HMS Resolute (1850) - The Resolute Desks

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. President 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.