The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1911-12-28
HISTORIC TABLE
IN WHITE HOUSE
Piece of Furniture In President Taft's Private Office
Made from Timber of Famous Ship Resolute
of English Navy

solute. while in London invitations
We're showered upon Commander
! Hartstene. pa ~ e. . Hsgt
Queen Victoria expressed a wish to
visit the Resolute and requested that
the vessel be towed to Cowes, near
her private place. Commander Hart.
stene' Immediately complied With her
request. and the ResoIute was towed
there by a government steamer res.
corted by two other steamers and II.
b. NJ. rfrigate Retribution.g .
The morning of December 1G. 1856,
Queen Victoria, accompanied by his
highness Prince Albert, the Prince of
Wales, the princess royal, Princess
Alice and several members OF the
royal household, visited the Resolute.
Commander Hartstene was presented
to her majesty by Vice Admiral Sir
;cyrgc Seymour Commander Hart
tene then, as he said. not only from
the impulse of the moment, but IN
obedience to what he considered TO
be the feelings OF his countrymen,
presented the Resolutc to Queen Vic
toria. He then showed her all the OBJ
jects of interest connected With the
vessel. with which she appeared to be
much gratified
This visit was perpetuatcd i'll an
oil painting executed by w. Simpson
in England shortly after the event,
and entitled England and America.
An engraving taken from the origi'
nal is in the posses sion OF A. !. Mudd,
of Washington, who also gathered to-
tory of the Resolute
. In the afternoon Of the day Queen
Victoria visited the vessel Comman'
der Hartstene received c communica
tiCn from the Hon. G. b. Phipps, {.
B., keeper of II. b. Ms privy purse.
In this it was stated that It was the
command of her majesty that hun.
dred pounds be distributed among
the ships company, according to the
commanders discretion. This, ii
stated, was to be considered person.
al present from her majesty Com
mander Hartstene also received a
royal invitation 10 dine at the palace
at Osborne.
The morning of Dec. II the Reso.
lutte was towed up to the harbor or
PorI smouth, escorted by the frigate
Retributicn, on the arriving at her
anchorage was received by another
royal salute and with great acclama'
ton on the part of the people gather.
ed to witness the event. II was not
until Dec. 30, however. that the ReSo'
lutte was finally delivered to the Brit
ish government. When given the
command OF the Rcsolute. COmman,
der Hartstene VAS ordered by the
then Secretary Of the Navy. following
the discharge OF HIS duty, to return
the officers and men, exercising all
prudence and economy. That, how.
ever. proved unnecessary, and Com
mander Hartstene returned to this
country aboard one of the British
steam frigates.
Official communications concerning
the dcliverance of the Resolutc were,
If course. exchanged bt the two ma
tions, and Jan. II, 1851, President
Pierce sent n special message to con-
gress announcing that the joint reso'
luton had been carried into effect.
The Resolute remained in the Brit
ish navy for number of wears. and
when she finally was broken up 1t
was the occasion when Queen Vic
toria had the desk made and present.
ed to President Hayes.