Royal Geographical Society
Flag made by the ship's company of HMS Terror for Capt. Crozier. Handpainted flag 230 x 72 cm. Flag headed "True to thy cause, thy country and thy fame, Thy bees are frozen and thy crook's a name". Centre of flag has crest with phoenix (?) and bees. Motto at foot of flag reads "Diligentia fortunae matrix" [="Diligence is the Mother of Fortune" i.e. success is born out of hard work]. Acquired in 1932, source, Commander L.H. Crozier, R.N.
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The
shield: Argent a cross vert (?, see below) between four bees proper. On a bar, a
phoenix or a griffin, displayed (see also George Crozier's bookplate). F.H. Crozier, in his description of the registered bearings of the family, mentions that the crest contains a helmet and a griffin's head and wings (p. 10).
This flag was used for decoration during a ball held to honour the visiting British Antarctic Expedition, in Hobart, Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land), on Oct 29 1840. According to Eleanor Franklin, the authorship of the flag lies with her stepmother, Jane Franklin.
From a letter by Eleanor Franklin to her cousin Catherine Franklin, Nov 21 1840
At a ball given to the Expedition flags were hung up, containing the arms of the two Captains with these couplets, the one for Capt Ross was this:
"That flag so nobly won, Shall wave once more
Raised by thy Hand, on th’ Antarctic Shore"
The Flag alludes to the permission he received from the Queen in consequence of his having discovered the North Magnetic Pole, of bearing on his Crest, the dipping needle pointing downwards at the N. poles and the Union Jack waving over it. [*]
The one on Capt Crozier's flag, alludes to the great predilection he has for farming, and also to his name, Crozier or Crook, and to the Bees on his crest.
"True to thy Cause, thy Country, and thy Fame,
Thy Bees are frozen [**], and thy Crook's a name" [***]
These are Mama's [Jane Franklin] compositions but no one besides ourselves knows this. The flags were afterwards presented to the Captains who seemed pleased with them. Both the Captains were very nice people so that it was quite a pleasure to us all, especially Papa [John Franklin], to have them here. The time of their return is quite uncertain, and they will doubtless have many perils and hardships to endure before we see them again.
Notes:
* "on white cotton red border", "Motto: Spes aspera levat" [="Hope lightens difficulties"] (Eleanor Franklin's diary)
** compare, "omnes ignavaeque fame et contracto frigore pigrae"
*** crook – a bishop's staff, or a crozier; also, the letter 'C'
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| The manuscript |
The Courier (Hobart, Tas.), Fri 30 Oct 1840
The Ball given on this occasion was held at the New Custom House. The arched and pillared hall, after you pass the vestibule, was handsomely decorated with flags and festoons, and the effect was exceedingly good. The large ball-room was covered completely with flags tastefully arranged. Five flags, having upon them the arms of Captains Ross and Crozier, were placed conspicuously along one side of the room. We observed two more extraordinary lines over the top of the arms of Captain Crozier, and after saying something about "fame," followed up the rhyme thus:
Thy bees are frozen, and thy Crook's a name.
We know not whether we are indebted to the genius of the Committee for this elaborate piece of buffoonery, but certes, it took us some time to be able to comprehend the joke. The arms of Captain Crozier exhibit a shield with four bees, on what in heraldry is termed a field argent, which we presume our poet resolved into frozen. Sir John Franklin seemed amused with the pleasantry, for he repeated it in one of his speeches with good-humoured emphasis. "Give a Crozier," said a wag on hearing it, "to Archbishop Whateley [*]!" The gallant Captain will easily forgive the joke.
Note:
* Richard Whately, Archbishop of Dublin 1831-63, infamously arrived from England completely unfamiliar "with affairs of church and state in Ireland" (OCtIH, p. 620)
On colours:
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| Restored in green (a sketch) |
What colour is it then? One option is yellow. Chrome yellow, in
use since the start of the 19th c., is prone to deterioration. The
yellow of the bees does not show the same change, but the bees are painted on top of the shield. Its current bright yellow was once white, representing silver ("field argent"). There could've been a reaction.
The other option for the border and the cross is either green or blue (the same F.H. Crozier notes that the butterflies version of the arms contained a cross, azure). Chrome yellow was combined with Prussian blue to produce
chrome greens. "Alkalies turn [the green colour] orange, owing to their
combined action both on the blue (changing this to a reddish-brown) and
on the yellow (turning this orange)" (Weber, p. 38). Chrome green was ubiquitous – the mixtures were cheap and "commended themselves to mass use," in spite of the significant drawbacks (Ball, p. 177).
The flag must have accompanied Crozier throughout the
expedition. Incidentally, on Friday Feb 18 1842, the great cabin took a sea
through a stern window as the ship was tacking, resulting in
"a good deal of mischief to papers of the Captain's &c" (Campbell, p. 105). Seawater is alkaline (for now – it's already 30% more acidic compared to pre-industrial times).
Sources:
- Ball, Philip, Bright Earth, 2001
- Campbell, Richard, The Voyage of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror to the Southern and Antarctic Regions. Captain James Clark Ross, R.N. 1839–1843. The Journal of Sergeant William K. Cunningham, R.M. of HMS Terror, Part 2, in: The Journal of the Hakluyt Society, April 2009
- Connolly, S.J. (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Irish History 2nd ed., 2007
- The Courier, Fri 30 Oct 1840 (read)
- Crozier, F.H., Memorials of the Family of Crozier, 1881
- Franklin, Eleanor, diary (read)
- Franklin, Eleanor, letter to her cousin Catherine Franklin, Nov 21 1840 (read)
- McCormick, Robert, Voyages of Discovery in the Arctic and Antarctic Seas, and round the World, 1884 (read)
- Royal Geographical Society, rgs700573, Flag made by the ship's company of HMS Terror for Capt. Crozier (image)
- Weber, F.W., Artists' Pigments, 1923 (read)