The German North Polar Expeditions were a short series of mid-19th century German expeditions to the Arctic. The aim was to explore the North Pole region and to brand the newly united, Prussian-led German Empire as a great power. In 1866, German geographer August Petermann wrote a pamphlet strongly advocating German participation in the international quest for the North Pole, which stimulated a German expedition.
The first expedition took place in the summer of 1868 and was led by Carl Koldewey on the vessel Grönland. The expedition explored some hitherto unknown coastal tracts of northeastern Spitsbergen, but did otherwise not lead to any new scientific knowledge. However, it served as preparation for the second expedition. [1]
The second expedition consisted of a two-vessel convoy:
The crew included two medical doctors, who were also capable naturalists: Adolf Pansch on Germania and Reinhold Wilhelm Buchholz on Hansa; astronomers and geophysicists Karl Nikolai Jensen Börgen and Ralph Copeland; Austrian cartographer Julius von Payer and Austrian geologist Gustav Karl Laube.
The expedition left Bremerhaven on 15 June 1869 and headed north. After a month, dense pack ice was encountered at approximately 75.5° N. The two ships got separated by mistake. [1]
Germania made it through the pack ice thanks to its auxiliary engine and, during late summer, explored the region around Sabine, Little Pendulum, and Shannon Island. On 13 September 1869 it was anchored near the south coast of Sabine Island for wintering. During autumn and the following spring, sledge trips were made Clavering Island and Tyrolerfjord to the south-west and as far north as Store Koldewey Island and Germania Land.
In late July 1870, Germania was able to raise anchor and continue north, however, only to find the way blocked by pack ice. After eight days, it was decided to head south instead, and extensive exploration of the vast fjord systems of north-east Greenland, most notably the Kejser Franz Joseph Fjord, was undertaken. Germania managed to get through the pack ice and returned to Bremerhaven, most of the way by sail after the engine broke, on 11 September 1870. [1]
As the supply ship, the Hansa followed the Germania until 19 July, when Hegemann misread a flag signal by Koldewey and went ahead; the ship disappeared in the fog and got separated. [2] The agreement was to meet in such a situation at Sabine Island. After unsuccessful attempts to get there, Hansa was inescapably stuck in the pack ice by mid-September 1869.
During the next month, the ship was slowly milled by the ice and finally sank on 22 October at a position 70° 32’N, 21° W approximately 10 km from the East Greenland coast. The crew managed to survive the winter in a shelter built of coal dust briquettes, while drifting on the sea ice southward along the eastern coast of Greenland. In June 1870, the crew got to the coast by boat and finally were able to land near Cape Discord at Iluileq, a barren island off Danell Fjord in the southeastern coast. [3] From there they followed the shore southwards until they reached the Moravian Herrnhut mission at Friedrichsthal (modern Narsaq Kujalleq) near Cape Farewell, from where they got back to Germany on 3 September 1870 on a Danish ship. [1]
Adolf Pansch made an extensive botanical collection during the second expedition. Collected vascular plants were later treated by the botanists Franz Georg Philipp Buchenau and Wilhelm Olbers Focke, both from the University of Bremen. [4]
Julius Johannes Ludovicus Ritter von Payer, ennobled Ritter von Payer in 1876, was an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army, mountaineer, arctic explorer, cartographer, painter, and professor at the Theresian Military Academy. He is chiefly known for the Austro-Hungarian North Pole expedition in 1872–74 and the discovery of Franz Josef Land.
The Austro-Hungarian North Pole expedition was an Arctic expedition to find the North-East Passage that ran from 1872 to 1874 under the leadership of Julius Payer and Karl Weyprecht. The expedition discovered and partially explored Franz Josef Land.
The research ship had origins in the early voyages of exploration. By the time of James Cook's Endeavour, the essentials of what today we would call a research ship are clearly apparent. In 1766, the Royal Society hired Cook to travel to the Pacific Ocean to observe and record the transit of Venus across the Sun. The Endeavour was a sturdy boat, well designed and equipped for the ordeals she would face, and fitted out with facilities for her research personnel, Joseph Banks. And, as is common with contemporary research vessels, Endeavour carried out more than one kind of research, including comprehensive hydrographic survey work.
Wollaston Foreland is a peninsula in King Christian X Land, East Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the NE Greenland National Park area.
Sabine Island is an island to the northeast of Wollaston Foreland, previously known as Inner Pendulum Island. It is in the Northeast Greenland National Park area.
Germania Land or Germanialand is a peninsula in northeastern Greenland. Despite the high latitude it is largely unglaciated.
Carl Christian Koldewey was a German Arctic explorer. He led both German North Polar Expeditions.
Iivit or Tunumiit are Indigenous Greenlandic Inuit from Iivi Nunaa, Tunu in the area of Kangikajik and Ammassalik, the eastern part of Inuit Nunaat. The Iivit live now mainly in Tasiilaq and Ittoqqortoormiit and are a part of the Arctic people known collectively as the Inuit. The singular for Iivit is Iik or for Tunumiit version it is Tunumiu.
Iluileq is an uninhabited island in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland.
Peschel Island is the third-largest of the Bastian Islands in the Svalbard archipelago. It lies east of Wilhelm Island and northeast of Spitsbergen.
Dove Bay is a bay in King Frederick VIII Land, northeastern Greenland. It is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park area.
Payer Peak, is a mountain in King Christian X Land, Northeast Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park zone.
Petermann Peak,, also known as Petermann Fjeld, Petermanns Topp and Petermann Point is a mountain in King Christian X Land, Northeast Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park zone.
Adolf S. Jensen Land is a peninsula in the southern limit of King Frederick VIII Land, northeastern Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the NE Greenland National Park area.
The Germania was a German schooner built in Geestemünde, Bremerhaven, in 1869.
The Denmark expedition, also known as the Denmark Expedition to Greenland's Northeast Coast and the Danmark Expedition after the ship's name, was an expedition to northeastern Greenland in 1906–1908.
Ardencaple Fjord is a fjord in King Christian X Land, northeastern Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park.
Lindeman Fjord is a fjord in King Christian X Land, East Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park zone.
Cape Bismarck is a headland in King Frederick VIII Land, Northeast Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park.