Arctic Medal 1818-55
History
The Arctic Medal was instituted in 1857. The medal was awarded to the men of several Polar expeditions that sailed to the region between the years of 1818 and 1855, including those expeditions to discover the fate of Sir John Franklin and his crew, who were lost while looking for the Northwest Passage in or around 1847.
Consequently, the medal was issued to civilians, scientists and the crews of both French and U.S. ships as well as members of the Hudson Bay Company who assisted in the search - although the vast majority of medals were awarded to members of the Royal Navy.
Description
The medal is of an octagonal design, 32mm wide and 46mm in height and was struck in silver. The obverse of this medal bears the effigy of Queen Victoria, unusually, with her hair flowing loose and tied by a ribbon with the inscription; ‘VICTORIA REGINA’.
The reverse depicts a three masted ship trapped in the ice with a sledge party in the foreground and the dates; ‘1818’ and; ‘1855’.
The ribbon suspender is of an unusual design being a five pointed ‘northern star’ with a large ring attached to a fastening that surmount the top of the medal.
The medal was issued un-named - although many are found privately engraved.
Ribbon
The ribbon is 38mm wide and plain white in colour.
Bars/Clasps
None were authorised for this medal.
Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.
Dealer Retail Value */**
Un-named as issued
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£1000.00
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Named from
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£1500.00
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* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.
** The individual medal value will vary considerably based on the recipient’s details.
Further Historical Context
- Sir John Franklin.
- The Franklin Expedition.
- The Northwest Passage.
Sir John Franklin - Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN (16 April 1786 - 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer of the Arctic. Franklin also served as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) from 1837 to 1843.
He disappeared on his last expedition, attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The icebound ships were abandoned and the entire crew perished from starvation, hypothermia, tuberculosis, lead poisoning and scurvy.
This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.
The Franklin Expedition - Franklin's lost expedition was a British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845. A Royal Navy officer and experienced explorer, Franklin had served on three previous Arctic expeditions, the latter two as commanding officer.
His fourth and last, undertaken when he was 59, was meant to traverse the last un-navigated section of the Northwest Passage. After a few early fatalities, the two ships became icebound in Victoria Strait near King William Island in the Canadian Arctic. The entire expedition complement, including Franklin and 128 men, was lost.
Pressed by Franklin's wife, Jane, Lady Franklin, and others, the Admiralty launched a search for the missing expedition in 1848. Prompted in part by Franklin's fame and the Admiralty's offer of a finder's reward, many subsequent expeditions joined the hunt, which at one point in 1850 involved eleven British and two American ships.
Several of these ships converged off the east coast of Beechey Island, where the first relics of the expedition were found, including the graves of three crewmen. In 1854, explorer John Rae, while surveying near the Canadian Arctic coast southeast of King William Island, acquired relics of and stories about the Franklin party from the Inuit.
A search led by Francis Leopold McClintock in 1859 discovered a note left on King William Island with details about the expedition's fate. Searches continued through much of the 19th century. Finally, in 2014, a Canadian search team located HMS Erebus west of O'Reilly Island, in the eastern portion of Queen Maud Gulf, in the waters of the Arctic archipelago.
In 1981, a team of scientists led by Owen Beattie, a professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta, began a series of scientific studies of the graves, bodies, and other physical evidence left by Franklin crew members on Beechey Island and King William Island.
They concluded that the crew members whose graves had been found on Beechey Island most likely died of pneumonia and perhaps tuberculosis and that lead poisoning may have worsened their health, owing to badly soldered cans held in the ships' food stores. However, it was later suggested that the source of this lead may not have been tinned food, but the distilled water systems fitted to the expedition’s ships.
Cut marks on human bones found on King William Island were seen as signs of cannibalism. The combined evidence of all studies suggested that hypothermia, starvation, lead poisoning and disease including scurvy, along with general exposure to a hostile environment whilst lacking adequate clothing and nutrition, killed everyone on the expedition in the years following its last sighting by Europeans in 1845.
The Victorian media portrayed Franklin as a hero despite the expedition's failure and the reports of cannibalism. Songs were written about him and statues of him in his home town, in London, and in Tasmania credit him with discovery of the Northwest Passage. Franklin's lost expedition has been the subject of many artistic works, including songs, verse, short stories, and novels, as well as television documentaries.
This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.
The Northwest Passage - The Northwest Passage is a sea route connecting the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and from the Canadian mainland by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages or Northwestern Passages.
The Parliament of Canada renamed these waterways the ‘Canadian Northwest Passage’ in motion M-387 passed unanimously 2 December 2009.
Sought by explorers for centuries as a possible trade route, it was first navigated by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen with a small expedition in 1903-1906. Until 2009, the Arctic pack ice prevented regular marine shipping throughout most of the year. Changes in the pack ice (Arctic shrinkage) caused by climate change have rendered the waterways more navigable.
The contested sovereignty claims over the waters may complicate future shipping through the region: the Canadian government considers the Northwestern Passages part of Canadian Internal Waters, but the United States and various European countries maintain they are an international strait and transit passage, allowing free and unencumbered passage.
If, as has been claimed, parts of the eastern end of the Passage are barely 15 metres (49ft) deep, the route's viability as a Euro-Asian shipping route is reduced.
This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.
End of database.