Resolute

This book tells the true story of her adventures, including the search for John Franklin’s missing ships

Erebus

and the

Terror

in the Northwest passage at the request of Lady Jane his wife, this attempt and many following it were unsuccessful.

In 1855 she was discovered by a Connecticut whaler, drifting and deserted, a 600-ton ghost ship. Resolute was boarded by him and his small crew who steered it through a hurricane back to Connecticut, the ship was then restored by the US government and returned to the Queen.

In 1879 the Resolute was finally retired

and the

best timbers from the ship were used to make a desk for then-President Rutherford B. Hayes. It is still used by US presidents today

and the

Resolute Desk is one of the most celebrated pieces of furniture in the White House. It is famously featured in an iconic photo of John F. Kennedy Junior playing under it as a child.

This book covers a remarkable and enduring saga filled with heroism, tragedy, colossal blunders, coincidences, intrigue, murder and even cannibalism. The book features rare photographs, paintings, engravings and maps throughout.

Martin Sandler has received two Pulitzer Prize nominations, a Boston Horn Book Award for The Story of American Photography: An Illustrated History for Young People, and seven Emmy Awards. He is the author of more than 50 books, his nationally best selling Library of Congress American History Series has sold more than 500,000 copies and is the only historian to have published with the Library of Congress. For television, he was creator and co-writer for the acclaimed This Was America series.

Resolute
By Martin Sandler
Published by Sterling Publishing Co.
ISBN 1 4027 4085 5
Paperback, 269 pages
Price £16.99