On the fitting out of the first Grinnell expedition, in 1850, to search for Sir John Franklin, Kane was appointed surgeon and naturalist under Lieut. de Haven, who commanded the ships "Advance" and "Rescue." The expedition, after an absence of sixteen months, during nine of which the ships were ice-bound, returned without having found any trace of the missing vessels. Kane was in feeble health, but worked on at his narrative of the expedition, which was published in 1854, under the title of _The U.S. Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin_. He was determined not to give up the search for Franklin, and in spite of ill-health travelled through the States lecturing to obtain funds, and gave up his pay for twenty months. At length Henry Grinnell fitted out an expedition, in the little brig "Advance," of which Kane was given the command. She sailed in June 1853, and passing up Smith Sound at the head of Baffin Bay advanced into the enclosed sea which now bears the name of Kane Basin, thus establishing the Polar route of many future Arctic expeditions. Here, off the coast of Greenland, the expedition passed two winters, accomplishing much useful geographical, as well as scientific, work, including the attainment of what was to remain for sixteen years the highest northern latitude, 80 deg. 35' N. (June 1854). From this point a large area of open water was seen which was believed to be an "open Polar Sea," a chimera which played an important and delusive role in subsequent explorations. After enduring the greatest hardships it was resolved to abandon the ship, Upernivik being reached on the 5th of August 1855, whence a relief expedition brought the explorers home. Medals were authorized by Congress, and in the following year Dr Kane received the founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society, and, two years later, a gold medal from the Paris Geographical Society. He published _The Second Grinnell Expedition_ in 1856. Dr Kane died at Havana on the 16th of February 1857, at the age of thirty-seven. Between his first and second arctic voyages he made the acquaintance of the Fox family, the spiritualists. With one of the daughters, Margaret, he carried on a long correspondence, which was afterwards published by the lady, who declared that they were privately married. See _Biography of E. K. Kane_, by William Elder (1858); _Life of E. K. Kane and other American Explorers_, by S. M. Smucker (1858); _The Love-Life of Dr Kane, containing the Correspondence and a History of the Engagement and Secret Marriage between E. K. Kane and Margaret Fox_ (New York, 1866); "Discoveries of Dr Kane," in _Jour. of the Roy. Geog. Soc._, vol. xxviii. (reprinted in _R. G. S. Arctic Papers_ of 1875).