USS Rescue ( 1850 ) The first USS " Rescue " was a brig in service with the United States Navy . The brigs " Rescue " and , specially reinforced and fitted out for Arctic service , were offered on loan to the U . S . Government by Henry Grinnell in 1850 for use in a rescue mission tracing the ill - fated expedition which , in May 1845 , had sailed from England under Sir John Franklin seeking a northwest passage . Two years later the Admiralty dispatched relief expeditions . Since there was still no news of the expedition by 1 May 1850 , the U . S . Congress authorized the President to accept Mr . Grinnell ' s offer . In accordance with the wishes of both Congress and Mr . Grinnell , both ships were manned by volunteers from the U . S . Navy . On 22 May , the expedition , commanded by Lt . Edwin De Haven , sailed from New York with " Rescue ' s " captain , Acting Master Samuel P . Griffin , second in command . Sailing independently the first days out , the two ships rendezvoused at the Whalefish Islands in Disko Bay , Greenland , and on 29 June headed for Melville Bay and the northern route across Baffin Bay to Lancaster Sound . On 1 July they encountered their first pack ice off Haröe Island . On the 8th , they were caught in the ice north of Upernavik and spent the next 21 days forcing their way through the ice . Free on the 29th , the brigs continued through the heavy floes of Melville Bay into August . On the 19th , they entered Lancaster Sound . By the 23d , " Rescue " was off Cape Riley , Devon Island . There , Griffin and others from his crew joined searchers from a British squadron in the discovery of a campsite previously occupied by an unknown Royal Navy party . On the 26th , the American expedition attempted to enter Wellington Channel and search to the north of Cape Spencer . Meeting another British ship , they learned that positive evidence of the Franklin party had been found between the Cape and Point Innes . Ice , however , blocked further progress to the north , through the channel , and to the west , into Barrow Strait . On the 27th , the search vessels , British and American , gathered in a cove , later named Union Bay , at Beechey Island to plan coordinated searches . As the commanders made their plans , a shore party discovered three graves on the island , across from Cape Riley . Franklin ' s first winter quarters had been found . From that time on , however , little progress was made in the search , even though sledge parties were sent out . One such party , from " Rescue " , followed traces of a similar journey by a party from one of Franklin ' s ships , or , almost to Cape Bowden . Continuing past that point , they discovered a bay which now bears Griffin ' s name . During early September further attempts were made to penetrate the ice barrier to the west . On the 12th , " Rescue ' s " rudder post was split in a storm off Griffith ' s Island , and on the 13th the two ships , " Advance " towing " Rescue " , turned east in hopes of returning to the United States that season . On the 14th , however , they were caught , frozen , midway across the entrance to Wellington Channel . A winter of drifting began . During September and October they drifted in the Wellington Channel , discovering in the process the northern peninsula of Devon Island which they named after Grinnell . In November they oscillated with the winds and currents near Beechey , and in December they drifted down Lancaster Sound . On 14 January 1851 , they were carried into Baffin Bay . At the end of May , their imprisoning floe neared Davis Strait , and on 5 June , the ice began to break up . " Rescue " , repaired , parted company with " Advance " . On the 7th , she was free . On the 8th , " Advance " cleared the ice . Both ships replenished in Disko Bay and into August attempted to renew their search . But the ice was heavier than the previous year , and neither ships nor men could have lasted through another winter . Scurvy had struck , but no one had died . A second winter in northern Baffin Bay would have brought a return of the disease and disaster . The ships turned south . " Advance " reached New York 30 September 1851 . " Rescue " followed her into port on 7 October . Both ships were subsequently returned to Mr . Grinnell , and " Advance " was prepared for a second Arctic expedition . The " Rescue " was later sold and became the schooner " Amaret " , tender to the barque " George Henry " at the time Charles Francis Hall went to the Arctic on his first expedition in 1860 . " Amaret " was driven ashore in a gale at Holsteinborg Harbour , Greenland on 27 September 1860 , and became a total wreck .