The ''Jenny'' was an alleged English

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

and the subject of an unproven

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

. The story goes that the ''Jenny'' became frozen in an ice-barrier of the

Drake Passage The Drake Passage (referred to as Mar de Hoces Hoces Sea"in Spanish-speaking countries) is the body of water between South America's Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atla ...

in 1823, only to be rediscovered in 1840 by a whaling ship, the bodies aboard being preserved by the

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

cold. The original report has been deemed "unsubstantiated". The earliest known source for the story appears to be an article in the

Wiener Zeitung ''Wiener Zeitung'' is an Austrian newspaper. It is one of the oldest, still published newspapers in the world. It is the official publication used by the Government of the Republic of Austria for legally-required announcements, such as company r ...

published on 19 February 1841. In the following weeks, the same text was printed in at least seven other newspapers. On the occasion of the McClintock Arctic expedition, the story of the schooner Jenny was remembered again, e. g. within an anonymous article in an 1862 edition of Globus, a popular German geographical magazine.

Account

The supposed account describes how the ship left its home port on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

in 1822. (Translated from Globus, Bd 1, 1862, pp. 60 –61) The ship was discovered frozen in ice in the Drake Passage by a Captain Brighton of the

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

''Hope'' in September 1840. The log had been entered until 17 January 1823. The last port of call had been

Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists o ...

, near

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. Brighton took the logbook with him in order to return it to the shipowners.

Influence

The ''Jenny'' is commemorated by the

Jenny Buttress Jenny Buttress () is a rock buttress north of Melville Peak, overlooking Destruction Bay on the east side of King George Island, in the South Shetland Islands. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1960 for the alleged sailing ...

, a feature on King George Island near Melville Peak, named by the

UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) and ...

in 1960. Australian poet Rosemary Dobson wrote about the story in her poem "The Ship of Ice" published in her book ''The Ship of Ice with other poems'' in 1948, which won the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' award for poetry that year. Dobson's poem places the discovery of the ''Jenny'' in 1860, adding 20 years to the period of entrapment. The poem speaks of her as a "ship caught in a bottle / .../ Becalmed in Time and sealed with a cork of ice". According to Dobson, her source was the anonymous report ''The Drift of the Jenny, 1823–1840''.

References

External links

Globus illustrierte Zeitschrift für Länder- und Völkerkunde · Volume 1, pp. 60–61, A ship in the ice of the southern Arctic Ocean Fraktur
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Jenny'' (schooner) 19th-century hoaxes Legendary ghost ships

Account

Influence

References

Further reading

External links