page_title: Skeffington Lutwidge
section_title: Arctic voyage
hierarchical_section_title: Skeffington Lutwidge / Arctic voyage
caption_attribution_description: English: 'View of the Racehorse and Carcass August 7th 1773, when inclosed in the ice in Lat. 80o 37.N. Engraved for Payne's Universal Geography Vol V Page 481' Under the command of Captain the Hon. Constantine Phipps, the ‘Racehorse’ and ‘Carcass’ set sail in June 1773 to find ‘a passage by, or near, the North Pole’ north of Russia. By early August the ice had closed about the ships north of Spitsbergen and preparations were made to abandon them and escape in the boats. However, a shift in the wind broke up the ice and freed the ships. Nelson was a midshipman in the ‘Carcass’ on this expedition.
context_page_description: Skeffington Lutwidge was an officer of the Royal Navy, who saw service during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He had a particular connection with Horatio Nelson, who served under Lutwidge as a midshipman on an expedition to the Arctic in HMS Carcass in 1773, and again in 1801 while a captain, when Lutwidge was commander in chief in the Downs. Lutwidge served for a considerable period and in a number of ships, in American waters during the War of Independence. During this time he captured a number of American privateers, and was involved in operations on Lake Champlain. He reached flag rank soon after the start of the French Revolutionary Wars, and served mainly in Home waters as commander in chief of some of the stations on the south coast. He retired from active service with the rank of admiral, and died in 1814, shortly before the end of the Napoleonic Wars. He was the great-uncle of Lewis Carroll.
context_section_description: Lutwidge, by now a commander, commissioned the bomb vessel HMS Carcass in June 1771, and served in the Irish Sea until the Carcass was paid off in April 1773. The Carcass was then refitted at Sheerness between March and April for a voyage to the Arctic, with Lutwidge retaining command. The expedition, under the overall command of Constantine Phipps, who commanded HMS Racehorse, sailed from the Nore on 10 June 1773. The expedition sailed up to and around Spitsbergen, managing to reach within ten degrees of the North Pole, but was prevented from travelling further north by thick sea ice, and returned to Britain in September. Sailing with the Carcass was a young Horatio Nelson, whose position as a midshipman on the expedition had been arranged by his uncle, Maurice Suckling. Suckling and Lutwidge knew each other well, Lutwidge having served under Suckling on a number of occasions, including time spent acting against privateers in 1771. Nelson was given the role of coxswain of Lutwidge's gig. Nelson managed to obtain command of the Carcass's cutter as the expedition progressed.
caption: 'View of the Racehorse and Carcass 7 August 1773, when inclosed in the ice in Lat. 80o 37.N. Engraved for Payne's Universal Geography Vol V Page 481', Page; after John Cleveley
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