For one year and nine months the _Jeannette_ floated in the pack, at the mercy of wind and tide. The coldest weather came in February, when the thermometer registered 58° below zero. In spite of the windings and turnings of their course, the general direction was toward the northwest. De Long trusted to the strength of his ship to withstand the pressure of the ice, and float across the pole out into the Atlantic ocean. At length, on May 17, 1881, land was sighted. It proved to be an island not indicated on the chart of that region. De Long therefore claimed it as a discovery, and named it Jeannette island. Another island was discovered not far away, and called Henrietta. A sledge party under Melville was sent out from the ship to explore this island. The ice over which they traveled consisted of large blocks that floated rapidly and were constantly changing their position. Sometimes the men were obliged to jump into the water and swim from one block to another. The dogs were almost useless; they refused to jump, and tried to run away. The men pushed them into the water, and then they had to swim for their lives. This seems cruel treatment, but Arctic exploration means severe suffering for all who engage in it, and the help of the dogs was absolutely necessary. Henrietta island was rocky and ice-capped, not in itself a very valuable possession for the United States of America; yet the Stars and Stripes were set up there, and a square copper case, containing copies of the _New York Herald_ and a record of the voyage, was placed in a cairn. Then the sledge party returned to the ship. The _Jeannette_ was in dire distress, for the ice around her, now rapidly breaking up, was by turns receding and closing in. Every time it closed in, it pressed against her sides with tremendous force, so that her timbers fairly creaked. But brave Captain De Long would not leave his ship until he was quite certain that she was going to sink, and her hold was full of water before he gave orders to abandon her. Then the crew had to work with desperate haste to transfer provisions, tents, and boats to a safe place on the ice. At four o’clock in the morning of June 13, the _Jeannette_ sank to the bottom of the Arctic ocean. The ice closed over the place where the little vessel had endured such terrific grinding for twenty-one months, and only a cabin chair and a few pieces of wood remained to mark the spot. Imagine the condition of the men left on the ice so many miles from land. But they worked with calm courage to arrange their provisions and all the articles which were needful for camping on the sledges, and four days after the _Jeannette_ had sunk, the retreat across the ice began.