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45-518: The First Grinnell expedition of 1850 was the first American effort, financed by Henry Grinnell , to determine the fate of the lost Franklin Northwest Passage expedition . Led by Lieutenant Edwin De Haven , the team explored the accessible areas along Franklin's proposed route. In coordination with British expeditions, they identified the remains of Franklin's Beechey Island winter camp, providing

90-494: A clerk in the commission house of H.D. & E.B. Sewell. In 1825, Henry joined his older brother Joseph (who later served as member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Massachusetts) and Preserved Fish in Fish, Grinnell & Company. A few years later, with the addition of Henry's brother-in-law, Robert Bowne Minturn , the firm became Grinnell, Minturn & Company , whose operations were greatly expanded by its entry into

135-657: A pioneer of the doctrine that cells formed the basis of living organisms. His younger brother Robert Anstruther Goodsir qualified as a medical doctor from the University of St Andrews , and Archibald studied in Edinburgh and Leipzig and qualified with membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of England . He studied medicine in Edinburgh and became a member of the Royal Medical Society . Having qualified as Licentiate of

180-564: The Advance to the ice. Henry Grinnell Grinnell was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts , on February 18, 1799. He was the son of Cornelius Grinnell (1758–1850) and Sylvia ( née Howland) Grinnell (1765–1837). His siblings included Joseph Grinnell and Moses Hicks Grinnell . After graduating from the New Bedford Academy, Grinnell moved to New York City in 1818, where he became

225-683: The Advance , and Captain Donald Manson was brought on as ice master aboard the Sophia . Preparation was managed quickly, and the expedition set out on May 22, 1850, from the Navy Yard at New York. Sighting Greenland on June 20, the expedition made harbor at the Crown Prince Islands (Whale Fish) in Disco Bay . From a British mail ship, they learned that British relief efforts were heading for

270-526: The Prince Albert , still searching for Franklin. The three ships made slow progress northward though the ice fields over the next weeks, before the way was blocked entirely. On August 5, the Prince Albert abandoned the situation, heading south through the pressing ice. Rescue and Advance continued their efforts to reach the search areas of the open waters of Wellington Channel as the summer season faded early. They slowly cut north, yard by yard, through

315-843: The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1840, he succeeded his brother John as Conservator of the Surgeons' Hall Museum in August ;1843. He held this post until March 1845, when he left to join the Franklin expedition, and he was succeeded as conservator by his brother Archibald. In 1845, he co-authored, with his brother John, Anatomical and Pathological Observations . This contained John's unpublished 1841–1842 lectures to which his brother had "added some of his own zoological, anatomical, and pathological observations." The three chapters supplied by Harry were seen by his brother as providing important confirmatory evidence to his cellular theory. It

360-464: The 22nd, the coldest temperature of the voyage was noted at −53 °F (−47 °C). As March began, the decision was made to refit the Rescue for service, including hull repairs in a drydock carved from the surrounding ice. The increased daylight, exercise and liberal rations of sauerkraut and lime juice began to reduce the symptoms of scurvy among the crew. The movement of the ice packs slowed, until

405-449: The 26th, meeting Captain Penny's ships Lady Franklin and Sophia . Penny was accompanied by R. Anstruther Goodsir, the brother of Harry Goodsir , an assistant surgeon missing with Franklin's group. Other remains, including containers with London labels, newspapers from 1844, and papers signed by Franklin's officers, were tracked from the cape. By now, the expeditions of Ross and Penny were in

450-531: The 91-ton USS  Rescue and 144-ton USS  Advance , refitted them for Arctic service and offered them to the government, who quickly provided additional funds and volunteer Naval officers and crew. The expedition was instructed to focus on the areas of the Wellington Channel and Cape Walker as conditions permitted. Elisha Kent Kane was brought in from field work in Florida to serve as surgeon aboard

495-712: The Admiralty-backed Franklin search expedition with the ships Lady Franklin and Sophia . Robert Goodsir graduated as a medical doctor from St. Andrews University in 1852, but rarely practiced medicine, travelling to New Zealand as a gold prospector and to Australia as a sheep farmer, before returning to Edinburgh where he died in 1895. He is buried there in Dean Cemetery . Between 1849 and 1959, skeletal remains representing at least 30 individuals were discovered on King William Island, and most were buried locally. In 1869, American explorer Charles Francis Hall

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540-539: The Inuit at Godhavn before setting out north to resume their search for Franklin. By June 24, they encountered the pack ice again and slowly made their way towards Upernavik. Hunting and visiting with the local Inuit passed the time until they harbored at a Danish settlement in early July. Setting out as the ice cleared, they encountered British whalers, exchanging news, mail, and fresh provisions before briefly visiting Upernavik. Nearby, they again met and joined forces with

585-452: The area of the Advance and Rescue . Coordinated search plans were being made when a land party at Beechey Island reported the discovery of graves. The three graves were marked by traditional wooden markers and protected by slabs of limestone, facing Cape Riley. Winter storms soon separated the ships, including Rescue , which was driven south out to sea. The Advance made for the relative shelter of Griffith's Island, to be joined by some of

630-651: The cape, and also at Beechey Island . The Rescue under Captain Griffin, had shared in this discovery with Captain Ommanney. At Cape Riley, remnants of stone walls were found, presumably to support Franklin's tents. Remains of cases from salted meat as well as articles of clothing and boat fragments were found. No previous expeditions were known to have camped here. De Haven observed that the ice of Wellington Channel had every indication of having remained unbroken for several years previous. The joint team proceeded to Beechey Island on

675-407: The crew made preparations for abandoning the vessels in an emergency, preparing supplies and readying sledges. The ice continued to grind the brigs. On December 7, dangerous conditions forced the desertion of the Rescue , with her crew brought on board the Advance . The Advance was lifted by the ice, and crews were periodically sent out to pry the ice away from the bow, while the vacant Rescue

720-529: The edge of Baffin Bay, with temperatures generally around −25 °F (−32 °C) as daylight began its return. On January 13, the ice activity increased amid fierce winds, and supplies cached on the ice were lost while the situation of the Rescue became more dire. The tedium of February was broken by occasional games of football on the ice, and more theatricals at night. The symptoms of scurvy advanced, and rations of fresh food were increased, but to little avail. On

765-426: The expeditions which attempted to find the Franklin expedition. In 1849, he joined the whaler Advice under the command of Scotsman William Penny , in what was the first of many unsuccessful attempts to find Franklin and his men. Robert Goodsir wrote an account of this voyage: An Arctic voyage to Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound: in search of friends with Sir John Franklin . He joined Penny again in 1850 as surgeon on

810-447: The first solid clues to Franklin's activities during the winter of 1845, before becoming icebound themselves. By 1850, three British rescue attempts had already failed to locate Franklin. In April and December 1849, Lady Jane Franklin sent appeals to American President Zachary Taylor that the search continue. When Congress lingered in passing the appropriations to purchase vessels, American merchant Henry Grinnell purchased two brigs ,

855-589: The general shipping business. The company became one of the strongest and best known mercantile houses in New York City. Henry Grinnell retired in 1850, around the time that he became very interested in the fate of the lost Franklin Polar Expedition . For the remainder of his life he corresponded regularly with Lady Jane Franklin and others interested in solving the mystery, as well as promoting and funding several expeditions. The first of these expeditions

900-491: The grandfather of Josephine Lucy Grinnell (1877–1957), who married Fredrick Harold Van Rensselaer (1874–1903), a grandson of U.S. Representative Henry Bell Van Rensselaer , in 1898. After his death of cerebro meningitis , she married the actor Harold Rogers Woolf (1880–1953), nephew of Benjamin Edward Woolf , in 1905. They divorced and in 1913, she married Robert Stewart Smith (1875–1944). Through his daughter Sylvia, he

945-556: The ice closed in. After casting off to open water the next day, steady progress northward was made along the coast towards Lancaster Sound where they encountered Inuit hunters near Cape York , at nearly 76° north. Crews occasionally made short trips inland for hunting and observation. On August 18, the expedition made contact with British ship Lady Franklin under Captain William Penny, embarked on their own Franklin rescue mission. News of other concurrent British expeditions

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990-406: The ice floe approached Cape Searle . Slabs of ice were cut from the mass surrounding the ships and winched away. Fresh meat from bird hunting and an occasional polar bear strengthened the crews. The open water crept closer to the ships, but remained tantalizingly out of reach. The break-up of the ice flow finally released the ships on June 5, 1851, after drifting some 1,050 miles (1,690 km);

1035-531: The increasingly violent pack ice, as larger icebergs drifted in and calved still more loose ice. By August 17, they had pulled themselves to open water for the first time in nearly a month, and De Haven resolved to return home before winter caught them again. Upernavik was reached on August 23. They were met by Henry Grinnell at New York on September 30, 1851, to whom both ships were returned. In his official report, De Haven concluded that Franklin had probably made north for an unknown open sea following

1080-497: The others. The Rescue had regained control to the south, and De Haven, judging that the expedition had not reached a point from which the search could be resumed, decided to attempt a return of both ships home with the information gathered. The ice thickened, however, and the two ships were soon caught fast in Wellington Channel at roughly 75°24' north. De Haven named the mountains to the distant north "Grinnell Land", which

1125-724: The remains by the eminent biologist Thomas Henry Huxley , the Admiralty concluded that the remains were those of Henry Le Vesconte , a lieutenant on HMS Erebus . A subsequent examination in 2009 of the "well-preserved and fairly complete skeleton of a young adult male of European ancestry" included a facial reconstruction that showed "excellence of fit" with the face of Harry Goodsir, as portrayed in his 1845 daguerreotype . Strontium and oxygen isotope data from tooth enamel were consistent with an upbringing in eastern Scotland, but not with Lt. Le Vesconte's upbringing in southwest England. A further clue suggesting these might be Goodsir's remains

1170-427: The same region. Advance and Rescue left the islands on June 29, encountering the ice field on July 1, while proceeding towards Upernavik . By July 7, the pack ice was dense enough to compel the Advance to tow the Rescue to prevent the vessels from becoming separated. The crews were periodically sent onto the ice to 'bore' a passage by hand, using crowbars, ice anchors and boathooks. For 21 days

1215-448: The ships were held around 72° north. At mid-March, the ice began to break up and wildlife began to return amid heavy snows. April brought some open water as the crew began salting the ice around the two brigs. On April 22, the crew of the Rescue completed their return to their ship, surprised that the brig had survived the winter after all. By mid-May, efforts to weaken the ice at the ships with long saws began to show results as

1260-419: The ships were held nearly fast, only heaved slowly forward by efforts of the crew. Finally freed of the pack ice on July 28, the expedition sailed across Melville Bay, amid persistent ice bergs. As August began, food supplies were supplemented by hunting the returning auks and the occasional polar bear . On August 10, a wind change forced both ships to tie in and ride out dangerous pressure heaves as

1305-497: The stern of the Advance was still held aloft by a last large table of ice. Ice saws were used, but gunpowder for blasting could not be spared. These efforts were ineffective, as the ice also firmly held the rudder of the brig. This ice violently released the Advance on June 8, after which both ships made sail through a labyrinth of ice. They reached the Whale Fish Islands on June 16, and recuperated for five days with

1350-523: The vessel, hopelessly beset in the ice, was abandoned. In 1856, Grinnell was instrumental in having the recently salvaged HMS Resolute restored at the expense of the United States government, and returned to Great Britain as a good-will gesture. This was partly in the hope that the vessel would be used for a further search for the Franklin expedition. On later occasions, Grinnell manifested his unabated interest in polar exploration by contributing to

1395-590: The voyage of Isaac Israel Hayes in 1860, and the three expeditions of Charles Francis Hall between 1860 and 1870. He was also a regular correspondent with the writer and unsuccessful explorer William Parker Snow . Henry Grinnell was also one of the founders, and the first president, of the American Geographical and Statistical Society . In 1853, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society . On June 12, 1822, Grinnell

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1440-411: The wind. Lard lamps kept the cabin temperatures just above freezing. Several crew members began showing early signs of scurvy , against which Kane hunted seals and foxes to provide fresh meat. Curious foxes were tamed to amuse the crew. Full winter preparations were completed by November 9, with the ships now in the vicinity of Beechey Island and temperatures generally below zero. As December began,

1485-551: The winter near Beechy Island. Ultimately, it would be determined that the opposite was true, and that Franklin had continued south according to his original orders. De Haven, despondent over the premature conclusion of the expedition, regarded the voyage "with sad hearts that our labours had served to throw so little light upon the object of our search." In 1853, Kane led the Second Grinnell expedition , failing to locate any new information regarding Franklin and ultimately abandoning

1530-416: Was a gold filling in a premolar tooth, unusual at that time. Goodsir's family were friendly with Robert Nasmyth , an Edinburgh dentist with an international reputation for such work. Harry's brother John had served as dental apprentice to Nasmyth. Analysis of the bones suggest that death was caused by an infected tooth. Harry Goodsir appears as a character in the 2007 novel The Terror by Dan Simmons ,

1575-614: Was a paper entitled "On the anatomy of Forbesia", which was "... transmitted by the author from Disko Island in Greenland in June ;1845. " This was published five years later, and is a comprehensive description of the insect species with 18 detailed illustrations. He is described as "Acting surgeon on HMS Erebus ". The expedition was last seen by Europeans one month later in July ;1845. Goodsir's younger brother Robert joined two of

1620-509: Was being slowly torn apart just 50 yards (46 m) away. The floe continued drifting, now to the southeast towards new ice hazards in Baffin Bay . Griffin led the practice of evacuation drills and snow was packed around the Advance as insulation from the increasing cold. Eight of the crew now displayed the blackened gums of scurvy as morale declined in the perpetual Arctic night, despite an improvised Christmas theatrical. The year 1851 began at

1665-512: Was exchanged. On the 21st, they encountered the Felix , under the command of Sir John Ross . On the 22nd, they met with Captain Forsyth aboard the Prince Albert , who suggested a joint sledge search of the lower Boothian and Cockburne lands. Discovery of a cairn left two days earlier by Assistance and Intrepid at Cape Riley, Devon Island , indicated that traces of British encampments had been found at

1710-533: Was in 1850, when he purchased and loaned to the United States Navy the brigs Rescue and Advance to search the Arctic under the overall command of Lieutenant Edwin De Haven . After these vessels returned unsuccessful, he funded a second expedition with the Advance under Elisha Kent Kane which explored the region named Grinnell Land off the north-western coast of Greenland between 1853 and 1855, when

1755-478: Was later determined to be a peninsula of Devon Island . The heavy ice nipped at the vessels and the floe dragged both ships northward as seasonal darkness began to set in. By October 1, the two ships were prepared for the long winter, with the upper decks covered, sails stacked and stove pipes set. An emergency depot of provisions was cached on the nearest shore. Periodically violent ice movements threatened both ships, which drifted north or south as dictated by

1800-544: Was married to Sarah Minturn (d. 1881) the daughter of William Minturn Jr. and Sarah (née Bowne) Minturn from the prominent merchant and shipping family . Together, they were the parents of: Grinnell died on June 30, 1874, and was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York . In 1880, the British Government presented his widow with a lady's desk made from timbers from the recently demolished HMS Resolute . This

1845-664: Was never found, but forensic studies in 2009 on skeletal remains earlier recovered from King William Island in Canada suggest that they may be those of Harry Goodsir. Harry Goodsir was born on 3 November 1819 in Anstruther , Fife , the son of Dr. John Goodsir, a medical practitioner. His paternal grandfather, also Dr. John Goodsir, had been a medical practitioner in the nearby town of Lower Largo . Three of Harry's brothers became medical practitioners. John Goodsir , his elder brother, would become Professor of Anatomy at Edinburgh University and

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1890-503: Was not the Resolute desk , but a companion desk made from other timbers from the same vessel. Through his daughter Sarah, he was the grandfather of Frances Sherborne Ridley "Fanny" Watts (b. 1852). Fanny was a childhood friend of the artist John Singer Sargent , who painted her in 1877. The painting was the first that Sargent submitted to the Paris Salon . Through his son Robert, he was

1935-488: Was taken by local Inuit to a shallow grave on King William Island containing well-preserved skeletal remains and fragments of clothing. These remains were repatriated and interred beneath the Franklin Memorial at Greenwich Old Royal Naval College , London. The remains were thought to be those of an officer due to the remnants of a silk vest in which the body had been clothed and a gold tooth filling. After examination of

1980-485: Was the grandfather of Sylvia Leith-Ross (1884–1980), who was an anthropologist and writer who worked in Nigeria. Harry Goodsir Henry Duncan Spens Goodsir (3 November 1819 – c.  1848 ) was a Scottish physician and naturalist who contributed to the pioneering work on cell theory done by his brother John Goodsir . He served as surgeon and naturalist on the ill-fated Franklin expedition . His body

2025-683: Was this book that was to win John Goodsir international acclaim and led to the German pathologist Rudolph Virchow dedicating his epoch-making volume to him. Rear Admiral Sir John Franklin , who had previously served on three expeditions to the Arctic, set off in what would prove Franklin's final expedition in 1845, commanding HMS  Erebus and HMS  Terror . There were four medical officers: Dr. Stephen Stanley and surgeon Harry Goodsir on HMS Erebus , and Dr. John Peddie and Dr. Alexander McDonald on HMS Terror . Goodsir's final communication

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