Editing USS Advance (1847) (section)

==First rescue expedition==
{{Main|First Grinnell Expedition}}

Storms battered the two ships on the initial leg of the voyage and separated them. However, both safely reached [[Disko Island]], located off the west coast of [[Greenland]] where [[Davis Strait]] gives way to [[Baffin Bay]]. ''Advance'' arrived on 24 June, and ''Rescue'' pulled into port three days later. On the 29th, the two ships headed into Baffin Bay, bound for [[Lancaster Sound]] located north of [[Baffin Island]] and south of Devon Island. Off [[Haroe Island]] on 1 July, ''Advance'' encountered pack ice. A week later, she and her consort were caught in the pack just north of Upernavik. For the next three weeks, the two ships fought their way through the ice. On the 29th, they cleared the pack and continued their voyage across [[Melville Bay]] to Lancaster Sound. The two ships entered the sound on 19 August and, that same day, encountered two British vessels engaged in the same mission as the Americans.

That evening, a storm blew up and separated ''Advance'' and ''Rescue''. The next day dawned "thick and foggy," but the wind had abated. ''Advance'' began searching for her companion. By 25 August, she was off [[Cape Riley]] on Devon Island where she put ashore a landing party to search for clues to the whereabouts of the Franklin expedition. While the searchers ashore were discovering the former campsite of some unidentified party, ''Advance'' was run aground by a strong current. The British ship ''Prince Albert'' offered assistance, but ''Rescue'' showed up at about the same time. Moreover, ''Advance'' lightened her load and succeeded in hauling off by her own efforts.

On 26 August, the two ships attempted the passage of [[Wellington Channel]] to search the area north of [[Cape Spencer (Alaska)|Cape Spencer]]. Soon, however, they found the way north blocked by a solid mass of pack ice and prudently returned south to the vicinity of Point Innes. There, the Americans again encountered the British, along with positive evidence of the Franklin party having camped nearby. Heartened by that find and by a favorable change in weather conditions, they headed back toward Wellington Channel. At [[Beechy Island]], all the search vessels gathered in a cove (later called [[Union Bay (Alaska)|Union Bay]]) to plan a coordinated search. While the leading officers were so engaged, a party sent ashore discovered three graves and "other unmistakable evidences of the missing expedition (Franklin's) having passed its first winter here." At that point, she and ''Rescue'' entered Wellington Channel to pursue the search, but the pack ice quickly closed in upon the two ships. Though they tried to escape the clutches of the pack, abysmal weather foiled their attempts; and ''Rescue'' suffered a damaged rudder. By mid-September, they were caught fast in the floating ice.

For the duration of the winter, ''Advance'' and ''Rescue'' were at the mercy of the drifting floe. For what remained of September and most of October, they drifted in Wellington Channel, discovering the northern peninsula of Devon Island which they named Grinnell in honor of the expedition's benefactor. During November, changing winds carried them back and forth past Beechy Island. In December, the floe made the transit of Lancaster Sound and, on 14 January 1851, they reentered Baffin Bay. Their imprisonment, however, did not end until early June. They had passed Davis Strait in May, and the floe began to break up near the end of the first week in June. ''Rescue'' – repaired – cleared the pack on 7 June 1851. ''Advance'' followed the next day.

The expedition replenished at Disko Bay and sought to renew the search. However, the ice proved heavier than in the previous year; and prudence dictated that the mission be abandoned for the time being. Therefore, the two ships headed back to the United States. ''Advance'' arrived in New York on 30 September 1851, and ''Rescue'' reached that port on 7 October. Both ships were returned to Mr. Grinnell, and he immediately began outfitting ''Advance'' for another Arctic expedition.