HMS Resolute
Encyclopedia
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. Timbers from the ship were later used to construct a desk
which was then presented to the President of the United States
.
, Enterprise
and Investigator
) being seagoing sailing ships.
Resolute was formerly the barque
Ptarmigan built on the Tyne
, which was purchased on 21 February 1850 and initially commissioned into the Royal Navy
as HMS Refuge, but was renamed HMS Resolute a month later. The ship was fitted for Arctic service by Green's Blackwall Yard
, with especially strong timbers, an internal heating system, and a polar bear as a figurehead.
During 1850-51 Resolute (flagship), Assistance, Pioneer and Intrepid, supported by a store-ship, the former warship North Star, searched the eastern Arctic under the overall command of Horatio Thomas Austin
. The only positive trace of Franklin they found was the remains of his first winter camp on Beechey Island
. Meanwhile Investigator and Enterprise were sent to search the Arctic from the west via the Bering Straits, but also returned unsuccessful.
Between October 1850 and March 1851, members of the Resolute crew under Captain Horatio Austin published at least five numbers of a handwritten newspaper, "The Illustrated Arctic News," during the wintering of the Resolute in what the editors identified as the "Barrow Strait." Upon the return of the Resolute to home port in England, the manuscript paper was printed in London in 1852. Atwood (1997) references extant copies of the papers at both the British Museum and the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge.
. They crossed Baffin Bay
westward in June 1852 while Investigator and Enterprise explored the Northwest Passage eastward from Alaska. Each ship took a different route to search for evidence of Franlkin's lost ships Erebus and Terror. Only the Enterprise found any trace of them - a small quantity of timber on the eastern coast of Victoria Island
, and was ultimately the only one of the six ships to survive the Arctic.
Resolute became beset in the Arctic
ice
and wintered off Dealy Island near the north shore of Viscount Melville Sound
. In August 1853 a storm moved the ice flows with the entrapped Resolute eastward from the Dealy Island base. Resolute was still beset by ice in the spring of 1854. In May Captain Keller stowed the sails below, caulked down the hatches, and left Resolute locked in ice to lead his men in a hard march across the ice to reach other ships of the expedition. Their number included the crew of Investigator, who had marched overland
to the Resolute after abandoning their own vessel in May 1853.
The three other main vessels of Belcher's fleet were also abandoned late in August 1854 and the crews taken on board HMS North Star, which had been moored in a less ice-bound position off Beechey Island. Most were transferred to the relief ships HMS Phoenix
and Talbot which arrived at Beechey Island just as the overcrowded North Star was about to sail.
The British Government announced in The London Gazette that the ships, including Resolute, were still Her Majesty's property, but no salvage was attempted.
On 10 September 1855, the abandoned Resolute was found adrift in an ice flow off Cape Walsingham of Baffin Island
, some 1200 miles (1,931.2 km) from where she had been abandoned, by the American whaler
George Henry, captained by James Buddington of Groton, Connecticut
. An October 1856 New York Journal relates Captain Buddington and crew's encounter:
The Americans freed Resolute from the ice, re-rigged the spars and sails, and arrived at New London, Connecticut
on 24 December 1855. The British government waived all claims to the ship upon learning of its arrival in New London.
Although most of the expeditions seeking the lost Franklin expedition before 1856 were funded by either the British government or by public subscription from within the British Empire, two expeditions were funded by Henry Grinnell
, a New York merchant and shipowner who had grown up in New Bedford, with additional United States government assistance. Grinnell convinced the United States government to restore 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 under the command of Commander Henry J. Hartstene USN, where she was presented to Queen Victoria on 17 December 1856 as a token of comity.
Both Grinnell and Lady Jane Franklin had hoped that the restored Resolute would be employed for a further search for the Franklin expedition, but evidence found by John Rae
having proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the men were all dead, the British government declined. Instead, Lady Franklin organised another private expedition under Francis Leopold McClintock
, which in 1859 located the only written account of the fate of Franklin.
HMS Resolute served in the Royal Navy through the American Civil War
and was retired and broken up in 1879. The Canadian
settlement of Resolute, Nunavut
, is named for Resolute. In March, 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
presented US President Barack Obama
with the framed commission of HMS Resolute, and a pen holder made from the wood of another Royal Navy ship, .
Rutherford B. Hayes
in 1880 as a gesture of thanks for the rescue and return of Resolute. 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
. Dwight D. Eisenhower
was the first to remove it from the Oval Office, and it was returned to the Oval Office first by John F. Kennedy
and then by Jimmy Carter
.
A second desk called the Grinnell Desk, or the Queen Victoria Desk, was 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 given to the New Bedford Whaling Museum
in 1983, and is currently in their collection in New Bedford, Massachusetts
.
Accounts of dubious provenance state that one or more additional desks were made from Resolute timbers. In fact a third desk was commissioned by Queen Victoria, though it appears it was never housed at Buckingham Palace
. This desk was eventually used aboard the Royal Yacht Victoria & Albert. It remains part of the Royal Collection
and is now on long-term loan to the Royal Naval Museum
in Portsmouth.
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
-rigged ship of the British Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, specially outfitted for Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
exploration. Resolute became trapped in the ice and was abandoned. Recovered by an American whaler
Whaler
A whaler is a specialized ship, designed for whaling, the catching and/or processing of whales. The former included the whale catcher, a steam or diesel-driven vessel with a harpoon gun mounted at its bows. The latter included such vessels as the sail or steam-driven whaleship of the 16th to early...
, she was returned to Queen Victoria in 1856. Timbers from the ship were later used to construct a desk
Resolute desk
The Resolute desk is a large, nineteenth-century partners' desk often chosen by presidents of the United States for use in the White House Oval Office as the Oval Office desk. It was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 and was built from the timbers of the British...
which was then presented to the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
.
History
In the face of rising concerns on the fate of the Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin, which had left Britain in 1845 in search of the North West Passage and had not been heard from since, by 1848 the British Government began sending expeditions in search of it. Few existing warships being deemed suitable, six merchant ships were purchased between 1848 and 1850 and converted into exploration ships: two were steamships (Pioneer and Intrepid), the other four (Resolute, AssistanceHMS Assistance (1850)
HMS Assistance was an Arctic discovery barque of the Royal Navy, and the sixth vessel to carry the name. She began her life in 1835 as an Indian-built merchant vessel, was purchased in 1850 and participated in two Arctic expeditions before being abandoned in the ice in 1854.-Merchant Navy...
, Enterprise
HMS Enterprise (1848)
HMS Enterprise was an Arctic discovery ship laid down as a merchant vessel and purchased in 1848 before launch to search for Sir John Franklin's lost expedition. She made two Arctic voyages before becoming a coal depot, and was finally sold in 1903...
and Investigator
HMS Investigator (1848)
HMS Investigator was a merchant ship purchased in 1848 to search for Sir John Franklin's lost expedition. She made two voyages to the Arctic and had to be abandoned in 1853 after becoming trapped in the ice. Her wreckage was found in July 2010 on Banks Island, in the Beaufort Sea...
) being seagoing sailing ships.
Resolute was formerly the barque
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
Ptarmigan built on the Tyne
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...
, which was purchased on 21 February 1850 and initially commissioned into the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
as HMS Refuge, but was renamed HMS Resolute a month later. The ship was fitted for Arctic service by Green's Blackwall Yard
Blackwall Yard
Blackwall Yard was a shipyard on the Thames at Blackwall, London, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987...
, with especially strong timbers, an internal heating system, and a polar bear as a figurehead.
During 1850-51 Resolute (flagship), Assistance, Pioneer and Intrepid, supported by a store-ship, the former warship North Star, searched the eastern Arctic under the overall command of Horatio Thomas Austin
Horatio Thomas Austin
Sir Horatio Thomas Austin was a British officer in the Royal Navy, and an explorer of the Canadian arctic. Following the 1849 failure of James Clark Ross's attempt to locate the lost Franklin Expedition, Austin led an 1850 expedition that also attempted to find Sir John Franklin and his crew....
. The only positive trace of Franklin they found was the remains of his first winter camp on Beechey Island
Beechey Island
Beechey Island is an island located in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago of Nunavut, Canada, in Wellington Channel. It is separated from the southwest corner of Devon Island by Barrow Strait...
. Meanwhile Investigator and Enterprise were sent to search the Arctic from the west via the Bering Straits, but also returned unsuccessful.
Between October 1850 and March 1851, members of the Resolute crew under Captain Horatio Austin published at least five numbers of a handwritten newspaper, "The Illustrated Arctic News," during the wintering of the Resolute in what the editors identified as the "Barrow Strait." Upon the return of the Resolute to home port in England, the manuscript paper was printed in London in 1852. Atwood (1997) references extant copies of the papers at both the British Museum and the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge.
The Belcher Expedition
After returning to England all six vessels were reprovisioned and sent back to their respective search areas, the four eastern Arctic expedition ships including Resolute and their tender North Star being under the overall command of Sir Edward BelcherEdward Belcher
Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, KCB , was a British naval officer and explorer. He was the great-grandson of Governor Jonathan Belcher. His wife, Diana Jolliffe, was the stepdaughter of Captain Peter Heywood.-Early life:...
. They crossed Baffin Bay
Baffin Bay
Baffin Bay , located between Baffin Island and the southwest coast of Greenland, is a marginal sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is connected to the Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea...
westward in June 1852 while Investigator and Enterprise explored the Northwest Passage eastward from Alaska. Each ship took a different route to search for evidence of Franlkin's lost ships Erebus and Terror. Only the Enterprise found any trace of them - a small quantity of timber on the eastern coast of Victoria Island
Victoria Island
Victoria Island is an island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the eighth largest island in the world, and at is Canada's second largest island. It is nearly double the size of Newfoundland , and is...
, and was ultimately the only one of the six ships to survive the Arctic.
Resolute became beset in the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
ice
Sea ice
Sea ice is largely formed from seawater that freezes. Because the oceans consist of saltwater, this occurs below the freezing point of pure water, at about -1.8 °C ....
and wintered off Dealy Island near the north shore of Viscount Melville Sound
Viscount Melville Sound
Viscount Melville Sound is an arm of the Arctic Ocean in Kitikmeot, Nunavut, Canada. Forming part of the Parry Channel, it separates Victoria Island and Prince of Wales Island from the Queen Elizabeth Islands. East of the sound lies Lancaster Sound, leading into Baffin Bay; westward lies the...
. In August 1853 a storm moved the ice flows with the entrapped Resolute eastward from the Dealy Island base. Resolute was still beset by ice in the spring of 1854. In May Captain Keller stowed the sails below, caulked down the hatches, and left Resolute locked in ice to lead his men in a hard march across the ice to reach other ships of the expedition. Their number included the crew of Investigator, who had marched overland
McClure Arctic Expedition
The McClure Arctic Expedition of 1850, among numerous British search efforts to determine the fate of the Franklin's lost expedition, is distinguished as the voyage during which Robert McClure became the first person to confirm and transit the Northwest Passage by a combination of sea travel and...
to the Resolute after abandoning their own vessel in May 1853.
The three other main vessels of Belcher's fleet were also abandoned late in August 1854 and the crews taken on board HMS North Star, which had been moored in a less ice-bound position off Beechey Island. Most were transferred to the relief ships HMS Phoenix
HMS Phoenix (1832)
HMS Phoenix was a 6-gun steam paddle vessel of the Royal Navy, built in a dry dock at Chatham in 1832. She was reclassified as a second-class paddle sloop before bring rebuilt as a 10-gun screw sloop in 1844-45...
and Talbot which arrived at Beechey Island just as the overcrowded North Star was about to sail.
The British Government announced in The London Gazette that the ships, including Resolute, were still Her Majesty's property, but no salvage was attempted.
On 10 September 1855, the abandoned Resolute was found adrift in an ice flow off Cape Walsingham of Baffin Island
Baffin Island
Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is and its population is about 11,000...
, some 1200 miles (1,931.2 km) from where she had been abandoned, by the American whaler
Whaler
A whaler is a specialized ship, designed for whaling, the catching and/or processing of whales. The former included the whale catcher, a steam or diesel-driven vessel with a harpoon gun mounted at its bows. The latter included such vessels as the sail or steam-driven whaleship of the 16th to early...
George Henry, captained by James Buddington of Groton, Connecticut
Groton, Connecticut
Groton is a town located on the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 39,907 at the 2000 census....
. An October 1856 New York Journal relates Captain Buddington and crew's encounter:
The Americans freed Resolute from the ice, re-rigged the spars and sails, and arrived at New London, Connecticut
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
on 24 December 1855. The British government waived all claims to the ship upon learning of its arrival in New London.
Although most of the expeditions seeking the lost Franklin expedition before 1856 were funded by either the British government or by public subscription from within the British Empire, two expeditions were funded by Henry Grinnell
Henry Grinnell
Henry Grinnell was an American merchant and philanthropist.-Career:In 1818, Grinnell moved to New York City where he became a clerk in the commission house of H.D. & E.B. Sewell. He married Sarah Minturn in 1822. In 1825, Henry joined his brother Joseph Grinnell in Fish, Grinnell & Company...
, a New York merchant and shipowner who had grown up in New Bedford, with additional United States government assistance. Grinnell convinced the United States government to restore Resolute and return her to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
as a gesture of "national courtesy". The United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
bought her for $40,000 and then had her refitted and sailed to England under the command of Commander Henry J. Hartstene USN, where she was presented to Queen Victoria on 17 December 1856 as a token of comity.
Both Grinnell and Lady Jane Franklin had hoped that the restored Resolute would be employed for a further search for the Franklin expedition, but evidence found by John Rae
John Rae (explorer)
John Rae was a Scottish doctor who explored Northern Canada, surveyed parts of the Northwest Passage and reported the fate of the Franklin Expedition....
having proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the men were all dead, the British government declined. Instead, Lady Franklin organised another private expedition under Francis Leopold McClintock
Francis Leopold McClintock
Admiral Sir Francis Leopold McClintock or Francis Leopold M'Clintock KCB, FRS was an Irish explorer in the British Royal Navy who is known for his discoveries in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.-Biography:...
, which in 1859 located the only written account of the fate of Franklin.
HMS Resolute served in the Royal Navy through the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and was retired and broken up in 1879. The Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
settlement of Resolute, Nunavut
Resolute, Nunavut
Resolute or Resolute Bay is a small Inuit hamlet on Cornwallis Island in Nunavut, Canada. It is situated at the northern end of Resolute Bay and the Northwest Passage and is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region....
, is named for Resolute. In March, 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
presented US President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
with the framed commission of HMS Resolute, and a pen holder made from the wood of another Royal Navy ship, .
The Resolute desks
The British government ordered at least two desks to be made from the timbers of the ship; constructed by cabinet makers at the Joiner's Shop of Chatham Dockyard. A large partner's desk was presented to U.S. PresidentPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...
in 1880 as a gesture of thanks for the rescue and return of Resolute. Since then, the desk - known as the Resolute desk
Resolute desk
The Resolute desk is a large, nineteenth-century partners' desk often chosen by presidents of the United States for use in the White House Oval Office as the Oval Office desk. It was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 and was built from the timbers of the British...
- has been used by every President except Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
, Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
and Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
. Most Presidents have used it as their official desk in the Oval Office
Oval Office
The Oval Office, located in the West Wing of the White House, is the official office of the President of the United States.The room features three large south-facing windows behind the president's desk, and a fireplace at the north end...
, but some have had it in their private study in the Executive Residence
Executive Residence
The Executive Residence is the central building of the White House Complex located between the East Wing and West Wing. This central building, first constructed 1792–1800, is home to the President of the United States and the First Family. The Executive Residence primarily occupies three floors:...
. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
was the first to remove it from the Oval Office, and it was returned to the Oval Office first by John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and then by Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
.
A second desk called the Grinnell Desk, or the Queen Victoria Desk, was 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 given to the New Bedford Whaling Museum
New Bedford Whaling Museum
The New Bedford Whaling Museum is located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA. The museum, through its collections and exhibitions, tells the story of the international whaling industry and the history more generally of the "Old Dartmouth" area, the Southcoast of Massachusetts...
in 1983, and is currently in their collection in New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
.
Accounts of dubious provenance state that one or more additional desks were made from Resolute timbers. In fact a third desk was commissioned by Queen Victoria, though it appears it was never housed at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
. This desk was eventually used aboard the Royal Yacht Victoria & Albert. It remains part of the Royal Collection
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family. It is property of the monarch as sovereign, but is held in trust for her successors and the nation. It contains over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours and drawings, and about 150,000 old master prints, as well as historical...
and is now on long-term loan to the Royal Naval Museum
Royal Naval Museum
The Royal Naval Museum is the museum of the history of the Royal Navy in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard section of HMNB Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Defence. Its current Acting Director is Graham Dobbin....
in Portsmouth.
HMS Resolute in popular media
- A book of the same name is about the discovery of Resolute by the whaler George Henry.
- HMS Resolutes story is an integral clue in the plot of the film National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The relevance of the two desks to the discovery of further clues is concealed in the version of the Statue of Liberty upon the Île aux Cygnes in Paris, France. The anecdote "These twins stand resolute to preserve what we are looking for." refers to the twin Resolute desks made from the ship's timbers, with one located in The White House and the other in Buckingham PalaceBuckingham PalaceBuckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
.
Further reading
- Elizabeth R. Matthews (2007). HMS Resolute: From the Canadian Arctic to the President's Desk. ISBN 978-0-755203-96-3
- Roderic Owen (1978). The Fate of Franklin, Hutchinson. ISBN 009131190X.
- John Brown, F.R.G.S. (1860). The North-West Passage and the Plans for the Search for Sir John Franklin: A Review with maps, &c., Second Edition with a Sequel Including the Voyage of the “Fox” London, E. Stanford, 1860.
- Sherard Osborn and George F. McDougall, eds. (1852) Facsimile of the Illustrated Arctic News, Published on Board H.M.S. Resolute, Captain Horatio T. Austin, C.B., In Search of the Expedition Under Sir John Franklin (London, Ackerman, 1852).