What do you think?
Rate this book
Admiral Albert Hastings Markham: A Victorian Tale of Triumph, Tragedy and Exploration
Few men have lived such an extraordinary life as Admiral Albert Hastings Markham. Besides dedicating five decades of his career to the Royal Navy, Markham was a voracious reader, prolific writer, keen naturalist, and daring explorer. He battled Chinese pirates during the Second Opium War and Taiping Rebellion; chased down Australian blackbirding ships in the South Pacific; trekked to within 400 miles of the North Pole; hunted buffalo and visited Indian reservations in the United States; observed a bloody war in South America; canoed Canada's remote Hayes River; and explored the icy waters of Baffin Bay and the Arctic Ocean archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. At the time of his death in 1918, _The Globe_ declared that Markham's passing removed from society 'one of the most arresting figures of his time'.
While Markham's life was filled with adventure, it was also marred by tragedy. Regrettably, Markham is best remembered for his role in the sinking of HMS _Victoria_ in 1893. This one incident has tarnished his legacy until now. This book follows Markham on his nineteenth-century tales of adventure and misfortune and reassess the life of this forgotten admiral.
While Markham's life was filled with adventure, it was also marred by tragedy. Regrettably, Markham is best remembered for his role in the sinking of HMS _Victoria_ in 1893. This one incident has tarnished his legacy until now. This book follows Markham on his nineteenth-century tales of adventure and misfortune and reassess the life of this forgotten admiral.
216 pages, Hardcover
Published February 8, 2020
3 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Frank Jastrzembski
3 books1 followerA native of Cleveland, Ohio, Frank Jastrzembski studied history at John Carroll University (B.A.) and Cleveland State University (M.A.). As a graduate student at CSU, his studies focused on the U.S.-Mexican War, Ottoman Empire, and history of cemeteries in America. He was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year Award for 2013-14.
Jastrzembski hasn't stopped writing since graduating from CSU. He enjoys discovering and writing about forgotten wars and soldiers of the nineteenth century. He has written dozens of articles for blogs, journals, and magazines. He was awarded the Howard Browne Medal of the Victorian Military Society for 2015.
He is the author of "Valentine Baker’s Heroic Stand At Tashkessen 1877: A Tarnished British Soldier’s Glorious Victory." He is currently working on his second book with the same publisher dedicated to the life of Admiral Albert Hastings Markham. Visit www.frankjastrzembski.com to view a complete list of his publications.
When he is not writing, he travels with his wife, explores old cemeteries, plays wargames, and hunts for antiques and collectibles.
Jastrzembski hasn't stopped writing since graduating from CSU. He enjoys discovering and writing about forgotten wars and soldiers of the nineteenth century. He has written dozens of articles for blogs, journals, and magazines. He was awarded the Howard Browne Medal of the Victorian Military Society for 2015.
He is the author of "Valentine Baker’s Heroic Stand At Tashkessen 1877: A Tarnished British Soldier’s Glorious Victory." He is currently working on his second book with the same publisher dedicated to the life of Admiral Albert Hastings Markham. Visit www.frankjastrzembski.com to view a complete list of his publications.
When he is not writing, he travels with his wife, explores old cemeteries, plays wargames, and hunts for antiques and collectibles.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 28, 2020
For all its weaknesses, the Victorian era produced some of the greatest adventurers in history. The British Empire provided the context for some British men and women to push the boundaries of personal achievement in the service of the Queen or ‘civilization’ or both. Many of them are still household names, but probably not naval officer Albert Hastings Markham, who is best remembered, if at all, for infamously sinking one of the Queen’s ships. Frank Jastrzembski’s biography presents the complete story of Markham’s adventures, and offers a more balanced view of the Admiral’s reputation.
Markham joined the Royal Navy at 14 and was soon chasing Chinese pirates. He moved around Her Majesty’s ships, making important connections as he rose up the ladder. Markham stayed in the Far East for seven years, including fighting in the Taiping Rebellion. After a brief visit to his parents in the USA, Markham saw action against the Maoris then against the ‘blackbirding’ operators off the coast of Australia, though not without controversy. Back in England, he became caught up in the Victorian passion for Arctic exploration, serving as a deckhand on a whaler to acclimatize. His writing about that voyage prompted another British expedition to find the North Pole, with Markham as part of the command. He spent a severe Winter and Spring in the ice, using sleds to advance the expedition, but ultimately fell 400 miles short. Again, Markham found himself under inquiry over his leadership. Markham’s next journey was a more benign speaking tour to America, though even here he found dangerous things to do. After a brief voyage into the Arctic again, Markham received orders to command the HMS Triumph off the coast of Peru to protect Europeans during the Chile-Bolivian War. He returned to take charge of the torpedo training school at HMS Vernon then was off to Canada, exploring some more, and down to Egypt when the Ottomans threatened the Suez Canal. Markham’s career demise came when his HMS Camperdown collided with and sank the HMS Victoria in the Mediterranean with the loss of 338 sailors. While not his fault, Markham received some of the blame for his role in the disaster. After nearly a decade on half-pay, Markham was given a new command and promoted to Admiral. King Edward VII also made him a Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB). Markham retired in 1906. He volunteered for service in any capacity in 1914 but was turned down. Markham died four years later.
Markham lived an action-packed life by any measure and Jastrzembski serves his subject well. There was clearly more to Markham’s career than the incident that ended it, and he should be recognized in the pantheon of Queen Victoria’s adventurers. My one quibble is that Jastrzembski is a bit generous in assessing Markham’s ‘fiend of misfortune’. He seems to offer the best interpretation when a more weathered eye might have seen something more unpleasant in Markham’s character. Nevertheless, this is an interesting story, well told.
Markham joined the Royal Navy at 14 and was soon chasing Chinese pirates. He moved around Her Majesty’s ships, making important connections as he rose up the ladder. Markham stayed in the Far East for seven years, including fighting in the Taiping Rebellion. After a brief visit to his parents in the USA, Markham saw action against the Maoris then against the ‘blackbirding’ operators off the coast of Australia, though not without controversy. Back in England, he became caught up in the Victorian passion for Arctic exploration, serving as a deckhand on a whaler to acclimatize. His writing about that voyage prompted another British expedition to find the North Pole, with Markham as part of the command. He spent a severe Winter and Spring in the ice, using sleds to advance the expedition, but ultimately fell 400 miles short. Again, Markham found himself under inquiry over his leadership. Markham’s next journey was a more benign speaking tour to America, though even here he found dangerous things to do. After a brief voyage into the Arctic again, Markham received orders to command the HMS Triumph off the coast of Peru to protect Europeans during the Chile-Bolivian War. He returned to take charge of the torpedo training school at HMS Vernon then was off to Canada, exploring some more, and down to Egypt when the Ottomans threatened the Suez Canal. Markham’s career demise came when his HMS Camperdown collided with and sank the HMS Victoria in the Mediterranean with the loss of 338 sailors. While not his fault, Markham received some of the blame for his role in the disaster. After nearly a decade on half-pay, Markham was given a new command and promoted to Admiral. King Edward VII also made him a Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB). Markham retired in 1906. He volunteered for service in any capacity in 1914 but was turned down. Markham died four years later.
Markham lived an action-packed life by any measure and Jastrzembski serves his subject well. There was clearly more to Markham’s career than the incident that ended it, and he should be recognized in the pantheon of Queen Victoria’s adventurers. My one quibble is that Jastrzembski is a bit generous in assessing Markham’s ‘fiend of misfortune’. He seems to offer the best interpretation when a more weathered eye might have seen something more unpleasant in Markham’s character. Nevertheless, this is an interesting story, well told.
August 30, 2023
The founder of the modern-day Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, once said “it’s not the winning but the taking part that counts”. The subject of this book, Admiral Albert Hastings Markham, was a truly remarkable man who participated in the adventure of exploration and discovery with an enthusiasm that would have put most of his peers to shame. His exploits in the Far East, the Pacific Islands, the Arctic and the American Frontier were the stuff of legends and yet, in his own terms, Markham’s later life was blighted by a general sense of unfulfilled ambition and a degree of rancor over the degree of his culpability for an accident at sea that claimed 358 lives. The author of this book has drawn on a remarkably rich bibliography, which includes Markham’s own writings, to produce a thoroughly entertaining account which is bound to leave the reader with the impression that Admiral Markham, despite his perceived failings, really does deserve a place in the pantheon of Victorian heroes.
The book starts fairly slowly with some necessary biographical detail before tracking through Markham’s life of adventure in chronological order. After a relatively brief sojourn in the Far East at a time when tensions between China and the West were spilling over into armed conflict, Markham eventually found himself commanding a succession of ships in the islands of the South Pacific. The odious practice of coercing natives into working on the sugar plantations of Queensland, Australia (known as blackbirding) attracted the attention of the British Government and Royal Navy patrols were deployed in order to apprehend unlicensed ‘recruitment’ vessels. As the author shows, the intervention was not hugely successful and interactions with the islanders were often characterised by misunderstanding and tragedy.
Perhaps the most interesting chapters of the book concern Markham’s involvement in arctic exploration – in particular the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-76 which aspired to reach the North Pole. The team did not attain their goal but the authors’ description of their Herculean attempts to make headway - first by ship and then by sledge - make for riveting reading. The scientific data and specimens garnered from this and later expeditions, whilst lacking the drama of ‘putting a flag on top of the world’ did provide wonderful insight for the scientific community and, indeed, for later expeditions.
After covering Markham’s experiences in the ‘Wild West of America’ the author goes on to examine the loss of HMS Victoria on 22nd June 1893. This mighty battleship was sunk whilst executing a peacetime manoeuvre and whilst responsibility was attributed to the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet Vice-Admiral Sir George Troyon, Markham was severely criticised for not clarifying what many felt to be an ambiguous order. Markham was in command of HMS Camperdown the ship that collided with the unfortunate Victoria. The author quotes a fellow admiral who wrote that Markham was “crucified alive for another man’s blunder’ and argues authoritatively that the subject of this book was used as a scapegoat by the naval establishment.
It is perhaps strange that whilst the reputations of many of Britain’s Victorian heroes have survived the test of time, other erstwhile important figures have spilled out of the national consciousness. Chinese Gordon, Scott of the Antarctic and Ernest Shackleton are all names that many people would recognise. It’s a shame that other individuals whose accomplishments bare some comparison with these titans of British history have been neglected in the modern age. Hopefully this thoroughly entertaining and informative book, along with an earlier work; Valentine Baker’s Heroic Stand at Tashkessen: A Tarnished British Soldier’s Glorious Victory, will prompt further enquiry into the achievements and character of some of the lesser known men and women who shaped Britain’s Victorian legacy – and its impact on the world around us.
The book starts fairly slowly with some necessary biographical detail before tracking through Markham’s life of adventure in chronological order. After a relatively brief sojourn in the Far East at a time when tensions between China and the West were spilling over into armed conflict, Markham eventually found himself commanding a succession of ships in the islands of the South Pacific. The odious practice of coercing natives into working on the sugar plantations of Queensland, Australia (known as blackbirding) attracted the attention of the British Government and Royal Navy patrols were deployed in order to apprehend unlicensed ‘recruitment’ vessels. As the author shows, the intervention was not hugely successful and interactions with the islanders were often characterised by misunderstanding and tragedy.
Perhaps the most interesting chapters of the book concern Markham’s involvement in arctic exploration – in particular the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-76 which aspired to reach the North Pole. The team did not attain their goal but the authors’ description of their Herculean attempts to make headway - first by ship and then by sledge - make for riveting reading. The scientific data and specimens garnered from this and later expeditions, whilst lacking the drama of ‘putting a flag on top of the world’ did provide wonderful insight for the scientific community and, indeed, for later expeditions.
After covering Markham’s experiences in the ‘Wild West of America’ the author goes on to examine the loss of HMS Victoria on 22nd June 1893. This mighty battleship was sunk whilst executing a peacetime manoeuvre and whilst responsibility was attributed to the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet Vice-Admiral Sir George Troyon, Markham was severely criticised for not clarifying what many felt to be an ambiguous order. Markham was in command of HMS Camperdown the ship that collided with the unfortunate Victoria. The author quotes a fellow admiral who wrote that Markham was “crucified alive for another man’s blunder’ and argues authoritatively that the subject of this book was used as a scapegoat by the naval establishment.
It is perhaps strange that whilst the reputations of many of Britain’s Victorian heroes have survived the test of time, other erstwhile important figures have spilled out of the national consciousness. Chinese Gordon, Scott of the Antarctic and Ernest Shackleton are all names that many people would recognise. It’s a shame that other individuals whose accomplishments bare some comparison with these titans of British history have been neglected in the modern age. Hopefully this thoroughly entertaining and informative book, along with an earlier work; Valentine Baker’s Heroic Stand at Tashkessen: A Tarnished British Soldier’s Glorious Victory, will prompt further enquiry into the achievements and character of some of the lesser known men and women who shaped Britain’s Victorian legacy – and its impact on the world around us.
July 20, 2020
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.
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.
December 29, 2019
A decent look at someone who make his life working at sea in the navy. A look at British as a sea power with at least one man's voyages and attempts on water
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews