Part of the Crew, U.S.S. Bear in 1898. Relive [sic] Expedition on the Ice, at Point Barrow.

[The Arctic, 1898.]. Silver gelatin photograph, 19.5 x 26 cm, mounted on gray paperboard. Inscribed at bottom-right corner, “copy by H. Blair.” Early inscription on verso partially trimmed away with the words “Point Barrow” the only portion remaining intact; label affixed to verso inscribed, “This is original photo.”.

A rare photo of ten members of a relief expedition for 275 stranded whalers, commanded by African-American Capt. “Hell Roaring” Mike Healy.

This photograph shows ten members of the crew of the USS Bear at Point Barrow in 1898, wearing fur jackets and mukluks and posing with harpoons. One man sits smoking a pipe. The Bear was dispatched in November 1897 to bring food and supplies to 275 starving whalers whose ships had become trapped in the arctic ice near Point Barrow, Alaska. Unable to proceed past Cape Vancouver, the Bear sent a small group of men on a 1,500 mile overland journey to rescue the stranded men by delivering a herd of 400 deer. The Bear eventually reached Point Barrow in the summer of 1898. Leaders of the expedition, David H. Jarvis, Ellsworth P. Bertholf and surgeon Samuel J. Call, received Congressional Gold Medals for their heroic actions.

During this time, the Bear was commanded by noted Capt. “Hell Roaring” Mike Healy (1839–1904)—the first man of African-American descent to command a ship of the U.S. government, who was celebrated during his life for his humanitarian efforts to rescue crews in peril in the Arctic. The USS Bear had been purchased by the U.S. Navy in 1884 for the Greely Arctic rescue mission; the vessel would serve in Alaska for over forty years.

REFERENCES: USRC Bear at naval-history.net

CONDITION: Good, strong tonality, light foxing, light bumping at corners of paperboard.