In the 1500s, cartographer Robert Thorne floated the idea that the North Pole wasn’t covered with ice, but merely was protected by a ring of ice around it. In the 19th century, August Petermann resurrected the idea, and thought that ring might have channels through it, so that sailing ships could cross the North Pole and make intercontinental travel shorter. By then, some explorers claimed they had actually seen the North Pole ocean. But two expeditions, in 1869 and 1872, failed to get through the ice.
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An American expedition wanted to try reaching the pole through the Bering Strait, and in 1879, the Jeannette sailed out of San Francisco. But upon reaching the Arctic, the ship became encased in ice -for two years. The crew abandoned ship in June of 1881 when the Jeannette fell apart. They carried three boats to the edge of the ice and then tried to reach Siberia. Two boats made it to land, but only one crew survived to reach civilization. Read the story of the Jeannette expedition at Amusing Planet.
Source: neatorama