Arctic Explorer with Shackleton-like escape

[Stan]

This adventure happened in 1853 and, after two years ice bound in the Arctic, culminated with a portage of whaleboats and 800 miles of Arctic sea to Upernavik, Greenland. Elisha Kent Kane never received the recognition of Ernest Shackleton but his ordeal sounds no less impressive.

I'll be looking for the book, Race to the Polar Sea by Ken McGoogan but in the meantime, here's an article from Stanford Magazine:

http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2011/janfeb/farm/kane.html

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Kane's own book (two volumes) about his search for the lost Sir John Franklin expedition, which did not fare so well, is a classic, and because the book was reprinted numerous times in popular editions (see link below), Kane's story became very well known at the time. But, I think that you are correct, later expeditions to Antarctica, such as Shackleton's, Scott's, and Amundsen's, among others, have become better known over time, in part because of the greater number of films.

Arctic Explorations: The Second Grinnell Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, '54, '55. by KANE, Elisha Kent

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=elisha+Kent+Kane&sortby=2&x=77&y=12

 

[DougPaul]

The exploration of the seaways of the Canadian Arctic are covered nicely (including the above expeditions) in "The Arctic Grail: the Quest for the Northwest Passage and The North Pole, 1818-1909", by Pierre Berton. An enjoyable read. http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Grail-...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296399735&sr=8-1

Doug

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

And, just to keep this thread on the hiking track, hiking/skiing to the North Pole to complete the Grand Slam, as one of our members on VftT has done, will become more and more difficult as Arctic sea ice continues to disintegrate. Here is another recent study that suggests a possible cause for this process.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54278