352 MM. C. Borgen and R. Copeland's Short Account of the 



thrown out; and it was only by means of these improvements 

 that the important results were secured. 



The principal service done by this expedition was the enlarge- 

 ment of our geographical knowledge of these regions, which, 

 indeed, was the necessary consequence of its object. All its en- 

 deavours were directed to one end, namely the discovery of 

 Franklin or of his traces ; and hence it follows, as a matter of 

 course, that whatever was not connected with this must have been 

 regarded as a subsidiary matter. 



Among the searching expeditions the two Grinnell expeditions 

 were of scientific importance, and also very instructive in other 

 respects ; they were fitted out by a New York merchant named 

 Grinnell, and accompanied by Dr. E. K. Kane. 



The first of these expeditions* left New York on the 22nd of 

 May, 1850. It consisted of the ships ' Advance' and ' Rescue/ 

 and was under the orders of Lieutenant de Haven, who himself 

 commanded the ' Advance/ whilst the c Rescue'' was commanded 

 by Griffin. In the 'Advance'' was the most important person 

 of the company in a scientific point of view, Dr. Elisha Kent 

 Kane. The crews of the ships, which were of 144 and 91 tons, 

 consisted in all of 17 and 16 men. Their equipment was rather 

 hastily performed; and hence there was no superfluity, especially 

 of antiscorbutic agents. Kane himself, w r ho was stationed in the 

 Gulf of Mexico, received the order to take part in the expedition 

 only two days before its departure, and had only forty hours in 

 New York to look after his personal equipments and procure 

 some scientific instruments ; the latter, however, unfortunately 

 were not put on board. 



They reached Beechey Island in good time, and in conjunction 

 with the English expeditions under Austin and Penny, which 

 were there at the same time, undertook the investigation of 

 Beechey Island, where the first certain traces of Franklin's expe- 

 dition were found; they then made their way into Wellington 

 Channel and discovered Grinnell Island. When they were then, 

 in accordance with their instructions, about to return to New 

 York, they were beset by the ice, and carried with it through Lan- 

 caster Sound and Baffin's Bay into the Atlantic Ocean. During 

 this process they had to undergo many dangers and hardships ; 

 and the hasty and insufficient equipment now revenged itself 

 upon them bitterly. It was only through the almost superhuman 

 exertions of Kane, who, although himself ill, tended his compa- 

 nions in suffering with a truly affecting solicitude, that there was 

 no loss of life to be lamented. He not only cared for the medical 

 treatment of his patients, but brought from his hunting expedi- 



* The United States Grinnell Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 

 by E. K. Kane, M.D., U.S.N. London and New York, 1854. 



