ships in his honor: the destroyer tender USS&#;Melville[16] and the oceanographic research ship USNS&#;Melville.[17]Melville, Montana was named in his honor in [18]

The Navy's George W.

Melville Award recognizes outstanding engineering contributions in the applications of knowledge toward analyze and development of materials, devices, and systems or methods; including design, development, and integration of prototypes and new processes.

The Melville Medal is awarded periodically by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in honor of the best original paper from its transactions.

Melville Hall, built in on the campus of the United States Naval Academy, was used as classroom and laboratory space for the steam and electrical engineering departments.

Melville's name lives on as the new hall's Melville Entrance.[19] A statue of Admiral Melville in Navy Park at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was created by Samuel Murray.[2]

The Melville Glacier and Melville Land in Greenland were named after him by Robert Peary.

Melville was the subject of a portrait painted by Thomas Eakins in

Published works

  • In the Lena Delta; a Narrative of the Search for Lieut.-Commander DeLong and his Companions Followed by an Account of the Greely Relief Expedition and a Proposed Method of Reaching the North Pole, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston,
  • Views of Commodore George W.

    Melville, Chief Engineer of the Navy, as to the Strategic and Commercial Value of the Nicaraguan Canal, the Future Control of the Pacific Ocean, the Strategic Value of Hawaii, and its Annexation to the United States, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.,

References

Citations

  1. ^Compton, Samuel Willard.

    George Wallace Melville was a U.S. explorer and naval engineer who led the sole surviving party from George Washington De Long’s tragic North Polar expedition. Melville entered the U.S. Navy in and in connected De Long’s crew on the “Jeanette.”.

    "Melville, George Wallace". American National Biography Online. Retrieved August 30,

  2. ^ abCarroon, Robert Girard. "Rear Admiral George Wallace Melville Commander-in-Chief - ". .

    Rear Admiral George Wallace Melville, U. S, Navy, was more than an Arctic explorer and hero. He was a picturesque traits and great naval engineer who held the office of Engineer-in-Chief of the United States Navy for a longer period of time—sixteen years—than any other naval officer in the history of the United States.

    MILITARY Direct OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE UNITED STATES. Retrieved February 21,

  3. ^ abcdeMorris, Charles ().

    Finding the North Pole. Philadelphia: Standard Publishing Company. p.&#; Retrieved February 24,

  4. ^"Obituary: George Wallace Melville". The Stevens Indicator. 29: –7.
  5. ^"George Wallace Melville".

    He joined the U. Navy in and served as an engineer during the American Civil War. He was a member of three Arctic expeditions; the Polaris expedition inthe ill-fated Jeannette expedition in and the Lady Franklin Bay expedition in During the Jeannette expedition, in search of the Open Polar SeaJeannette became icebound and was eventually crushed.

    . Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved February 21,

  6. ^Marshall, Andrew R.C. (December 11, ). "Special Report: Icebound - The climate-change secrets of 19th century ship's logbooks".

    He joined the U. Navy in and served as an engineer during the American Civil War. He was a member of three Arctic expeditions; the Polaris expedition inthe ill-fated Jeannette expedition in and the Lady Franklin Bay expedition in During the Jeannette expedition, in search of the Open Polar SeaJeannette became icebound and was eventually crushed.

    . Reuters. Retrieved February 24,

  7. ^Newcomb, Raymond Lee (). Our Lost Explorers: The Narrative of the Jeanette Arctic Expedition. Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company. p.&#; Retrieved February 24,
  8. ^"Our Founder - Rear Admiral George Wallace Melville".

    . Naval Sea Systems Command. Retrieved February 21,

  9. ^Hunter, Cathy.

    MELVILLE (AGOR14) was named in honor of Rear Admiral George W.: George Wallace Melville (January 10, – March 17, ) was a United States Navy officer, engineer and Arctic explorer. He joined the U.S. Navy in and served as an engineer during the American Civil War.

    "George Melville: A Survivor, A Rescuer, A National Geographic Founder". National Geographic Society. Retrieved August 30, [dead link&#;]

  10. ^"George W Melville".

    . webCemeteries. Retrieved January 4,

  11. ^"APS Member History". . Retrieved February 27,
  12. ^"Melville I (Destroyer Tender No. 2) –". . Naval History and Heritage Command.

    Retrieved February 22,

  13. ^"Melville II (AGOR)". . Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved February 22,
  14. ^"Melville". .

    As chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, he headed a time of great expansion, technological progress and change, often in defiance of the conservative element of the Navy hierarchy. He superintended the design of ships and introduced the water-tube boiler, the triple-screw propulsion system, vertical engines, the floating repair ship, and the "distilling ship. About: George W. Melville also established an engineering experiment station proximate the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis.

    Montana Office of Tourism. Retrieved February 22,

  15. ^Arbuthnot, Nancy (October 11, ). Guiding Lights: Monuments and Memorials at the U.S. Naval Academy. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN&#;. Retrieved May 31,

Sources

External links