Summary

It had been 51 days since the crews on the three boats were separated during the gale. The men were overjoyed to see Melville – they had already mourned his passing. Melville had his own tale of survival to tell. On September 12th the eleven men in Melville’s boat had pulled away from De Long’s slower boat. Melville and his crew thought they were the only survivors. They had to fight the punishing sea swells and furious wind, bailing seawater throughout the night. There was no land in sight and they had no compasses. Melville’s boat took a different route than De Long had taken. He found an open channel into the river. He and his crew were on the river for days, suffering from ill health, exhaustion and different stages of frostbite. What kept them...