In response to The Day’s article, “New London’s role in ‘Resolute desk’ recalled,” I offer some clarifications regarding Groton and New London history. In 1855, Captain James Monroe Buddington (1817-1908), an internationally known whaling captain who lived on the east bank of the Thames River, called the village of Groton Bank, discovered the abandoned British ship “Resolute” in the Arctic, “while sailing through Davis Strait between Greenland and Baffin Island.” Buddington commanded the New London ship “George Henry” which was returning following a catch of four humpback whales in Disko Bay, Greenland.

Dividing his crew of 25, Buddington led a skeleton crew of nine who sailed the 600-ton Resolute for 67 days through severe weather to arrive in the Thames harbor Dec. 24, 1855. The winter was so cold that the ships froze in the harbor so people walked across the ice toward Groton to see the ship opposite Fort Trumbull. When it was decommissioned, Queen Victoria had Resolute ship timbers used to make several Resolute desks. Most notable is the Resolute desk in the Oval Office of the White House. A smaller one is in the New Bedford Whaling Museum; Captain Buddington himself received one; and Queen Victoria had one for her yacht and another for Buckingham Palace. Captain Buddington never received renumeration for rescuing the Resolute.

Tom Althuis

Groton