Maritiem Digitaal
collectie zoeksyteem van de maritieme musea
geen titel
| titel | geen titel
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| inventarisnummer | PLT0078
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| collectie | Plate
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| museum | National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
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| datum | 1904-5
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| omschrijving | Silver statuette presented to Sir Clements Robert Markham (1830-1916) by the officers and men of 'Discovery'.
The statuette depicts an explorer in polar dress manhauling a Nansen sledge laden with boxes, bags and skis. On the base, which is made of 'Discovery' oak, is a silver plaque inscribed ‘SIR CLEMENTS MARKHAM K.C.B. F.R.S. FROM THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE "DISCOVERY" IN COMMEMORATION OF THE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1901-1904’. Silver lifebelts on either side of the plaque are inscribed 'DISCOVERY'.
The geographer and explorer Sir Clements Markham was chief sponsor of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1901, and the later 'Morning' relief voyage. Captain R. F. Scott dedicated his published account to Markham 'the father of the expedition and its most constant friend'.
Markham's brother, the Arctic explorer Sir Albert H. Markham, recorded the presentation of the statuette in the Albert Hall before Scott's Royal Geographical Society lecture of 7 November 1904: 'Markham was taken into a small room in which all the officers of the two ships were assembled, when to his intense surprise, Captain Scott, in a very touching speech, presented him, on behalf of the officers of the expedition, with a beautifully wrought silver centrepiece representing a sledge being drawn by a man in sledging costume. It was a token of their esteem for all that he had done to create and organise the expedition, and of their gratitude for the interest that he took in its welfare and all those who served in it. He was quite taken aback at this wholly unexpected tribute of appreciation from the officers, and found it difficult to find words that would give appropriate expression to his feelings. It was a gift that in after years he always valued as one of his most precious possessions'.
This 'Antarctic testimonial' is included in the photograph of Clements Markham by Elliott and Fry (now at the National Portrait Gallery, London) and the oil portrait painted by George Henry (now at the Royal Geographical Society, London). This painting appears as the frontispiece to the biography of Markham written by his brother in 1917, and a drawing of the statuette is embossed in gold on the binding.
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| afmetingen | 280 x 368 x 155 mm
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