His career in the Royal
Navy spanned five decades, nearly as long as his
monarch, Queen Victoria, sat on the British throne.
During his lifetime, he fought pirates and rebels,
explored the Arctic and America’s Western frontier,
studied flora and fauna wherever his journeys took him,
and penned numerous accounts of his adventures and
explorations. He entered the navy as a raw recruit and
retired as an admiral. Yet, today, few know of him. (Not
surprising given that the last biography of his life was
published nearly a hundred years ago.) His name was
Albert Hastings Markham.
Markham thrived on
adventure, and those experiences showed him to be a man
of courage and self-discipline. He possessed both moral
fiber and a strong Christian ethic. He combined all of
these to follow a career path that was initially chosen
for him by his father, who felt that at least one of his
sons should serve his country as so many of his
ancestors had.
His bold undertakings began
with his assignment to the China Station, where he
participated in numerous engagements to suppress piracy
and rebels during the Taiping Rebellion and the Second
Opium War. He also spent time in Australian waters,
aiding the navy’s attempts to stop blackbirders – men
who kidnapped and sold Polynesians into slavery. In
preparation for a potential voyage of exploration,
Markham took a leave of absence to serve aboard a
whaling ship. The experience and knowledge that he
acquired made him one of the chosen few who once again
took up Britain’s attempts to reach the North Pole in
1875, an activity that had abruptly stopped after the
loss of the Franklin Expedition thirty years earlier. In
fact, Markham reached the most northern latitude of any
explorer – a record that stood for two decades – in
spite of suffering from snow blindness and scurvy. He
also journeyed to the American West to visit his family,
who had moved there, and his inquisitiveness spurred him
to visit with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Wichita tribes
and to hunt buffalo.
During his career, he
commanded the navy’s Training Squadron, where he
impacted the lives of many young men, including Robert
Falcon Scott, who would one day explore Antarctica. He
did have critics and a few thought him a strict
disciplinarian, but he also cared for those who served
under him. The one incident that left a profound mark on
him was the tragic loss of more than 300 men when the
flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, HMS Victoria,
sank.
This book is comprised of
eight chapters that follow Markham’s life and career.
Each begins with a quotation, either from his own
writings or from someone whose life he touched.
Forty-one illustrations, contained in a center section,
provide glimpses into his life and the world in which he
lived, as well as artifacts pertaining to him. Also
included is a collection of maps relevant to his
numerous assignments around the word. Two appendices
accompany the narrative: A Complete List of the Officers
and Men of the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-76, and
Albert Hastings Markham’s Books and Articles. A
bibliography and an index round out the narrative.
Jastrzembski loves history
and specializes in writing about nineteenth-century
heroes and wars that few readers know about. He breathes
new life into Admiral Markham in an account that is both
entertaining and informative. The inclusion of Markham’s
own words further enhances the experience and provides a
closer glimpse into this man. Anyone with an interest in
naval history, especially that of the Victorian Era,
will find this a rewarding and highly readable volume.
Review Copyrighted ©2020 Cindy
Vallar
Pirates
and Privateers
