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Lot Essay
As recounted in a 1950 family letter, this sailor's box was crafted on board a ship captained by William Dunbar while on an expedition in the Arctic (see image). He died while serving on board The Jeannette, which was stranded in the Arctic in 1881. This box descended to Captain Dunbar's granddaughter, Minnie Dunbar Hill, who recorded its history as follows:
Mr. Parsons- Dear Sir
You requested the history of the old Mahogany box. It was the property of Captain William Dunbar, who sailed on the old whaling vessels of Laurence Bros. A sailor on one of his ships whittled the box out of a piece of board on the ship, and inlaid it all by hand. For the Arctic, they had gone to Greenland looking for seals and were frozen in for many months. The box was brought to my Grandmother and has been kept in the family ever since. I am now 74, and I don't like to think of it being left to someone who would not treasure it. I have no debts or heirs to claim it. The same Capt. Dunbar was Ice Pilot on the "Jeannette", one of the early expeditions to the North Pole. A book was written of this, which at one time was in the New London Library entitled "The Expedition of the Jeanette" Captain Dunbar's picture is in the book. This vessel of course never returned and only two men survived. Each family of the survivors was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor which was not left to me but the box was. I thank you for taking the box, Mr. Parsons, for you said it would stay with your treasures. So few care for the old relics anymore. I hope it will give your household some pleasure in looking at it.
Yours Sincerely,
Minnie Dunbar Hill
Granddaughter of Capt. William Dunbar
Mr. Parsons- Dear Sir
You requested the history of the old Mahogany box. It was the property of Captain William Dunbar, who sailed on the old whaling vessels of Laurence Bros. A sailor on one of his ships whittled the box out of a piece of board on the ship, and inlaid it all by hand. For the Arctic, they had gone to Greenland looking for seals and were frozen in for many months. The box was brought to my Grandmother and has been kept in the family ever since. I am now 74, and I don't like to think of it being left to someone who would not treasure it. I have no debts or heirs to claim it. The same Capt. Dunbar was Ice Pilot on the "Jeannette", one of the early expeditions to the North Pole. A book was written of this, which at one time was in the New London Library entitled "The Expedition of the Jeanette" Captain Dunbar's picture is in the book. This vessel of course never returned and only two men survived. Each family of the survivors was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor which was not left to me but the box was. I thank you for taking the box, Mr. Parsons, for you said it would stay with your treasures. So few care for the old relics anymore. I hope it will give your household some pleasure in looking at it.
Yours Sincerely,
Minnie Dunbar Hill
Granddaughter of Capt. William Dunbar