Winter quarters of HM ships Resolute and Intrepid 53 & 54 in the pack, there -56 Faht.

• Main Author: Mecham, George Frederick, artist.
• Format: Still Image
• Language: English
• Published: 1856
• Subjects: Ships > British > 1850-1860; Ice > 1850-1860; Winter > 1850-1860; Viscount Melville Sound (Nunavut and N.W.T.) > 1850-1860; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Nunavut; Canada; Brooklyn; Melville Sound; Viscount Melville Sound; Beechey Island
• Online Access: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.22820

Drawing shows the British ships Resolute and Intrepid embedded in the ice pack in Melville Sound near the Arctic Ocean in Canada. The British lived in the ships during the winter of 1853 and 1854 and in the summer of 1854 abandoned them and camped on Beechey Island before setting sail for England in September of 1854. During the summer of 1855, the Resolute, empty, was found floating by an American, Capt. James Buddington, who took her back to his home port of New London, Connecticut. The ship was refitted, at United States government expense in the Brooklyn (New York) Naval Yard and given back to England as a token of friendship. George Frederick Mecham of the Royal Navy, had been a commander on the Resolute. Inscribed within image: Resolute winter qrs. in the pack 1853/54 previous to her abandonment. Inscribed in ink below image: Dear Field, Pray accept of this small sketch illustrating the positions of the HM ships Resolute and Intrepid, previous to their abandonment; and extraordinary drift of 1200 miles which led to her recovery and the well known gracious act of the United States government, From yr very sincere friend G.F. Mecham Late 1st Lt. Resolute. Inscribed in pencil below image: [Ther?] 56 below zero. Gift; Ellen C. Stowell; 1944.