18 Facts About Isaac Schlossbach

Isaac Schlossbach was born in Bradley Beach, New Jersey and raised in Neptune Township, New Jersey where he attended Neptune High School.

In 1911, Schlossbach became the first Jewish midshipman at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, winning letters in football and wrestling.

Isaac Schlossbach graduated from the Naval Academy in 1915 and volunteered to go to the first submarine school.

In 1921, after the end of the war, Isaac Schlossbach joined the aviation branch of the United States Navy.

Isaac Schlossbach was first to be sent to lighter-than-air flying school.

Isaac Schlossbach had trouble with his left eye, and the Navy assigned him to the Naval Academy, teaching engineering and aviation and coaching the football team.

In 1930 at the age of 38, Lieutenant Commander Isaac Schlossbach was forced to retire from the Navy on a medical discharge when he lost his eye.

Isaac Schlossbach went on twelve polar expeditions, three to the Arctic and nine to the Antarctic.

Isaac Schlossbach was on the Wilkins Trans-Arctic Expedition in 1931 and served as navigator on USS Nautilus, the first attempt to take a submarine to the North Pole under the icepack.

Isaac Schlossbach commanded Admiral Richard Byrd's ship, Bear of Oakland, and was a pilot on Byrd's Second Antarctic Expedition.

Isaac Schlossbach was the second in command on the MacGregor Arctic Expedition where he accomplished a number of polar aviation firsts.

Isaac Schlossbach commanded the 1200-ton diesel-powered wooden tug Port of Beaumont, which was frozen into Back Bay through the winter.

Isaac Schlossbach accompanied Finn Ronne to a cape in the Weddell Sea, which was named after him.

Isaac Schlossbach accompanied an Australian research expedition to Ellsworth Station Antarctica in 1955, for which he received a letter of commendation from the Australian government.

Isaac Schlossbach accompanied Byrd on several other occasions and made his last trip to the Antarctic as a consultant to the United States Navy in 1961 when he was 70 years old.

Isaac Schlossbach was awarded three Congressional medals for his contributions to Antarctic exploration.

Isaac Schlossbach's adventures took him around the world, to the South Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, South America as well as to the Arctic and Antarctica.

Isaac Schlossbach never married and died in 1984 at the age of 93.