Queen Victoria visits HMS Resolute prior to the ship being granted to her as a gift. Resolute was a British ship abandoned in the Arctic ice in 1854. She was found adrift by American whalers the following year, refurbished, and returned to the British. As a return favour, when the ship was broken up in 1879, some of its wood was made into a desk and gifted to the US President
Rutherford B. Hayes. The
Resolute desk remains an iconic part of the American White House furniture.
Lithograph: George Zobel, after
William Simpson; restoration:
Adam Cuerden
Queen Victoria visits HMS Resolute prior to the ship being granted to her as a gift. Resolute was a British ship abandoned in the Arctic ice in 1854. She was found adrift by American whalers the following year, refurbished, and returned to the British. As a return favour, when the ship was broken up in 1879, some of its wood was made into a desk and gifted to the US President
Rutherford B. Hayes. The
Resolute desk remains an iconic part of the American White House furniture.
Lithograph: George Zobel, after
William Simpson; restoration:
Adam Cuerden