Elisha Kent Kane | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1820-02-03)February 3, 1820 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | February 16, 1857(1857-02-16) (aged 37) Havana, Cuba |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Branch | United States Navy |
| Service years | 1843–1857 |
| Rank | Assistant surgeon |
| Expeditions | |
| Relations |
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Elisha Kent Kane (February 3, 1820 – February 16, 1857) was a United States Navy medical officer andArctic explorer. He served as assistant surgeon duringCaleb Cushing's journey to China to negotiate theTreaty of Wangxia and in theAfrica Squadron. He was assigned as a special envoy to theUnited States Army during theMexican–American War and as a surveyor in theUnited States Coast Survey.
He was senior medical officer in theFirst Grinnell expedition to rescue or discover the fate of the explorer SirJohn Franklin. He was credited with the discovery of an encampment and gravesite fromFranklin's lost expedition onBeechey Island. He led theSecond Grinnell expedition to the Arctic which was unsuccessful in discovering the fate of Franklin's expedition. His explorations of the Arctic went further North than any other expeditions at the time and led to the eventual path to theNorth Pole taken by subsequent explorers.
He spoke frequently to large audiences about his Arctic expeditions. He published two books chronicling his explorations;The United States Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin: A Personal Narrative in 1856 andArctic explorations: The Second Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, 1853,'54, '55 in 1857. Two United States Navy ships, a lunar crater and a waterway in the Arctic were named in his honor.
Kane was born inPhiladelphia on February 3, 1820.[1] He was the first son ofJohn Kintzing Kane, a U.S. district judge, and Jane Duval Leiper.[2] His maternal grandfather wasThomas Leiper,American Revolutionary War patriot and a founder of thePhiladelphia City Troop.[3] His brother was attorney, diplomat,abolitionist, andCivil War general,Thomas L. Kane.
In 1837, Kane entered theUniversity of Virginia to study civil engineering. He worked closely with geology ProfessorWilliam Barton Rogers and participated in several outings into the Blue Ridge Mountains to map geological formations.[2] However, health concerns due torheumatic fever forced him to withdraw from school and return home. His illness progressed toendocarditis and the family feared he would die.[4] After recovering, concerned that the physical demands of civil engineering would be too much for his health, he turned to the study of medicine. On October 19, 1840, he became a resident physician atBlockley Almshouse[5] while also studying at the University of Pennsylvania.[6] In the Spring of 1841, he became Senior Resident Physician at Blockley.[7] He was the author of a publication in theAmerican Journal of the Medical Sciences on original research on urinary markers of pregnancy.[2] Kane graduated from theUniversity of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1842.[8]
On September 14, 1843, he became an assistant surgeon in the Navy. The post allowed him to travel the world including to Bombay, Ceylon, Macao, Madeira and Rio de Janeiro.[9] He served in the China Commercial Treaty mission on theUSS Brandywine[10] underCaleb Cushing. While Cushing negotiated theTreaty of Wangxia with the Chinese, Kane and the crew of the USS Brandywine explored the island ofLuzon in thePhilippines.[11] He descended into theTaal Volcano to obtain water samples, was almost overcome by the toxic fumes[9] and angered the locals who considered the volcano sacred.[2] He served in theAfrica Squadron[8] and in February 1847 contracted "coast fever" (most likely a strain ofmalaria)[2] and returned to the United States to recover.[12]
In the Fall of 1847, he petitioned Secretary of State,James Buchanan, to be assigned as a special envoy to deliver a message to GeneralWinfield Scott in Mexico City. Scott had taken Mexico City during theMexican–American War but had stopped communicating with the White House. Buchanan and PresidentJames Polk feared that Scott was exceeding his authority and negotiating with the Mexicans. Kane was deployed to deliver a message to Scott reiterating the previous order to discontinue negotiations. Kane was deployed and received official orders from the Navy[13] with a cover story that he was being sent to Mexico City to report on military hospitals and medical conditions.[2] While approaching Mexico City, Kane's entourage was attacked atNopalucan on January 6, 1848. During the battle, Mexican GeneralAntonio Gaona and his son were both wounded. Kane treated a severed artery in the son's chest and saved his life. Kane also refused to allow the Mexican prisoners to be killed in retaliation for the attack and delivered them to U.S. forces in Mexico City. Kane returned to the U.S. in February 1849 and was honored by the city of Philadelphia with the presentation of a ceremonial sword.[14]
Kane was assigned to theUnited States Coast Survey underAlexander Dallas Bache and had responsibility for thehydrographic survey of thesoutheast coast of the United States.[2]
Kane was appointed senior medical officer of theGrinnell Arctic expedition of 1850–1851 under the command ofEdwin de Haven, which searched unsuccessfully forSir John Franklin's lost expedition.[15] Kane was present along with Edwin de Haven andWilliam Penny at the discovery of an encampment and three graves from the Franklin expedition onBeechey Island.[9]
From 1851 to 1853, Kane spoke multiple times to audiences hundreds in size on his Arctic explorations and was well regarded due to his oratorical skills.[9] His eloquence and frequency in speaking may be why he was credited with the discovery of the three graves.[16] He began to write the bookThe U.S. Grinnell expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. He convinced Grinnell and several scientific organizations to fund a second expedition to continue to explore the Arctic and search for Franklin.[8]
Kane organized and headed theSecond Grinnell expedition on theUSS Advance which sailed from New York on May 31, 1853. The expedition stopped inFiskenaesset, Greenland to pick up theInuk hunter,Hans Hendrik and at Upernavik, Greenland to pick up the sled driver and interpreterJohan Carl Christian Petersen[8] and wintered in Rensselaer Bay. Though suffering fromscurvy, and at times near death, he pushed on and charted the coasts of Smith Sound and theKane Basin, penetrating farther north than any other explorer had done up to that time. At Cape Constitution he discovered the ice-freeKennedy Channel betweenEllesmere Island andGreenland, later followed byIsaac Israel Hayes,Charles Francis Hall,Adolphus Greely, andRobert E. Peary in turn as they drove toward theNorth Pole.[17]
Kane finally abandoned the icebound brigAdvance on May 20, 1855, and made an 83-day march toUpernavik on the west coast of Greenland. The party, carrying the invalids, lost only one man. Kane and his men were saved by a sailing ship. Kane returned to New York on October 11, 1855, and the following year published his two-volumeArctic Explorations.[17] Despite the unsuccessful expedition, he was welcomed home as a hero. He received hundreds of speaking invitations and stage producerJames Wallack planned to turn the expedition into a play.[18] Although in poor health, Kane completed his second bookArctic explorations, the second Grinnell expedition in search of Sir John Franklin.[8] Kane used his celebrity and charisma to promote the idea of anopen and temperate polar sea, which he claimed to have seen, and helped to link exploration of the High Arctic with nationalism and nation-building, adding a northern frontier for the United States to conquer in the pursuit of scientific progress.[19]
In 1852, Kane met theFox sisters, famous for theirspirit rapping séances, and he became enamored with the middle sister, Margaretta. Kane was convinced that the sisters were frauds, and sought to reform Margaretta and paid for her education.[20] She would later claim that they were secretly married in 1856 – she changed her name to Margaretta Fox Kane – and engaged the family in lawsuits over his will. After Kane's death, Margaretta converted to the Roman Catholic faith, but would eventually return to spiritualism.[21]
After visiting England to fulfill his promise to deliver his report personally to LadyJane Franklin, he sailed toHavana in an attempt to recover his health, after being advised to do so by his doctor. He died there on February 16, 1857.[17] His body was escorted toNew Orleans by the governor of Cuba[9] and carried by steamboat and a funeral train toPhiladelphia. His funeral was the largest in American history until it was surpassed by that ofAbraham Lincoln.[9] After lying in state atIndependence Hall, he was transported to Philadelphia'sLaurel Hill Cemetery where he was placed in the hillside family vault.[22]
Kane received medals from Congress, theRoyal Geographical Society, and theSociété de géographie. TheGeographical Society of Philadelphia created the Elisha Kent Kane Medal in his honor. In 1851, Kane was elected as a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society.[23] He was also elected to theAmerican Antiquarian Society in 1855.[24]
TheAnoatok historic manor atKane, Pennsylvania, was named to honor Kane's Arctic expeditions.[25] The destroyerUSS Kane (DD-235) was named for him, as was a later oceanographic research ship, theUSNS Kane (T-AGS-27). A lunar crater,Kane, was also named for him. In 1986, theU.S. Postal Service issued a 22 cent postage stamp in his honor, depicting his route to the Arctic.[26] The waterway between Greenland and the northernmost Canadian islands, previously named Peabody Bay, was renamedKane Basin in his honor.[8]Cape Kane inPeary Land was named in his honor at the time that it was the nearest land to the North Pole that had been put on the map.[27]
The 2010young adult bookTombstone Tea by Joanne Dahme is set in Laurel Hill Cemetery and has Kane as one of its characters.[28]
Citations
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This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.