Cast Away in the Cold

Isaac Israel Hayes (1832-1881) was an Arctic explorer and physician. After completing his medical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Hayes signed on as ship's surgeon for an 1853 expedition led by Elisha Kent Kane to search for John Franklin. His 1854 exploration of the east coast of Ellesmere Island north of 79 degrees N. resulted in new and accurately mapped geographical discoveries. Hayes led his own expedition 1860-1 which claimed to have reached the farthest north land ever, on the Ellesmere Island coast. Hayes returned to the United States in 1861 claiming to have seen the Open Polar Sea reported by Elisha Kent Kane in 1855. The Civil War, however, had come to preoccupy Americans and diminished Hayes' reports of discovery. The United States Range on Canada's Ellesmere Island is named after his ship. His works include: Report of Dr. Hayes Arctic Expedition (1862), Physical Observations in the Arctic Seas (1867), The Open Polar Sea (1867), Cast Away in the Cold (1869), The Land of Desolation (1872) and Pictures of Arctic Travel (1881).