File:Arctic explorations- the second Grinnell expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, '54, '55 (1856) (14598669377).jpg

Identifier: arcticexploratio01kane (find matches)
Title: Arctic explorations: the second Grinnell expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, '54, '55
Year: 1856 (1850s)
Authors: Kane, Elisha Kent, 1820-1857
Subjects: Grinnell Expedition 1853-1855)
Publisher: Philadelphia, Childs & Peterson (etc., etc.)
Contributing Library: University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Digitizing Sponsor: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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anationwhich reconciles it with established laws,—may bequestions for men skilled in scientific deductions. Minehas been the more humble duty of recording what wesaw. Coming as it did, a mysterious fluidity in themidst of vast plains of sohd ice, it was well calculatedto arouse emotions of the highest order; and I do notbelieve there was a man among us who did not long forthe means of embarking upon its bright and lonelywaters. But he who may be content to follow ourstory for the next few months will feel, as we did,that a controlling necessity made the desire a fruitlessone. An open sea near the Pole, or even an open Polarbasin, has been a topic of theory for a long time, andhas been shadowed forth to some extent by actual orsupposed discoveries. As far back as the days ofBarentz, in 1596, without referring to the earher andmore uncertain chronicles, water was seen to the east-ward of the northernmost cape of Novaia Zemlia; and,until its hmited extent was defined by direct observa-
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ILLUSORY DISCOVERIES. 807 tion, it was assumed to be the sea itself. The Dutchfishermen above and around Spitzbergen pushed theiradventurous cruises through the ice into open spacesvarjdng in size and form with the season and thewinds; and Dr. Scoresby, a venerated authority, alludesto such vacancies in the floe as pointing in argumentto a freedom of movement from the north, inducingopen water in the neighborhood of the Pole. BaronWrangell, when forty miles from the coast of ArcticAsia, saw, as he thought, a vast, illimitable ocean,forgetting for the moment how narrow are the limitsof human vision on a sphere. So, still more recently.Captain Penny proclaimed a sea in Welhngton Sound,on the very spot where Sir Edward Belcher has sinceleft his frozen ships; and my predecessor Captain Ingle-field, from the mast-head of his little vessel, announcedan open Polar basin, but fifteen miles off from theice which arrested our progress the next year. All these illusory discoveries were no doubt

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