CHAPTER II 



KANE'S EXPEDITION (1853, '54, '55) 



In December 1852, Dr. Kane received orders from the 

 Secretary of the U.S. Navy to conduct an expedition to 

 the Arctic seas in search of Sir John Franklin. Dr. 

 Kane's plan of search was based upon the probable 

 extension of the land-masses of Greenland to the Far 

 N or th — a fact at that time not verified by travel, but 

 sustained by the analogies of physical geography. As 

 inducements in favour of his scheme, he mentioned — 



" (1) Terra firma as the basis of our operations, obviating 

 the capricious character of ice-travel. 



" (2) A due northern line, which, throwing aside the 

 influences of terrestrial radiation, would lead soonest to 

 the open sea, should such exist. 



" (3) The benefit of the fan-like abutment of land, on 

 the north face of Greenland, to check the ice in the 

 course of its southern or equatorial drift, thus obviating 

 the great drawback of Parry in his attempt to reach the 

 Pole by the Spitzbergen Sea. 



" (4) Animal life to sustain travelling parties. 



" (5) The co-operation of the Esquimaux ; settlements 

 of these people having been found as high as Whale 

 Sound, and probably extending still farther along the 

 coast. 



" We were to pass up Baffin's Bay, therefore, to its 



'4 



