RESOLUTE

Few know that the president s desk in the Oval Office plays a part in one of the world s most extraordinary sagas in Resolute noted historian Martin Sandler brings the story to light After Sir John Franklin and his ships disappeared in the Arctic while seeking the Northwest Passage 39 rescue missions were launched including one by the Resolute the Royal Navy s finest vessel In 1854 it became locked in the ice and was abandoned A year later a Connecticut whaling ship discovered it drifting 1 200 miles away a 600 ton ghost ship The whalers boarded the Resolute and steered it through a ferocious hurricane back to Connecticut The US government re outfitted the ship and returned it to Queen Victoria who in 1879 had its best timbers made into a desk for President Rutherford B Hayes a desk still in use today Rare photographs paintings engravings and maps illustrate the book throughout This edition is updated with a new chapter on the discovery of Franklin s ships the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror in 2014 and 2016 in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago This legendary maritime epic is perfect for fans of David Grann s The Wager and Hampton Sides s The Wide Wide Sea