The Open Polar Sea was one of the most prevalent myths of nineteenth-century Arctic exploration. Several explorers had hypothesised a stretch of ice-free sea between Greenland and the North Pole, and several expeditions set out in search of it. One of these was planned and led by Isaac Israel Hayes (1832 81), an American physician and explorer. This account of the expedition, first published in 1866, was compiled from his journals. Having left Boston in a small schooner so overloaded with equipment that a passenger could lean over the deck rail and touch the sea, Hayes and his crew almost...

After the expedition of Sir John Franklin went missing in the Arctic, a series of search missions were sent out in an attempt to discover its fate. Two of these were funded by, and named after, the American shipping magnate Henry Grinnell (1799-1874), the second of which was launched in 1853. With the brig Advance trapped in ice off the coast of northern Greenland, the expedition's surgeon Isaac Israel Hayes (1832-81) set out in August 1854 with a party of men towards Upernavik. This 1860 publication traces nearly four months spent struggling against horrendous Arctic conditions. Also...

Despite the fact that his previous trip to the Arctic had left him gravely ill and with a permanently injured foot, the explorer and physician Isaac Israel Hayes (1832-81) immediately proclaimed his desire to return north. In 1869, aboard the steamer Panther, he was granted his wish. The trip was financed by the artist William Bradford (1823-92), who planned to use it as an opportunity to paint and photograph Greenland. First published in 1871, this account gives the reader the opportunity to survey the landscape, touching also on the history of polar exploration. It is illustrated with a...