Edwin Jesse De Haven: the first US Arctic explorer

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Cruwys, Liz
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1992
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Arctic; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Kane; Peacock; Antarc*; Polar Record
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400020660; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400020660

ABSTRACT Edwin Jesse De Haven (1816–1865) led the first Grinnell expedition in search of the lost British explorer Sir John Franklin in 1850–1851. Since it was the ship's charismatic surgeon, Elisha Kent Kane, who wrote the popular account of the voyage, De Haven's achievements have generally been overlooked. De Haven joined the United States Navy when he was 13 and was master on the ill-fated Peacock during the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842) to the Antarctic under Charles Wilkes. He saw action in the Mexican War in 1848, and was serving under Matthew Fontaine Maury at the Naval Observatory when he was chosen to take command of the first United States Franklin search expedition. He retired from the navy at the age of 46 and died three years later.