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.

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 stuck in the ice of Davis Strait off Baffin Island some from where she had been abandoned; she was discovered by the American whaler George Henry, captained by James Buddington of Groton, Connecticut. 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.

The Resolute desks

There was a second desk called the "Grinnell Desk," or the "Queen Victoria Desk" also made from the timbers of HMS "Resolute". This 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.

HMS Resolute in popular media

• The Resolute desks are referenced in the movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
• A book of the same name is about the discovery of the Resolute by the George Henry.

References