Jeannette Medal

Jeannette Medal
Silver version
Awarded by the Secretary of the Navy
in the Name of the 51st United States Congress
Type Commemorative medal
Eligibility Officers and men of the Jeannette Expedition
Awarded for Perils encountered
Status One Time Award
Statistics
Established September 30, 1890
Total awarded 8 gold, 25 silver
Posthumous
awards		 16
Precedence
Next (higher) unknown
Next (lower) unknown

The Jeannette Medal is a Congressional Gold Medal awarded in 1890 to officers and crew of the Jeannette Expedition. Eight gold and 25 silver medals were struck, resulting in all 33 members of the crew receiving a Jeannette Medal. Twenty of the crew died during the expedition.

The statute awarding the medal (51st Congress, 26 Stat. 552) promoted Chief Engineer George W. Melville one grade in rank and read:[1]

That suitable medals be struck at the United States Mint in commemoration of the perils encountered by the officers and men of the said Jeannette Arctic Expedition, and as an expression of the high esteem in which the Congress holds their services in the said expedition; and that one of the said medals be presented to each of the survivors of said expedition, and one to the heirs of each of the deceased members.

Recipients

Eight gold and 25 silver medals were struck, in decoration form (unusual for a Congressional Gold Medal, which are normally presented as a non-portable table medal) and distributed as follows (those reported deceased in italics):[2]

Gold
  • Engineer-in-Chief Melville
  • Naturalist Raymond L. Newcomb
  • wife of Lt. Cdr. Long
  • father of Lt. Chipp
  • wife of Lt. Danenhower
  • brother of ship's surgeon James Ambler
  • administrator of the estate of ice pilot Dunbar
  • Jerome J. Collins Scientific Officer and Meteorologist, awarded posthumously to his brother Dr. Daniel F. Collins of Minnesota.
Silver
  • James H. Bartlett
  • George W. Boyd
  • John Cole
  • Adolph Dressler
  • H.H. Erickson
  • C.A. Gortz
  • Nelse Iverson
  • P.E. Jackson
  • H.H. Kaack
  • A.G. Kuehne
  • John Lauterbach
  • H.W. Leach
  • Walter Lee
  • F.E. Marsen
  • W.F.C. Ninderman
  • Louis P. Noros
  • Ah Sam
  • Charles Tong Sing
  • Edward Star
  • Alfred Sweetman
  • H.D. Warren
  • Henry Wilson
  • Alexy (no first name provided)
  • Aninguin (no first name provided)
  • Shawell (no first name provided)

It is unclear what precedence the medal took on a military uniform, though an undated photograph shows Melville wearing it in the senior position.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "CHAP. 1128.-An act in recognition of the merits and services of Chief Engineer George Wallace Melville, United States Navy, and of the other officers and men of the Jeannette Arctic Expedition" (PDF). United States Congress. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  2. ↑ "Medals for the Jeannette Expediton". The Army and Navy Journal. 30 (8): 117. October 15, 1892. Archived from the original on September 9, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Undated photograph of George W. Melville by Matthew Brady". www.museumsyndicate.com. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
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