Charles Winans Chipp (August 23, 1848 – ) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

officer and explorer.Burnett, Charles E. (1933). ''The Chipp Family in England and America, With Genealogical Tree''. Los Angeles: United Printing Company. pp. 49–59.

Naval career

Born in

Kingston, New York Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with the New York metropolitan area around Manhattan by the United ...

, Chipp was educated at the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

and Annapolis, Maryland. After graduating in 1868, Chipp served in the steam frigate , flagship of the

European Squadron The European Squadron, also known as the European Station, was a part of the United States Navy in the late 19th century and the early 1900s. The squadron was originally named the Mediterranean Squadron and renamed following the American Civil Wa ...

. In 1871, he participated in the U.S.

Korean expedition The United States expedition to Korea, known in Korea as the ''Shinmiyangyo'' () or simply the Korean Expedition, was the first American military action in Korea and took place predominantly on and around Ganghwa Island in 1871. The reason fo ...

. In 1873 he served in when that ship was ordered to the coast of

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

to search for the Arctic steamer . Also serving aboard ''Juniata'' was lieutenant

George W. De Long George Washington De Long (22 August 1844 – ) was a United States Navy officer and explorer who led the ill-fated ''Jeannette'' expedition of 1879–1881, in search of the Open Polar Sea. Career ''Jeannette'' expedition In 1879, ...

, who would later be Chipp's commanding officer. After service in several other ships, Chipp was ordered to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

to serve as executive officerLieutenant Charles W. Chipp
at Naval Historical Center of , with De Long commanding. ''Jeannette'' was fitting out for her mission, which would be to attempt to sail to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

via the Bering Strait.

''Jeannette'' expedition

On July 8, 1879, the stood out to sea through the

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by t ...

on her voyage of exploration. At that time, De Long wrote to his wife, "Chipp is, as he always was and always will be, calm and earnest. He has always something to do, and is always doing it in that quiet, steady and sure manner of his. He smiles rarely and says very little, but I know where he is and how reliable and true he is in every respect." ''Jeannette'' reached St. Lawrence Bay,

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

, August 27, 1879, then headed north into the Chukchi Sea. She became trapped in the

pack ice Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "fasten ...

near

Wrangel Island Wrangel Island ( rus, О́стров Вра́нгеля, r=Ostrov Vrangelya, p=ˈostrəf ˈvrangʲɪlʲə; ckt, Умӄиԓир, translit=Umqiḷir) is an island of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is the 91st largest island in the w ...

and in June 1881 was crushed and sank. After the ship's crew trudged across the rugged ice to open water, they set out in three small boats toward the Siberian mainland. The boats were commanded by De Long, Chipp, and the chief engineer,

George W. Melville George Wallace Melville (January 10, 1841 – March 17, 1912) was an American engineer, Arctic explorer, and author. As chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, he headed a time of great expansion, technological progress and change, ofte ...

. On September 12, 1881, the three boats were separated in a storm. Lieutenant Chipp's boat, with Chipp and seven other men aboard, was never seen again and no trace of it was ever found. The date of separation is the assumed date of Chipp's death.

Legacy

The Chipp River in northern Alaska, as well as Chipp Peak on

Kupreanof Island Kupreanof Island (russian: Остров Купреянова) is an island in the Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska. The island is long and wide with a total land area is , making it the 13th largest island in the United States and t ...

are named in his honor.''Geographic Dictionary of Alaska'', by Marcus Baker, in ''USGS Bulletin No. 299'', U. S. Government Printing Office, 1906, p. 179.

Bibliography

* De Long, E. J. (ed.) (1893). ''The Voyage of the Jeannette''. Comprising the journals of George W. De Long. * Danenhower, J. W. (1882). ''The Narrative of the Jeannette'' * Guttridge, L. F. (1986). ''Icebound: The Jeannette Expedition's Quest for the North Pole''. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. . * Melville, G. W. (1885). ''In the Lena Delta'' * Robinson, M. (2006). ''The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chipp, Charles Winans 1848 births 1880s missing person cases 1881 deaths American explorers Explorers of the Arctic Jeannette expedition Lost explorers People lost at sea Shipwreck survivors United States Naval Academy alumni United States Navy officers

Naval career

''Jeannette'' expedition

Legacy

See also

Bibliography

References