Einar Mikkelsen(1 880- 197 1)
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ARCTIC VOL. 44, NO. 4 (DECEMBER 1991) P. 351-355 Einar Mikkelsen(1 880- 197 1) The concept of havingor not having luck has always been a strong component of Scandinavian folklore. Luck more than anything else often determined the fate of mythical heros as portrayed by the old Norse storytellers. Not only was Erik the Red’s son Leif the legendary founder of Norse settlements in Vinland and the bringer ofChristianity to the Norse settlers in Greenland, he was also Leif the Lucky. Einar Mikkelsen, or Mikkel, as he was often called, would have been quite at home in the old Norse society. Exploring new lands and seeking tough challenges in the northern regions of the world was as much in Mikkel’s blood as any Norseman could have wished for himself. Mikkelsen was born in Denmark on23 December 1880 and wasted little time expanding his horizons. Before the end of his fifth year he had already run awayfrom home once. While he was still a child, the family moved to Copenhagen, where his father became a strong advocate of trade schools and the teaching of crafts in the regular school system. There can be little doubt that for his parents Mikkel must have been a hand- ful to bring up. He disliked most everything about school and undoubtedly anything that smacked of confinement, rules and regulations. It is perhaps not surprising that geography wasthe only subject that interested him. For a young man with a great taste for the unknown that subject at least had something con- crete to offer. When Mikkel turned thirteen his geography teacher left the school and so did he. His favourite place was the busy harbour in Copenhagen, Einar Mikkelsen. where ships from all over the world loaded and unloaded their exotic cargos before heading out on the high seas again. A last multi-year expedition that would result in a Norwegian claim attempt to keep Mikkel in private school also failed and his of sovereignty over Canada’s High Arctic islands. Mikkel was father decided to send the young man to sea on the Danish quick to apply but Sverdrup could not be bothered with the school ship Georg Stage. Young Mikkel was finally in his eager young man. He was told that he wastoo young and that rightful element and his parents, who seemed to have been the expedition needed real men. The words must have stung remarkably supportive of their restless son, must have and perhaps laid the foundation for a strong commitment in breathed a sigh of relief. Mikkel became a shipwright and was his later political battles with Norwegians in arctic matters. soon ready for his first deep-sea adventure. On board the Next he tried to get on with the Baron von Toll Expedition three-masted bark Emilie he had his first encounter with ice- to the New Siberian Islands. Again the word was no and again bergs. the lady saved him. Several of the expedition members, For three years Mikkel worked on various ships in the including von Toll, disappeared somewhere in the frozen oceans of the Far East, never losing sight of his dream to wastes, neverto be seen again. explore unknown lands. In 1896, the year Fridtjof Nansen and But persistence finally paid off for the twenty-year-old Hjalmar Johansen returned to civilization from their attempt to man. A Danish lieutenant by the name of Amdrup offered reach the North Pole, Mikkel travelled to Sweden in an Mikkel an opportunity to join the East Greenland Expedition attempt to enlist with Andree’s Swedish Balloon Expedition and he accepted without hesitation. The expedition’s goal was (Eagle) destined for the North Pole. To his great dismay he to chart the rugged coastline between Scoresby Fiord and was deemed too young for the expedition, and he returned Angmagssalik on the east coast of Greenland. They could home not knowing that Lady Luck was holding his hand - reflect on the sobering fact that a French expedition in the Andree and his two companions never returned from the Lilloise under the command of Lieutenant Blosseville had Arctic. Thirty-three years would pass before remains of the attempted to chart the coast in 1832. The ship and its 82-man expedition (and unexposed film) were found on Kvitoya near crew were never heardfrom again. Amdrup’s expedition was based on a very different Svalbard. approach. Instead of trying to force his way through the ice in It was with a little more enthusiasm that Mikkel enrolled in a large ship, he and three men would use an 5.5-metre oak- navigation school. Undoubtedly he could see that the only way planked boat, the Agga II, for the journey. Daringly the four to carve out a decent life at sea was to become captain of one’s men pushed, hauled and rowed their way south through fog, own vessel. But the school didn’t slow down Mikkel’s search churning ice floes, icebergs and numerous bears during the 45- for adventure, and he remainedalert to any rumour of planned day journey. On an Inuit winter site, Nualik, they were expeditions. In Norway, Nansen’s famous captain from the shocked to discover all the 38 inhabitants of a large sod and polar ocean drift, Otto Sverdrup, was about to embark on a stone house dead inside. Later the incident took on difficult OThe Arctic Instituteof North America 352 / ARCTIC PROFILES proportionswhen the expedition members reached the great stampede to the gold fields would be his first big Angmagssalik and were accused of killing the Nualik people. challenge. Even though he by-passed Nome and headed for The accusations were laid to rest and the Amdrup expedition Port Clarence, about 160 km farther north, four crew members I was deemed a great success. still tried an unsuccessful escape, stopped mostly thanks to Mikkel’s appetite for adventure had really been whetted, Captain Hamlet, of the US. Revenue Cutter Thetis. The men and as soon as they returned from Greenland he began to were later dropped off inJabbertown near Point Hope. investigate all avenues in search of other planned arctic expe- Mikkel’s next challenge was to squeeze his vessel between ditions. Finally word reached him of the proposed Baldwin- the shallow north coast and stranded pack ice until he reached Ziegler Expedition and his application was mailed without Point Barrow. Here, in August 1906, a ship approached from hesitation. Not hearing from Baldwin, Mikkel gave up and the east and later in the day Godfred Hansen could tell him travelled to Hamburg, where he was about to ship out on the that the Gjoa had indeed made it through the Northwest Alexandra. Just as they were leaving the harbourhe received a Passage and that Amundsen had dashed off to the gold rush cable from Baldwin urging him to join the expedition. Mikkel town of Eagle on the YukonRiver to telegraph the message to barely managed to get off the ship. It was a lucky departure - the rest of the world. the Alexandra went down, with the loss of most ofher crew. On 17 August, Mikkel reached Flaxman Island, where the Baldwin’s aim was seemingly straightforward. As a mem- Duchess was iced in. The cold, dark winter months werespent ber of Peary’s arctic expedition in 1893-94, he was nowon his making preparations for the journey to investigate the mysteri- own quest to reach the North Pole. His financial support came ous land to the north. Sachawachiak, a native from Flaxman from Ziegler, a GermadAmerican baking powder millionaire. Island, taught Mikkel and his companions the intricacy of dog With Amdrup, Mikkel had seen what a well-planned expedi- sledge travel, and finally at the end of February a party of tion was like; now he was to learn all about poor planning and three departed in the bitter cold. For 60 days they struggled its disastrous consequences. After countless mishaps en route through treacherous ice fields, discovering nothing but ice and to an unknown destination, Mikkel and seven others volun- more ice until they wereabout 192 km north of the coast. The teered to spend the winter of 1901-02 in a small, comfortable mythical land was nowhereto be seen and theexhausted party cabin at Camp Ziegler on Alger Island, one of the many that headed back to the Alaskan coast. Their depth soundings make up Franz Josef Land. The increasingly unpopular along the way did determine the extent of the Continental Baldwin originally had planned to head south for the winter, Shelf. much to the relief of the shore party. But that was not to be. When they reached Flaxman Island they found that the By the time the ship got under way the ice already blocked Duchess had been crushed in the ice. The crew had erected a any escape, and Baldwin and a very unhappy crew were hut on land with her salvaged timbers and planks and the forced to spend the winter on board America. The expedition ship’s name board had been hungover the door. For Mikkel it was altogether an enormous failure and Mikkel was deter- was not thelast time his expedition ship was turned into a hut. mined that next time he would set out on his own expedition. Now it was a matter of getting home to Denmark, and on He also knew what his goal wasgoing to be. For many years there had been a persistent legend of a 15 October he set out from Flaxman Island on a remarkable great unknown land in the polar sea beyond the north coast of journey that would take himover 4000 km by sled and onfoot Alaska.