Summary

A year later, in December 1881, the same Christmas feast and New Year’s minstrel show was repeated with the addition of one of the men putting on a performance as a drag queen. Nothing had changed. The ship was stuck in ice. There had been a small window of opportunity in August when it seemed the ice was giving a bit but it wasn’t enough to move the ship.

The ice shifted but it only seemed to move them in a circle which frustrated De Long. He tried to present a positive attitude and on New Year’s Eve 1880, he attempted to inspire his crew with hope. The men greeted his short speech with cheers.

Through the Spring of 1881, the Jeannette continued to drift in a northwesterly direction. There were signs of cracks and fissures in the...