History
Jeannette Island, Henrietta Island, and Bennett Island were discovered in 1881 by the ill-fated Jeannette expedition, commanded by Lieutenant Commander George W. DeLong, USN. De Long claimed these islands for the U.S. The United States Department of State has asserted that claim has never been made by the United States to any of the islands, and the US recognizes it as Russian territory. though the United States Department of the Navy has asserted that Henrietta Island had been possessed. During 1916 the Russian ambassador in London issued an official notice to the effect that the Imperial government considered these islands were integral parts of the Russian Empire. This territorial claim was later maintained by the Soviet Union. A resolution of the Alaska State Senate in 1988 supported an American claim to the islands, but during 1994 the Alaska State Supreme Court ruled in D. Denardo v. State of Alaska that Bennett Island, along with several islands, is not part of Alaska.
In August 1901 Russian Arctic ship Zarya headed across the Laptev Sea, searching for the legendary Sannikov Land (Zemlya Sannikova) but was soon blocked by floating pack ice in the New Siberian Islands. During 1902 the attempts to reach Sannikov Land, deemed to be beyond the De Long Islands, continued while Zarya was trapped in fast ice. Leaving the ship, Russian Arctic explorer Baron Eduard Toll and three companions vanished forever in November 1902 in the while travelling away from Bennett Island towards the south on loose ice floes.
Vilkitsky Island (East Siberian Sea) and Zhokhov Island were discovered by Boris Vilkitsky during the Imperial Russian Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition he led in 1913 and 1914 respectively. They lie slightly further south (around 76°N), are unglaciated, and lower lying.
Henrietta was the site of a research station from 1937 to 1963.
Read more about this topic: De Long Islands
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