In a quiet corner of Buckinghamshire, a dusty memorial hangs on a church wall. Underneath its gothic marble arch, the faded inscription recounts a story of youth, bravery, adventure, hope and pain.
It’s the story of Robert Shedden, his daring and death.
#thread
It’s the story of Robert Shedden, his daring and death.
#thread
Robert Shedden built his own schooner yacht. He called it 'Nancy Dawson' – after the 18th-century entertainer. The vessel, captained by Shedden, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the globe.
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In 1849, he volunteered to go in search of Sir John Franklin’s expedition which had set out to find the Northwest Passage – the Canadian Arctic waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. But by 1847, no-one had seen or heard from the ships in two years.
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Shedden “bravely explored the frozen ocean in the arctic regions”. But out on the water, he contracted consumption and “disappointed in his generous hope, and worn down by anxiety, and sleepless watching he drooped and died on the dark blue sea”.
He was just 30 years old.
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He was just 30 years old.
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His mother, Wilhelmina, erected the monument in Hardmead church in memory of her only son. A relief carving of Robert’s beloved yacht fills the black slate background. The epitaph rings with grief, “his noble remains are interred near the wild waves of the Pacific Ocean”.
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It would be more than 160 years before the vessels from Franklin’s ill-fated expedition were discovered: in 2014, Erebus was found underneath the waters of the Canadian Arctic and two years later, Terror was located.
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Robert’s descendants, the Sheddens, still live in Hardmead and are the caretakers of this beautiful, medieval church.
More about St Mary's: friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/hardmead/
#northwestpassage #schooner #exploration #churchmonument
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More about St Mary's: friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/hardmead/
#northwestpassage #schooner #exploration #churchmonument
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