Baron A. E. von Nordenskjöld.—First voyage 1858.—Accompanies
succeeding Swedish expeditions.—Spitzbergen.—Voyage of
_Sofia_.—1868.—Nordenskjöld’s journey to Greenland.—Voyage
of the _Polhem_.—Attempt to reach the Pole by reindeer
sledge.—Unexpected discouragements and disasters.—Voyage of the
_Proven_.—1875.—The Kara Sea.—Journey repeated the following
year.—In the _Ymer_.—Voyage of the _Vega_.
The career of Baron A. E. von Nordenskjöld is one of the most
distinguished in Arctic history. Born in Helsingfors, Finland, November
18, 1832, he learned at an early age the thrill of adventure and
the joys of research while accompanying his distinguished father on
his mineralogical tours in the Ural Mountains. After graduating at
Helsingfors in 1857, Nordenskjöld was himself appointed a professor of
mineralogy at Stockholm. Baron Nordenskjöld’s scientific interest in
polar research began as early as 1858, when he accompanied Otto Torell,
chief geologist of Sweden, who sailed on the _Frithrop_ for Spitzbergen.
This was the beginning of a series of Swedish expeditions that covered
a quarter of a century, in which Nordenskjöld had a most valuable and
active part. Two months were spent on the west coast of Spitzbergen,
in dredging the sea, studying the land formation and its botanical and
glacial conditions.
Nordenskjöld’s chief contribution to science on this expedition was the
discovery of a fossil-bearing rock in carboniferous formations.
[Sidenote: _SPITZBERGEN_]
Another journey beyond the Arctic circle was undertaken by Torell in
1861, for a more thorough survey and study of the natural history and
geology of Spitzbergen. On this journey, Torell, Nordenskjöld and
Petersen undertook a boat journey to Hinlopen Strait and later visited
the coast of Northeast Land. Passing North Cape and visiting Seven
Islands, they reached their farthest, 80° 42´ N., August 5, at Phipps
Island.
Prince Oscar Land was reached a week later, and from a mountain two
thousand feet high near Cape Wrede, two islands could be seen in the
distance, to which were given the names of Charles XII and Drabanten.
Pushing their way east of Cape Platen, the ice conditions forced their
return.
In 1863 Nordenskjöld again visited Spitzbergen, and again in 1864, when
he was placed in charge of the Swedish expedition, and was accompanied
by Dunér and Malmgren. In a small boat of twenty-six tons burden, and
provisioned for less than six months, they entered Safe Harbor at the
entrance of the magnificent Ice Fiord. After rounding the southern cape
of Spitzbergen, they entered Store Fiord, and visited Edges Land and
Barentz Land. After entering Helis Sound and ascending White Mountain,
they again rounded South Cape with the intention of following the west
coast as far north as the ice would permit. On this journey while off
Charles Foreland, they rescued some shipwrecked sailors, whose vessels
had become beset off Seven Islands, and who had journeyed in open boats
some two hundred miles in fourteen days. An immediate return was thus
made necessary, but the results of the summer’s work was a map, executed
by Nordenskjöld and Dunér, which delineates Spitzbergen with great
accuracy.
In 1868 the Swedish expedition had for its objective point the Pole. The
_Sofia_ was chosen for this purpose and commanded by Captain (Count) F.
W. von Otter, with Nordenskjöld as scientific chief. Smeerenberg Bay at
the north end of Spitzbergen was decided upon as a place of rendezvous
and from this point the _Sofia_ made two attempts for a high northing.
In the second she was rewarded by reaching on September 19, 1868, 81°
42´ N., and 17° 30´ E., at that time the farthest north attained by any
ship. A third attempt to push the _Sofia_ through the impenetrable pack
resulted in her becoming disabled and necessitated the return of the
expedition to Sweden.
In 1870 Nordenskjöld made a journey to Greenland, accompanied by Dr.
Berggren, the noted professor of botany at Lund. The object of the
expedition was to penetrate the unexplored interior from a point at the
northern arm of a deep inlet called Aulaitsivik Fiord, some sixty miles
south of the discharging glacier at Jakobshaven and two hundred and forty
north of the glacier at Godthaab. He commenced his inland journey on
the 19th of July. Besides Dr. Berggren, he was assisted by two Eskimos,
but the disheartening difficulties of travel over the inland ice of
Greenland, caused by the slow movement of the glaciers, which produce
chasms and clefts of almost bottomless depth, soon caused the party to
abandon their sledge, and later the two natives refused to proceed.
Undaunted by their desertion, Nordenskjöld and Dr. Berggren continued
their explorations alone and advanced thirty miles over the glaciers
to a height of twenty-two hundred feet above the sea. One of the most
important results of this remarkable journey was the discovery of two
meteorites, the largest ever known.
[Sidenote: _VOYAGE OF THE “POLHEM”_]
In 1871 Nordenskjöld again set out for Spitzbergen. His object was
to reach the Pole by reindeer-sledging. Sailing in the ship _Polhem_
commanded by Lieutenant Palander of the Swedish Navy, and accompanied by
two convoys, the _Gladen_ and _Onkle Adam_, they reached Mussel Bay, and
there established winter quarters. In an attempt to return, the convoys
were beset in a violent storm. Unable to extricate themselves and not
being provisioned for winter the crews, numbering forty-three men, were
suddenly forced upon Nordenskjöld’s party for fuel and supplies.
To distribute food intended for twenty-four persons among a party of
sixty-seven was a serious problem, and was only accomplished by reducing
the rations of all one-third. Hardly had this blow fallen upon the
prospects of the expedition, when they were visited by four men with the
overwhelming news that six walrus-vessels had been frozen in at Point
Grey and Cape Welcome. By hunting it was hoped that the fifty-eight
unfortunate men would manage to avoid starvation until the first of
December, after that their only salvation rested with the generosity
of Nordenskjöld. The only relief to the appalling situation was in the
fact that a Swedish colony had that year worked a phosphatic deposit
at Cape Thorsden, Ice Fiord, and the manager after abandoning the work
had returned to Norway, leaving behind him a considerable amount of
stores. Cape Thorsden was distant two hundred miles, but seventeen of
the walrus-hunters determined to undertake it. These men succeeded in
reaching the depot, where an ample supply of all the necessaries of life
awaited them—including a house, fuel, preserved and dried vegetables,
and fresh potatoes. Huddling in one room, living on salt-beef and pork,
rather than go to the exertion of availing themselves of the ample diet
at hand—these men were attacked by scurvy and not one survived the
rigours of the winter. At Mussel Bay the food conditions were deplorable,
but were eked out by the utilization of reindeer moss mixed with rye
flour, which produced a very bitter bread.
This sacrifice of the food of the reindeer greatly crippled
Nordenskjöld’s cherished plans for his spring journeys, and to add to
his disappointments, the reindeer themselves were carelessly allowed to
escape by the Lapps during a violent snow-storm. A fortunate opening
of the ice early in November allowed two vessels to escape, and these
vessels took the crews of the four others.
The Arctic night was passed by the expedition in making scientific
observations, dredging under the ice, and in mental and physical
exercise. In spite of every precaution against the dreaded foe, scurvy
broke out among the men, but was overcome under a strict diet régime.
In spite of the disastrous loss of his reindeer and the depleted state of
his stores and provisions, Nordenskjöld attempted his northern journey
the following spring. At Seven Islands he was stopped by the ice, but
in spite of this disappointment he concluded to visit North East Land
for the purpose of geographical research. A journey of five days over
impassable hummocks resulted in his making Cape Platen—and later Otter
Island.
The increased dangers of travel and the presence of water holes
determined him to abandon the coast route and strike across the inland
ice. This arduous journey was over hard-packed blinding white snow,
“glazed and polished,” he writes, “so that we might have thought
ourselves to be advancing over an unsurpassably faultless and spotless
floor of white marble.” Blinding storms, blizzards, or ice fogs,
marked each step of their fifteen days’ journey. Snow bridges covered
treacherous chasms, some of which were forty feet in depth. On June 15,
they descended into Hinlopen Strait at Wahlenberg Bay, and finally the
party reached Mussel Bay after an absence of sixty days.
In the early summer, they had the good fortune to be visited by Mr. Leigh
Smith, the veteran Arctic navigator and scientist, in his private yacht
_Diana_, through whose generosity the expedition was liberally supplied
with fresh provisions, which removed the pending anxiety for the future.
[Sidenote: _VOYAGE OF THE “PROVEN”_]
In 1875 Nordenskjöld turned his attention to the possibility of
navigating the seas along the northern coast of Siberia. This route had
already been opened by Captain Wiggins of Sunderland, who in 1874, 1875,
and 1876, opened the way to trade between Europe and the mouth of the
Yenisei River. Nordenskjöld sailed from Tromsoe, in the _Proven_, June,
1875, and successfully navigating the Kara Sea reached an excellent
harbour on the eastern side of the mouth of the Yenisei, to which he gave
the name of Port Dickson, in honour of Mr. Oscar Dickson, of Gothenburg,
for many years the liberal supporter of the Swedish expeditions.
To demonstrate that the Kara Sea had not been more free of ice than usual
in the summer of 1875 and that the route would be practicable another
season, Nordenskjöld repeated his voyage in the _Ymer_ the following year.
His long Arctic experience had by this time convinced him of the
feasibility of the northeast passage. To demonstrate this conviction, he
enlisted the patronage of the king of Sweden, Mr. Oscar Dickson, and Mr.
Sibiriakoff, a Siberian proprietor of vast wealth, and the result was the
purchase of the _Vega_, which was liberally equipped for a successful
expedition.
The Vega had been used for whale-fishing in the north polar sea, her
register was three hundred and fifty-seven tons gross, or two hundred and
ninety-nine net. Her dimensions were as follows:—
metres
Length of keel 37.6
Length over deck 43.4
Beam extreme 8.4
Depth of hold 4.6
She had a sixty horse-power engine, which required ten cubic feet of coal
per hour, developing an average speed of six or seven knots per hour. The
vessel was a full-rigged bark, with pitch pine masts, iron wire rigging
and patent reefing top sails; under sail alone she was able to attain a
speed of nine or ten knots. She carried the Swedish man-of-war flag with
a crowned “O” in the middle, and bore this triumphantly throughout a
voyage which stands in history as the first circumnavigation of Asia and
Europe.
[Sidenote: _VOYAGE OF THE “VEGA”_]
With Nordenskjöld as leader, Lieutenant Palander commander of the ship,
and an efficient staff of officers and scientists, which included such
men as Lieutenant Horgaard of the Royal Danish Navy, for superintendent
of the magnetical and meteorological work, F. R. Kjellman, Ph.D., Docent
in Botany in the University of Upsala, and Lieutenant G. Bore, of the
Royal Italian Navy, superintendent of the hydrographical work, the _Vega_
sailed from Gothenburg July 4, 1878, in company with her convoy, the
_Lena_. Port Dickson was reached on the morning of August 10, and nine
days later Cape Serero or Chelyuskin in 77° 41´ north latitude. Of this,
the most northern point of Siberia, Nordenskjöld writes:—
“We had now reached a great goal, which for centuries had been the
object of unsuccessful struggles. For the first time a vessel lay at
anchor off the northernmost cape of the old world. No wonder then that
the occurrence was celebrated by a display of flags and the firing of
salutes, and when we returned from our excursion on land, by festivities
on board, by wine and toast.”
“The north point of Asia forms a low promontory, which a bay divides
into two, the eastern arm projecting a little farther to the north than
the western. A ridge of hills with gently sloping sides runs into the
land from the eastern point, and appears within sight of the western to
reach a height of three hundred metres. Like the plain lying below, the
summits of this range were nearly free of snow. Only on the hillsides or
in deep furrows excavated by the streams of melted snow, and in dales
in the plains, were large white snow-fields to be seen. A low ice-foot
still remained at most places along the shore. But no glacier rolled its
bluish-white ice-masses down the mountain sides, and no inland lakes, no
perpendicular cliffs, no high mountain summits, gave any natural beauty
to the landscape, which was the most monotonous and the most desolate I
have seen in the High North.”
[Illustration: FOUL BAY, ON THE COAST OF SPITZBERGEN
_From “The Voyage of the Vega,” Macmillan & Co., Ltd., London_]
On the 23d the _Vega_ was again steaming forward among the fields of
drift-ice. The difficulties of voyaging through unknown waters overhung
with fogs and mists may better be understood by an anecdote described by
Nordenskjöld, which illustrates how completely a person may be deceived
by size and distance of objects:—
“One can scarcely, without having experienced it,” he writes, “form any
idea of the optical illusions, which are produced by mist, in regions
where the size of the objects which are visible through fog is not known
beforehand, and thus does not give the spectator an idea of the distance.
Our estimate of the distance and size in such cases depends wholly on
accident. The obscure contours of the fog-concealed objects themselves,
besides, are often by the ignorance of the spectator converted into
whimsical fantastic forms. During a boat journey in Hinlopen Strait I
once intended to row among drift-ice to an island at a distance of some
few kilometres. When the boat started, the air was clear, but while we
were employed, as best we could, in shooting sea-fowl for dinner, all was
wrapt in a thick mist, and that so unexpectedly, that we had not time to
take the bearings of the island. This led to a not altogether pleasant
row by guess among the pieces of ice that were drifting about in rapid
motion in the sound. All exerted themselves as much as possible to get
sight of the island, whose beach would afford us a safe resting-place.
While thus occupied, a dark border was seen through the mist at the
horizon. It was taken for the island which we were bound for, and it was
not at first considered remarkable that the dark border rose rapidly,
for we thought that the mist was dispersing and in consequence of that
more of the land was visible. Soon two white snow-fields that we had not
observed before, were seen on both sides of the land, and immediately
after this was changed to a sea monster, resembling a walrus-head as
large as a mountain. This got life and motion, and finally sank all at
once to the head of a common walrus, which lay on a piece of ice in the
neighbourhood of the boat; the white tusks formed the snow-fields and the
dark brown round head the mountain. Scarce was this illusion gone when
one of the men cried out, ‘Land right ahead—high land!’ We now all saw
before us a high Alpine region, with mountain peaks and glaciers, but
this too sank a moment afterwards all at once to a common ice-border,
blackened with earth. In the spring of 1873 Phelander and I with nine men
made a sledge journey round Northeast Land. In the course of this journey
a great many bears were seen and killed. When a bear was seen while we
were dragging our sledge forward, the train commonly stood still, and,
not to frighten the bear, all the men concealed themselves behind the
sledges, with the exception of the marksman, who, squatting down in some
convenient place, waited till his prey should come sufficiently in range
to be killed with certainty.
“It happened once during foggy weather on the ice at Wahlenberg Bay
that the bear that was expected and had been clearly seen by all of
us, instead of approaching with his usual supple zigzag movements, and
with his ordinary attempts to nose himself to a sure insight into the
fitness of the foreigners for food, just as the marksman took aim, spread
out gigantic wings and flew away in the form of a small ivory gull.
Another time during the same sledge journey we heard from the tent in
which we rested the cook, who was employed outside, cry out, ‘A bear! a
great bear! No! a reindeer, a very little reindeer!’ The same instant a
well-directed shot was fired, and the bear-reindeer was found to be a
very small fox, which thus paid with its life for the honour of having
for some moments played the part of a big animal. From these accounts it
may be seen how difficult navigation among drift-ice must be in unknown
waters.”
It had been understood that the _Lena_ would accompany the _Vega_ as far
as one of the mouth-arms of the Lena River. But on the night of the 27th
of August, while off Tumat Islands, all conditions being favourable,
the ships parted company, after Captain Johannesen had received orders,
passports and letters for home. “As a parting salute to our trusty little
attendant during our voyage round the north point of Asia some rockets
were fired, on which we steamed or sailed on, each to his destination.”
Following an easterly course, through shallow open water the _Vega_
all but made the Northeast Passage in one season. Toward the end of
September, however, she was frozen in off the shore of a low plain or
tundra in 67° 71´ N., and 173° 20´ W., near the settlements of the
Chuckches, numbering about three hundred souls. The open water which to a
late date in the season had favoured the progress of the expedition, was
accounted for by the volumes of warm water discharged into the Polar Sea
during the summer by the great Siberian river systems. During the voyage,
valuable natural history collections were made, and the sea bottom was
found to abound in animal and vegetable life.
“When we were beset,” writes Nordenskjöld, “the ice next the shore was
too weak to carry a foot passenger, and the difficulty of reaching the
vessel from the land with the means which the Chuckches had at their
disposal was thus very great. When the natives observed us, there was in
any case immediately a great commotion among them. Men, women, children,
and dogs were seen running up and down the beach in eager confusion; some
were seen driving in dog-sledges on the ice street next the sea. They
evidently feared that the splendid opportunity which here lay before them
of purchasing brandy and tobacco would be lost. From the vessel we could
see with glasses how several attempts were made to put out boats, but
they were again given up, until at last a boat was got to a lane, clear
of ice or only covered with a thin sheet, that ran from the shore to the
neighbourhood of the vessel. In this a large skin boat was put out, which
was filled brimful of men and women, regardless of the evident danger of
navigating such a boat, heavily laden, through sharp, newly formed ice.
They rowed immediately to the vessel, and on reaching it most of them
climbed without the least hesitation over the gunwale with jests and
laughter, and the cry ‘_anoaj, anoaj_’ (good day, good day).
“Our first meeting with the inhabitants of this region, where we
afterwards passed ten long months, was on both sides very hearty, and
formed the starting-point of a very friendly relation between the
Chuckches and ourselves, which remained unaltered during the whole of our
stay.”
“On the 5th of October,” continues Nordenskjöld, “the openings between
the drift-ice fields next the vessel were covered with splendid skating
ice, of which we availed ourselves by celebrating a gay and joyous
festival. The Chuckche women and children were now seen fishing for
winter roach along the shore. In this sort of fishing a man, who always
accompanies the fishing women, with an iron-shod lance cuts a hole in
the ice so near the shore that the distance between the under corner of
the hole and the bottom is only half a metre. Each hole is used only by
one woman, and that only for a short time. Stooping down at the hole, in
which the surface of the water is kept quite clear of pieces of ice by
means of an ice-sieve, she endeavours to attract the fish by means of a
peculiar, wonderfully clattering cry. First, when a fish is seen in the
water, an angling line, provided with a hook of bone, iron, or copper,
is thrown down, strips of the entrails of fish being employed as bait. A
small metre-long staff with a single or double crook in the end was also
used as a fishing implement. With this little leister the men cast up
fish on the ice with incredible dexterity.”
[Illustration: THE “VEGA” IN KONYAM BAY
_From “The Voyage of the Vega,” Macmillan & Co., Ltd., London_]
Hunting and exploring excursions were sent out from the _Vega_ with
varying success; as the seasons advanced the natives were threatened with
the usual scarcity of food, which was largely relieved by the generosity
of the Europeans. A most careful and thorough study was made of these
natives, their characteristics, mode of life, manners, speech, and
customs.
[Sidenote: _RETURN OF THE “VEGA”_]
On July 18, the _Vega_ was liberated from the ice, after having been
imprisoned two hundred and ninety-four days.
After a lapse of three hundred and twenty-six years, when Sir Hugh
Willoughby made the first attempt at a northeast passage, the _Vega_
sailed through Behring Strait, July 20, 1879, being the first vessel to
penetrate by the north from one of the great world oceans to another. The
_Vega_ anchored at Yokohama on the evening of the 2d of September.
“On our arrival off Yokohama,” writes Nordenskjöld, “we were all in
good health and the _Vega_ in excellent condition, though, after the
long voyage, in want of some minor repair, of docking, and possibly of
coppering. Naturally among thirty men some mild attacks of illness could
not be avoided in the course of a year, but no disease had been generally
prevalent, and our state of health had constantly been excellent. Of
scurvy we had not seen a trace.”
From Yokohama the news of the _Vega’s_ success was telegraphed throughout
the world, and the homeward journey of the expedition, _via_ Hong Kong,
Singapore, Suez, Naples, Lisbon, Copenhagen, to Stockholm was one of
triumphant progress; each country trying to outdo the others in giving
a royal welcome to the gallant explorers. The _Vega_ reached Stockholm
April 24, 1880, after a journey of twenty-two thousand one hundred
eighty-nine miles.