The Story of Elisha Kent Kane for Young Americans

by Nellie Kingsley

Copyrighted 1902

The source book entitled, four American Heroes, was authored by Nellie Kingsley, and published by the The Werner School Book Company.

This book included the follow titles:

1) The Story of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark for Young Americans

2) The Story of John Charles Fremont for Young Americans

3) The Story of Elisha Kent Kane for Young Americans,

This review includes only The Story of Elisha Kent Kane for Young Americans, the other two are covered in separate articles.

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The publication consists approximately 68 pages of text and approximately 11 black and white images and an additional 46 images that are part not of the original book.

This is an ideal book for the first time exposure to the American explorer Dr. Elisha Kent Kane and the early explorations of the Arctic.

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Review

I’m a California kid so I get cold when the temperature dips to 40 degrees. I can’t even image living in a place where it actually snows…. Brrrrrr… So it is astonishing to me that Dr Kane volunteered for such duty. He actually wanted to explore the Arctic; to study it; to experience it.

The early explorations of the Arctic were like no other explorations. Not only were the explorers faced with the ‘usual’ constant hardships and dangers such as drowning or starving or scurvy or being lost or being killed or maimed and in some cases even eaten (by animals and humans) they faced the very real prospect of freezing to death.

And how about isolation ? Could you imagine being on a tiny crowded wooden ship stuck in the ice for months at a time and sometimes years at a time ? And it’s not like everyone took a bath every day; or that there was a huge variety of food; there was no cable TV and no Internet. No mail no email. And definitely there were no women.

If the ship survived you would eventually sail away but sometimes the ship was crushed by the ice and you had to make your way to land or perish as many did. (Dr. Kane and his men hiked overland for 82 days when their ship was destroyed).

And it’s not like these explorations had the promise of riches to those who returned. I mean a trip to the Spice Islands with Captain Cook could enrich a sailor for life. And there were no prolonged visits to Fiji or the Hawaiian Islands etc for rest and relaxation.

To me the Arctic Explorers had to endure the worst hardships. Which to me makes it even more amazing that Dr. Kane had volunteered several times to participate in such expeditions. He was an adventurer at heart before he ever explored the Arctic so I guess several trips to the Arctic seemed to suit him just fine. And what is even more astonishing is he had a somewhat fragile constitution and he was often very ill even near death during these these trips.

He was obviously a valuable asset on these expeditions. As a doctor he did care for the men and did his best to to minister to their needs and wants. There is much affection toward him to this end.

Even though he died at the ripe young age of 37 Dr. Kane was a much revered hero of his time; much more so than our modern society recognizes.

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Table of Contents:

I. BOYHOOD II. STUDIES MEDICINE III. IN FOREIGN LANDS IV. IN MEXICO V. SENT TO THE ARCTIC SEAS VI. IN THE POLAR REGIONS VII. FAST IN THE ICE VIII. BEARS AND WALRUSES IX. TRACES OF FRANKLIN X. WINTER IN THE ICE XI. OFF FOR HOME XII. PLANS FOR A NEW EXPEDITION XIII. JOURNEYING BY LAND AND SEA XIV. A VISIT FROM ESKIMOS XV. ANOTHER ARCTIC WINTER XVI. THE "ADVANCE" LEFT IN THE ICE XVII. HOME AGAIN"

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Reviews of Antiquarian Books

Website: American Era History www.ebookjoint.com

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