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Death of Rear Ad mital Melville { The Passing of a Distinguished Engineer and an Intrepid Explorer~-A Man of Many Parts and Many Achievements eS EAR Admiral George Wallace Mel- R ville, one of the most distinguished of American engineers, died at his home in Philadelphia on March 17 from paralysis. He was born in New York City on jan, 10, 154), and was descended from a distinguished Scotch family. He frequently expressed his request »that he should have been "the smallest physically. of six' brothers. They were all somewhat over "6 ft., while he, though a man of large frame, was a shade under 6 feet. He was educated "at the Brooklyn Poly- technic Institute and later entered as an ap- prentice in the. engi- neering works of James Burns in Brooklyn, where he received his practical training. He entered the navy at the outbreak of the civil war as third assistant engineer,. serving on board the Michigan and "Dakota and other ves- sels, taking part in sev- eral engagements, in- cluding the capture of Norfolk. Evidence of his fundamental courage was given in 1864 on board the "Wachusett, which was lying in the (pore oO: GAlia, brazt., near the' confederate ship Florida. aC a council it was proposed that the Wachusett should ram the Florida, but objection was made to it on the ground that the sheck would loosen the boilers, break the steam pipes and scald everyone below. Melville met the ob- jection by volunteering to stay below alone and take his chance. The Florida was captured, not, however, by being rammed, as owing to a cable jamming an ineffective blow -was_ struck and Melville was put on board of her as chief engineer. It was in the Jeanette arctic expedi- tion that Melville became an_ interna- 'tional figure. This expedition was 'equipped for the government with funds supplied by the New Vork Herald. \ The expedition was commanded by Lieut. DeLong, with Melville as chief engineer. On this expedition he proved himself a man of infinite resource. The Jeanette was not well suited for arctic REAR ADMIRAL GEORGE WALLACE. MELVILLE Melville's time Spcnl th all sorts "of mechanical appliances. For instancé, she sprang a 'bad féak in" the™ ice 'pack and exploration work and was inventing as the conserving of the coal supply Was an important item he succeeded in rigging up a pump and wind mill of As is well known Jédtrette after "pass- straits was caught in the ice pack, where she was held for nearly two years, drifting meanwhile 500 to' the northwest. "On June 11, 1881, she' sank, the' crew meanwhile putting over the small boats, which they were forced to pull over. the ice until his own contrivance. in arctic history the ing through Bering miles they came to open water. At the' point where the Jeanette sank they were near- ly 500 miles from the Siberian coast. 'When the party finally reached open DeLong distributed the crew among the small boats. He took command of one. Lieut. © Chipp. "of another, and Melville of the third. Chipp's: boat foundered in a. storm and DeLong's and Mel- ville's boats were sep- Melville water, arated. was the first to reach land, finding succor among the Yakut Eskimos, but 30 badly were his feet "frozen by this time that it was 15 days before he could stand upon them. However, as soon as he could reach a Russian outpost, he col- lected supplies to. en- able chim? to:,.g0.:.1n s@a re hs,bi..DeLong. In his retreat from the Jeanette he had already traversed over 2,000 miles, but without hes- itation he began again a osjOunmey :04;;-11,100 miles into the frozen wilderness alone in search of his com- mander. This exploit is without a parallel in arctic exploration. He lost the trail and was compelled to return only to resume it later with better equipment. He finally discovered the corpses of DeLong mod fits party and buried them. They were later dis- interred and taken to Annapolis, where the timber cross, which Melville put over their remains, has been reproduced in granite. Melville's experience' upon this ex- pedition led to his appointment as chief engineer of the Thetis, with Com- mander Schley (later rear admiral) in charge, which was sent to the relief of the Greely expedition. The remnant of this ill-starred expedition was found near Cape Sabine in Ellesmere land and for his services congress advanced Melville 15 numbers in rank. He was shortly thereafter detached as engineer-