Melville George Wallace 
(10.01.1841–17.03.1912)

American Arctic explorer, mechanical engineer, rear admiral. 
Coming from a Scottish family that has left its mark on history. His grandfather, James Melville, emigrated to the United States in 1804. 
In 1861  Melville joined the engineering corps of the US Navy, took an active part in the Civil War, in particular in capturing the Florida Confederate cruiser. 
He was distinguished by the highest professionalism, keen intelligence, invention and ingenuity, which were indispensable in his naval engineering service. One of the spheres of his professional activity was the design of engines for the newest US warships. 
Melville has also entered the history of Arctic research forever. His first Arctic service took place as an engineer on the Tigris expedition sent to rescue the surviving members of Charles Hall’s team on the Polaris. 
In 1879  Melville joined the tragic ending expedition of J. De Long on the "Jeannette". He played a prominent role in her fate, becoming a model of endurance, courage, patience and dedication to the cause and his comrades. These qualities manifested themselves in the period of drift, at the very beginning of which, after the strongest compression, the vessel got leaked, and the struggle for its vitality was headed by Melville, and during the painful and tragic journey to the south after the death of the vessel, and in organizing searches for the missing members of the expedition. Fate spared him: of the three teams the team survived only led by Melville. Immediately after his happy rescue, he went in search of his comrades, finding the landing site of the De Long group. In the spring of the next, in 1882  Melville's search party discovered their remains, belongings, and De Long's diary, thanks to which we know the details of their painful and heroic death. The third group, led by Lieutenant Chip, went missing. The United States Congress awarded Melville for bravery and resourcefulness with an increase in rank of 15 ranks at once and the Congressional Gold Medal. In 1884, Melville published the book In the Lena Delta, in which he described De Long’s doomed expedition. 
In 1884  Melville participated in an expedition to rescue the remnants of the party of A. Greeley. 
In subsequent years, he also did not lose interest in Arctic research. In particular, he developed a methodology for studying currents in the Arctic Ocean using special drifting buoy stations.

The last ship on which Melville served was the new cruiser "Atlanta".

On August 9, 1887  President Grover Cleveland appointed Melville as head of the Steam Bureau with the appropriate rank of Commodore. In this post  he spent more than fifteen years working on propulsion systems for the fleet. Melville oversaw the design of 120 ships, promoting a variety of innovations, such as water tube boilers, engines with vertical cylinders, etc.

On March 3, 1899  he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral, and on December 6, 1900  he was appointed head of the fleet's engineering troops.

Externally, Melville attracted attention with its massive head and powerful figure. Lush hair and beard have given him a patriarchal look in recent years. According to contemporaries, he somehow resembled Lord Salisbury.

He died in Philadelphia. He was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. 
Cape on the island of Tyrtov in the Nordenskjold archipelago. Named in 1939 by A.I. Kosoy.

Cape in the northeast of the island of Henrietta.