[ Kane / The U.S. Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin: A Personal Narrative ]
This book was first published in 1853 by Harper and Bros., New York. The text below is taken from the edition published in 1854.
The "Grinnell Expeditions" (there were two: the first in 1850, the second in 1853) were named for Henry Grinnell, an American shippping magnate and philanthropist who became fascinated with the failed Franklin Expedition of 1845 and financed two "rescue" expeditions, which succeeded only in finding some traces of Franklin's expedition — and in adding to the tally of sailors and explorers who died trying to "rescue" Sir John Franklin and his crews, or at least determine their fate.
In the preface to this book, Elisha Kent Kane explains that he intended to revise and polish the book further, but the fortuitous receipt of a second commission to search for Franklin's expedition prevented him from having the time to do so. Kane's first expedition in search of Franklin (the "First Grinnell Expedition"), for which he served as medical officer, took place in 1850 - 1851.
Kane's first expedition had, it seems, no Newfoundland dogs, though Kane twice mentions them metaphorically. For the multiple Newfoundland references in Kane's account of his second voyage, which included ten Newfs, click here.
Early in his narrative Kane recounts an experience, occurring as he and his men had put in at a resupply port before commencing the main part of their journey, that gives a good indication of the size of Newfoundland dogs:
While we were standing upon deck, waiting for the boat to be manned which was to take us to the shore, something like a large Newfoundland dog was seen moving rapidly through the water. As it approached, we could see a horn-like prolongation bulging from its chest, and every now and then a queer movement, as of two flapping wings, which, acting alternately on either side, seemed to urge it through the water. Almost immediately it was alongside of as, and then we realized what was the much talked-of kayack of the Greenlanders. (37)
The second and final reference to Newfoundlands occurs on page 239, where Kane is discussing a surveillance trip he took:
Returning with Captain De Haven, we saw the recent prints of a bear and two cubs, that had evidently been scenting our foot-marks of the day before. The old bear was not large, measuring by her trail only six feet four inches; the young ones so small as to surprise us, their track not much bigger than that of a Newfoundland dog.