The Arctic Queen - A Poem Dedicated to Elisha Kent Kane, in Search of Sir John Franklin

In 1845, British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin (1786–1847) embarked on his third and final expedition into the Canadian Arctic to force the Northwest Passage. After two years with no word, a £20,000 reward was offered to anyone who could find the expedition, leading to many rescue attempts. Two such attempts were undertaken by Elisha Kent Kane (1820–1857), American explorer and United States Navy medical officer. Despite contracting scurvy and suffering greatly during