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He was born in Philadelphia on the 20th of February 1820, the son of the jurist John Kintzing Kane (1795 - 1858), a friend and supporter of Andrew Jackson, attorney-general of Pennsylvania in 1845-1846. judge of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania after 1846, and president of the American Philosophical Society in 1856-1858.
Young Kane entered the university of Virginia and obtained the degree of M. D. in 1842.
In 1843 he entered the U. S. navy as surgeon. He had already acquired a considerable reputation in physiological research. The ship to which he was appointed was ordered to China, and he found opportunities during the voyage for indulging his passion for exploration, making a journey from Rio de Janeiro to the base of the Andes, and another from Bombay through India to Ceylon. On the arrival of the ship at its destination he provided a substitute for his post and crossed over to the island of Luzon, which he explored.
In 1844 he left China, and, returning by India, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Greece, Austria, Germany and Switzerland, reached America in 1846. In that year he was ordered to the west coast of Africa, where he visited Dahomey, and contracted fever, which told severely on his constitution. On his return in 1847, he exchanged the naval for the military service, and was sent to join the U. S. army in Mexico, where he had some extraordinary adventures, and where he was again stricken with fever.
On the fitting out of the first Grinnell expedition, in 1850, to search for Sir John Franklin, Kane was appointed surgeonand naturalist under Lieut, de Haven, who commanded the ships "Advance" and "Rescue. " Kane was in feeble health, but worked on at his narrative of the expedition, which was published in 1854, under the title of The U. S. Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin. He was determined not to give up the search for Franklin, and in spite of ill-health travelled through the States lecturing to obtain funds, and gave up his pay for twentymonths. At length Henry Grinnell fitted out an expedition, in the little brig "Advance, " of which Kane was given the command. Off the coast of Greenland, the expedition passed two winters, accomplishing much useful geographical, as well as scientific, work, including the attainment of what was to remain for sixteen years the highest northern latitude, 80° 35' N. (June 1854). After enduring the greatest hardships it was resolved to abandon the ship, Upernivik being reached on the 5th of August 1855, whence a relief expedition brought the explorers home.
He was a member of two Arctic expeditions to rescue the explorer Sir John Franklin. As a result og this ezperience he published his famous two-volume Arctic Explorations.
On May 28, 1986, the United States Postal Service issued a 22 cent postage stamp in his honor, depicting his route to the Arctic.
Elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1855.
In 1852, Kane met the Fox sisters, famous for their spirit rapping séances, and he became enamored with the middle sister, Margaret. Kane was convinced that the sisters were frauds, and sought to reform Margaret. She would later claim that they were secretly married in 1856 - she changed her name to Margaret Fox Kane.
