THE ORIGIN OF THE RESOLUTE DESK

THE ORIGIN OF THE

RESOLUTE DESK

In 1852, the HMS Resolute was one of

five ships belonging to the British Royal                                         

Navy sent to the Arctic Circle to search

for the missing Franklin Expedition, lost

while on a mission to search for a North

west Passage. The Resolute was equipped

with an ironclad bow to help make a path

through the ice. On arrival, four ships

sailed farther into the Circle while the

Northstar stayed back as a supply ship.

The attempt to locate the expedition was

unsuccessful. The Resolute became ice

bound. The Commander made the deci

sion to desert the ship. The men walked

miles back to the Northstar in the cold

and snow to reach the safety of the

Northstar. Upon arriving in England, the

Commander was court marshalled.

The Resolute broke loose and drifted

1000 miles before it was found by an

American whaling ship, the George Hen

ry, captained by James Buddington. Real

izing its’ value as salvage, the men righted

the ship and brought it back to New Lon

don, CT.

At the time, relations between Britain

and the U.S. were very tense. President

Pierce was ready to go to war for a third

time over fishing rights, a border dispute

between British Columbia and the Wash

ington Territory, and the British presence

in South America. Britain’s First Lord of

the Admiralty also felt war was a possibil

ity over these disputes.

In 1856, at the suggestion of philanthro

pist, Henry Grennell, Congress passed a

bill signed by President Pierce to buy the

ship for $40,000. It was restored, refitted,

HMS Resolute and HMS Trepid

Drawn by George F. Mc Dougall,

Sailing master of the Resolute

and returned to England as a good

will gift to calm the tensions between

the two countries.

It arrived in Portsmouth, England

on December 12, 1856. Queen Victo

ria and Prince Albert accepted the gift

presented by Captain Henry

Hartstene at Cowes Harbour, Isle of

Wight.

The Resolute served in the Royal

Navy for 23 years as a supply ship and

was decommissioned in 1879. Upon

the order of Queen Victoria the sal

vaged wood was used to make three

desks. Designs were submitted. A

partners desk was chosen to gift the

President of the United States. Two

smaller writing desks remained in

England to be used by the Queen.

The desk was presented to president

Hayes and was known as the Hayes

desk or the Resolute desk.

Copies of various qualities have

been made for display at presidential

libraries and museums.

Research, Wikipedia and Beatrix

Cochrane