Post by Administrator on Jun 19, 2017 20:28:33 GMT
The story of Gordon Bennett's attempt to reach the North Pole in a tiny ship, built in a Welsh dockyard, is one of great courage and endurance. The exclamation of surprise "Gordon Bennett" is named after him.
The 19th and early 20th centuries were a time of exploration and discovery, pushing back the restrictions of the known world. Exploration ships such as Discovery and Terra Nova are well known, but there were many, such as The Pandora, which was launched from Pembroke Dockyard in 1861 and was used for a series of voyages to the Arctic in 1875 and 1876, Then in 1877 she was sold to the rich and eccentric New York newspaper magnate Gordon Bennett. Who renamed her Jeanette and sent her on a trip to the North Pole through the Baring Strait, under the command of Lt Commander George De Long in 1879. Disaster struck when she became caught in the ice and For 18 months drifted northwards closer and closer to the pole. During this time however they discovered and claimed the new islands of Jeanette, Henrietta and Bennett for the United States.
On the morning of 13 June 1881, pressure of the ice began to crush the ship's hull, which split and the ship disappeared under the ice. De Long and his men had to trek over the ice to the Siberian coast, pulling their supplies in the long boats they had rescued, behind them. It was a hard and brutal journey but, just as they thought they had reached open water. they ran into a storm and one of the boats capsized and eight crewmen were drowned. The other two boats were separated in the gale. In De Long's boat, sick in body and despairing in their hearts, the men died one after the other, De Long amongst them. Only two of the sailors managed to eventually reach safety. In the other boat, eleven men survived the elements to make it home.