Rum flagon 'proves' shipwreck belonged to forgotten british explorer

* THE WRECK IS BELIEVED TO BE THE EIRA WHICH SUNK IN ARCTIC WATERS IN 1881 * THE SPECIALIST VESSEL WAS CRUSHED BETWEEN TWO HUGE ICE FLOES AND DESTROYED  * A TEAM OF DIVERS HAVE NOW SALVAGED

SOME REMAINS FROM THE FRIGID RUSSIAN WATERS * A RUM CONTAINER HAS THE INSCRIPTION 'ROBERT K….WINE & SPIRIT(S) - PETERH(EAD)' * BEN LEIGH SMITH COMPLETED 5 TRIPS TO THE ARCTIC

AND MAPPED UNEXPLORED AREAS  By WILL STEWART IN MOSCOW and JOE PINKSTONE FOR MAILONLINE Published: 07:25 EDT, 29 October 2018 | Updated: 10:28 EDT, 29 October 2018 A 19th century rum flagon

'proves' an Arctic wreck belonged to a 'forgotten' British polar explorer, say Russian experts. The container was inscribed with 'Robert K….Wine & Spirit(s) -

Peterh(ead)' and is believed to originate from the Aberdeenshire town.  It was found in a shipwreck thought to be the Eira which was captained by forgotten British explorer Benjamin

Leigh Smith. Russia is hailing the 'major discovery' of the vessel, which sank off Franz Josef Land in the Arctic ocean in 1881 after being crushed between two giant ice floes.

Analysis of the remains has confirmed it is the elegant British steam yacht, which was propelled by a 50 horse power engine.    Scroll down for video  The disaster stranded the 25 men

on-board Eira and forced them to live in the Arctic for ten months.  All crew members survived the ordeal and now divers have completed the first-ever trip to the sunken wooden-hulled

icebreaker 65 feet (19 metres) below the surface.  Benjamin Leigh Smith was a leading explorer of the 19th-Century but he has been doomed to obscurity and forgotten by time due to his

shunning of acclaim and his reluctance to self-promote.  He was also relatively overshadowed by the success of two powerful women in his life.  His cousin was Florence Nightingale and his

sister Barbara was a feminist who was heavily involved with the campaign for women's rights.  Another ceramic fragment which would have been used in one of Eira's laboratories  had

an inscription 'London', confirming the British origin of the vessel. The wreckage is located off Cape Flora, named after the explorer's legendary cousin Florence

Nightingale, who nursed wounded soldiers during the Crimean War 1853-56. 'Such ceramics are typical for all specialised scientific ships, which, in fact, Eira was,' archaeologist

Mark Stepanov told the Siberian Times.  After a 12 year search 'we can confirm 100 per cent that this is the Eira', he said, signalling it was a 'major discovery'.

Divers, operating in treacherous Arctic conditions, contended with difficult currents and icy waters. Forty-five small artefacts were collected 'including ceramic pieces of laboratory

dishes and tableware, elements of ship's decorations, details of the ship's equipment and mechanisms, (and) rifle cartridges'. The bow and stern of the vessel are missing and

are presumed to have been destroyed by the ice crush that led to the Eira's sinking. A video from a Kaliningrad TV station shows footage from the dives to the wreck and items recovered

from the yacht. Leigh Smith has been dubbed Britain's 'forgotten explorer' because he shunned the self-promotion of Victorian rivals. The intrepid explorer had sailed on 14

June 1881 on the Eira, with 25 crew, a cat, a canary and a dog called Bob. En route to the Arctic, a remarkable photograph records a meeting at sea with two other ships from Peterhead. Leigh

Smith entertained the senior crew members on board the Eira, including Arthur Conan Doyle, then the ship's surgeon on the Hope, which - with a new crew - would be one of the vessels

that rescued him and his men in 1882. Leigh Smith was fascinated by deep sea currents, and wanted to find new territories in the Arctic. But the crew were forced to spend ten months -

including a harsh winter with temperatures dipping to minus 40°C (-40°F) - in the Franz Josef Land archipelago. The Eira became trapped by fast moving ice floes - and the men had only two

hours to abandon ship and salvage all they could. The crew built a shelter - called Flora's Cottage - to survive the harsh winter, made from driftwood, rocks and ship masts.  In 1882 he

led his men in four lifeboats made with tablecloths as sails and embarked  on a perilous crossing to Novaya Zemlya where they were rescued by a British search party. On his return to

London, the explorer shunned the limelight, refusing to personally see Queen Victoria to tell her of his adventures. He was awarded the Patron's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical

Society. Ostrov Li-Smita (Leigh-Smith Island), east of Hooker Island (Franz Josef Land), is named after him, as are glacier Leighbreen and Kapp (Cape) Leigh Smith on Nordaustlandet,

Svalbard. He possessed 'a first class scientific mind' and 'in 1872 foresaw the dangers of global warming', according to his grandson Christopher Leigh Smith. He wrote:

'Anticipating the long winter months ahead, they built a solid hut made from rocks, earth and wood, on a green patch, 20 feet (six metres) above sea level. 'They also built other

huts to store the fish and meat they would need to kill and preserve. 'Bob the dog was invaluable in this and without his unremitting courage none of it would have been possible. WHO

WAS BENJAMIN LEIGH SMITH?  Benjamin Leigh Smith was a British yachtsman and explorer who was born in Surrey on 12 March 1828. He was born out of wedlock to Anne Longden, a milliner from

Alfreton, Derbyshire and Whig politician Benjamin (Ben) Leigh Smith Sr.   One of Ben Sr's siblings (Fanny Smith) produced a daughter called Florence Nightingale, making the famed nurse

and statistician the cousin of the intrepid explorer.  His mother died of tuberculosis at the age of five in Ryde, the seaside town on the isle of Wight.  Ben Smith Jr is one of five

children and between 1871 and 1882 he undertook five major scientific expeditions to Svalbard and Franz Josef Land, a Russian archipelago in the Arctic ocean.  His Arctic explorations

brought him great acclaim and he won the prestigious Patron's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1881 after discovering 32cpoints in northeast Svalbard.  During his

missions he provided many samples and specimens to the British Museum and Royal Botanic Gardens and even provided London Zoo with live polar bears.     After his early exploratory success

Smith had his own purpose-built ship made - called Eira.  Specifically built for Smith, Eira sailed on 14 June 1881 on the Eira, with 25 crew, a cat, a canary and a dog called Bob. En route

to the Arctic the ship was recorded meeting at sea with two other ships from Peterhead. Leigh Smith entertained the senior crew members on board the Eira, including Arthur Conan Doyle, then

the ship's surgeon on the Hope. This mission was designed to understand deep sea currents and to find new territories in the Arctic. Leigh Smith's purpose-built research vessel was

crushed between two ice floes and sank in the frigid waters north of Siberia. The crew survived for 10 months in makeshift huts, rations of the ship's rescued provisions and walrus and

polar bear meat they hunted. Leigh Smith then led a voyage of escape in boats with sails made from table cloths, before they were ultimately rescued by a re-manned Hope vessel.  Every

single man survived.    His calm demeanour and leadership skills were heralded in the 19th-century but the explorer shunned Victorian customs of self-promotion and accolades.  The humble man

has since faded into obscurity due to his shunning of the limelight and a successful and outspoken family and the pioneering nurse as his first cousin, a father who was active in the

campaign against the slave trade and his sister Barbara, a leading feminist and activist for women's rights. He was a family-orientated man and many of his Arctic discoveries were named

after family members.   He discovered and named Mabel Island after a niece, Amabel and the hut the 25 shipwrecked crew made out of driftwood, rocks and masts of ships on his last expedition

was named Flora Cottage after his cousin Florence Nightingale. With the famous nursing pioneer for a first cousin and a father active in the campaign against the slave trade, Leigh Smith

came from an outspoken family.  'On several occasions during fishing and hunting expeditions one or even several men would fall into the icy waters. 'Bob the dog always managed to

save them, sometimes even running back to the camp for help.' The Russians have saluted his 'great input into the discovery and early exploration' of the Arctic. Between 1871

and 1882, Leigh Smith undertook five hazardous scientific expeditions to Svalbard and Franz Josef Land, bringing back specimens for the the British Museum and Royal Botanic Gardens - and

even live polar bears for London Zoo. 'His leadership was so successful that the veteran Arctic whaling captain David Gray was moved to call him the very model of 'quiet, cool,

thoroughbred English pluck',' wrote Peter Capelotti, author of Shipwreck at Cape Flora: The Expeditions of Benjamin Leigh Smith, England's Forgotten Arctic Explorer. Capelotti

says Leigh Smith 'always begged off' attempts in his lifetime to award him with medals.