Danenhower, John W.
John Wilson Danenhower was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 30 September 1849. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1866 and graduated in June 1870. During th next eight years he served in the steam sloops Plymouth and Juniata in the European Fleet, the sailing sloop Portsmouth on surveying duty in the Pacific, and in the steam sloop Vandalia in north Atlantic and European waters.
He became an officer of the Arctic exploration steamer Jeannette while still in Europe and helped sail her to San Francisco, California, where she was refitted for an expedition to penetrate the icepack north of Siberia. Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in August 1879, soon after Jeannette sailed for the Arctic, Danenhower was disabled by chronic eye disease late in that year. Though treatment by the expedition's surgeon, James M. Ambler, prevented the total loss of his vision, he was unable to carry out many of his duties during the ship's long stay in the ice and her crew's subsequent journey across the ice after Jeannette sank. When his boat was engulfed in a severe storm in September 1881, Lieutenant Danenhower's seamanship saved the boat and its occupants. After they landed on the Siberian coast, he was placed in charge of some of the expedition survivors when they were sent to the town of Yakutsk.
Lieutenant Danenhower returned to the United States in May 1882, subsequently writing and lecturing on the subject of Arctic exploration. He was assigned to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1884, with his duties there including service in the training ship Constellation. On 20 April 1887, soon after that ship had run aground while in his charge, Lieutenant John W. Danehower died by his own hand.
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