HMS Resolute
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 An etching of HMS Resolute from December 1856. |
|
| Career (UK) | |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Green's of Blackwall |
| Acquired: | 1850 |
| Fate: | 1853, abandoned in Arctic ice |
| Career (US) | |
| Acquired: | 1855, found adrift in ice |
| Fate: | 1856, Restored and returned to UK as a gift |
| Career (UK) | |
| Acquired: | 1856 |
| Struck: | 1879 |
| Fate: | Broken up |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 424 tons[1] |
| Length: | 115 feet (35 m) |
| Beam: | 28.5 feet (8.7 m) |
| Sail plan: | Barque |
HMS Resolute was a mid 19th century barque-rigged ship of the British Royal Navy, specially outfitted for Arctic exploration. Resolute became trapped in the ice and was abandoned. Recovered by an American whaler, she was returned to Queen Victoria in 1856.
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[edit] History
Originally a Tyne built vessel named Ptarmigan, Resolute was purchased by the British Government in February 1850 and commissioned into the Royal Navy originally as HMS Refuge, but was renamed HMS Resolute a month later. The ship was fitted for Arctic service by Green's of Blackwall (Thames), with especially strong timbers and an internal heating system.
In 1852, HMS Resolute was part of a four-ship expedition under Edward Belcher, investigating the fate of the John Franklin expedition, which had searched for the Northwest Passage to Asia. The Resolute and one of her sister ships became lodged in the Arctic ice of Viscount Melville Sound and was abandoned there in 1853.
Two years later, the empty ship was found by the American whaler George Henry, captained by James Buddington of Groton, Connecticut. She was then stuck in the ice of Davis Strait off Baffin Island, 1200 miles away from where she had been abandoned. The Americans freed Resolute from the ice and took her to New London, Connecticut. The search for Lord Franklin went on unsuccessfully for ten years and included forty search parties. Most of these were British but two were funded by Henry Grinnell, a New York merchant who had grown up in New Bedford. Grinnell also convinced the United States government to restore the Resolute and return her to England as a gesture of "national courtesy." The United States Congress bought her for $40,000 and then had her refitted and sailed to England, where she was presented to Queen Victoria on December 17, 1856 as a token of peace.
The HMS Resolute then served in the Royal Navy for over 20 years, and she was retired in 1879 and broken up.
The Canadian settlement of Resolute, Nunavut, is named for Resolute.
[edit] The Resolute desks
The British government ordered a desk to be made from the timbers of the ship, which was then presented to U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 as a gesture of thanks for her rescue and return. Since then, the desk - known as the Resolute desk - has been used by every president except Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Most presidents have used it as their official desk in the Oval Office, but some have had it in their private study in the Executive Residence.
There was a second desk called the "Grinnell Desk," or the "Queen Victoria Desk" also made from the timbers of HMS "Resolute". The smaller lady's desk was presented to the widow of Henry Grinnell in 1880 in recognition of her husband's generous contributions to the search for Franklin. It was gifted to the New Bedford Whaling Museum in 1983, and is currently in their collection in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
[edit] HMS Resolute in popular media
The Resolute desks are referenced in the movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Incorrectly however, the location of the smaller desk, the "Queen Victoria Desk" is placed in Buckingham Palace. Although FDR had a little hatch put in so visitors could not see his wheel chair. That is why JFK Jr. was able to open the hatch while his dad was working.
[edit] References
- ^ why resolute?. Retrieved on 2008-05-10.
