ELISHA KENT KANE AND THE SEAFARING FRONTIER

by Jeanette Mirsky ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 24, 1954

An engrossing guide to Americana tells the life story of a pioneer of the Northern Frontier who wrote a romantic page in seafaring history and whose legacy to future explorers is still valid. A sufferer from rheumatic fever, young Kane determined to make his few years count. His medical training and voyages to the Far East, Europe, Africa and Mexico prepared him for his bouts with the Arctic. The first Grinnell expedition, undertaken as a rescue party in search of Franklin, lost while seeking the North-west Passage so passionately believed in at the time, introuced Kane to the Arctic. Heading the second expedition, he turned to the open Polar Sea and Greenland, forsaking the inner waters of Baffin's Bay. His journals, telling of the pact and friendship after initial trials with the Etahs, the long weight of the winter season with the onslaught of scurvy, the adventures and misadventures, reveals a keen mind and alert person. He returned to civilization to die in his glory and to pass on his studies of adaptation to environment, scurvy, and mapping to future generations. A little explored writing frontier well handled.

Pub Date: May 24, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1954

Categories: NONFICTION