HMS Resolute and the Search for Franklin A despatch balloon message, painted on white silk, now discoloured. 'Dispatched by Balloon/ HMS Resolute/ In Lat. N. Long W. To Sir John Franklin/...
HMS Resolute and the Search for Franklin A despatch balloon message, painted on white silk, now discoloured. 'Dispatched by Balloon/ HMS Resolute/ In Lat. N. Long W. To Sir John Franklin/ Provisions left at?/ Steering for?/ Intending to Winter at ? or in the Vicinity These silk message ships were printed on board HMS Resolute and attached to balloons and released in the hope of one finding the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin. HMS Resolute was a Royal Navy Barque purchased by the Royal Navy for the task of finding Franklin, reinforced for the arctic conditions. The ship was involved in two expeditions to find the ill-fated Franklins. Franklin had led an expedition to find the north-west passage above the Canadian Archipelago connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It departed England in 1845, but mounting concerns pressed by petitions from Franklin's wife led the Admiralty to dispatch the resolute in 1850. In company with HMS Assistance, Pioneer and Intrepid, the ships searched the eastern arctic to no avail. Later it would be found that Franklin had become trapped in sea ice off King William Island. 24 officers and 110 men were to perish. The ships returning home without news were refitted, and under the command of Sir Edward Belvedere, HMS Resolute set forth again on their mission to the arctic ice. Misfortune befell her in April 1854. Trapped in sea ice Sir Belvedere ordered her abandoned and her officers and clerks were transferred to the ships in company. Drafting as a ghost ship she was eventually found by an American whaler and in December 1855 she was brought to New York harbour. Purchased by Act of Congress, the Resolute was repaired and refitted and returned to Queen Victoria as a gift from the American people. Reinstated into the Navy she continued service until 1879 when she was broken up. Timbers from her hull were used to created three desks, one for Queen Victoria, the other a gift to the American President, the resolute desk has been in use by American Presidents in the Oval Office from Franklin D. Roosevelt to J. F. Kennedy.