The discovery of the east coast of Greenland by the Danes should take an important place in the history of Arctic enterprise. Their objects were most praiseworthy, the work was done with thoroughness, dangers and difficulties were faced with dauntless courage, and the history was told with ability, and above all with modesty. Finally success crowned their efforts. There is a dramatic unity in the whole story which is fascinating.
We have seen that some pioneer work had been done by Scoresby, Clavering, and Koldewey on part of this coast, and the Danish Captain Graah had made an important voyage in 1828–30. Otherwise the whole of the eastern coast, from Cape Farewell to 82° 30′ N. where the northern coast begins, remained to be discovered and explored. The Danes undertook this great work with splendid resolution and zeal, and went steadily on until it was completed171.
The great work was commenced in 1879 with the despatch of the schooner Ingulf of the Royal Danish Navy, with Commander Mourier and Lieut. Wandel on board, to make a careful examination of the edge of the ice on the east Greenland coast from latitudes 65° to 69°. After this preliminary expedition another was despatched in 1883 under Lieut. Gustav Holm, with Lieut. Garde as second, both of the Royal Danish Navy, who were to follow in the track of their distinguished predecessor, Captain Graah, and penetrate beyond the furthest point reached by him. The expedition left Copenhagen on the 3rd May 1883, and arrived on the 18th July at Nanortalik, where head-quarters were to be established, a short distance west of Cape Farewell. Lieut. Holm arranged to use the Eskimo umiaks or women’s boats, which are made of a light wooden frame with seal-skin covering, flat-bottomed, easy to haul up on the ice, to carry, or to repair, and at the same time capable of taking a fairly good load. While the huts for winter quarters were being constructed at Nanortalik, Lieut. Holm was forming a large depôt, exploring the most southern fjords, and establishing pleasant relations with the east coast natives. He returned on the 16th of September, and found the winter quarters ready.
The main expedition, consisting of four umiaks with five women rowers, and seven kayaks, started from Nanortalik on the 5th May 1884; but found progress very slow through the ice, and there was much detention. On the 27th June a gale of wind scattered the floes near the shore and some progress was made. Towards the end of July it was arranged that Garde, with a young scientific student named Peter Eberlin, should return to Nanortalik, making collections by the way, while Holm, with Hans Knudsen (another scientific assistant) and the very intelligent interpreter Johan Petersen, pushed onwards to the north with two umiaks, six Eskimo men and two women, and a year’s provisions.
The furthest point attained by Captain Graah—the Dannebrog Islands in 65° 18′ N.—was reached on the 25th August, the entrance to the Sermilik Fjord was next passed, and Tasuisarsik reached in 65° 37′ N., where Holm determined to pass the winter.
This proved to be an important base whence the explorers could examine the intricate fjords and islands of a district known to the natives by the name of Angmagsalik, and all the winter they had constant communication with a hitherto unknown tribe of Eskimo. Lieut. Holm explored the chief part of the great Sermilik Fjord, and during the winter, with the aid of the interpreter Petersen, he was able to study the traditions and folk-lore of the natives and to make a large and important ethnographic collection. He also investigated the ice movements, and came to the conclusion that Angmagsalik was the most accessible position along the east Greenland coast. The reason for this appears to be that the numerous islands, obstructing and dividing the current, cause it to increase its force, so that here the ice floes are dispersed in July and August. Lieut. Holm began his return journey in July, was met by Lieut. Garde, who had made many excursions up the numerous fjords, and finally arrived at Copenhagen on October 3rd, 1885.
The most important result of Holm’s admirable exploring work was the discovery of the district of Angmagsalik, whence there could be annual communication with Denmark. Baron Nordenskiöld, in the Sofia, had penetrated the ice belt in 1883, and landed on September 4th in 65° 36′ N., remaining until the next day, thus confirming the conclusions of Lieut. Holm. In 1894 Holm, who had now attained the rank of Captain, had the great satisfaction of selecting a site, and founding the settlement of Angmagsalik in 65° 30′ N. It is situated on the slope of a hill, on the east side of a large island in the Tasuisarsik Fjord. The first colonial manager was Captain Holm’s old comrade Johan Petersen, who has conducted the combined civilising and commercial undertaking with eminent ability for twenty years, in co-operation with two missionaries. The natives have concentrated their stations round the Danish settlement and have received help during periods of want and hunger. Nearly the whole East Greenland population, numbering 550, have now been baptized, and the people have adapted themselves to the use of the articles the Danish store contains. South of Angmagsalik the whole of this coast is depopulated, the last Eskimo in the extreme south having moved in 1900 to the west coast.
The botanist H. C. Kruuse, with his wife, wintered at Angmagsalik in 1901–2, and has since published an exhaustive work on the flora of East Greenland172: and Hr W. Thalbitzer, also with his wife, passed the winter of 1905–6 at the same settlement, devoting himself to ethnological and linguistic researches and the study of Eskimo folk-lore173. In co-operation with Hr Thuren, he has also given an account of the melodies of the Eskimos of the east coast.
The next important work was the discovery of the coast between Holm’s furthest and the part surveyed by Scoresby. In 1891 the Hecla, a sealing vessel of Tronsberg, was hired, and an expedition commanded by Lieut. C. Ryder of the Royal Danish Navy left Copenhagen on the 7th June. Two months later she steamed into Scoresby Sound and anchored about a hundred miles beyond the entrance; whence several excursions were made in boats. Ryder wintered in Scoresby Sound, and the whole of that complicated system of long branching fjords was discovered and explored. In the next season all progress southward near the coast was stopped by masses of floe ice along the shore. Ryder was obliged to work his way out to sea and, after touching at the point where Nordenskiöld had landed, he returned to Denmark, the portion of coast south of Scoresby Sound alone remaining to be discovered. Excellent scientific work was done by his expedition.
The next Danish work of exploration, by which at length the discovery of East Greenland from Cape Farewell to Cape Bismarck was completed, is known as the Carlsbergfondet Expedition174. It was commanded by Lieut. G. Amdrup of the Royal Danish Navy. On a previous occasion, in 1884, Amdrup had reached Angmagsalik, where he wintered and did some good exploring work to the north in the following spring, examining the great Ikersuak glacier. On the 19th July, 1885, having mapped a considerable length of coast-line, and made large geological and ethnological collections, he had reached Agga Island in 67° 32′, so that it would be between this point and Scoresby Sound that he had to extend his survey.
Lieut. Amdrup, in addition to the advantages of experience, had a very talented and efficient staff. Hartz, who had been botanist with Ryder, was to take command when Amdrup was away on the boat voyage. The rest of the scientific staff consisted of Kruuse, another botanist, with Deichmann and Jensen as zoologists, Lieut. Koch of the Danish Army as surveyor and draughtsman, and Otto Nordenskiöld, nephew of the great Arctic explorer, as geologist. The instructions for the expedition were signed by Admiral Wandel and Captain Holm.
On the 14th June, 1900, the Antarctic sailed from Copenhagen with Amdrup and his scientific staff175. Amdrup was to complete the survey from Scoresby Sound to Angmagsalik in a boat, while Hartz continued the researches connected with the region round Scoresby Sound. On arriving off Cape Dalton in 69° 25′ N., Lieut. Amdrup left the ship, and set out on his boat voyage on July 21st accompanied by young Mikkelsen and two seamen. The voyage occupied 44 days, and on September 2nd Angmagsalik was reached. Meanwhile Hartz, in the ship, explored the coast from Cape Dalton to Scoresby Sound, thence proceeding to Angmagsalik to pick up Amdrup and his party. Large and valuable collections were made, excellent series of observations were taken, and the work was brought to a most successful conclusion. The Amdrup expedition marks a period in Arctic history. It completed the discovery and mapping of the whole of the east coast of Greenland from Cape Farewell to Cape Bismarck.
A far more dangerous and difficult enterprise now faced the gallant Danish explorers, namely the discovery of the unknown region from Cape Bismarck to the furthest north, a distance, of 400 miles176.
The American explorer Peary, using Eskimos and their dogs, had been working to reach the north coast of Greenland from 1898 to 1902. His first winter was at Cape Dobbin on the west coast of Ellesmere Island, another was passed at Etah, whence, starting on the 4th March, 1900, he made his way to the Discovery’s winter quarters in Lady Franklin Bay. Setting out from that position on April 15th, he travelled along the north coast of Greenland, passing the discoveries of Beaumont and Lockwood. From Lockwood Island in 83° 34′ N., which he reached on May 8th, he went onwards to a latitude of 83° 39′ N., which appears to be the most northern point of Greenland. On the 19th he passed a promontory which he named Cape Bridgman, and his furthest point was called Cape Clarence Wycloff in Lat. 82° 57′ 7″ N. and Long. 23° 9′ W., where a cairn was built. He had his man Henson and an Eskimo with him, and a team of dogs. During the last two days he was enveloped in a dense fog. He began his return on May 22nd and reached the Discovery’s winter quarters on June 10th. The cairn in 82° 57′ N. would, therefore, be the point the Danes would have to reach in order to complete the discovery of the east coast.
The great work was undertaken by a young Dane named Mylius Erichsen, who was born at Viborg in Jutland in 1872. He had visited the Danish settlements on the west coast of Greenland, had crossed Melville Bay, and wintered at Cape York; and he was now filled with the patriotic desire to place the crown on the edifice of Danish discovery. The task had become a sacred one for him, and with such an impulse he thought the goal must be reached if human power could attain it.
The Duc d’Orléans had shown how far north a ship might go, and the advice of experienced Arctic explorers was that Erichsen should winter on board ship, in a position to the north of Cape Bismarck, if possible. The necessary funds were raised, with help from the Government and the Carlsberg Fund, and a Norwegian sealer of 450 tons was bought and named the Danmark. She was built at Peterhead in 1885, was well fortified against the ice, and had been fitted with a screw propeller in 1892. A spacious laboratory was built before the main hatchway; and besides four others, she took two motor boats. Most of the sledges, which were fitted with odometers, were made on board from Eskimo models, and 100 dogs were brought from West Greenland. A motor carriage was also taken.
Erichsen was chief of the expedition, and Lieut. Trolle of the Royal Danish Navy second in command and captain of the ship. The cartographer was Lieut. Höeg Hagen of the Danish Army, and Lieut. Johan Peter Koch of the General Staff of the Danish Army, who had done excellent surveying and cartographic work in the Amdrup expedition as well as in Iceland, and who had experience as a seaman, having qualified as master of small ships, was the surveyor. The geologist was Jarner, Johansen marine zoologist, Lindhard surgeon, Lundager botanist, Manniche ornithologist, Wegener meteorologist and physicist. The first mate was Lieut. Bistrup of the Royal Danish Navy, the second and third mates Christian and Gustav Trostrup, two artists Bertelsen and Frus went as engineers, and such was the enthusiasm felt for the expedition that two university students, Freuchen177 aged 20 and Hagerup a Norwegian, volunteered as stokers, as well as Knudsen who was carpenter of the ship. An ice pilot, Karl Ring, a steward, and four seamen completed the complement. In addition there were the three Eskimo dog drivers Brönlund (who had been a curate at Jacobhavn), Tobias Gabrielsen, and Olsen from Ritenbenk—27 all told.
The expedition, which was known as the Danmark Expedition, left Copenhagen on the 24th June, 1906, and after a long struggle with the ice the Danmark was off Koldewey Island on the 13th August. Proceeding northwards a large depôt was landed at Cape Marie Valdemar. Winter quarters were established near Cape Bismarck in Lat. 76° 46′ N., Long. 18° 37′ W., in a sheltered bay which was named Danmark Havn. The explorers were thus on the very threshold of an undiscovered region. During the following two years constant journeys were made for various scientific purposes, for laying out depôts, surveying, collecting specimens, etc. The neighbourhood of Cape Bismarck was thus most thoroughly explored and surveyed.
Meanwhile there were diligent preparations during the winter for the great northern journeys. There were two extended sledge parties and two depôt sledge parties, each with a team of 8 or 9 dogs and a load of 810 lb. This was to give two months’ provisions for men, and one for dogs. The first sledge had Erichsen, Hagen, and the dog driver Brönlund; the second, Koch, the artist Bertelsen, and the dog driver Tobias Gabrielsen. The auxiliary sledges were under Wegener and Trostrup. The departure took place on the 28th March, Trostrup going back on the 22nd April and Wegener on the 26th. The explorers adopted an excellent plan of placing strips of walrus hide on the runners of the sledges with the hair outwards. Water was then poured along the hide, which becoming ice, was held in place by the hair. This was found to be an immense help to the dogs in dragging.
Erichsen and Koch went on in company until the 1st May, when they separated. Koch was to go north to Peary’s furthest, and Erichsen to explore the channel, which Peary stated to exist, separating Greenland from the so-called Peary Land. The travelling had been bad, with many snow-covered fissures dangerous for the dogs, and lines of heavy pressed-up ice. A depôt sufficient to bring both sledges back safely had been left in what was called Lambert Land, from that name occurring on some old Dutch charts in 78° N. The land projected much further east than was shown on the map, which increased the distance by 180 miles178.
When Erichsen and Koch parted they each had 15 days’ provisions for men, the same for dogs and 25 of petroleum for fuel. Koch’s way was difficult, over hummocks and soft snow very ill suited for dogs. Land was not in sight. A course was shaped for the land, and it was reached on the 7th May, six musk oxen being obtained on the same day. On the 12th Peary’s cairn was found in 82° 57′ N., and the discovery of the east coast of Greenland was completed. Koch continued to advance as far as Cape Bridgman, which was reached on May 21st. He was much hindered by dense fogs, but was able to carry out the exploration of Hyde Fjord. On the 21st, in spite of strict economy, the fuel ran out, but the supply left at the depôt was afterwards found. Both Koch and his companion, the artist Bertelsen, suffered seriously from living on musk ox meat. On the 27th of May they quite unexpectedly met Erichsen and Hagen. Erichsen’s party had shot 21 musk oxen, which had caused a good deal of delay. They had explored Danmark’s Fjord, and Hagen had made excellent sketches of this inlet. The inland ice was bounded by cliffs of great height, and apparently inaccessible. On the 28th Erichsen drove west into what was called Independence Sound, while Koch began the return journey, seeing that the depôts were in order for Erichsen as he passed them. On June 23rd Koch’s party reached the ship after an absence of 88 days, the distance covered being 1200 miles measured by odometer. This approaches the achievements of M’Clintock and Mecham, but with the difference that while the English did all the work themselves, the Danes had the work done for them by dogs and dog drivers. Tobias, the Eskimo, however, had made the finest dog-sledge journey on record.
But tragedy was at hand; Erichsen, Hagen, and Brönlund did not return. Relief expeditions were sent out in the autumn but found no signs of them. The second winter passed in sorrow and anxiety: it was felt that they must have perished.
Several sledge journeys were undertaken during the winter to lay out depôts, and also with geographical and other scientific objects. The most important, consisting of four men, Bertelsen (in command), Wegener, Weinschank, and Lindhard, was conducted in the good old British way by men dragging their own sledge. They started on the 1st March with a load of 180 lb. per man. On the 9th they commenced the ascent of the inland ice, which they found rough, with a surface like that of an undulating sea. On the 13th they determined to take the tent and sledge no further, and Wegener and Weinschank went on to the great “nunatak” or snow-free land seen in the distance. They found that the inland ice ended in a vertical wall 90 feet high, but they succeeded in finding a place to descend, and thus landed on this extensive “nunatak,” an important discovery. It received the name of “Dronning Luisa Land.” The distance across the inland ice to the “nunatak” was 24 miles. The party returned on the 3rd of April with collections of plants, rocks, and fossils.
The expedition in search of their lost leader and his comrades started March 10th. It consisted of Captain Koch and Tobias, each with a sledge and team of ten dogs, and on March 19th they reached the depôt on Lambert Land with great difficulty owing to fog, a head wind, and drifting snow. They found the snow-covered entrance to a small cave, and when some snow had been removed they could distinguish the outlines of a human being in a reindeer coat. It was Brönlund. At his feet was a bottle with his diary, and the chart sketches drawn by Hagen. The diary was in Eskimo and a single page was written in Danish. It announced that the two others perished in November in Seventy-nine Fjord after an attempt to return by the inland ice. “I arrived here,” it ran, “by waning moon, and can go no further owing to frost-bites on feet and the darkness. Hagen died on the 15th of November, and Mylius about ten (two?) days later.” Koch returned to the ship on March 26th.
Brönlund’s diary was translated by Dr Christian Rasmussen, lecturer in Greenlandic at Copenhagen, and, with the two records found by Mikkelsen, the story of the fatal but fruitful journey of the heroic Danes can be pretty clearly made out. They had been misled by Peary’s erroneous map. On parting with Koch they drove away to the land in about 82° N. and first discovered a long fjord turning S.W. for nearly 150 miles which they named Danmark Fjord. They then entered another narrow fjord of about the same length running west and ending near the position where Peary placed his “Navy Cliff179.” As there was no Independence Bay, Erichsen called this fjord “Independence Sound.” He discovered that it ended, and that the channel across Greenland was imaginary. The Danish explorers arrived at the head of this fjord on June 8th and remained there, mapping and exploring, for several days. Two branch fjords were discovered, one to the south named after Hagen, and one to the north after Brönlund.
In the Arctic regions the summer has not the extreme cold of the Antarctic summer, but it brings greater suffering to the explorer. Water forms on the floes, often more than knee deep, open water suddenly appears cutting off communications, and long delays are caused before young ice will bear. To these obstacles the gallant Danish explorers were exposed, though they were fortunately able to obtain a certain amount of game. The summer was the cause of their destruction. It was passed near the entrance of Danmark Fjord from June to August. The snow was soft and deep, and water-making, and at last there was no ice across the fjord. They had to travel over the hills to reach a fresh hunting ground at Sjellands Sletten. Here musk oxen, hares, brent geese, and ptarmigan were obtained. But the dogs were failing, and much reduced in number. Foot-gear was wearing out, and Hagen, with Brönlund’s help, tried to make boots out of the leather bag for the sextant. Fuel was all used, but there was some driftwood, and one of the sledges was broken up. At length, in October, the ice bore, and the return journey was commenced along the coast to Lambert Land depôt. But their troubles continued. They were stopped by open water at Antarctic Bay, and had no alternative but to take to the inland ice. Nearly exhausted, with few dogs left, it took them four days to drag the sledge up to the ice cap. They continued to work their way south, dying men, but unconquered and resolute to the last. They were not perishing from want of food, but from frost-bites, illness, misery, and exhaustion. They descended into Seventy-nine Fjord on their way to the Lambert Land depôt, and then the end came. It had been a terrible journey. Hagen died on the 15th of November, Erichsen two days afterwards. Taking his diary and Hagen’s maps and drawings, Brönlund staggered on to the depôt, where as we have seen, his body was found by Koch. The bodies of the two noble explorers rest in the midst of their vast discoveries.
Erichsen had organised and conducted the expedition with great energy and quite exceptional ability. His last great journey was splendid in its conception, in its scientific results, and in its heroic end. He was an ideal leader and beloved by his companions. Hagen, too, was no less a loss to science, an observer of the first rank and a dauntless enthusiast.
Lieut. Trolle succeeded to the command of the expedition. The energy and unceasing activity of its members was marvellous, and a mere list even of the various expeditions would need more space than can be given here. One of the most important, led by the geologist Jarner, was the complete survey and exploration of Clavering’s Ardencaple Inlet, which was examined and mapped up to the two upper branches during 42 days in the spring, large collections of plants and fossils being made, and men and dogs returning in excellent condition.
For the extent of discoveries made, and for the continuous activity of all its members during two winters and three working seasons the Danmark Expedition has few equals. Its members did much scientific work, and did it thoroughly, bringing home valuable observations and large collections. The winter quarters were left on July 21st, and the ship finally arrived at Copenhagen on the 23rd August, 1908.