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Elisha Kent Kane (1820-1857)

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Elisha Kent Kane (1820-1857) I78 ARCTIC PROFILES Elisha Kent Kane (1 820-1857) The first American arctic explorer of note, Elisha Kent Kane north up the west coast of Greenland to latitude 78”N, where was a man of broad interests and varied talents. Although he the Advunce was icebound and never released. Two of Kane’s died when he was only 37 years old, he distinguished himself crew continued by sled and on foot to 81 “22’N. “the northern- as a career naval officer, medical doctor, scientist, author, and mostland ever trodden by awhite man,” where they saw artist, and his death inspired a funeral procession by train from “open water stretching to the nothern horizon. The unending New Orleans to the home of his birth in Philadelphia. Eulogies shore line waswashed by shiningwaters without a sign of hailed Kane as America’s “Arctic Columbus”. ice.” Kane, believing this to’be the scientific culmination of theirjourney, declared: “The great North Sea, the Polynia has Well-travelled prior to his mid-century arctic voyages, Kane been reached.” had journeyed through South America, Africa, Europe, and the Far East. Small of stature and physically frail as a result of By the spring of 1855, after three bummers and two winters a rheumatica ‘heart, the naval doctor neverthelesssought that proved far harsher and more impoverished than the men’s challenges of physical endurance, which led to his volunteer- most pessimistic fears, Kane and his crew faced imminent star- ing for the arduous U.S. polar expedition in 1850 as ship’s vation. Consequentunrest and disloyalty, coupledwith the surgeon and again in 1853 as leader. belief that they had met their scientific objective of sighting the Open Polar Sea. led Kane to-abandon the search for Franklin; American whalers had 1ong.navigated arctic waters, but the hebegan planning the dangerous escape by smallboat and serious search for a Northwest Passage had been a predomin- sled. Brilliant organization and meticulous rationing of their antlyBritish enterprise. Notuntil President Zachary Taylor remaining supplies proved Kane a leader of great resource, andHenry Grinnell, the wealthyNew York shipbuilder, andhe led his men to safetyand rescue at Upernavik I300 respotlded to JaneFranklin’s appeal for aid in findingher miles to the south. missing husband and his crew did the United States officially enter into the exploration of the Arctic. Kanereturned a hero and was soon preparing his second popular account of the Arctic. More ambitious than the first. The fate of the Erebus and Terror hadcaptured the Arctic Explorations: The Second Grinnell Expedition in Stwrch American imagination. Motivated by humanitarian interests, ($Sir John Frunklin, 1853, ‘54, ’55 was extremely successful, Congress and Grinnell co-sponsored two searches. Politically, selling 65,000 copies the first year and 145,000 copies by the the undertaking allowed the United States to participate with third year. More elaborate in every way, the book described Britain in exploration within the territory of North America. the adventure in vivid prose and visually illustrated the enter- There was a further justification as well. U.S. Navy ocean- prise with 21 full-page engravings and 256 woodcuts. Kane’s ographers were intrigued with the theory of an Open Polar health, however, had been broken by the deprivations of the Sea, and although Britain’s experience in the ice-choked Arc- expedition and by his exertions on the account, and he ex- tic had dampened her enthusiasm for such a theory, the fresher claimed that “this book has been my coffin.” He died soon and more idealistic Americans - including the scientifically after, while trying to regainhis strength in the warmthof trained Kane -justified the extravagant and risky search ex- Havana. peditions as an altruistic quest for geographical knowledge. Kane never found Franklin or the Open Polar Sea, but the Grinnell expeditions had made important advances. The first The first voyage gave no evidence of an Open Polar Sea; voyagediscovered “Grinnell Land” [GrinnellPeninsula] in Kane,undaunted, sought command of another. Heaccom- Wellington Channel, and the second had mapped the narrow plishedthis by lecturing andpublishing his analysis ofthe passage between Ellesmere Island and the westcoast of Green- Open Polar Sea theory for the American Geographical Society land to 78”N. During the lengthy second journey, Kane and and by energetically preparing a popular accountof the Rescue his crew learned much about survival from the Eskimos, and and Advunce’s 1850voyage. Published in 1854, his U.S. their contact established good relations that would benefit such Grinnell Expedition in Search ($Sir John Franklin, 1850-’5/ later explorers as Isaac Hayes and Charles Francis Hall. was enhanced by steel engravings basedon Kane’s own skilled In spite of hissmall stature and gentle demeanour, Kane drawings and watercolours. stands out in this period of arctic history for his idealism and daring. William Parker Snow remarked on this same paradox- The first voyage had attempted a passage through Lancaster ical quality of Kane’s personality: Sound and north into Wellington Channel. The second, under Kane’sleadership and including only one ship, sailed due Of an exceedingly slim and fragile form and make, and with ARCTIC PROFILES I79 features to all appearancesfeaturesall tomore suited farto a genialclime, FURTHERREADINGS and to the Of a pleasant than to the roughness CORNER,GEORGE. 1972. Doctor Kane of the Arctic Seas. Philadelphia: andhardships of an Arctic voyage, he was yet a very old Temple University Press. traveller by sea and land. KANE, EUSHA KENT. 1853. Access to an Open Polar Sea. ln: American Geographical and Statistical Society. New York: Baker, Godwin & Co. Kane's frail health adds still another dimension to his accom- -. 18%. U.S. ~~i~~~llExpedition in Search of sir John Franklin, plishments,which he hescribed withconsiderable aesthetic 1850-'51. New York: Harper Bras. ' skill in his journals. -. 1856. Arctic Explorations: Second Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, 1853 '54, '55. Philadelphia: Childs & Peterson. MARTIN, CONSTANCE. 1983. James Hamilton Arctic Watercolours. Cal- gary: Glenbow Museum Exhibition Catalogue. Constance Martin Guest Curator Glenbow Museum Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2G OP3 .
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