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I.C.E.-Partner
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Historic
Expedition
Picking up traces of the German Arctic Expedition
1912- 1913
The German Arctic explorer Herbert Schröder-Stranz (1884 - 1913)
began with his plans for a journey through the Northwest-Passage in the
year 1904. He set off on a "test-expedition" in 1912 during which he and
seven other members of the expedition died on Nordaustlandet, an island
belonging to the Svalbard archipelago. The main expedition was planed to
become the second successful crossing of the Northeast Passage. The first
crossing was undertaken by the Swede Adolf Nordenskiöld with his ship the
"Vega" between 1878 and 1880.
Two search parties set out in the summer of 1914 for the
Schröder-Stranz-Expedition; one under the leadership of Avre Staxrud
and the other under Theodor Lerner. There still exists film footage taken
of the Lerner expedition by Sepp Allgeier, who later became Leni
Riefenstahl's cameraman. The Schröder-Stranz-Expedition remains one of the
unsolved puzzles in the history of German Arctic expeditions.
In August 1912 the "Herzog-Ernst", a motorized cutter, left Tromsø
heading north under the command of Lieutenant Schröder-Stranz. Together
with three other men, boats, dogs and sleds, he left his ship at
Scoresbyøya in order to explore the area. With the exception of a few
scattered pieces of equipment, there are no traces left of this expedition.
The "Herzog Ernst" became caught up in the ice in the Sorg Fjord with the
eleven remaining ship members. While some of the men stayed on board,
others attempted to make their way back to Longyearbyen. It was only
Captain Alfred Ritscher who managed to reach Longyearbyen, more dead than
alive, in December 1912. The others were either dead or awaiting rescue in
trappers' huts.
Following Ritschers's return, two rescue teams were organized. Theodor
Lerner (1866 - 1931) chartered a small ship, the "Loevenskiöld" in
Tromsø in order to search fur survivors, but this ship sank in the ice
north of Nordaustlandet in Cape Rupin in Beverlysund. The Norwegian Avre
Staxrud set out from Longyearbyen on April 12 with sleds across the ice of
the Isfjord. This expedition succeeded in bringing back the "Herzog Ernst"
and the remaining members of the Schröder-Stranz-Expedition. The members
of the Lerner rescue team returned from the Sorg Fjord, a total of eight
from the fifteen members of this dramatic Schröder-Stranz-Expedition lost
their lives.
A cap by Kong Karls Land on Spitsbergen was then named after Lerner, who
had undertaken a total of seven Arctic expeditions.
Arved Fuchs will attempt on his expedition with the "Dagmar Aaen"
to find traces of this dramatic Arctic expedition and answers to these
important questions:
- Why did the expedition fail?
- What happened to the missing expedition members under Schröder-Stranz?
- What about evidence or traces of their last camp or depot? |
