Born in Pennsylvania in 1819, Edwin Jesse De Haven was appointed acting midshipman at the age of ten, and five years later was advanced to passed midshipman. In 1839, he was assigned to USS Vincennes, flagship of Captain Charles Wilkes, and took part in explorations of

LCdr. Edwin Jesse De Haven

the Antarctic and islands throughout the Pacific.
   In the mid-1840s, De Haven assumed command of USS Peacock and proceed to the waters of the North Pacific, surveying the coasts of North America and in the Puget Sound area. On 18 July 1840, Peacock was wrecked in the treacherous waters at the entrance of the Columbia River, her crew being rescued by USS Oregon. De Haven remained on board Oregon until the termination of the expedition in June 1842.
   During the war with Mexico, Lieutenant De Haven commanded USS Somers, which captured the Mexican schooner Creole. In 1850, De Haven assumed command of the Grinnell Rescue Expedition in an effort to find Sir John Franklin’s exploring party, reported lost somewhere in Greenland. Both of Commodore De Haven’s ships, Rescue and Advance, became locked in an ice flow west of Greenland and drifted about for nine months. When they did locate the area where Franklin had camped, they found traces of the campsite but no remains of his party. While searching for Franklin’s party, De Haven discovered an island that he named Grinnell Land in honor of the rescue party’s sponsor.
   Lieutenant De Haven was highly commended for his painstaking achievements during his search for the ill-fated explorers and for the valuable scientific data he collected in connection with the winds and currents of the Arctic regions.
   After serving for nine years in the Coastal Survey Service, De Haven was placed on the retirement list in 1862—as lieutenant commander, the first US Navy officer promoted to that rank in retirement—because of ill health. He died at his home at Philadelphia 1 May 1865 and is buried in Christ Church Burial Ground.