POLAR RESEARCH. American explora tion in the Arctic divides itself readily into three parts — the expeditions, 1851-55, incident to the Sir John Franklin search; those promoted by the United States government, 1870-72 and 1881-84, and those projected, financed and led by Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary, U.S.N., 1891 1909. The first American ships to participate in the Franklin match were the Advance and Res cue, in command of Lieutenant De Haven, which leaving New York 24 May 1850, searched the Greenland coast as far north as practicable, returning late the same year, with no tidings of the lost explorer. Henry Grinnell, a New York merchant, who had givers liberally to the work, renewed his offer of aid, and equipping the brig Advance, dispatched her from New York, 30 May 1853, in command of Elisha Kent Kane, U.S.N., surgeon of the De Haven Ex pedition, with John Brooks as first officer and Capt. J. Wall Wilson navigator. The Advance wintered in Rensselaer Harbor, on the western coast of Greenland, 78° 37' N., but, unable to free herself from the ice, was detained a second winter, during which a party retreated about half-way to Cape York, but were obliged to turn back, and on 17 May 1855 the whole com pany, with their boats, left the Advance and after an arduous journey reached Upernavik 9 August. Dr. Kane found no trace of Sir John Franklin, but his explorations by sledge were extensive and the scientific results of his expedition valuable. William Morton, leading one of the sledge parties, reported that at Cape Constitution (82° 27' N.) on 21 June 1854 he had seen the open Polar Sea, and upon this statement much sub sequent discussion was predicated. One death, that of Christian Ohisen, carpenter, oc curred 12 June 1854, in the Kane Expedition, of which the last survivor, Capt. Amos Bonsall, carpenter, died in Philadelphia, 18 Oct. 1915.
In 1860 Dr. Isaac I. Hayes, surgeon of the Kane Expedition, returned to the North in the schooner United States, and during the spring of 1861 accomplished a memorable sledge jour ney, crossing Smith Sound and carrying the flag of his country to Cape Lieber, Grinnell Land, 81° 35', and losing by death the astronomer of his party, Sonntag, at the head of Foulke Harbor, the winter quarters of the United States. In 1871 Capt. Charles Frederick Hall, who had extensive experience, principally among the Eskimos of Labrador and Baffin Land, sailed from New York on the steamer Polaris, outfitted and equipped by the United States, and on 3 September went into winter quarters in Thank God Harbor, lat. 81° 38' N., long. 44' W. Captain Hall, on 10 October, left on a sledge trip, reaching 82° 2' N., and on 8 Novem ber, after an illness of a few days, died on board the Polaris, Capt. Samuel Buddington succeeding to the command. Scientific investi gations were continued during the winter, but no extensive field work attempted, and on 12 Aug. 1872 the Polaris started south. During the night of 15 October the floe to which the ship had been fastened parted from it, and from that date 19 men, women and children drifted over 1,500 miles, until they were picked up 30 April 1873 off Grady Harbor, Labrador, by the Newfoundland sealer Tigress. Captain Buddington and the remainder of the party wintered at Lifeboat Cove, north of Littleton Island and, retreating southward in the spring, were picked up 23 June by the whaler Ravens craig and landed in due course at Dundee, Scotland, a relief expedition under command of Capt. afterward Adm. D. L. Brain, with Lieut.
afterward Capt. George F. De Long, of the Jeannette, second in command, having made a fruitless search of the Greenland coast and of Melville Bay as far as Cape York.
The United States, participating with the principal European countries in a system of cir cumpolar weather stations, on 21 July 1881 dis patched from Saint Johns, Newfoundland, in the chartered steamer Proteus, an expedition in command of Lieut. Adolphus G. Greely, Fifth Cavalry, U.S.A., which took station at Lady Franklin Bay, Grinnell Land, lat. 81° 44' N., long. 64° 45' W., the Proteus returning after dis charging supplies and equipment. The station, named Fort Conger in honor of the senator from Michigan, to whose efforts it was largely due, was amply equipped, and early in the sea son Dr. Octave Pavy, surgeon of the expedition, made a sledge journey along the eastern coast of Grinnell Land to its extreme northern point, near Cape Joseph Henry, and other field parties worked in the interior, discovering deposits of coal at Water Course Bay, a few miles from the station. In April 1882 Lieut. James B. Lock wood, accompanied by Sergeant (now General) David L. Brainard and Frederick, an Eskimo, supported by other members of the party, crossed Robeson Channel to the Greenland coast, and on 5 May 1882 reached 83° 24' 5", the farthest north then attained by man, and for many years the highest reached by the Amer ican flag. On 9 Aug 1883 the entire party re treated from Fort Conger, and in September went into winter quarters near Cape Sabine, whence they were, on 26 May 1884, rewned by Capt. W. S. Schley, commanding the Bear and the Thetis, 19 of the party, including Lieutenant Lockwood, having perished from starvation. The scientific work of the Greely party was of the first importance, and its magnetic and meteor ological data, all of which were preserved, com plete and valuable. A privately equipped expe dition, that of the Jeannette, under Lieut. George W. De Long, U.S.N., left San Fran cisco in 1879, and passing through Bering Strait, entered the ice at about the 83d parallel. The Jeannette was crushed and sunk on 12 June 1881, when in lat. 77° 14' 57" N. and long. 154° 58' 45" E., and upon retreating to the Siberian coast in three parties, one boat commanded by Lieut. Charles W. Chipp, U.S.N., was separated from the others, and never again heard of. Captain De Long, reaching the mouth of the Lena Delta, perished from starvation, only two of his party surviving, while the third boat under command of Chief Engineer, the late George W. Melville, U.S.N., reached land in safety without the loss of a man. The British government in 1875 dispatched the Discovery, Capt. George Nares, and the Alert, Commander Al bert H. Markham, by way of Smith Sound to the north, during the following winter sledge parties accomplished much work to the west ward of Cape Joseph Henry, carrying the re connaisance to 75° 30' W., while a party ad vanced from Cape Hecla directly over the sea ice to the Pole to 83° 20'. Both ships were beached during the winter, but were success fully floated the following summer and returned in safety.