USS Advance ( 1847 ) The first USS " Advance " was a brigantine in the United States Navy which participated in an arctic rescue expedition . " Advance " was built in 1847 as " Augusta " in New Kent County , Virginia and loaned to the Navy on 7 May 1850 by Mr . Henry Grinnell to participate in the search for Sir John Franklin ' s arctic expedition which had been stranded in the frozen north since 1847 . After last - minute preparations , the ship , under the command of Lieutenant Edwin J . De Haven and in company with , put to sea from New York on 23 May 1850 . First rescue expedition . Storms battered the two ships on the initial leg of the voyage and separated them . However , both safely reached Disko Island , located off the west coast of Greenland where Davis Strait gives way to Baffin Bay . " Advance " arrived on 24 June , and " Rescue " pulled into port three days later . On the 29th , the two ships headed into Baffin Bay , bound for Lancaster Sound located north of Baffin Island and south of Devon Island . Off Haroe Island on 1 July , " Advance " encountered pack ice . A week later , she and her consort were caught in the pack just north of Upernavik . For the next three weeks , the two ships fought their way through the ice . On the 29th , they cleared the pack and continued their voyage across Melville Bay to Lancaster Sound . The two ships entered the sound on 19 August and , that same day , encountered two British vessels engaged in the same mission as the Americans . That evening , a storm blew up and separated " Advance " and " Rescue " . The next day dawned " thick and foggy , " but the wind had abated . " Advance " began searching for her companion . By 25 August , she was off Cape Riley on Devon Island where she put ashore a landing party to search for clues to the whereabouts of the Franklin expedition . While the searchers ashore were discovering the former campsite of some unidentified party , " Advance " was run aground by a strong current . The British ship " Prince Albert " offered assistance , but " Rescue " showed up at about the same time . Moreover , " Advance " lightened her load and succeeded in hauling off by her own efforts . On 26 August , the two ships attempted the passage of Wellington Channel to search the area north of Cape Spencer . Soon , however , they found the way north blocked by a solid mass of pack ice and prudently returned south to the vicinity of Point Innes . There , the Americans again encountered the British , along with positive evidence of the Franklin party having camped nearby . Heartened by that find and by a favorable change in weather conditions , they headed back toward Wellington Channel . At Beechy Island , all the search vessels gathered in a cove ( later called Union Bay ) to plan a coordinated search . While the leading officers were so engaged , a party sent ashore discovered three graves and " other unmistakable evidences of the missing expedition ( Franklin ' s ) having passed its first winter here . " At that point , she and " Rescue " entered Wellington Channel to pursue the search , but the pack ice quickly closed in upon the two ships . Though they tried to escape the clutches of the pack , abysmal weather foiled their attempts ; and " Rescue " suffered a damaged rudder . By mid - September , they were caught fast in the floating ice . For the duration of the winter , " Advance " and " Rescue " were at the mercy of the drifting floe . For what remained of September and most of October , they drifted in Wellington Channel , discovering the northern peninsula of Devon Island which they named Grinnell in honor of the expedition ' s benefactor . During November , changing winds carried them back and forth past Beechy Island . In December , the floe made the transit of Lancaster Sound and , on 14 January 1851 , they reentered Baffin Bay . Their imprisonment , however , did not end until early June . They had passed Davis Strait in May , and the floe began to break up near the end of the first week in June . " Rescue " – repaired – cleared the pack on 7 June 1851 . " Advance " followed the next day . The expedition replenished at Disko Bay and sought to renew the search . However , the ice proved heavier than in the previous year ; and prudence dictated that the mission be abandoned for the time being . Therefore , the two ships headed back to the United States . " Advance " arrived in New York on 30 September 1851 , and " Rescue " reached that port on 7 October . Both ships were returned to Mr . Grinnell , and he immediately began outfitting " Advance " for another Arctic expedition . Second expedition . Preparations for the second Franklin rescue expedition took about 20 months . " Advance " finally departed New York on 30 May 1853 , Passed Assistant Surgeon Elisha Kent Kane in command . The expedition stopped at Upernavik , Greenland , to purchase supplies and , most importantly , sled dogs for searches ashore and on the solidly frozen floes . Continuing north , " Advance " passed the length of Baffin Bay reaching Smith Sound — the northern terminus of Baffin Bay — by 7 August . Near the end of August , she reached her northernmost point — about 78°43 ' north latitude — in Kane Basin , named for the ship ' s commanding officer , Passed Assistant Surgeon Kane . At that point , Kane decided to pass the winter among a group of islets near the Greenland coast rather than to return south to some safer harbor . By 10 September , " Advance " was imprisoned in the ice . The interior of the ship underwent extensive preparations for wintering farther north than any previous expedition . When that was complete , the crew began expeditions across the frozen wastes both on the Greenland shore and the frozen pack . Kane and his officers also established a scientific station to observe climatic conditions and to make astronomical calculations . Their expeditions on foot , however , were hampered by the loss of almost all their sled dogs to disease . In the absence of animal transport , the men themselves carried out the searches and explorations on foot , serving as beasts of burden to manhandle caches of supplies to points which would allow for more distant searches in the future . On one such expedition in late March 1854 , four of the party suffered so severely from frostbite that they had to be left behind under the care of a fifth man while the remaining members of the party — too physically exhausted to do more than drag their own persons across the frozen wastes — headed back to the brig for help . The leader of that group , upon returning to the brig , volunteered to return with the rescue party as a guide . However , his own ordeal caused him to fall victim of a temporary mental disorder and prevented him from rendering any real help . It was only good luck — first in finding the advanced party ' s trail and then in sighting a canvas tent at the site of the disabled men ' s " encampment " — and their own Herculean efforts that allowed the rescue party to complete their mission . Even that success , however , was marred by the fact that two of the rescued men later succumbed to their infirmities . Fatigue and illness of all associated with the rescue expedition prevented Kane from undertaking further searches until the end of April . During that interlude , Eskimo s arrived in the area , and Kane bartered with them for additional sled dogs . The four animals he thus obtained allowed him to fit out a single seven - dog team which greatly extended the range of their searches . In his own words , " The value of these animals for Arctic ice - travel ( sic ) can hardly be over - estimated ( sic ) . " Through the ensuing summer , search parties ranged the far northern coasts of Greenland and the eastern coast of Ellesmere Island searching for evidence of Sir John Franklin ' s party and making notes on geography and climate . Abandonment of the " Advance " . " Advance ' s " crewmen passed the second winter in a state of near hibernation . The difficulties of the previous year had sapped their strength , and their provisions were too scant to restore it . Scurvy — that dread disease of the sea — riddled their ranks to the point that Kane and one other man " . . . only remained to attend upon the sick , and carry on the daily work of the ship , if that name could still appropriately designate the burrow which we inhabited . " The sun returned late in February 1855 , and wild game followed it in March . Reasonably adequate food and the sunlight slowly brought the men back some semblance of full strength . At that point , Kane decided to abandon the ship — still frozen solidly in the floe — and make it across the ice to the Danish settlements of southern Greenland . Shortages of fuel and food , as well as the weakened condition of the crew , made that decision inescapable . Preparations for the journey were multifaceted and complicated . Those capable of work prepared two 25 - foot whaleboats and a 13 - foot dinghy by mounting them on iron - shod wooden runners and then loading them with provisions . Meanwhile , Kane took the dog sled and team out to an abandoned Eskimo hut located some 35 miles from the brig . There , he established an advanced depot to store provisions for the actual journey . During April and the first half of May , he made several trips carrying supplies to his makeshift way station . On 15 May 1855 , he began transporting the incapacitated members of the crew to the way station . Two days later , the main group began its torturous trek across the ice hummocks with the three boat - sleds . The main party , without the assistance of dogs , managed a snail ' s pace of only some three and one - half miles a day . While the main group inched its way , Kane continued his more rapid trips — facilitated by the dogs — both back to the brig and to an Eskimo camp located about 75 miles south of the ship . In this manner , he moved the sick to the way station , brought additional supplies from the ship , and returned from the Eskimo camp with fresh game . He last visited the ship on 8 June 1855 and , by the middle of that month , all the sick gradually joined the main party then nearing Littleton Island . The mode of travel again was Kane ' s dog sled During the journey south toward Cape Alexander , the party suffered numerous breaks through the ice as the spring thaw arrived . At least one man , Acting Carpenter Ohlsen , died from exposure resulting from such an incident . By 18 June , the entire party reached open water at the edge of the floe near Cape Alexander . The journey had netted them only 81 miles in 31 days , but the numerous cutbacks and detours , necessitated by the ice hummocks , resulted in an actual trek of over 300 miles . From that point , they took to the boats . During the next phase of the journey , they alternated between runs across open water under sail and marches across frozen ice hummocks when necessary . By 21 July 1855 , the men reached Cape York , the point at which they would begin the transit to Upernavik . There , they erected a rock monument in which they left information regarding their planned movements , a list of provisions on hand , and a brief summary of the expedition ' s findings . That project completed , Kane and his crew started out across Melville Bay . On 6 August , Kane led his exhausted party into Upernavik . They took passage from Upernavik in the Danish brig " Marianne " to Disko Island where they were met by the relief expedition made up of and under the command of Lt . Hartstene . The two relief ships brought the survivors into New York on 11 October 1855 . Presumably , the pack ice eventually crushed and sank the abandoned " Advance " .