Adrift in the Arctic ice pack : from the history of the first U.S. Grinnell Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin

In the summer of 1845 Sir John Franklin vanished while hunting a Northwest Passage, sparking a frantic series of rescue missions from both Britain and America. Among the earliest was the first American Grinnell expedition, a modest squadron of two small brigs hastily fitted out after a generous New York merchant offered his ships to the government. The narrative follows this uneasy fleet as it sets sail from New York, bound for the unforgiving ice fields of the High Arctic.

The expedition’s chief surgeon, Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, was summoned from a warm Gulf of Mexico shore and given only a single day to ready himself for the polar ordeal. With a handful of scientific instruments, a few winter books, and a rugged wolf‑skin robe, he joined a crew of sailors accustomed to modest vessels, yet determined to gather any useful observations. His vivid journal blends the stark reality of creaking hulls and biting cold with the quiet wonder of magnetic and thermal measurements, offering a rare glimpse into early Arctic exploration.