The great work was undertaken by a young Dane named Mylius Erichsen, who was born at Viborg in Jutland in 1872. He had visited the Danish settlements on the west coast of Greenland, had crossed Melville Bay, and wintered at Cape York; and he was now filled with the patriotic desire to place the crown on the edifice of Danish discovery. The task had become a sacred one for him, and with such an impulse he thought the goal must be reached if human power could attain it.
The Duc d’Orléans had shown how far north a ship might go, and the advice of experienced Arctic explorers was that Erichsen should winter on board ship, in a position to the north of Cape Bismarck, if possible. The necessary funds were raised, with help from the Government and the Carlsberg Fund, and a Norwegian sealer of 450 tons was bought and named the Danmark. She was built at Peterhead in 1885, was well fortified against the ice, and had been fitted with a screw propeller in 1892. A spacious laboratory was built before the main hatchway; and besides four others, she took two motor boats. Most of the sledges, which were fitted with odometers, were made on board from Eskimo models, and 100 dogs were brought from West Greenland. A motor carriage was also taken.
Erichsen was chief of the expedition, and Lieut. Trolle of the Royal Danish Navy second in command and captain of the ship. The cartographer was Lieut. Höeg Hagen of the Danish Army, and Lieut. Johan Peter Koch of the General Staff of the Danish Army, who had done excellent surveying and cartographic work in the Amdrup expedition as well as in Iceland, and who had experience as a seaman, having qualified as master of small ships, was the surveyor. The geologist was Jarner, Johansen marine zoologist, Lindhard surgeon, Lundager botanist, Manniche ornithologist, Wegener meteorologist and physicist. The first mate was Lieut. Bistrup of the Royal Danish Navy, the second and third mates Christian and Gustav Trostrup, two artists Bertelsen and Frus went as engineers, and such was the enthusiasm felt for the expedition that two university students, Freuchen[177] aged 20 and Hagerup a Norwegian, volunteered as stokers, as well as Knudsen who was carpenter of the ship. An ice pilot, Karl Ring, a steward, and four seamen completed the complement. In addition there were the three Eskimo dog drivers Brönlund (who had been a curate at Jacobhavn), Tobias Gabrielsen, and Olsen from Ritenbenk—27 all told.
The expedition, which was known as the Danmark Expedition, left Copenhagen on the 24th June, 1906, and after a long struggle with the ice the Danmark was off Koldewey Island on the 13th August. Proceeding northwards a large depôt was landed at Cape Marie Valdemar. Winter quarters were established near Cape Bismarck in Lat. 76° 46′ N., Long. 18° 37′ W., in a sheltered bay which was named Danmark Havn. The explorers were thus on the very threshold of an undiscovered region. During the following two years constant journeys were made for various scientific purposes, for laying out depôts, surveying, collecting specimens, etc. The neighbourhood of Cape Bismarck was thus most thoroughly explored and surveyed.
Meanwhile there were diligent preparations during the winter for the great northern journeys. There were two extended sledge parties and two depôt sledge parties, each with a team of 8 or 9 dogs and a load of 810 lb. This was to give two months’ provisions for men, and one for dogs. The first sledge had Erichsen, Hagen, and the dog driver Brönlund; the second, Koch, the artist Bertelsen, and the dog driver Tobias Gabrielsen. The auxiliary sledges were under Wegener and Trostrup. The departure took place on the 28th March, Trostrup going back on the 22nd April and Wegener on the 26th. The explorers adopted an excellent plan of placing strips of walrus hide on the runners of the sledges with the hair outwards. Water was then poured along the hide, which becoming ice, was held in place by the hair. This was found to be an immense help to the dogs in dragging.
Erichsen and Koch went on in company until the 1st May, when they separated. Koch was to go north to Peary’s furthest, and Erichsen to explore the channel, which Peary stated to exist, separating Greenland from the so-called Peary Land. The travelling had been bad, with many snow-covered fissures dangerous for the dogs, and lines of heavy pressed-up ice. A depôt sufficient to bring both sledges back safely had been left in what was called Lambert Land, from that name occurring on some old Dutch charts in 78° N. The land projected much further east than was shown on the map, which increased the distance by 180 miles[178].
When Erichsen and Koch parted they each had 15 days’ provisions for men, the same for dogs and 25 of petroleum for fuel. Koch’s way was difficult, over hummocks and soft snow very ill suited for dogs. Land was not in sight. A course was shaped for the land, and it was reached on the 7th May, six musk oxen being obtained on the same day. On the 12th Peary’s cairn was found in 82° 57′ N., and the discovery of the east coast of Greenland was completed. Koch continued to advance as far as Cape Bridgman, which was reached on May 21st. He was much hindered by dense fogs, but was able to carry out the exploration of Hyde Fjord. On the 21st, in spite of strict economy, the fuel ran out, but the supply left at the depôt was afterwards found. Both Koch and his companion, the artist Bertelsen, suffered seriously from living on musk ox meat. On the 27th of May they quite unexpectedly met Erichsen and Hagen. Erichsen’s party had shot 21 musk oxen, which had caused a good deal of delay. They had explored Danmark’s Fjord, and Hagen had made excellent sketches of this inlet. The inland ice was bounded by cliffs of great height, and apparently inaccessible. On the 28th Erichsen drove west into what was called Independence Sound, while Koch began the return journey, seeing that the depôts were in order for Erichsen as he passed them. On June 23rd Koch’s party reached the ship after an absence of 88 days, the distance covered being 1200 miles measured by odometer. This approaches the achievements of M’Clintock and Mecham, but with the difference that while the English did all the work themselves, the Danes had the work done for them by dogs and dog drivers. Tobias, the Eskimo, however, had made the finest dog-sledge journey on record.
But tragedy was at hand; Erichsen, Hagen, and Brönlund did not return. Relief expeditions were sent out in the autumn but found no signs of them. The second winter passed in sorrow and anxiety: it was felt that they must have perished.
Several sledge journeys were undertaken during the winter to lay out depôts, and also with geographical and other scientific objects. The most important, consisting of four men, Bertelsen (in command), Wegener, Weinschank, and Lindhard, was conducted in the good old British way by men dragging their own sledge. They started on the 1st March with a load of 180 lb. per man. On the 9th they commenced the ascent of the inland ice, which they found rough, with a surface like that of an undulating sea. On the 13th they determined to take the tent and sledge no further, and Wegener and Weinschank went on to the great “nunatak” or snow-free land seen in the distance. They found that the inland ice ended in a vertical wall 90 feet high, but they succeeded in finding a place to descend, and thus landed on this extensive “nunatak,” an important discovery. It received the name of “Dronning Luisa Land.” The distance across the inland ice to the “nunatak” was 24 miles. The party returned on the 3rd of April with collections of plants, rocks, and fossils.
The expedition in search of their lost leader and his comrades started March 10th. It consisted of Captain Koch and Tobias, each with a sledge and team of ten dogs, and on March 19th they reached the depôt on Lambert Land with great difficulty owing to fog, a head wind, and drifting snow. They found the snow-covered entrance to a small cave, and when some snow had been removed they could distinguish the outlines of a human being in a reindeer coat. It was Brönlund. At his feet was a bottle with his diary, and the chart sketches drawn by Hagen. The diary was in Eskimo and a single page was written in Danish. It announced that the two others perished in November in Seventy-nine Fjord after an attempt to return by the inland ice. “I arrived here,” it ran, “by waning moon, and can go no further owing to frost-bites on feet and the darkness. Hagen died on the 15th of November, and Mylius about ten (two?) days later.” Koch returned to the ship on March 26th.