THE 1800s -(Cont'd) 



under the command of Passed Assistant Surgeon Elisha Kent Kane, U.S. Navy. In 1850, using the 

 90-ton brig Rescue and the 140-ton hx\% Advance, loaned to the Navy by Henry Grinneli, the first 

 government expedition was organized to search for Franklin. Kane, who was attached to the Coast 

 Survey, sought and obtained the post of senior medical officer with the expedition. This first 

 expedition was unsuccessful and upon its return in 1851, Kane immediately launched plans for a 

 new attempt. With the enthusiastic personal support of the Secretary of the Navy, Joseph P. 

 Kennedy, the Second Grinneli Expedition sailed from New York in May 1853 with Kane in 

 command. Henry Grinneli again donated the hx'\% Advance and private subscription was used to 

 finance the project. The expedition wintered in Rensselaer Bay and here their troubles began. 

 Equipment was found to be deficient, sled dogs began to die, and scurvy appeared. Kane, himself 

 scurvy-ridden and at times near death, resolutely pushed on. No trace of Franklin's party was 

 found and in May 1855 the ice-bound Advance was abandoned. Kane escaped inevitable death in 

 the Arctic by an 83-day march of indomitable courage to Upernavik. The party, carrying the 

 invalids, lost only one man in a retreat which stands high in the annals of Arctic exploration. A 

 government relief expedition composed of the steamer Arctic and the bark Release located Kane 

 and his party in South Greenland and landed them in New York in October 1855. Although the 

 rescue expedition was unsuccessful, its scientific achievements were laudable. Kane's party 

 chartered the coasts of Smith Sound (now called Kane Basin) and penetrated farther north than 

 any other explorer had done up to that time. At Cape Constitution they discovered the ice-free 

 Kennedy Channel, later to be the route of other explorers as they drove toward the North Pole. 

 Meteorological, magnetic, astronomical, tidal observations, botanical, glacial and geological 

 surveys, and studies of animal and Eskimo life established sound foundations for the scientific 

 study of the Arctic. 



Following the rescue of Kane and his party, the Arctic (a screw steamer of 235 tons built at 

 Keyport, New Jersey in 1853 as the Tliomas C. Haight was purchased by the Navy in 1855 

 especially for the rescue expedition and renamed Arctic) conducted sounding surveys during 1856 

 and 1857 for cable routes between St. Johns, Newfoundland and Queenstown, Ireland. In 1859, 

 she was transferred to the Lighthouse Service for use as a light ship. 



At this point, we would be remiss if we moved on without giving due note to another Navy 

 expedition, somewhat forgotten, but nevertheless equally as ambitious as those already mentioned. 

 In the year 1847 a bored young Navy officer. Lieutenant W. F. Lynch, notes in his journal: 

 "On the 8th of May, 1847, the town and castle of Vera Cruz having some 

 time before surrendered, and there being nothing left for the Navy to perform, 1 

 preferred an application to the Hon. John. Y. Mason, the head of the 

 department, for permission to circumnavigate and thoroughly explore the Lake 

 Asphaltities or Dead Sea. 



On the 2nd of October, I received an order to take command of the U.S. 

 storeship Supply, formerly called the Crusader." 

 The following month the 141-foot storeship Supply sailed from New York, and, after 

 stopping at various points to leave stores for the Mediterranean squadron, arrived at Acre in March 

 1848. On board the Supply were two boats and their crews best described in Lynch's words: 

 "I had, by special authority, two metallic boats, a copper and galvanized 

 iron one, constructed, and shipped to sea for their crews. I was very particular in 

 selecting young, muscular, native-born Americans, of sober habits, from each of 

 whom I extracted a pledge to abstain from all intoxicating drinks." 

 It had been Lynch's intention to use horses to transport the boats overland from the 

 Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee. The Arab steeds, however, were so undersized that Lynch 

 resorted to the use of camels, which much to his surprise, proved eminently successful. After a two 



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