HISTORICAL SUMMARY 103 



bay for traces of Franklin, and with the hope of reaching the 

 open Polar sea through Smith sound. Cape Farewell was 

 sighted on the 30th of July, and Cape York on the 21st of 

 August where a number of natives were seen in the vicinity. 

 At North Omenak native caches of meat and winter clothing 

 were found. On the 26th Cape Alexander, the farthest point 

 seen by Baffin, was passed, with an open sea to the northward. 

 On the 27th he reached latitude 78 21' K one hundred and 

 forty miles beyond any previous navigator. He was forced by a 

 strong northerly gale and low temperature to retreat south, and 

 on his way entered Jones sound, which he explored to latitude 

 76 11' K and longitude 84 10' W. He then entered Lan- 

 caster sound, and visited Beechey island, after which, turning 

 homeward, he did not cross the Arctic circle until the 12th of 

 October. 



In 1853, Dr. Elisha Kent Kane left New York in the brig 

 Advance, fitted out by Henry Grinnell and George Peabody, to 

 assist in the search for Franklin. The Advance entered Smith 

 sound on the 7th of August, and, after considerable danger and 

 trouble with ice, was moored in Rensselaer bay, from which she 

 never emerged. This wintering place was about 120 miles 

 north of any previously attained, being in latitude 78 38' and 

 longitude 70 40'. Kane confined his explorations to the 

 Greenland side of the sound, and personally reached the south- 

 ern edge of the great Humboldt glacier, while Dr. Hayes, 

 surgeon to Kane, crossed Kane basin to the neighbourhood of 

 Cape Fraser, and William Morton, on the Greenland coast, 

 passed the Humboldt glacier and attained latitude 80 35' in 

 the vicinity of Cape Constitution, where from an elevation of 

 500 feet he saw open water in Kennedy channel extending to 

 the north as far as the eye could reach. In July, 1854, the ice 

 being still firm, Kane attempted to reach Beechey island, where 

 he knew that assistance could be obtained, but had to return 

 before reaching Cape Parry. At the end of August, Hayes and 



