Albert Hastings Markham

Sir Albert Hastings Markham, K.C.B. (11 November 1841 - 28 October 1918) was a British explorer, author, and officer in the Royal Navy. He was born in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France to Captain John Markham, R.N.. He married Theodora Grevers in 1894, with whom he had one daughter. In 1903 he was made Knight Commander in the Order of the Bath. He died in London, England at the age of 77.

Military career

He joined the Royal Navy in 1856 at the age of 15. In August of that year he shipped aboard the "Camilla" to China where he was stationed for eight years fighting pirates. While in the Far East he also served aboard the "Niger", "Retribution", and "Chesapeake". In 1864 he was appointed to the "Victoria" in the Mediterranean. He served as First Lieutenant of HMS "Blanche" out of Australia where he helped suppress illegal slave trading.

In 1873 he was made Commander. In 1883 he was made captain of HMS "Vernon", a naval torpedo school in Portsmouth. From 1886 to 1889 he acted as Commodore of the Training Squadron. In 1891 he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral and in 1892 was made second-in-command of the Mediterranean squadron under Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon.

His military career was sullied in an unfortunate event which occurred on 22 June 1893. His flagship, HMS "Camperdown", rammed and sank HMS "Victoria" during maneuvers off of Tripoli. The collision caused the death of 358 men including Vice Admiral Tryon. At a court-martial he was found innocent as he had been acting under orders from his superior at the time of the collision.

In 1901 he was made 'Commander-in-Chief at the Nore', making him responsible for the defense of the port of London and of merchants along the East coast of Britain. During World War I he worked with the Mine-Sweeping Service.

Exploration

In 1873 he shipped as an A.B. on a whaling vessel through Davis Straits and Buffin Bay. While performing his share of whaling duties, which he would later write about, he also kept detailed notes on the ice conditions and wrote a report suggesting the route for use with steam vessels.

In 1875 he was appointed commander of HMS "Alert" under Captain Nares. Despite suffering from scurvy and being ill-outfitted he led a sledge-party to reach the highest latitude ever attained at the time (83°20′26″ N.). They however failed to realize their ultimate goal of reaching the North Pole.

In 1879 he accompanied Sir H. Gore Booth aboard the Isbjörn to Novaya Zemlya, a remote island in northern Russia. In 1886 he went alone to report on the ice conditions of Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay, a report which garnered thanks from both Houses of the Canadian Parliament.

He served for many years on the Council of the Royal Geographical Society along with his cousin Sir Clements Markham, whose biography he would later write. He remained an avid supporter of both Arctic and Antarctic exploration and delighted in the successes of young explorers.

He retired from both exploration and the Royal Navy in 1906 in order to devote himself to his writings.

Writings

He wrote numerous books and articles about his exploration as well as two biographies. While stationed in the Pacific from 1879 to 1882 he compiled a list of Pacific Gulls which was published in 1882 by the ornithologist Howard Saunders and republished in 1883 by Osbert Salvin. Salvin named a bird, Markham's Storm-Petrel, after him in honor of his contributions to science.

* "The New Hebrides and Santa Cruz Groups, South-West Pacific" (1871)
* "The New Hebrides and Santa Cruz Groups" (1872)
* "The Cruise of the 'Rosario' Amongst the New Hebrides and Santa Cruz Islands" (1873)
* "A Whaling Cruise to Baffin's Bay and the Gulf of Boothia" (1874)
* "On Sledge Travelling" (1876)
* "Our Life in the Arctic Regions" (1877)
* "Northward Ho!" (1879)
* "The Arctic Campaign of 1879 in the Barents Sea" (1880)
* "A Visit to the Galapagos Islands in 1880" (1880)
* "The Great Frozen Sea" (1880)
* "A Polar Reconnaissance: Being the Voyage of the 'Isbjörn' to Novaya Zemlya in 1879" (1881)
* "Hudson's Bay and Hudson's Strait as a Navigable Channel" (1888)
* "Life of Sir John Franklin and the North-west Passage" (1891)
* "The Life of Sir Clements R. Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S" (1917)

=Posthumous ho

Location of geographical features named after Sir Albert Hastings Markham:
* Markgama
* Hooker Island
* Zichy Land

ee also

* List of polar explorers
* List of explorers
* Polar exploration

References

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