A Rare Lapel Pin For the 1875 Discovery Arctic Expedition Depicting Discovery Overwintering off the Ice pack inscribed H.M.S. Discovery

A RARE LAPEL PIN FOR THE 1875 DISCOVERY ARCTIC EXPEDITION

Depicting Discovery overwintering off the icepack inscribed H.M.S. Discovery, mounted on lapel pin and contained within shaped box with retailer’s label for Williamson Jeweller — 4in. (10cm.) box

The lapel pin is a part of the memorabilia of the British Arctic Expedition 1875-1876. This expedition was led by Sir George Nares (1831-1915), who was sent by the British Admiralty to attempt to reach the North Pole via Smith Sound. The Nares expedition, so called after its commander, was undertaken using two ships, HMS ‘Alert’ and HMS ‘Discovery’, which sailed from Portsmouth on 29 May 1875.

The ships reached Lady Franklin Bay on North Ellesmere Island and the Alert went on to reach the extreme north of the island, the highest latitude that had yet been reached by a ship.On this expedition, Nares became the first explorer to take his ships all the way north through the channel between Greenland and Ellesmere Island (now named Nares Strait in his honour) to the Lincoln Sea. In April 1876, three separate sledge parties set out, but the men showed serious signs of scurvy and several members died. Nares was forced to abandon the expedition and returned to England in September that year.

Although the expedition failed to reach the North Pole, the coasts of Greenland and Ellesmere Island were extensively explored and large amounts of scientific data was collected.

HMS Discovery was a wooden screw storeship, formerly the whaling ship Bloodhound. She was purchased in 1874 for the British Arctic Expedition of 1875 – 1876 and was sold in 1902.