Chapter 9.

Scientific expeditions followed in quick succession, and even Germany launched some expeditions. On 11 August 1901 an expedition commanded by Erich von Drygalski left port with the destination Antarctica. But upon discovering new land, Kaiser Wilhelm II Land, their ship, the Gauss, got caught in the ice. Von Drygalski tried to make the best of it and organised a few scientific journeys in the winter. During this time they discovered among other things the Gaussberg. In that very same month Von Drygalski made a trip by balloon in Antarctica, making him the second person to do so after Robert Falcon Scott on the opposite side of the continent. On 21 April von Drygalski made a trip to Gaussberg by dog sledge. After having done geological and magnetic research, the expedition turned back, but were caught in a snowstorm. They lost their way, but were very lucky, and ended up before the snow-covered Gauss. From then on they did all they could to free the ship from the ice. They tried explosives and saws both of which were unsuccessful. However, von Drygalski noticed that the black soot of the funnel that was lying on the ice absorbed the sunlight and made the ice melt. At once von Drygalski ordered his crew to deposit as much garbage as possible around the ship, and on 8 February 1903 the ship broke free.

Nordenskjöld

The plans of the Swedish geologist Otto Nordenskjöld were quite simple: along with five other men, he would be dropped on Snow Hill Island to spend the winter. His ship, the Antarctic, would pick them up the following year. This simple plan, however, turned out quite differently…


Otto Nordenskjöld

On 11 January 1902 their ship, the Antarctic, reached the South Shetland Islands. After having spent some time on the islands the expedition sailed further south. On 9 February Nordenskjöld, five other members of the expedition and a pack of dogs were dropped on Snow Hill Island, Southwest of Seymour Island, and the Antarctic set sail to the Falkland Islands. The over wintering had almost no difficulties, and they completed their scientific research. Nordenskjöld, Sobral and Jonassen made a journey to the eastern part of Oscar II Land, where nobody had been yet. In December they paid a visit to Seymour Island, where some fossils were found. In January and February the six men waited impatiently for the Antarctic to pick them up, but the ship never showed up. On 18 February 1903 when the sea froze again, all hope faded away, for they were forced to spend another winter in Antarctica. On 12 October 1903 Jonassen saw what he thought were three penguins. He grabbed his binoculars and found that the ‘penguins’ were Gunnar Andersson, Duse and Grunden, the same people that were supposed to have picked them up almost a year earlier. The six men were told that the Antarctic had had a little accident on the way.

The Antarctic left the Falklands on 5 November 1902. But near Hope Bay it got caught in pack ice. The captain of the ship, Carl Larsen, ordered Andersson, Duse and Grunden to search for Nordenskjöld's party by sledge on 29 December. While the three men were underway, the Antarctic broke free, but the ice had seriously damaged the ship - there was a big hole that couldn't be repaired. Larsen and the rest of the crew left the ship that sank on 12 February 1903. The shipwrecked crew reached Paulet Island on a lifeboat.

Back to Andersson, Duse and Grunden. On their way to save the six men waiting for the Antarctic, they saw that the sea was, indeed, not frozen over. They reasoned that the Antarctic would have reached Snow Hill by then with no difficulties, so they turned back to Hope Bay to wait there for the ship to pick them up. Nordenskjöld’s party waited for the Antarctic, and Andersson, Duse and Grunden did the same. But they had no idea that the ship had sunk and that the crew were trying to survive on Paulet Island.

After a while Andersson, Duse and Grunden realised that something had happened to the Antarctic. They spent the winter in Hope Bay and in spring they left to search for Nordenskjöld again. On 12 October 1903 they found them at Vega Island.

Most of the shipwrecked crew survived, with one exception: Ole Wennersgaard died on 7 June 1902. In spring, there was enough open water to navigate their lifeboat to Hope Bay, and arrived there on 4 November, surprised to find no one. Eventually everyone was rescued by an Argentine relief expedition.