Discussion Questions
(The following questions were submitted by Conrad Beattie and developed for the Men's Reading Group of Douglasville, Georgia. Many thanks, Conrad.)
1. What conditions in America and Europe had developed to set the stage for the “heroic age of exploration”? Is this the typical flow of history?
2. Had the British found the elusive Northwest Passage with their numerous Arctic expeditions, how might that have impacted the economies of America and Europe?
3. What was the allure of the Arctic to men like DeLong?
4. Aboard the Little Juanita, while searching for the Polaris crew, DeLong wrote that he felt a responsibility for his crew that “I do not desire to have again.” What caused him to change his mind?
5. How would you describe the character of James Gordon Bennett? Which of his antics seems the most bizarre?
6. What, do you think, was foremost in Bennett’s mind when he decided to underwrite the expedition?
7. In spite of the previous experience of all Arctic adventurers who had been thwarted by the ice and of the skepticism of men like Sir Clements R. Markham, the secretary of the Royal Geographical Society who scoffed at the idea of the Open Polar Sea and called it a “mischievous” idea whose arguments in favor of it were “all so obviously fabulous that it is astonishing how any sane man could be found to give credit to them”, the notion of the Open Polar Sea was a collective obsession. Why do you think that was the case?
8. Silas Bent (who had conducted extensive hydrographic surveys in the Pacific for the U.S. Navy) based many of his assumptions about the Kuro Siwo current in the Pacific Ocean on the work of Matthew Maury of the U.S. Naval Observatory who was a well-respected oceanographer, astronomer and meteorologist. Maury, in turn, based much of his belief in the Open Polar Sea on anecdotal evidence. What can be learned about the process of investigation and discovery from the experience of these two men?
9. Ancient legends of the Vikings spoke of Ultima Thule in the far north and the Greeks of Hyperboria. How much and in what way do you think these ancient legends affected the thinking of the proponents of the Open Polar Sea?
10. August Petermann, the eccentric German mapmaker, held stubbornly to his opinions in the face of contrary evidence provided by men who had actually been to the Arctic. In what way did his opinions and ideas negatively affect Arctic exploration?
11. As DeLong selected his crew for the Jeannette, did you have any misgivings about any particular crew members? If so, what and why?
12. Shortly before the Jeannette’s departure for the Bering Straits, the U.S. Coast Guard and Geodetic Survey schooner made its way out of the Arctic with findings that refuted the previously held assumptions regarding the Kuro Siwo current. Why do you suppose that raw data wasn’t shared with DeLong, knowing that he was about to embark for the Arctic? Note—the final report wasn’t issued until four years later!
13. Once entrapped in the ice they soon found that Bell’s telephones and Edison’s arc lights didn’t work and the chemicals for developing photographs hadn’t made it aboard the ship. The blame for all of this seemed to fall on Collins, the Jeannette’s scientist. How do you think that affected his disposition towards DeLong?
14. There seems to have been a sense of relief among the crew when the ship’s hull was finally breached by ice and it sank, casting them onto the ice. How would one account for such optimism in the face of disaster?
15. The rescue ship Corwin landed on St. Lawrence Island and discovered frightful conditions among the surviving populace of the Yupiks. Several explanations are given for the conditions they found on the island. Do you think the fault lay predominantly with the white man’s incursion into their world and if so, why? What can be learned from that episode?
16. As DeLong and his party made their way across the ice he gives fascinating insights into the nature of the ice itself. How did his insights differ from your own perceptions of the ice?
17. Once the party finally reached open waters, it became clear that the three boats differed significantly in their ocean going abilities. Was that an oversight on DeLong’s part when equipping the Jeannette for her journey? If so, what might he have done differently?
18. Once the crews of the boats (that survived the crossing) made it to the Siberian mainland progress seemed to slow almost to a standstill. What, in your opinion, was the most frustrating part of that section of the narrative?
19. It seemed, time and again, that Providence was on their side at the worst possible moments of their journey and that they were bound to make it to safety, yet DeLong and his boat crew ultimately perished. How do you reconcile that?
20. What, ultimately, was the legacy of the Jeannette? Did their ordeal and sacrifice contribute much to the understanding of the Arctic or was it a fool’s errand?
(Questions courtesy of Conrad Beattie. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)