Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T12:43:51.896Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The retreat from Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa [Franz Josef Land]: the diary of Lieutenant Carl Weyprecht of the Austro-Hungarian north pole expedition, 20 May–3 September 1874

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

William Barr
William Barr*
Affiliation:
Arctic Institute of North America, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary AB T2N 1N4, Canada ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Having spent 21 months on board their icebound ship, Tegetthoff, adrift in the pack ice to the north of Novaya Zemlya, and having explored a substantial part of Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa [Franz Josef Land], to which the ice-drift had carried their ship, on 20 May 1874 the members of the Austro-Hungarian North Pole expedition abandoned it and started south by sledge and boat. Progress was painfully slow, and for weeks involved repeatedly alternating between man hauling across floes and rowing or sailing across leads and polynyas. The expedition finally reached open water on 15 August and started rowing and sailing south along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya. They encountered two Russian fishing boats at Mys Britvin [Cape Britvin], just south of Matochkin Shar on 24 August, and the Austrians persuaded one of their captains to take them to Vardø in Northern Norway. They arrived there on 3 September and caught the mail steamer south to Hamburg. Apart from the engineer, Otto Krisch, who died of tuberculosis and scurvy and was buried on Ostrov Vilcheka [Wilczek Island], the remaining 24 members of the expedition returned home safely. The diary of one of the co-leaders of the expedition, Lieutenant Carl Weyprecht, covering the period of the retreat, is published here in English for the first time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , April 2011 , pp. 97 - 125
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berger, F., Besser, B.P., and Krause, R.A.. 2008. Carl Weyprecht (1838–1881). Seeheld, Polarforscher, Geophysiker. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.Google Scholar
Carlsen, E. 1875. Optegnelser fra den Österrigsk-ungarske Polarexpedition (1872–1874). Tromsø: Carl Hansens Bogtrykkeri.Google Scholar
Conway, W.M. 1906. No man's land. A history of Spitzbergen from its discovery in 1596 to the beginning of the scientific exploration of the country. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dege, W. 2004. War north of 80. The last German Arctic weather station of world war II. (translator and editor Barr, W.). Calgary: Arctic Institute of North America and University of Calgary Press.Google Scholar
Guggenberger, E., and Voitl, H.. 2008. Eis und Ego. Arktis Expeditionen. Vienna: Christian Brandtstätter Verlag.Google Scholar
Haller, F. (editor). 1959. Johann Haller (aus St. Leonhard in Passeier). Erinnerungen eines Tiroler Teilnehmers an Julius v. Payer's Nordpol-Expedition 1872/1874. Innsbruck: Universitätsverlag Wagner.Google Scholar
Holland, C. 1994. Arctic exploration and development, c. 500 to 1915. An encyclopedia. New York & London: Garland Publishing Inc.Google Scholar
Jones, A.G.E. 1975. Benjamin Leigh Smith: arctic yachtsman. The Musk-Ox 16: 24–31.Google Scholar
Klupetzky, H. 1995. A history of the Austrian discovery of Franz Josef Land. The Austro-Hungarian Tegetthoff expedition 1872–1874. In: Barr, S. (editor). Franz Josef Land. Oslo: Norsk Polarinstitutt: 107–128.Google Scholar
Koerbel, H.F. 2005a. Weyprecht, Carl. In: Nuttall, M. (editor). Encyclopedia of the Arctic. New York and London: Routledge. III: 2172–2173.Google Scholar
Koerbel, H.F. 2005b. Payer, Julius. In: Nuttall, M. (editor). Encyclopedia of the Arctic. New York and London: Routledge. III: 1598–1599.Google Scholar
Koldewey, K. 1874. The German Arctic expedition of 1869–70, and narrative of the wreck of the ‘Hansa’ in the ice. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low and Searle.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koldewey, K., and Petermann, A.. 1871. Die erste deutsche Nordpolar-expedition im Jahre 1868. Petermanns Geographische Mittheilungen. Ergänzu-ngsheft 28 (reprinted Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1993).Google Scholar
Krisch, A. 1875. Tagebuch des Nordpolfahrers Otto Krisch, Maschinisten und Offizier der zweiten österr,-ungar, Nordpol-Expedition. Aus dem Nachlasse des Verstorbenen. Vienna: Verlag der Wallishausserschen Buchhandlung (Josef Klemm).Google Scholar
Lamont, J. 1876. Yachting in the Arctic seas; or, notes of five voyages of sport and discovery in the neighbourhood of Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya. London: Chatto and Windus.Google Scholar
Nansen, F. 1902. The oceanography of the north polar basin. In: Nansen, F. (editor). The Norwegian North Polar expedition 1893–1896. Scientific results vol 3(9). New York: Longmans Green; Christiania: J. Dybwad.Google Scholar
Österreichische–ungarische Arctische Expedition. 1878. Resultate der Österreichische-ungarischen Arctischen Expedition. Vienna: Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften.Google Scholar
Payer, J. 1876. New lands within the Arctic circle. Narrative of the discoveries of the Austrian ship ‘Tegetthoff’ in the years 1872–1874. 2 vols. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Petermann, A. 1871. Letter to Carl Weyprecht, 28 February 1871. In: Berger, F., Besser, B.P., and Krause, R.A. (editors). Carl Weyprecht (1838–1881). Seeheld, Polarforscher, Geophysiker. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: 318–320.Google Scholar
Straub, H. 1990. Die Entdeckung des Franz-Joseph-Landes. K. u. K. Offiziere als Polarforscher. Graz: Verlag Styria.Google Scholar
Weyprecht, C. 1871a. Letter to August Petermann, 20 May 1871. In: Berger, F., Besser, B.P., and Krause, R.A, (editors). Carl Weyprecht (1838–1881). Seeheld, Polarforscher, Geophysiker. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: 327–329.Google Scholar
Weyprecht, C. 1871b. Letter to August Petermann, 1 October 1871. In: Berger, F., Besser, B.P., and Krause, R.A. (editors). Carl Weyprecht (1838–1881). Seeheld, Polarforscher, Geophysiker. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: 334–335.Google Scholar
Weyprecht, C. 1874a. Journal 1874. Vienna: Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Carl Weyprechts Nachlaß 205.Google Scholar
Weyprecht, C. 1874b. Letter to Heinrich von Littrow, 16 September 1874. In: Berger, F., Besser, B.P. and Krause, R.A. (editors). Carl Weyprecht (1838–1881). Seeheld, Polarforscher, Geophysiker. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: 418–420.Google Scholar
Weyprecht, C. 1879. Die Metamorpohsein des Polareises. Vienna: Verlag von Moritz Perles.Google Scholar