in the particular indicated would not afford the best
remedy for what is often a grave embarrassment both to members of
Congress and to the Executive, and is sometimes a serious public
mischief.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy states the movements of the
various squadrons during the year, in home and foreign waters, where our
officers and seamen, with such ships as we possess, have continued to
illustrate the high character and excellent discipline of the naval
organization.

On the 21st of December, 1881, information was received that the
exploring steamer _Jeannette_ had been crushed and abandoned in
the Arctic Ocean. The officers and crew, after a journey over the ice,
embarked in three boats for the coast of Siberia. One of the parties,
under the command of Chief Engineer George W. Melville, reached the
land, and, falling in with the natives, was saved. Another, under
Lieutenant-Commander De Long, landed in a barren region near the mouth
of the Lena River. After six weeks had elapsed all but two of the number
had died from fatigue and starvation. No tidings have been received from
the party in the third boat, under the command of Lieutenant Chipp, but
a long and fruitless investigation leaves little doubt that all its
members perished at sea. As a slight tribute to their heroism I give
in this communication the names of the gallant men who sacrificed their
lives on this expedition: Lieutenant-Commander George W. De Long,
Surgeon James M. Ambler, Jerome J. Collins, Hans Halmer Erichsen,
Heinrich H. Kaacke, George W. Boyd, Walter Lee, Adolph Dressier,
Carl A. Goertz, Nelse Iverson, the cook Ah Sam, and the Indian Alexy.
The officers and men in the missing boat were Lieutenant Charles W.
Chipp, commanding; William Dunbar, Alfred Sweetman, Walter Sharvell,
Albert C. Kuehne, Edward Star, Henry D. Warren, and Peter E. Johnson.

Lieutenant Giles B. Harber and Master William H. Scheutze are now,
bringing home the remains of Lieutenant De Long and his comrades, in
pursuance of the directions of Congress.

The _Rodgers_, fitted out for the relief of the _Jeannette_ in
accordance with the act of Congress of March 3, 1881, sailed from San
Francisco June 16 under the command of Lieutenant Robert M. Berry. On
November 30 she was accidentally destroyed by fire while in winter
quarters in St. Lawrence Bay, but the officers and crew succeeded in
escaping to the shore. Lieutenant Berry and one of his officers, after
mak