United States Naval Officer, Explorer. An 1865 graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. In 1879 he commanded an expedition on board the gunboat "USS Jeanette" designed to discover a faster way to traverse the North Pole by going through the Bering Strait. During the summer of 1881 the ship was wrecked and sunk by Arctic ice, and Lieutenant Commander De Long and most of his men perished from starvation after abandoning ship. A year after they died the bodies of George W. De Long and his men were found, and he was eventually interred in Woodlawn Cemetery with five of his crew. Two United States Navy Destroyers were named in his honor - the World War I-era "Wickes"-class DD-129, and the World War II-era "Rudderow"-class destroyer escort DD-684.
United States Naval Officer, Explorer. An 1865 graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. In 1879 he commanded an expedition on board the gunboat "USS Jeanette" designed to discover a faster way to traverse the North Pole by going through the Bering Strait. During the summer of 1881 the ship was wrecked and sunk by Arctic ice, and Lieutenant Commander De Long and most of his men perished from starvation after abandoning ship. A year after they died the bodies of George W. De Long and his men were found, and he was eventually interred in Woodlawn Cemetery with five of his crew. Two United States Navy Destroyers were named in his honor - the World War I-era "Wickes"-class DD-129, and the World War II-era "Rudderow"-class destroyer escort DD-684.
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