The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1851-10-15
THE AMERICAN SEARCHING ExPE-
DITION.

A dispatch in yesterdays sub stated
that on Tuesday the Advance. Capt. De
? Haven, one Of the vessels sent odt by Mr..
Henry Grinnell to search for SIR John
Franklin, arrived at the navy yard. Brook.
Ign, N. Y. The editor of the New York
Commercial has had all interview with L.
X. Kane, Esq. surgeon to the expedition.
to whose courtesy he is indebted Tor the
following particulars:
1t will be remembered thnt the latest
previous intelligence from the american
vessels, the Rescue and the Advance was,
on the 18th of September. 1850 received
through the English papers. On lha, day
they parted company with the English
squadron. as mentioned i'll the dispatches
OF Capt. Henry. On the same night they
were frozen in at Wellington channel
From that point commenced their North
ern drift, and they were carried up the
channel TO latitude rs 25, the greatest
Northing ever attained in that meridian.
flFrom that latitude they commenced
drifting again to the South, and III Novem-
Der. 1850, entered Lancaster Sound. Du.
ring this time The violence Of the 'eruptions
Of the ice was so great that they could
Keep no fires regularly lit on account Of the
motion of the vessel The mercury in the
thermometer Tell below zero. The bed
ding iroze IN every apartment, and even
the coffee and soup become CONCEALED as
soon as taken off the fire.
Tolt was at this time that the scurvy broke
out, attacking all the crews and officers.
Capt. De Haven and DR.. Kane included.
BY dint Of assiduous attention and con-
slant vigilance, however, DR.. Kane sue
ceeded in Keeping down the diseuse. and
forum ately brought them all through the
disease without losing a single man. Any
one who saw DR.. Kane's eye when he
modestly mentioned this gratifying fact.
would readily believe that his attention to
his charge would be alike enthusiastic
and unremitting.
The principal eruption in tine ice. we
may here mention. occurred on the 1lth
Of November and the 9th Of December,
1850, and the 18th Of January, 1851, on
which latter day the expedition entered
Baffin's Bay. During their continuance
in this ice the vessels were lifted up by the
stern as high as six feet seven or eight
inches, with a list to starboard Of two ieet
eight inches, the ~discomforts and %inconve-
nience OF which may we'll be imagined.
During this whole time also the men had
to have their knapsacks constantly prepar-
ed, as well as sleighs. &C., not knowing bui
that at any moment the vessels. strong as
they were, might be crushed by the ice
They we're three weeks without taking of
their clothes. Fortunately the ice lifted
up, rather than crushed the vessels, which
lay often at a considerable elevation on
the crest of the upheaving ice.
From this ice the vessels emerged on the
10th OF June, 1851, after an Imprisonment
Of nine months. During this time they
had drited one thousand and sixty miles
a polar drift of unprecedented extent. The
only one in any way analogous with it. We
believe was that ofCapt. Back, in Hudson's
Bay, which, however, did not compare with
tin extent. During this whole imprison'
ment in the ice, the two vessels suffered
comparatively little damage. The Ad'
vance lost her bob.stays and part of heI
false keel; the Rescue had her cutwateI
and bowsprit literally chiselled off.
- Having got both his vessels liberated
Capt. De Haven determined again TO try
to prosecute his search, and turned the
Advances head to the Northward. lie
succeeded in reaching the upper Melville
Bay region, but was there again hemmed
in by ice.
From this he was not liberated until the
18th of August, at which time the season
was so far advanced thar it was impossible
tor him to proceed and accomplish bis
purpose, even supposing everything should
be favorable. and no ice intervene.
He therefore reluctantly determined &c
return home. The Advance called at the
Greenland ports, where she obtained full
supplies of fresh meats. vegetables. fruits,
&c; and DIR. Kane 500 had the happi'
ness of seeing the scurvy entirely disap.
{. pear.
Capt. De Haven's was the most severe
attack, and afforded singular illustration
of one of the peculiar features of the dis
ease. A small wound on his finger, made
when a school boy, by a blow from a cane,
and many years ago completely healed
and forgotten. was re-opened by the dis
ease. A similar result attended a wound
which DR.. Kane received in the Mexican
war, and indeed every man exhibited a
similar illustration Of this phase OF the dis
ease. NJ
The expedition has returned without the
loss of a man, which speaks volumes alike
for the officers and men, and is no mean
praise for the surgeon of the expedition.
The American vessels last saw the Eng,
lish ship Prince Albert, at II o'clock, A.
Nj, on the 18th of August, standing South
South. East, having given up, as Capt. DE
Haven concluded, all hope OF getting round
the bay ice, and making the Southern
passage. Capt. De Haven thinks it pro-
bable that she would reach Prince Regents