Kane, Elisha Kent, 1820-1857

Elisha Kent Kane was an American naval surgeon and explorer who commanded the second Grinnell Expedition to the Arctic, 1853-1855.

From the description of Elisha Kent Kane letter, Philadelphia, Pa., to Bayard Taylor, 1856. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 34242180

Elisha Kent Kane was a physician and explorer.

From the description of Papers, 1830s-1860s. (American Philosophical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 122616028

From the description of Journal, 1853-1855. (American Philosophical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 122523647

From the description of Letters, 1853-1857. (American Philosophical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 122578952

From the guide to the Elisha Kent Kane journal, 1853-1855, 1853-1855, (American Philosophical Society)

From the guide to the Elisha Kent Kane letters, 1853-1857, (American Philosophical Society)

Philadelphia surgeon, naval officer, explorer.

From the description of ALS : Philadelphia, to Henry Grinnell, 1853 Jan. 11. (Rosenbach Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122541861

Physician and Arctic explorer.

From the description of Letter, 1856, Sept. 23 : New York, to George William Childs, Philadelphia. (Duke University). WorldCat record id: 35129769

Arctic explorer, surgeon, naval officer, and author. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; educated at the Universities of Virginia and Pennsylvania. He received his doctor of medicine in 1843. Kane travelled abroad extensively, explored the Arctic, and was a member of the Second Grinnell Expedition to the Arctic, 1854-1855. He died in Havana 16 Feburary 1857.

From the description of Elisha Kent Kane papers, 1825-1855. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122585595

George Washington Corner worked as an anatomist, endocrinologist, and medical historian.

From the guide to the George Washington Corner papers, 1889-1981, 1903-1982, (American Philosophical Society)

Explorer, naval surgeon, scientist, and author; member of two Arctic expeditions sent to rescue Sir John Franklin.

From the description of Elisha Kent Kane letter to the committee of New London County Association, 1852 Nov. 20. (New London County Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 213362247

Philadelphia surgeon, naval officer, and explorer.

From the description of ALS : Philadelphia, to Charles Lanman, 1856 Sept. 27. (Rosenbach Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 86165785

Whether because of -- or in spite of -- a debilitating childhood bout with rheumatic fever that left him with a delicate constitution, Elisha Kent Kane went on to live an adventurous life and "die in the harness," as his father had wished. Each of the half-dozen brilliant forays that he made into the exotic seems to have been terminated by accident or illness, but from these experiences, Kane carefully built a public image for himself as America's great tragic hero of exploration.

Elisha Kent Kane was born in Philadelphia on February 3, 1820, the son of the jurist and Democratic politician John Kintzing Kane and his wife Jane Duval Leiper. Already prominent in Philadelphia and Washington, the Kane family became more so with Elisha's celebrity as an Arctic explorer and his brother, Thomas Leiper Kane's, as a general in the Union army and advocate for the Mormons.

Upon first entering college at the University of Virginia, Elisha intended to study geology and civil engineering, but on the advice of family friends, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania to take up medicine, graduating in 1842. With receipt of his degree, however, his concerned family members believed that a medical practice might be too rigorous for the frail young man, and they sought to discourage him from the profession. But unbeknownst to Elisha, his father arranged a surgeon's commission in the navy, and upon graduation, Elisha was directed to report to the Philadelphia Navy Yard to be examined for assignment. Despite his medical history, Kane passed the examination and received his commission in the following year.

In his first assignment, Kane joined the diplomat Caleb Cushing on the first American diplomatic mission to China in May 1843. The voyage to the Far East was the first of many adventures for Kane, which included a daring descent into a Philippine volcano, apparently inciting controversy among locals. At the completion of trade negotiations in June 1844, Kane resigned from the Cushing Commission and elected to remain in China for six months, operating a hospital boat with a young English surgeon. Although the venture was successful financially, Kane contracted cholera and was forced to abandon his practice and return home. By the time that he reached Philadelphia in the summer of 1845, he had logged thousands of miles and visited five continents.

Despite his stated intentions of settling down and opening a medical practice in the city, Kane soon enlisted for another tour of duty at sea, this time taking a cruise to Africa aboard the frigate United States . It has been suggested that Kane's precipitous decision to ship out had less to do with a thirst for adventure than it did a taste of scandal. Shortly after his return to Philadelphia Kane had begun spending time with a young woman named Julia Reed, and several months later, he was scurrying to conceal her pregnancy. While historian and Kane biographer George W. Corner acknowledged that there was some correspondence to support the basis for the scandal, he nevertheless maintained that an out of wedlock pregnancy "did not fit" Kane's gentlemanly character. Regardless of the circumstances, however, sail away Kane did in May 1846, leaving behind a despondent family and two heartbroken cousins, Mary Leiper and Helen Patterson. Although Kane did not appear to enjoy his African sojourn, it afforded him the opportunity to study the slave trade at first hand, a topic of great interest to the Kane family, and especially to his abolitionist brother Thomas and to his father.

Just as in China, however, illness cut short Kane's cruise, and he returned home weak, emaciated, and depressed, and just as in China, he was not held back for long. Even before he had recovered from his bout of "coast fever," he traveled to Washington to petition for a transfer into the army in order to fight in the Mexican War. The prospects of escape and adventure and of military glory were always supremely attractive to Kane, but after contracting yet another debilitating illness, he gave up hope of active duty. Failing in his attempt to sign on as physician to Girard College, he renewed his push for a transfer, and when President James Polk decided he needed a messenger to relay information to General Winfield Scott, Kane was offered the assignment.

En route to Mexico, Kane wrote to his father to assure him that the "Philadelphia Kane family is represented in the war," and he challenged him to use this "representation" to further advance the Kane family. Ultimately, Kane's stint in the army did bring credit to his family's name. Wounded in a battle with Mexican forces, Kane distinguished himself by saving the life of Mexican General Antonio Gaona, and in return, Gaona and his family nursed Kane back to health in their luxurious compound after the illness-prone Philadelphian had fallen ill with "congestive typhus fever." Declared unfit for further duty, Kane was sent home to a hero's welcome.

After a slow convalescence over the summer, Kane unsuccessfully applied for a position at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and then for an assignment aboard the store ship Supply, scheduled to sail for Lisbon, the Mediterranean, and Rio de Janeiro. Reminiscent in many ways of Kane's African trip, the Supply cruise was uneventful apart from the brutal floggings meted out frequently on the backs of the unruly crew that Kane, as ship's surgeon, was obligated to attend. In September 1849, Kane left his assignment aboard the Supply, and signed on aboard the surveying steamer Walker, bound for Mobile Bay on coastguard service.

While the experience aboard the Supply deepened Kane's aversion to shipboard brutality, he found his coastguard duty irredeemably dull. Kane yearned for adventure, and early in the following year, the perfect opportunity presented itself: a rescue expedition was forming to search for the lost explorer Sir John Franklin, who had last been seen on July 22, 1845 en route to locate a Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean.

On May 22, 1850, Kane set sail aboard the brig Advance, one of two ships supplied for the expedition by the whaling magnate Henry Grinnell. The U.S. Navy crew under the command of Lieutenant Edwin De Haven, was charged with searching for Franklin in Baffin Bay, but he was ordered thereafter to proceed northward in search of the still undiscovered Northwest Passage. There were ten other rescue ships in the Arctic that summer. Between August 25th and 27th, the crews of Captain John Penny and De Haven landed on the shores of Cape Riley where they discovered evidence of an encampment, presumably Franklin's, and additional evidence was discovered on Beechey Island, ten miles further up Wellington Channel. Since Franklin had left no indication of the direction in which he was headed, the captains agreed to split up and continue their search over a wider area, with De Haven heading north up Wellington Channel.

In early September, the Advance passed Cornwallis Island and began heading further north before it was stopped altogether by a howling storm. Scrubbing the mission, De Haven elected to try to return home, but as ice formed around the ships and locked them into a floe, they found themselves trapped, and pushed steadily northward. Even when the floe broke up temporarily, the ship was freed only long enough to become frozen into another icepack headed south. By October 1st, Kane and his shipmates realized that they faced a winter in the Arctic.

In the dark and bitterly cold winter, De Haven and many in the crew became desperately ill with scurvy, leaving their health and survival in Dr. Kane's hands. Ordering them to exercise, even on the coldest days, and increasing their rations, Kane is credited with saving their lives. After having been pushed out of Wellington Channel, eastward through Lancaster Sound, and southward down Baffin Bay, the ship was finally freed of the ice on June 5, 1851, and was able to make its way to Greenland's Disco Island to replenish stores for another season of exploration.

From Upernavik, the expedition set sail again in early July and soon after hit solid ice. By mid-August, the frustrated De Haven abandoned the mission and headed for New York before facing another arctic winter. Although they had failed to locate Franklin or the Northwest Passage, when Kane returned home, he was once again received as a hero.

Making the most of the acclaim, Kane spent the next year traveling and lecturing on his Arctic adventures to capacity crowds. His celebrity grew enormously as a result of his colorful lectures, and carefully edited accounts of his Arctic adventures filled the newspapers. Perhaps most famously, he worked tirelessly to promote his theory that Franklin had drifted into a warm-water Open Polar Sea that he was sure circled the pole. Using the attention resulting from his book, The U. S. Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, Kane raised funds for a second expedition, taking the largest share from the magnanimous Henry Grinnell, who agreed to once again offered use of the Advance . It appeared as though Kane would have every opportunity to test his theory.

The fall of 1852 was marked by two significant events: the tragic death of fourteen year-old Willie Kane and the introduction of Elisha Kent Kane to Margaret Fox, one the best known Spiritualist mediums in America. Willie's death devastated the entire family, so much so that they abandoned their mansion on the outskirts of Philadelphia and moved back into the city, unable to bear living in Willie's house any longer. Elisha, who had kept watch at Willie's bedside for several weeks, was particularly affected. There has been some speculation that Kane's grief led him to seek out the comfort of Spiritualist communication with the dead; however, there is no evidence that Kane ever actually discussed Willie with Maggie Fox. Nevertheless, after several visits to the hotel where Fox held seances, Kane's spirits improved, and as he labored to finish his book and to complete organization for his expedition, he continued to pay regular visits.

Although their relationship started out casually, Kane began to make demands on Fox. Initially unconcerned over the propriety of her "calling," he soon began to urge her to give it up, and at the same time, he began to insist that she become more ladylike, proposing that she allow him to send her to school. For her part, Fox seemed uncertain whether she would comply or resist, but as their relationship grew more intense, the demands became more important. At one point, Kane broke off the relationship, recognizing that one of them would have to give up their "cause," something that neither was willing to do.

Fox must have had a change of heart, because a few months later she wrote to Kane expressing dissatisfaction with her "very tiresome life" and asking his advice. His immediate reply encouraged her to "stick to your good resolutions" and reaffirmed his commitment to helping her escape a life which, according to Kane, was "worse than tedious, it is sinful." Maggie's mother finally agreed to allow Kane to arrange for Maggie's education, and the Turner family of rural Crookville, Pennsylvania, was engaged to provide board for Maggie while she attended school nearby. Kane also made arrangements with Cornelius Grinnell to pay her board and take care of other incidental expenses. The young couple agreed that if Kane was sufficiently satisfied with Fox's reeducation when he returned from the Arctic, they would be married, but until then they could not become engaged. On May 27, 1853, Fox moved into the Turner's home in Crookville, and four days later Kane departed for the Arctic.

From the beginning, Kane was concerned that news of his relationship with Fox could harm his reputation while he was away, so he enlisted the help of Cornelius Grinnell and younger brother Robert Patterson Kane to help safeguard Elisha's reputation. Patterson and Grinnell were to act as couriers for correspondence between Fox and Kane and they were instructed to quell any rumors that arose. Kane left his correspondence regarding his role in Maggie's education with his brother in order to leave a paper trail indicating that he was nothing more than a generous benefactor of the young woman.

There were other matters to worry about as well -- Kane's health, as usual, among them. In April 1853, just one month prior to sailing, Kane was stricken with rheumatic fever, but even after being confined to bed for three weeks, unsure whether he might die, he decided that he would make a go of the expedition. Such an unpromising beginning was a sign of things to come. The usual bouts of seasickness and an inexperienced crew added to the concerns, but it was only when the expedition reached the Arctic that the real troubles began.

Already concerned that he might be trumped in the discovery of the Open Polar Sea, Kane grew frantic upon receiving a letters from Lady Jane Franklin informing him that Capt. Edward Inglefield was setting out in one of England's best steam-powered ships to follow the rescue path that Kane had pursued in 1850-1851. Although Inglefield had only been sent to the Arctic to deliver supplies to five ships on Beechey Island, Lady Franklin's letter led Kane to adopt a more aggressive course than he had originally planned, crossing directly through Mellville Bay. Although this route stood to save time, it would expose the ship to treacherous icebergs which blocked the entrances to Smith and Lancaster Sounds, and Kane recognized that by taking this course he would also risk being frozen into an ice floe for the winter. He decided to take the chance.

Ominously, while crossing Mellville Bay, the Advance suffered a head-on collision with an iceberg that destroyed the jig-boom and one of the lifeboats, yet the ship still made remarkable time. By early August, with the entrance to Smith Sound in sight, the Advance stopped at Littleton Island to leave provisions and a lifeboat for future emergencies before pushing northward, and it was there that their troubles really began. Facing lashing storms and ice-clogged waters, Kane ultimately had to order his men to strap themselves into harnesses and pull the ship north. By late August, the Advance had traveled further north than any previous expedition (by the American route), but Kane demanded they push still further. But when the crew protested -- and more importantly, when it was ascertained that no further progress could be made due to heavy ice -- Kane agreed that they should stay put and wait for spring. While the American public waited and worried, Kane and his crew settled in for the winter.

The crew prepared for winter by building supply houses on shore, a wooden cover for the ship's deck, and a kennel for the dogs. Repeated attempts to rid themselves of the ship's rat population were somewhat successful but the methods caused a few anxious moments. The first attempt using noxious fumes nearly killed the cook, and the second, asphyxiation by carbon monoxide, set the deck on fire and caused Kane and another crewmember to lose consciousness while battling the blaze.

By mid-October, when the sun disappeared, all activity ground to a halt, and Kane and his crew were confined below deck to ride out a harsh winter ridden with scurvy and sensory deprivation, and more than a few flares of temper and fist fights. By February, with the sun barely visible, Kane wasted no time in returning to the mission, selecting eight members of the crew to attempt to reach Humboldt glacier and beyond. Ignoring the bitter cold and the protests of the experienced crew members that it was still too early to proceed, he sent his squad northward in mid-March.

The attempt was short-lived. Within a week of their departure, three of the men stumbled back to ship with news that the others were ill and freezing. Kane immediately led a party to rescue the men, an excursion that took fifty hours in temperatures that fell at times to fifty below zero. At the same time, the crew spied several Inuit hunters from Etah, a small village just 70 miles to the south, and invited them on board, where they sat down to a meal of raw walrus that the Inuit had brought with them. With the help of Carl Christian Peterson, a Danish crew member fluent in Inuktitut, Kane was able to communicate with the Inuit, enlisting their help for the upcoming winter.

As spring approached, Kane began to implement his plan to head north in search of the Open Polar Sea. First, he intended to send six of his men by foot to Humboldt Glacier, with him and another crewmember following on a sledge with provisions. They would then cross the channel to the American side and search for openings to the Open Polar Sea. As May -- and warmer weather -- approached, Kane realized that if he was to make a move, it would have to be before rising temperatures melted the ice. Yet once again, nothing went quite right. Heavy snowdrifts and the effects of scurvy and snowblindness stalled the expedition, and the crew discovered that all the food they had cached during the previous fall had been eaten by polar bears. Eventually, though, a small party from Kane's crew made it to Humboldt Glacier and crossed the still-frozen "Kane Basin." Despite battling snow blindness, they managed to travel over two hundred miles in all. Within a week of the first group's return to the ship, Kane sent out a second party of six men to travel beyond Humboldt Glacier to see if they could verify the existence of an opening to the Open Polar Sea.

On June 5, the men set off for Humboldt Glacier, two of whom continued northward after the others attempted to ascend the glacier and failed. Kane feared the worst for the two, but on July 3rd, they returned with the news that Kane had longed to hear: they had discovered the Open Polar Sea. They described how Kane Basin narrowed into a channel, and as they pressed further north, they noticed thinning ice and swarms of birds, including an open water species, the Arctic Petrel. They climbed a cape and from a 480 foot height, they saw nothing but open water. Kane was elated: having attained their goal, it looked as if he and his crew could finally focus on going home. There were only two small problems: the basin was frozen solid, completely blocking the way and the ship itself was completely iced in. It appeared that the Advance might face yet another Arctic winter.

Any hopes that the warm temperatures and strong winds might break up the floe were dashed when Kane discovered that new ice was already beginning to form and that the escape route was narrowing further. As August drew to a close, Kane accepted that the ship was trapped, but several members of the crew began to plan their escape. Feeling that he could not, in good conscience, force them to stay, Kane announced on August 23rd that if any men wished to strike out on their own, he would not stop them. Only five elected to stay: the others he made sign documents attesting that they were deserting and that Kane was no longer responsible for them. To his credit, Kane suppressed his anger long enough to bid the departing men good luck and to assure them that should they decide to return, they would be welcomed.

Kane and the remaining crew prepared for another Arctic winter, fortified with a year's experience and some valuable lessons in survival learned from the Inuit. Their first task was to insulate the ship to make it as "igloo-like" as possible. Although the darkness was oppressive, the relative comfort of the ship as well as the mutual hunting agreement with the people of Etah promised to make the winter months much more bearable. In early December, two deserters returned to the Advance and the others arrived shortly thereafter, having never made it to Upernavik. Kane suppressed his resentment and welcomed them as promised, even though sheltering the extra men proved to be a big challenge -- one of several as it turned out.

The cramped living space and strain on food stores increased tensions among the men, and illness, falling temperatures, and diminishing fuel supplies added to the misery. Tempers flared along with illness and insubordination. Kane kept discipline by calling offenders up on deck individually and bashing them "in the side of the head with a heavy metal belaying pin." This, it seemed, was an effective if temporary method.

The food shortage was the most critical issue, and Kane's hopes of leaning on the generosity of the Inuit were dashed when it was discovered that the residents of Etah were starving, too. Kane arranged to combine efforts with the Inuit in hunting, and together they managed to kill a walrus, saving both groups from starvation. Discipline, however, remained an issue. Two crewmembers, William Godfrey and John Blake, were discovered to be planning to steal a sledge bound for Etah. Although the men were caught in time and were beaten with a "leaden fist," Godfrey managed to escape on foot. Still weak from disease and hunger, the crew suffered for two weeks before the would-be thief returned with the sledge filled with meat. Godfrey refused to board the ship even when Kane brandished a rifle and shot at him, but instead ran off. Although Kane was furious, the meat helped restore the crew's health and spirits. Godfrey later claimed that he had not deserted a second time because he had never entered into an agreement with Kane upon his return from the first secession.

As spring approached, the crew's health and morale slowly improved and preparations began for the journey home. Although Kane was disappointed that he had been unable to see the Open Polar Sea for himself, he did manage to see Humboldt Glacier. On May 20, 1855, he and his crew began pulling their whale boats (their ship having been dismantled for fuel) over the ice to open water. By mid-June they were in Etah, and after waiting out a short spell of severe weather, they bid their Inuit friends farewell and set off for Upernavik.

In a punishing journey that left one crewmember dead, the small boats were pitched about violently in the ice-filled waters, and several times the men had to take cover from to heavy winds and ice. Solid ice at the base of Cape York led Kane to move out into Melville Bay instead of staying close to shore and waiting for the ice to move. By early August, however, Kane and his crew reached Upernavik, and from there they passed to Godhavn and on September 11th, met up with an American ship sent to their rescue.

When Kane arrived in New York on October 11th, 1854, he was once again accorded a hero's welcome. Advised by his family to handle his reception with humility and gratitude, he thanked the nation for their interest and concern, and much to his relief, no one on the crew sought to contradict his account of his crew's camaraderie and unity, or his own strong leadership. As it turned out, his greatest challenge lay within his own family: they were still very much opposed to his relationship with Maggie Fox.

Maggie had moved to Philadelphia in late September 1854 in anticipation of Kane's arrival, and two days later, the two were together at Clinton Place. The long-awaited reunion, however, was not the romantic encounter anticipated. Instead, Maggie found Kane to be distracted and agitated. Bowing to family pressure to cut off the relationship, he pleaded with Maggie to sign a note stating that their relationship was purely platonic. She refused. He returned a few days later with a reporter in tow, requesting that she affirm that they had never been engaged. Again, Maggie refused.

Rumors of Kane's engagement began to circulate widely, and even his departure for Washington, D.C., to give an official account of the expedition did nothing to quash them. To the family's dismay, a small newspaper in upstate New York reported the engagement, and soon major newspapers across the country were reprinting the story. Using its influence, the Kane family forced retraction of the story, but when Kane failed to refute the retraction, Maggie ended the relationship.

Nevertheless, he and Maggie continued to correspond. Kane clearly agonized over his decision but he and his family had built his public image very carefully and were not about to let a fling with a Spiritualist undo their hard work. Maggie, who had to preserve her own reputation, felt she had little choice either. Marriage, one possible solution, would preserve Maggie's reputation, but diminish the Kane family's standing -- something he was unwilling or unable to do until he was financially solvent. In the meantime, Maggie, her sister Kate, and their mother moved to 22nd Street in New York.

The Navy had already given Kane permission to publish his account of his Arctic experiences and had paid him for the time it took to write it. It was a generous arrangement, perhaps because the Navy had suffered criticism for not initially supporting Kane's expedition. At any rate, Kane wasted no time in picking a publisher, George W. Childs, who also worked aggressively to promote Kane's image -- so aggressively in fact, that his efforts to goad Congress into purchasing a large number of copies resulted in accusations that Kane was using his family's political connections for personal gain. Some of Child's other efforts fared better, including marketing the book at trade shows and selling it door-to-door, and Kane's public appearances also increased sales. Although the book was well-received and sold well, Kane was miserable. In addition to being unable to marry Maggie Fox, he had another problem: Lady Jane Franklin was determined that he head yet another expedition to rescue her husband.

Lady Franklin was, by all accounts, a determined advocate for her still-missing husband, and although nine years had elapsed since her husband had disappeared, she was effective at ratcheting up public pressure to save him. Kane felt obligated to lead the expedition and in August 1856, he began efforts to secure support. Kane spent the remainder of the fall (as he had the spring and summer) with Fox at her family's New York residence. By this point, her family had come to accept Kane as a sincere suitor, and he was welcome in their home, yet because his own family continued to hold back, he took great pains to conceal the relationship. Only his brother Patterson was kept informed, and perhaps only then because Kane assured him of his discretion.

On October 11, 1856, Kane left for Liverpool, arriving in poor health after a rough crossing. His spirits must have been relatively high, because he entertained thoughts of securing funding for not one, but two expeditions, and he wrote to his parents to ask them to seek support in the United States. It was not to be. On October 29, Kane collapsed and was sent to the suburbs of London to rest. From there he traveled to Cuba to take advantage of the better climate. Kane and his steward, William Morton, left for St. Thomas on November 17, but on the voyage between St. Thomas and Cuba, Kane suffered a stroke.

Kane's brother Thomas was waiting in Havana, and was joined in mid-January by his mother, and his brother John. After a brief rally, Elisha suffered a second, more severe stroke, and on February 16, he died at the age of 37.

From the guide to the Elisha Kent Kane Papers, Bulk, 1843-1857, 1810-1953, (American Philosophical Society)