Otto Sverdrup
Otto Sverdrup | |
---|---|
Born | Bindal, Norway | 31 October 1854
Died | 26 November 1930 | (aged 76)
Known for | Arctic explorer |
Otto Neumann Knoph Sverdrup (31 October 1854, in Bindal, Helgeland – 26 November 1930) was a Norwegian sailor and Arctic explorer.
Early and personal life
He was born in Bindal as a son of farmer Ulrik Frederik Suhm Sverdrup (1833–1914) and his wife Petra Neumann Knoph (1831–1885).[1] He was a great-grandnephew of Georg Sverdrup and Jacob Liv Borch Sverdrup, first cousin twice removed of Harald Ulrik and Johan Sverdrup, second cousin once removed of Jakob, Georg and Edvard Sverdrup, third cousin of Georg Johan, Jakob, Mimi, Leif and Harald Ulrik Sverdrup.[2] He was a brother-in-law of Johan Vaaler, and Otto himself married his own first cousin, Gretha Andrea Engelschiøn (1866–1937), in October 1891 in Kristiania.[1] Their daughter Audhild Sverdrup (1893–1932) married Carl Johan Sverdrup Marstrander.[3]
His father was born on Buøy in
In 1877 Sverdrup's parents moved from Bindal to the farm Trana outside Steinkjer. At this time O. T. Olsen, a teacher and employee in the bank at Kolvereid and a relative of his mother, had purchased the steamboat TRIO. Sverdrup was employed as captain. Around this time Sverdrup also met the lawyer Alexander Nansen who lived in Namsos. He was the brother of Fridtjof Nansen and through him Sverdrup and Fridtjof Nansen learned to know each other.
Career and expeditions
Sverdrup joined Fridtjof Nansen's expedition of 1888 across Greenland. In 1892 he was an advisor to Fridtjof Nansen when the ship Fram was built. In 1893 Sverdrup was given command of the ship, and in 1895 he was left in charge of it while Nansen attempted to reach the North Pole. Sverdrup managed to free the ship from the ice near Svalbard in August 1896 and sailed to Skjervøy, arriving just 4 days after Nansen had reached Norway.[1]
In the summer of 1897 Sverdrup worked as the shipmaster of Lofoten, a passenger ship to and from Svalbard. In 1898 he embarked on another expedition with Fram.
Between 1899 and 1902, he overwintered three more times on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic with the Fram, continuing to explore and map, culminating in the discovery of the islands to the west of Ellesmere Island, namely Axel Heiberg, Amund Ringnes and Ellef Ringnes, collectively known as the Sverdrup Islands.[1] In adopting Inuit methods, Sverdrup and his crew were able to chart a total of 260,000 square kilometers - more than any other polar exploration.[6] The area was famously mapped by his topographer, Gunnar Isachsen, and 35 academic publications were penned as a result of the expedition.[1] Upon Sverdrup's return in Norway, he was treated as a national hero. However, he remains relatively unknown in North America, and relatively unknown for his Canadian exploration in Norway.
Sverdrup officially claimed all three islands he discovered for Norway in 1902, setting off a sovereignty dispute with
One of Sverdrup's lesser known exploits was a search-and-rescue expedition aboard ship Eklips in the
Later life and legacy
The last years of his life he lived in Sandvika, at the property Homewood on a hill overlooking the town.[8] He died in November 1930. A statue of Sverdrup was erected in Steinkjer in 1957, and in 1999 a statue of Sverdrup was erected in Sandvika, in the square named after him, Otto Sverdrups plass.[1] In 2008, the Royal Norwegian Navy commissioned the HNoMS Otto Sverdrup, a Nansen class frigate, in honor of the mariner and explorer.
He was made a Commander 1st Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1896, and promoted to Grand Cross in 1902. In addition, he was awarded gold medals from the Norwegian Geographical Society in 1889 and the Royal Geographical Society in 1903, and received an honorary degree at the University of St Andrews.[1]
Sverdrup had also been made a Knight 1st Class of the Prussian
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hegge, Per Egil. "Otto Sverdrup". In Helle, Knut (ed.). Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
- Store norske leksikon(in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
- ^ Ringstad, Jan Erik. "Carl Marstrander". In Helle, Knut (ed.). Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
- ^ Otto Neumann, Sverdrup (1959). Arctic adventures: Adapted from New land: four years in the Arctic regions. Longmans. p. 215.
- ISBN 9781442695153.
- ^ ISBN 0-88977-168-5, 1984
- ^ T. C. Fairley, Sverdrup's Arctic Adventures, p. 272. London 1959.
- ^ Moe, Liv Frøysaa (28 May 2008). "Homewood". Bærum municipality. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
- ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36897. London. 13 October 1902. p. 6.
- ^ Hølaas, Odd; Barlaup, Asbjørn; Storm, Henning; Solheim, John (1957). Norge under Haakon VII 1905-1957 (in Norwegian) (3rd, revised ed.). Oslo: Cappelen. p. 172.
Further reading
- Guldborg Søvik og Lars Hole Der isen aldri går. Et år i Otto Sverdrups rike ISBN 978-82-91948-08-9, 2001
- William Barr, Otto Sverdrup to the rescue of the Russian Imperial Navy.
- Otto Neumann Sverdrup; Per Schei; Herman Georg Simmons; Edvard Bay (1904), New land: four years in the Arctic regions, London, Longmans, Green, and Co.