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Photo # NH 56031: Engraved portrait of Passed Assistant Surgeon James M.M. Ambler, USN

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Passed Assistant Surgeon James M.M. Ambler, USN (1848-1881)

James Markham Marshall Ambler was born in Markham, Virginia, on 30 December 1848. As a youth during the Civil War he served in a Virginia cavalry unit. He studied medicine at the University of Maryland, received a M.D. degree in 1870, and subsquently practiced in Baltimore. Appointed an Assistant Surgeon in the Navy in April 1874, he served initially in the practice ship Mayflower. During the next three years he was assigned to the gunboat Kansas, on the North Atlantic Station, and the frigate Minnesota, stationary training ship at the New York Navy Yard. From 1877 into 1879 Passed Assistant Surgeon Ambler was stationed at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital, near Norfolk, Virginia.

In 1879 Ambler joined the crew of the Arctic exploration steamer Jeannette, which sailed from San Francisco, California, in July 1879 to begin what would become a nearly two-year long expedition into the icepack north of Siberia. His medical skills were critical for maintaining the health of his shipmates during their long entrapment in the ice, and during their arduous journey over the rugged ice and frigid seas after the ship sank in June 1881.

Ambler was a member of expedition commander George W. Delong's boat crew, which landed at the northern end of the desolate Lena River Delta in September 1881. During the following weeks he treated his companions' frostbite and tried to maintain their strength as they slowly starved. Passed Assistant Surgeon Ambler was apparently one of the last three members of the group to succumb to hunger and exposure, sometime shortly after 30 October 1881.

This page features all the views we have related to Passed Assistant Surgeon James M.M. Ambler, USN.


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Photo #: NH 56031

Passed Assistant Surgeon James M.M. Ambler, USN
(1848-1881)

Line engraving published during the later 19th Century.
Dr. Ambler was Surgeon of the steamer Jeannette during her 1879-1881 expedition in the Arctic.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 183KB; 580 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 92107

Passed Assistant Surgeon James M. Ambler, USN


Vignette engraving copied from "The Voyage of the Jeannette ...", Volume I, page 63, edited by Emma DeLong, published in 1884.
Dr. Ambler was USS Jeannette's Surgeon during her 1879-1881 Arctic exploring expedition.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 105KB; 620 x 675 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52007

USS Jeannette
(1879-1881)

Composite photograph of the ship, and the officers of her Arctic expedition. Those shown are (clockwise from top center):
Lieutenant Commander George W. DeLong, USN, Commanding Officer;
Passed Assistant Surgeon James M. Ambler, USN;
Chief Engineer George W. Melville, USN;
Raymond Lee Newcomb, Naturalist and Astronomer;
William Dunbar, Pilot;
Jerome J. Collins, Correspondent for the "New York Herald";
Lieutenant John W. Danenhower, USN, Second Officer; and
Lieutenant Charles W. Chipp, USN, Executive Officer.

Donation of Captain T.S. Wilkinson, USN, 1934.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 131KB; 550 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 92131

Jeannette Arctic exploring expedition, 1879-1881


Plan of the camp set up on the ice after USS Jeannette sank, circa 13 June 1881.
Copied from "The Voyage of the Jeannette ...", Volume II, page 582, edited by Emma DeLong, published in 1884.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 43KB; 740 x 430 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 92152

"Plan of the Last Camp, Showing the Position in which the Bodies were Found."


Plan of the final camp of Lieutenant Commander George DeLong and his men from the Arctic exploration ship Jeannette, in the Lena River Delta, Siberia. All members of the party perished there in October-November 1881. Their bodies were found the following March.
Copied from "The Voyage of the Jeannette ...", Volume II, page 854, edited by Emma DeLong, published in 1884.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 325 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 92153

"Finding the Bodies of Captain De Long and his Companions."


Chief Engineer George Melville discovers the bodies of Lieutenant Commander George DeLong, Passed Assistant Surgeon James M. Ambler and Seaman Ah Sam, in the Lena River Delta, Siberia, on 23 March 1882. The three men had died in October or early November 1881.
Woodcut engraved by George T. Andrew after a design by Captain Gronbeck, copied from "The Voyage of the Jeannette ...", Volume II, page 857, edited by Emma DeLong, published in 1884.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 126KB; 740 x 480 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 12 November 2003
New image added 18 November 2003