The U.S. Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin: A Personal Narrative

Dr Elisha Kane (1820-57), the most famous of American Arctic explorers before Peary, published this work in 1853. Having graduated from medical school, Kane joined the US Navy in 1843, and in 1850 was appointed senior medical officer on the expedition financed by the philanthropist Henry Grinnell to search for Sir John Franklin. Kane had departed on a second expedition while this book was in press, and he continued his Arctic travels, to the detriment of his health, until the year before his early death. In this work, Kane describes the origins of the expedition in the worldwide appeal by Lady Franklin, and, using his own journals, gives a vivid account of a winter spent icebound in the Arctic. Among the appendices is the official report of the expedition’s commander, Lieutenant De Haven. Though Franklin’s first winter camp was found, there were no further traces of his crew.