Orders, Decorations and Medals

An unusual Arctic exploration pair awarded to the Rev. George Fisher, late Royal Navy, a Chaplain and Astronomer in the 1818 and 1821-23 Expeditions, and afterwards the Principal of Greenwich Hospital School: the only Chaplain and one of two Astronomers entitled to the Arctic 1818-55 Medal, his important scientific observations later filled 300 pages of Parry’s published journal

Arctic Medal 1818-55, unnamed as issued; Westminster Fire Office Medal, silver, the reverse with old engraved inscription, ‘Mr. George Fisher, Elected 17th Augt. 1809’, 40mm., generally good very fine (2) £1200-1500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Polar Awards from the Collection of Glenn M Stein, F.R.G.S..

View
Collection

Ex Len Matthews collection, who purchased the above described awards in a charity auction held in 1990, when offered with a quantity of unrelated family documents; and Spink, 30 November 1999 (Lot 489).

George Fisher was born at Sunbury, Middlesex in July 1794, the son of a surveyor, James Fisher, and his wife Henrietta. One of a large family left to the care of a widowed mother when James died in 1797, George Fisher received little early education before entering the office of the Westminster (Fire) Insurance Company aged 14 years in 1808. Employed as a clerk, it is probable, too, that he served as a porter, in which role he would have been responsible for the removal and protection of items from fire-damaged properties. More certain is the fact his ‘devotion to uncongenial duties won the respect and rewards of his employers’, reference no doubt to his silver Westminster Fire Office Medal.

In 1817, and having likely come into contact with noted scientists of the day as a result of his work at Westminster, Fisher entered St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, but his studies were put on hold as a result of recurring illness - and his appointment as an Astronomer to the forthcoming Arctic Expedition, an appointment made on the recommendation of the President and Council of the Royal Society. Referred to in Admiralty instructions as ‘Mr. Fisher, who is represented to us as a gentleman well skilled in Astronomy, Natural History, and various branches of knowledge’, he was provided with assorted scientific instruments to assist his observations and research, pioneering work on the physical, chemical and physiological consequences of the Arctic climate.

Astronomer to the 1818 Expedition

Four ships under Admiralty orders participated in the 1818 Expedition, setting sail on 21 April - H.M. ships Alexander and Isabella were ordered to find a North-West Passage, while the Trent and Dorothea - Fisher's ship - were to seek a passage from the Svalbard Islands by way of the North Pole to the Bering Strait, and thence to the Pacific Ocean, courses of action resulting from a belief that there was an “Open Polar Sea”, a theory that existed until the final decades of the 19th century.

Be that as it may, the Trent and Dorothea safely reached their rendezvous at Magdalena Bay, on the north-west coast of Spitzbergen Island, where they remained for some days surveying the harbour. On putting out to sea again on 7 June, the ice soon closed-in and both ships became entrapped, but they later found refuge at Fair Haven on 28 June, in the extreme north-west of Spitzbergen. Setting out again on 6 July, they penetrated to 80º 34'N, the most northerly limit of their voyage, before encountering an impenetrable barrier of ice and again being entrapped. Eventually, however, the ships broke clear, but then ran into a gale in which they were severely damaged. Once more finding refuge in Fair Haven, and having made temporary repairs, the expedition sailed for home on 30 August, thereby bringing to a close the Royal Navy’s last attempt to sail a ship across the “Open Polar Sea”.

In spite of the unforgiving ice and sea, a scientific harvest was reaped from the expedition, based on Fisher's experiments on the length of the pendulum at Spitzbergen. An abstract of these experiments eventually saw print in an appendix of A Voyage of Discovery Towards The North Pole by Beechey. In addition, the results of Fisher's observations of the ships' chronometers during the voyage were embodied in a paper read before the Royal Society on 8 June 1820, entitled On the Errors in Longitude as Determined by Chronometers at Sea, Arising from the Action of the Iron in the Ships upon the Chronometers.

Astronomer and Chaplain to Parry’s 1821-23 Expedition

It was about this time that Fisher evidently took Holy Orders, in order to become a Naval Chaplain, and it was in this role, and again as Astronomer on the recommendation of the Royal Society, that he joined William Parry's second North-West Passage Expedition.

In April 1821, H.M.S. Fury - Fisher's ship - and Hecla were sent by the Admiralty to search for a passage along the west coast of the unexplored Foxe Basin in the northern reaches of Hudson Bay, and north of Repulse Bay. Parry subsequently became the first to sail through Frozen Strait, but in late August, having found no passage through Repulse Bay, he explored the coast of Melville Peninsula northward, naming, among other features, Haviland Bay, Bushnan and Vansittart Islands, Gore Bay and Lyon and Hoppner Islets. He also examined two inlets by boat, sailing as far as Ross Bay.

Wintering with his comrades at “Winter Island”, off south-east Melville Peninsula, Fisher set up his portable observatory ashore, in which task he was ably assisted by his servant, Able Seaman Henry Siggers. Numerous wide-ranging experiments were conducted, among them those of value to navigators in high latitudes, including comparative tests of compasses and numerous observations to determine refraction when stars were observed near the horizon in very cold weather. He also measured the velocity of sound, the contraction of a series of different metal bars at low temperatures, and the behaviours of various chemicals. While in 1822, he discovered the liquidization of gases, especially chlorine - one year ahead of the noted English chemist and physicist Michael Faraday, who is usually credited with being the first to liquefy chlorine.

On 1 February 1822, Eskimos visited Fisher and his comrades, spending much of the winter in their company, thereby enabling them to make detailed observations of their customs and language. Leaving their winter quarters on 2 July - and using an Eskimo map of the region - the Fury and Hecla explored north along the east coast of Melville Peninsula. More Eskimos were encountered at Igloolik and afterwards the entrance to Fury and Hecla Strait was discovered. Ice, however, prevented Parry from passing through the strait, but overland journeys confirmed that it led west into open sea - in fact, this was the entrance to the southernmost possible North-West Passage, but modern knowledge confirms that ice conditions made it impassable to sailing vessels.

Parry returned to Igloolik Island and established winter quarters at that place, where the expedition again had much contact with Eskimos during the winter and Fisher once more set up his portable observatory ashore, patiently continuing his valuable experiments. Leaving those quarters in August 1823, Parry made a second attempt to sail through Fury and Hecla Strait, but was again unsuccessful and, fearing the onset of scurvy, he abandoned the effort and returned home. This was the last major attempt to find a North-West Passage through Hudson Bay, and the search for an elusive passage continued in more northern latitudes.

Parry's journal made specific note of Rev. Fisher's advancements in the departments of science: ‘I have the most sincere pleasure in offering my testimony to the unabated zeal and perseverance with which under circumstances of no ordinary difficulty from climate, and in spite of frequent ill health, he continued to pursue every object which could tend to the improvement of Astronomy and Navigation, and to the interests of Science in general.’ Indeed, of Parry's 800-page published journal, the last 300 are observations of weather, position and astronomy by Fisher. Even the cause of the well known Arctic splendour, the Aurora Borealis, was theorized on by Fisher, who clung to the general belief that the Aurora was an electrical phenomenon. Like his contemporaries, he had no inkling that its true origin was a stream of ionized solar particles made visible on reaching the atmosphere.

Nonetheless, Fisher's diligence paid off when he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society at only 31 years of age in 1825, in which year he also became the Chaplain of Stansted, Essex. Two years later, he was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and became the Chaplain of Ampthill, Bedfordshire. Fisher several times acted as Vice-President of the R.A.S. and was a member of the council from 1835 until 1863. He was also made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1830, but resigned in 1840. In addition, from 1827 to 1831, Fisher was employed as Chaplain to H.M.S. Spartiate (1827-30) and Asia (1831), continuing his magnetic observations at London, Ryde, Malta and various ports on the coast of the Mediterranean, and on his return, he was assigned to H.M.S. Victory at Portsmouth from 1832-33, after which he retired from the Navy on half-pay.

Principal of Greenwich Hospital School

Biographical sources state that in 1834, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Auckland, offered Fisher the choice between the living of Falstone in Northumberland, or the Chaplaincy and Headmastership of Greenwich Hospital School, and he chose the latter, commencing his duties at a time when the School was rising from a very low state. But through his dogged perseverance, calm demeanour, tact and even-handed justice, the institution became what one professor described as, ‘second to no other similar school in Europe.’ In fact, during his time of office, the Greenwich Hospital School assumed a highly practical character as a ‘hot-bed of navigation,’ supplying to all the Navigation Schools on the coast masters who instructed officers of the Mercantile Marine in navigation and the like, as well as several Naval Instructors and Navigating Officers of the Royal Navy. Her Majesty's Government annually gave eight Master-Assistantships in the Navy to boys from the Nautical School, with an outfit equivalent to £20 for each. Added to which, in order to carry out the Admiralty's desire to make the School a ‘nursery of skilful navigators’, an observatory was planned by, and erected under, the superintendence of Fisher, and it continued under his care for 13 years, including the observance of the solar eclipse on 18 July 1860.

Fisher finally retired in 1863, when he sold many of his books and moved to Rugby, Warwickshire, but he continued to contribute to practical knowledge by producing a most valuable paper to the seventh edition of Riddle's Navigation, titled Circular Arc Sailing - it was a highly practical and instructive attempt to modify great Circle Sailing when the latitude into which a ship would be led is so high as to render navigation dangerous.

‘Always of singularly childlike and contented disposition’, Fisher died in May 1873, the same obituarist noting that ‘the companionship of those dearest to him, and his books, were all he needed for happiness’. His grand daughter, Miss A. B. Darnell, presented an extensive collection of his scientific notes, observations and Greenwich Hospital School letters and books to the National Maritime Museum in 1958, in addition to his scientific instruments, which are held in the Navigation Department.

Sold with roll verification for his Arctic Medal - Fisher hand-signed for his award on 12 May 1857 - together with additional research notes; the above details are based on research by Glenn M. Stein, F.R.G.S., who acknowledges the kind assistance of Brian Cannon, and the late Len Matthews.