Lieutenant George Washington DeLong was an American explorer whose disastrous arctic expedition gave evidence of a continuous ocean current across the Polar Regions. In July of 1879 he set sail from San Francisco taking the Jeanette through the Bering Strait and heading for an island off the northeast coast of Siberia. However, on September 5th, the ship became trapped in the ice. With crewman George Melville's engineering skill, the boat was kept afloat for almost two years until it was finally crushed on June 12, 1881.

The crew, including DeLong, escaped with most of their provisions and three small boats. Their destination, the Siberian coast, lay some 600 miles away. They endured extreme hardships for the next two months as they crossed the ice. After reaching open water, one of the boats and the men aboard were lost. The remaining two boats became separated. DeLong's boat reached the eastern side of the Lena River delta, Melville's reached the western side. Although Melville's party was rescued, DeLong and his men died of exposure and starvation.

Subsequently Melville led an expedition that found the remains of DeLong and his party the following Spring. DeLong's journal, in which he made regular entries until shortly before his death, was found, published and is included in this book along with an account of the Jeanette search expeditions and their discoveries, over 100 illustrations, maps and charts.