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, Assistance, Enterprise and Investigator) being seagoing sailing ships. The first ship sent to help Franklin was HMS Herald, Captain Henry Kellett. Herald came through Bering Strait to search the western reaches of the Canadian Arctic. In 1850, HMS Investigator, Captain McClure, and HMS Enterprise, Captain Collinson were sent into the Arctic from the west.
Resolute was formerly the barque Ptarmigan which was purchased on 21 February 1850 and was renamed HMS Resolute a month later. The ship was fitted for Arctic service by the Blackwall civilian shipyard 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, 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.
During the winter months, from October 1850-March 1851, Second Master George F. McDougall, from "Resolute" and Lieutenant Sherard Osborn of "Intrepid" published at least five numbers of a handwritten newspaper, "The Illustrated Arctic News," 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.
Read more about this topic: HMS Resolute (1850)
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