The American naval officer and polar adventurer George Wallace Melville (1841-1912) is known for his Arctic explorations and his mechanical and engineering talents.

George Melville was born in New York City on Jan. 10, 1841. He graduated from the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute and entered engineering work, but in 1861 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served throughout the Civil War. Remaining in the service after the war, Melville exhibited more than ordinary talent, devotion, and ambition. He volunteered in 1873 as chief engineer of the Tigress during its Arctic search for the missing Polaris and its crew.

In 1879 Melville was chief engineer aboard the Jeannette, commanded by Lt. George W. De Long, on its famous but disastrous polar voyage. Reaching the Arctic Ocean by way of Bering Strait, De Long attempted to make a deep penetration of the polar sea; instead his vessel was almost immediately enveloped by...