Scientific and Other Instruments Used in Arctic Regions on the Dutch Schooner Willem Barents, in 1878
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Scientifc and other Instruments used in Arctic Regions on the Dutch Schooner Willem Barents, in 1878 Willem F.J. Mörzer Bruyns Introduction on the Northeast coast of Novaya Zemlya, and The 1878 Voyage of the Willem In 1878 the Dutch were late in joining the brought back a large collection of artefacts Barents 6 countries that in the nineteenth century or- from that site. In the Netherlands it was felt The Willem Barents left Amsterdam in May nie scientifc eeitions to the rctic.1 that those relics should have been returned by 1878, and the RNN had kept its promise for his rticle iscusses the scientifc instru- a Dutch expedition. support. Besides donating provisions and ments and apparatus that they took that year, Dutch hurt feelings led to plans to organize lending navigating instruments, the Navy as- how they were obtained, used, and for what an own Arctic expedition. It was argued that sine three offcers n some of the cre. purpose. memoril stones lce t sinifcnt erly Lieutenant-commander A. de Bruijne (1842– 1916) was the schooner’s Captain and leader Arctic expeditions had started soon after the discoveries, would be a reminder of the of the expedition; he was also in charge of col- end of the Napoleonic wars, and the British Dutch historic contributions to Arctic topon- lecting the meteorological and oceanographic ere the frst. hey ere serchin for the ymy. The initiative came from members of data. The other two were Lieutenants L.R. Northwest passage from the Atlantic to the the Netherlands Geographic Society (Neder- Koolemans Beijnen (1852–1879) and H.M. cifc cen scientifc reserch such s on lands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, founded Speelman Bart.9 Koolemans Beijnen was terrestrial magnetism was done occasionally, 1873). To gain experience for such an expe- the offcer ho h sile in Pandora, and but mostly secondary.2 Voyages usually in- dition, a Dutch Navy lieutenant was assigned with his Arctic experience now acted as ‘ice volved ships of the Royal Navy, and after its to the British steam-assisted Pandora, to the master’.10 Speelman was put in charge of the founding in 1830 the Royal Geographical So- Canadian Arctic in the summers of 1875 and 7 magnetic observations. Also on board were a ciety of London organized expeditions with 1876. ship’s doctor and a zoologist. The latter was privately-owned vessels. In the late 1830s As the Dutch Government and the Royal to collect samples of marine plant and ani- Russian expeditions went to Novaya Zemlya Netherlands Navy (RNN) were unwilling to ml life for hich urose fshin euiment for research in geology and natural history. fnnce n eeition lthouh the Ny and sieves were shipped (see Fig. 1). Finally Around 1850 many of the undertakings were promised support -, a private Committee W.J.A. Grant (1851–1935) should be men- in search of the missing expedition under Sir was formed to appeal to the Dutch public for tioned, an Englishman of independent means, John Franklin with HMS Erebus and HMS money to fun the uilin euiin n who joined as photographer. He had sailed Terror, having sailed in 1845 in search of the manning of an Arctic expedition vessel. Com- in that capacity in Pandora with Koolemans Northwest passage.3 In the early 1850s Amer- mittee members included M.H. Jansen (1817– Beijnen, and was a pioneer of Arctic photog- icans joined in the search for Franklin, but 1893), a retired RNN Captain, and later head raphy.11 Grant’s main task on Willem Barents also sailed to the Arctic for discovery. Search of the department of maritime meteorology of was to take photographs of places historically for the Northwest and later for the Northeast the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institu- sinifcnt to the Netherlns. passage, from Europe to Asia, continued, and tion in Utrecht, founded in 1854. When still in attempts to reach the North Pole were under- the Navy Jansen had met U.S. Navy Lieuten- A leak in the hull forced the schooner to divert taken. In the second half of the century col- ant Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806–1873), it’s route to Bergen in Norway for repair. As lecting data on meteorology, oceanography, in Washington DC, and they became close it happened the Norwegian steam-driven re- n the erths mnetic fel ecme in- friends. Maury was in charge of the Depot of search vessel Vøringen was in port, and visited creasingly important. Terrestrial magnetism Charts and Instruments in the U.S. Capital, y the utch offcers. Vøringen had recently was observed on Spitsbergen in the 1820s and and the main advocate of maritime meteo- completed a voyage in the North Atlantic, led 1860s by Irish and Swedish scholars. Ocean- rology and oceanography.8 Other Committee by the Norwegian astronomer and meteorolo- ography was given a boost by the voyage of members included Professor P.J. Veth, chair- gist Professor Henrik Mohn (1835–1916), for 4 HMS Challenger of 1872–78. The number of man of the Netherlands Geographic Society, the same research as the Willem Barents was Arctic expeditions and participating countries and Dr C.H.D. Buys Ballot (1817-1890), about to undertake.12 After repair the schoo- increased, also to include Austria, Germany, director of the Meteorological Institution, ner continued North and reached the North- and Norway. More often sail was replaced and Professor of physics in Utrecht. Their west coast of Spitsbergen. On the small island by steam-assisted or steamships, which are membership led to a shift in the expedition’s of Ytre Norskøya Speelman commenced with easier manoeuvrable in Polar ice. main objective, from the placing of memo- the magnetic observations. He did so on the same location where Constantine John Phipps As a result of some of these expeditions, topo- rial stones to collecting data on meteorology, FRS (1744–1792), Sir Edward Sabine FRS graphic names given by Dutch Arctic explor- oceanography, and terrestrial magnetism. (1788–1883), and the Swede Dr Nils Chris- ers such as Willem Barentsz in the sixteenth Money donated to the Committee came from topher Dunér (1839–1914) had done similar century, and later by Dutch whale men, were all parts of the country, in today’s terms it measurements, in 1773, 1823, and 1861 and replaced by contemporary names.5 This led would be called ‘crowd-funding’. The even- 1864 respectively.13 to indignation in the Netherlands. After all it tual sum, however, was by far not enough to was Willem Barentsz who, when seeking the build a hoped-for steamship, or even to pur- The measurements were of the so-called Northeast passage in 1596, had discovered, chase one second-hand. Due to the nation- ‘magnetic elements’, comprising the declina- surveyed and named much of the western and alistic character of the undertaking - to the tion (or variation), the inclination (or dip), and northern coastlines of Spitsbergen, and No- general public memorial stones remained par- the intensity (or force) of the earth’s magnetic vaya Zemlya. His discoveries had led to the amount -, chartering a foreign steam-driven fel.14 Declination is the horizontal angle utch rctic hlin inustry tht ourishe essel s out of the uestion. here s ust between the geographic north and the mag- well into the eighteenth century. Adding to enough money to have a 25-metre schooner netic needle, inclination is the vertical angle the national indignation, in 1871 a Norwegian built, the Willem Barents was completed early between local horizontal plane and the needle, sealing skipper reached the 1596–97 winter- 1878. and intensity is the local force of the earth’s in urters of illem Brents n his men mnetic fel it consists of erticl n 30 Bulletin of the Scientifc Instrument Society No. 143 (2019) a horizontal component. Because Speelman was not familiar with such measurements, he had received instructions from Dr Mau- rits Snellen (1840–1907), who was respon- sible for research in terrestrial magnetism at the Meteorological Institution. To become cuinte ith the mnetic instruments that were purchased in London (see below), Speelman had also been sent to Kew Obser- vatory, Richmond, where Dr G.M. Whipple (1842–1893) was in charge of research in ter- restrial magnetism. From Spitsbergen the schooner sailed east- wards into the Barents Sea, the area desig- nated for the oceanographic research. That had been chosen as it was adjacent to the area recently researched by the Vøringen, so that the results of the two expeditions would be complementary.15 Like the Norwegians, the Dutch were expected to sound depths, collect ground samples from the seabed, and measure the temperature and salinity of the seawater at several depths. While in the Barents Sea, the schooner visited the West coast of Novaya Zemlya and Bjørnøya (Bear Island), where Fig. 1 A selection of the instruments and apparatus for oceanography displayed on the deck Speelman continued his magnetic observa- of the Willem Barents in 1878, behind the winch and boiler. From left to right: a Fitzgerald tions. sounder with scoop (34, without its weight), a water-bottle by Ekman (31), the slip-water- bottle by Milne & Son (30). Placed on the winch is the psychrometer by Remkes (22), and nother ts of the offcers s to etermine left of that a Hydra-sounder (35, only the upper part of the rod is visible). Lying on the hatch the exact position of locations that were of is the large water-bottle by Wille (32), in front of that a sandglass, the anemometer by Mohn historicl sinifcnce to the Netherlns. (24), thermometers by Six (25), Miller-Casella (26), and Negretti & Zambra (27), a glass They did so by astronomical observations hydrometer (28), and on the right the stopcock-water-bottle by Buchanan (29).