Accession No. PA.1989.0003: Brian Shoemaker and Kevin Walton, 1989 June
[identification of item], United States Flag Flown at Finn Ronne Base, SPEC.PA.56.0015, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program, Ohio State University
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Processed by: Devon Boerman, 2018 September; Finding aid written by: Devon Boerman, 2018 September
The Ronne Antarctic Expedition was a 1946-1948 privately sponsored expedition led by Naval captain and Antarctic explorer Finn Ronne that mapped the Weddell Sea coastline in Antarctica. Its base was on Stonington Island. The 48 star United States flag was flown at the expedition's base around 1947 and was stolen by the British during the winter. After about 40 years of being stored by Kevin Walton, a British expedition member who received it from the widow of someone else in the expedition, it was returned to American ownership in 1989.
The United States Flag Flown at Finn Ronne Base, dated 1947 and 1989, contains an American flag that was used at Finn Ronne's base camp at Stonington Island during the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition, 1947-1948, and stolen by the British. It also contains correspondence from Kevin Walton, a member of the British expedition, to Brian Shoemaker, a United States naval officer who participated in polar expeditions from 1966-1988 and met Walton at a gathering for polar explorers in 1989, regarding the history of that flag and its return to American ownership. There is also a letter sent by Shoemaker to the Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program, after Walton gave him the flag, explaining the provenance of the donation.