The USS Jeannette was a naval vessel built in 1878 as a sealer named Pandora. Constructed in Dundee, Scotland, the Pandora was a three-masted wooden-hulled ship measuring 125 feet in length and displacing 332 tons. Initially used for sealing expeditions in the Arctic, the ship was purchased by James Gordon Bennett Jr. in 1879 for an ambitious Arctic exploration mission. Under the command of Lieutenant George W. De Long, the Pandora was renamed the USS Jeannette and refitted for polar exploration. In 1879, the ship set sail on an ill-fated expedition to reach the North Pole via the Bering Strait. Trapped in ice for nearly two years, the Jeannette was crushed and sank in the Arctic Ocean in June 1881. Despite the tragic end of the expedition, the USS Jeannette became significant in maritime history for its pioneering attempt to reach the North Pole and for the detailed records kept by crew members during their ordeal. The crew's survival and subsequent efforts to reach civilization across the ice make the Jeannette expedition a remarkable story of endurance and exploration in the unforgiving Arctic environment. The Pandora's legacy lives on through the accounts of the Jeannette expedition, which continue to inspire exploration and research in the Arctic. The ship's wreckage was discovered in 2015 on the floor of the Arctic Ocean, a poignant reminder of the perils faced by early polar explorers and the enduring spirit of discovery that drove them to push the boundaries of human knowledge and endurance.

This description has been generated using GPT-3.5-TURBO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.