Grinnell Henry 
(18.02.1799–30.06.1874)

American merchant, businessman, philanthropist. 
Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. After graduating from the New Bedford Academy, Grinnell at age 18 began working as an employee of the New York Stock Exchange Brokerage Company. In 1825, he became a partner of the whaling company Grinnell, Mintern & Co, in which he actively collaborated until his retirement from the business in 1849. 
Grinnell was always very warm towards sailors, especially whalers, showed great interest in geography and devoted a lot of time to studying the history of Arctic research. He played a huge role in organizing four of the five American expeditions in search of the missing ships of J. Franklin. Grinnell not only financed the expeditions, but also constantly supported the interest of the government and the public in organizing searches. 
After US President Taylor did not respond to the request of Franklin’s wife, Jane Franklin, to organize an American search expedition in 1850, Grinnell wrote to her that “he had long wanted to see an expedition equipped by this country to save Sir John Franklin and his comrades”. This was the first letter of their lively correspondence, which lasted more than 20 years. At the end of the letter, Grinnell announced his plans to purchase two vessels for the expedition. The command of the expedition, later called the First Greennell, was proposed to Lt. E. de Haven, an employee of the American Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Department, who had experience of the Wilkes Antarctic expedition. Grinnell and De Haven agreed that small, compact ships are better suited for sailing in the Arctic, often winding, narrow straits of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. They focused their attention on the two miniature brigantines "Advance" and "Rescue", which had a displacement of 144 and 91 tons, respectively. Participating in the expedition as a physician and naturalist, E. Kane expressed his impression of the ships in this way: “They seemed to me more like a pair of schooners for coastal navigation than a national squadron equipped to a distant and dangerous sea”. With Grinnell's money, a great deal of work was done on retrofitting vessels and adapting them to swimming in ice. The sides were reinforced with a 2.5-inch-thick oak paneling, the noses were reinforced with metal sheets, the frames were strengthened, and additional props were installed. At the insistence of Grinnell, the team was recruited from the sailors. Only military discipline, organization and perseverance, according to Grinnell, could provide a decent resistance to the difficulties and hardships of the Arctic navigation. 
There was a stormy discussion of the upcoming expedition in the House of Representatives of the US Congress. Grinnell and his Republican supporters represented the expedition as a manifestation of humanity towards the missing sailors, an act of goodwill towards England. Democrats considered the expedition too expensive, and the use of civilian ships was offensive to the navy. Some have come to statements that Grinnell needs this expedition to advertise his own shipping company. On April 27, the expedition was approved by the House of Representatives, which was greatly facilitated by the efforts of the elder brother Grinnell, Joseph, a congressman from Massachusetts. May 2 was approved by the second chamber. 
The expedition started on May 23, 1850 from New York. Grinnell and her two sons accompanied her on his yacht "Washington" several hundred miles. Through the Davis Strait, the Baffin Sea entered the sea and then the Lancaster Strait reached the Wellington Strait, discovering the land, which was called the Grinnell Land. Subsequently, it turned out that this is part of Devon Island. This expedition together with E. Ommann from the G. Austin expedition was found in the area of  Beachy Island is the site of the first wintering of the ships of Franklin. On October 7, 1851, Grinnell wrote to Jane Franklin that both ships had returned. The teams were in good condition, but “... I feel sadness, sadness because the main goal of the expedition has not been achieved. Your husband and your compatriots are not saved".  
The lack of favorable information from the First Greennell Expedition significantly weakened the position of supporters in the United States to continue the search. Grinnell gave the battle to the prevailing view that "all hope is exhausted". He said that philanthropy obliged to continue the search, even if there was at least one chance out of a hundred, that someone from the team of Franklin survived. Grinnell foresaw a long struggle with Congress: "... it is also difficult to impress them (ie the Congress), how to move the longest iceberg in the polar regions". He began to write letters to other rich merchants, organize petitions, publish articles in popular publications, to make him continue his search. His enthusiasm and dedication even earned the rebuke of Jane Franklin when, in one of his publications, he, without her prior consent, placed excerpts from her letter to him. Grinnell completely denied the accusation and said that it was necessary for the good of the case of the search for Franklin, that there was nothing offensive in the publication, and that he would continue to do the same. 
The preparation of the second expedition was very slow due to negative public opinion. Democrats were unfriendly, as before, and President Millard Fillmore, in anticipation of the upcoming presidential election, did not want to spend money on a case that he considered deliberately lost. Eight and a half years have passed since the start of the Franklin expedition, and there was almost no chance of finding any of the participants alive. Grinnell, on the other hand, argued that although all of Franklin’s food supplies were long overdue, Westerners with modern weapons can live where Eskimos live with bows and arrows. 
Unfortunately, as it turned out, Grinnell’s belief in the skill and skill of white people proved untenable. Returned from his search expedition of 1864–1869. C. Hall brought news of one of the Franklin officers, most likely Captain F. Crozier, asking the Eskimos to hunt for seals for his starving group. 
The second Greennell expedition set off on May 30, 1853. $ 50,000 for her organization was allocated by Grinnell with J. Peabody. Her on the same vessel "Advance)" headed by Kane, who believed that Franklin should be sought in the north. In addition to searches, the expedition was instructed to conduct meteorological and magnetic observations and check the version of the presence of the open sea in the north. Driving north on the Baffin Sea, the sailors reached 78° 41′ N , the free-swimming record at that time. The expedition brought a huge amount of scientific information, although no trace of Franklin was found. He traveled hundreds of kilometers west of the Kane search area. 
There is evidence that after the return of Kane Grinnell spoke of the expediency of searching down the Prince-Regent Strait and, more importantly, the Peel Strait. As we know now, F. McClintock, moving in this way, found in 1859 the place of the death of the Franklin expedition to the west of the coast of King William Island. 
And in subsequent years, Grinnell continued to support the Arctic research, subsidizing, in particular, the expedition of I. Hayes, helping Hall. 
Grinnell collected all the press clippings and articles relating to the search for Franklin. He designed them in the form of eight albums, which are unique archival information about Arctic research. Currently, these albums are stored in the funds of the American Geographical Society, organized in 1852. Grinnell was its first president and vice president during 1854–72. Grinnell's daughter gave the Geographical Society a color portrait of her father, taken from the ship "Resolute". 
He died in New York. He was buried in the Green-Wood cemetery.