page_title: Edward Belcher
section_title: Arctic expedition
hierarchical_section_title: Edward Belcher / Biography / Arctic expedition
caption_attribution_description: English: H.M.S Resolute and Intrepid winter Quarters, Melville Island, 1852-53 Print. When George Frederick McDougall drew the picture after which this print was made, he was a Master on H.M.S. Resolute. H.M.S Resolute And Intrepid winter Quarters, Melville Island, 1852-53
context_page_description: Admiral Sir Edward Belcher CB KCB was a British naval officer, hydrographer, and explorer. Born in Nova Scotia, he was the great-grandson of Governor Jonathan Belcher. He was briefly married to Diana Jolliffe, stepdaughter of Captain Peter Heywood, that marriage ending upon her application for legal separation for his having infected her with venereal disease.
context_section_description: In 1852 Belcher led the last and largest Admiralty expedition to rescue Sir John Franklin. He was also to look for his former surveying officer in Hong Kong, Sir Richard Collinson, and Sir Robert McClure, whose ships had not been seen after entering the Bering Strait. He did a great deal of sledge exploration, rescued McClure and abandoned four of his five ships in the ice.
  He had five ships: HMS Assistance (Belcher), HMS Resolute (Henry Kellett, second mate George Nares), the steam tenders Pioneer (Sherard Osborn) and Intrepid (Sir Leopold McClintock) and the depot ship HMS North Star (William Pullen). Belcher and one tender were to enter Wellington Channel, where Franklin was thought to be, while Kellett was to go west to Melville Island and look for Collinson and McClure. North Star was to stay at Beechey Island as a supply base.
  He left the Nore in April 1850. By early winter Assistance and Pioneer were frozen in at Northumberland Sound to the north of Wellington Channel while Resolute and Intrepid were frozen in off Melville Island —the first ships this far West since Sir William Edward Parry in 1819. A great deal of exploration was done by manhauled sledges. In April 1853 Leopold McClintock and others left Resolute on sledges and returned 105 days later, having covered 1,400 miles (2,300 km) and discovered Prince Patrick Island.
  Another party went West and discovered Robert McClure, whose ship was frozen in at Mercy Bay. Belcher went north by sledge and found a channel at the northern tip of Devon Island, hinting that Franklin might have used it to escape to Baffin Bay. When the ice broke up that summer, he pushed his ships up Wellington Channel and became trapped again.
  By February 1854, Belcher was becoming increasingly worried about the safety of his ships and men. In April he ordered Kellett to abandon his ships and return by sledge to North Star. Belcher abandoned his two ships in late July. Aided by two ships that showed up at Beechey Island (Phoenix and Breadalbane), the whole party returned to England. Belcher went through a court martial, which was automatic for any captain who had lost a ship.
  He was exonerated, but his sword was returned to him "without observation". He never again received an active command. Curiously Resolute broke free of the ice and drifted all the way to Davis Strait, where it was picked up by an American whaler. The American government graciously returned the ship to the United Kingdom, and when many years later the ship was broken up, its timbers were used to make a desk for the American president by way of a thank you. This Resolute desk, a gift from Queen Victoria, is still used today in the Oval Office.
caption: HMS Resolute and Intrepid winter quarters, Melville Island, 1852–53
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