Edwin Jesse De Haven was born on May 7, 1816; the son of William and Maria (McKeever) De Haven of Philadelphia. He was a descendant of Evert in den Liofen who in 1690 emigrated to Philadelphia (now Montgomery) County, Pennsylvania, United States, from Mulheim on the Ruhr, Germany.
Entering the navy on October 2, 1829, as a midshipman, he made his first cruise on the Notches in the West Indies. In 1832-35 he was with the Brazil Squadron, first on the Lexington and later on the Natchez, being advanced in the latter year to the grade of passed midshipman.
In 1837 he went to sea on the Falmouth and saw service in the Pacific. Two years later at Callao he joined the Vincennes, the flagship of the Wilkes exploring expedition, receiving the rating of acting master, and during the next three years visited the Antarctic continent, many of the islands of the Pacific, and the west coast of North America. When the sloop Peacock, one of the vessels of this expedition, was wrecked at the mouth of the Columbia River, De Haven saved the lives of a boat’s crew and received the thanks of the Navy Department for his bravery. He was commissioned lieutenant on September 21, 1841, taking rank from September 8.
After serving on several vessels of the Home Squadron, in 1847-48 he was attached to the steamer Mississippi and took part in the Mexican War.
He next was employed at the Naval Observatory in Washington under Lieut. Matthew F. Maury, the noted meteorologist.
Early in 1850 the federal government, in cooperation with Henry Grinnell, a wealthy New York merchant, decided to send an expedition in search of Sir John Franklin and his companions who disappeared in the Arctic region in 1845 while on a voyage of discovery. Having had experience in polar exploration and having acquired a reputation as a scientific officer, De Haven was chosen to command the expedition. Most of the month of April 1850 he spent in New York preparing his fleet for sea. It consisted of two small brigs, the Advance and the Rescue, with a complement of thirty-three officers and seamen.
According to his instructions, the chief object of the expedition was to search for Franklin and his companions and relieve them if found, and the secondary object was to acquire scientific information.
On May 22 he sailed from New York and two months later to the westward of Greenland began his search for the missing Englishmen. In September the vessels were caught and frozen in the ice and for nine months were confined in this perilous situation, drifting to and for more than a thousand miles. De Haven discovered and named Grinnell Land, but failed to find Franklin.
He arrived at New York on September 30, 1851. In 1853-57 he was employed with the Coast Survey in making deep-sea soundings off the Southern coast and in other work of that service. He never went to sea after 1857, as his eyesight was affected and his health impaired by his Arctic experiences.
In 1862 he was placed on the retired list, the first in the grade of lieutenant.
On May 7, 1844 De Haven married Mary Norris Da Costa.
