ships, among them the experimental cruiser , gunboat , steam sloop and Asiatic Squadron flagship . For the remainder of his life, Melville belonged to the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, serving as national commander-in-chief of the Loyal Legion from 1911 to 1912. In 1867, Melville married Henrietta Beatty Waldron of Buffalo. The couple had three children. Arctic exploration In 1873, he volunteered for duty as chief engineer of for her rescue in Baffin Bay of 19 survivors of the Polaris expedition to the Arctic. In the summer of 1879, he volunteered for the Jeanette expedition under Lieutenant Commander George W. De Long and left San Francisco aboard on August 7, 1879, to try to find a way to the North Pole via the Bering Strait. Jeannette became icebound in the Chukchi Sea off of Herald Island. After two years of effort to save her, Jeanette was crushed by the ice and sank June 12, 1881 – leaving the crew stranded on the ice floes in mid-ocean in three small boats and with scant provisions. Melville was the only boat commander to find safety in the Lena Delta in Siberia. He and his boatmates were rescued by Tungusic hunters. Four months later, he mustered a rescue team in search of De Long and his men only to find them dead. However, he was able to recover and bring back the ships' logbooks which contained the records of the expedition. The logbooks are currently maintained at the U.S. National Archives. The third boat, under the command of Charles W. Chipp, was never found and Chipp and seven other men were presumed dead. The United States Congress rewarded Melville for his gallantry and resourcefulness by advancing him 15 numbers on the promotion list and awarded him the gold Jeannette Medal. He published his experiences and hardships of the expedition in his book, In the Lena Delta, published in 1884. Melville was promoted to the rank of chief engineer during his time in Jeannette and returned to the Arctic in in 1884, for the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition in search of the survivors of an Arctic expedition commanded by Army Lieutenant Adolphus Greely. Steam engineering He obtained the rank of chief engineer in 1881. He served as Inspector of Coal in 1884–1886, then performed his final seagoing duty in the new cruiser . President Grover Cleveland appointed Melville