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{{Short description|Danish polar explorer ( |
{{Short description|Danish polar explorer (1880–1971)}} |
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{{Infobox officeholder |
{{Infobox officeholder |
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| honorific-prefix = |
| honorific-prefix = |
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| name = Ejnar Mikkelsen |
| name = Ejnar Mikkelsen |
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| honorific-suffix = |
| honorific-suffix = |
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| image = File:Ejnar Mikkelsen 1907 lek00156.jpg |
| image = File:Ejnar Mikkelsen 1907 lek00156.jpg |
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| alt = Mikkelsen in Alaska, 1907 |
| alt = Mikkelsen in Alaska, 1907 |
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| order = |
| order = |
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| office = Royal Inspector of [[East Greenland]] |
| office = Royal Inspector of [[East Greenland]] |
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| term_start = 1933 |
| term_start = 1933 |
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| term_end = 1950 |
| term_end = 1950 |
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| predecessor = |
| predecessor = |
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| successor = |
| successor = |
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| birth_date |
| birth_date = 23 December 1880 |
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| birth_place = Vester-Brønderslev, [[Jutland]], [[Denmark]] |
| birth_place = Vester-Brønderslev, [[Jutland]], [[Denmark]] |
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| death_date |
| death_date = 1 May 1971 (age 90) |
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| death_place = [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]] |
| death_place = [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]] |
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| nationality = Danish |
| nationality = Danish |
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| spouse = |
| spouse = |
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| children = |
| children = |
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| occupation = Explorer, |
| occupation = Explorer, author, administrator |
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| profession = |
| profession = |
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| religion = |
| religion = |
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| website = |
| website = |
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| footnotes = |
| footnotes = |
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}} |
}} |
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[[File:Alabama 1909.jpg|thumb|250px|''Alabama'', the ship of Mikkelsen's 1909 expedition]] |
[[File:Alabama 1909.jpg|thumb|250px|''Alabama'', the ship of Mikkelsen's 1909 expedition]] |
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Mikkelsen was born on 23 December 1880, in Vester Brønderslev, [[Jutland]]. |
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| ⚫ | In 1900, he served in the [[Georg Carl Amdrup]] expedition to [[King Christian IX Land|Christian IX Land]] in East Greenland. He then served in the [[Baldwin-Ziegler Polar Expedition|Baldwin-Ziegler North Pole Expedition]] to [[Franz Joseph Land]], which took place from 1900 to 1902.<ref>*{{Cite Americana |wstitle=Mikkelsen, Ejnar}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | With [[Ernest de Koven Leffingwell]] he organized the Anglo-American polar expedition which wintered off [[Leffingwell Camp Site|Flaxman Island |
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| ⚫ | With [[Ernest de Koven Leffingwell]], he organized the Anglo-American polar expedition which wintered off [[Leffingwell Camp Site|Flaxman Island, Alaska]], in 1906–07. They lost their ship, but in a [[sled]]ge journey over the ice, they located the [[continental shelf]] of the [[Arctic Ocean]], {{convert|65|mi|km}} offshore, where in a span of {{convert|2|mi|km}}, the sea's depth increased from {{convert|50|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} to more than {{convert|690|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}}.<ref name="Mills">Mills, William James (2003) [https://books.google.com/books?id=PYdBH4dOOM4C&q=Mikkelsen "Mikkelsen, Ejnar (1880–1971)"] ''Exploring polar frontiers: a historical encyclopedia, Volume 1'' pp 426 ff, ABC-CLIO {{ISBN|1-57607-422-6}}, {{ISBN|978-1-57607-422-0}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | Mikkelsen organized an expedition to map the northeast coast of Greenland and to recover the bodies of the ill-fated [[Denmark expedition]] leader, [[Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen]], and cartographer, [[Niels Peter Høeg Hagen]], in addition to their records. For this task, Mikkelsen wintered from 1909 to 1910 at [[Shannon Island]]. His wooden ship, the ''Alabama'', became trapped in the ice of Shannon Island and, while he was exploring, the rest of the party returned home on a [[whaler]]. Remaining with his engineer, Iver Iversen, Mikkelsen succeeded through a series of hazardous sledge journeys. They recovered the lost records in a [[cairn]] at the head of [[Danmark Fjord]], discovering that "the [[Peary Channel (Greenland)|Peary Channel]] does not exist."<ref name=":0" /> |
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{{quote|... the [[Peary Channel (Greenland)|Peary Channel]] does not exist.<ref>Spencer Apollonio, ''Lands That Hold One Spellbound: A Story of East Greenland,'' 2008 p. 128</ref>}} |
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Hence, he rebutted the existence of a hypothetical [[Sound (geography)|sound]] or marine channel running from east to west separating [[Peary Land]] in northernmost [[Greenland]] from the mainland further south.<ref>{{Cite journal | |
Hence, he rebutted the existence of a hypothetical [[Sound (geography)|sound]] or marine channel running from east to west separating [[Peary Land]] in northernmost [[Greenland]] from the mainland further south.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |doi=10.2307/208628 |jstor=208628 |title=The Question of Peary Channel |journal=Geographical Review |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=643–649 |year=1925 |last1=Koch |first1=L.}}</ref> |
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The two explorers returned to Shannon |
The two explorers returned to Shannon Island to find the crew gone, but they used salvaged timbers and planking to erect a small cottage. Mikkelsen and Iversen then spent two winters at the cottage before they were rescued, in the direst of extremities, by a Norwegian whaler in the summer of 1912.<ref name="Mills" /> The so-called ''Alabama cottage'' has survived and was photographed during a visit by the Danish Navy inspection ship ''Ejnar Mikkelsen'' in September 2010.<ref>Danish Armed Forces, FORSVARET, Greenland Command, press release, 11 September 2010, [http://forsvaret.dk/GLK/Nyt%20og%20Presse/Pages/100911ejmi.aspx '''Ejnar Mikkelsen back at Shannon Island after 98 years'''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330162210/http://forsvaret.dk/GLK/Nyt%20og%20Presse/Pages/100911ejmi.aspx |date=30 March 2012 }} Google translate, 26 September 2010.</ref> |
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In 1924, he led an expedition to settle what later came to be [[Scoresbysund]].<ref name="Mills"/> In 1932, he led the |
In 1924, he led an expedition to settle what later came to be [[Scoresbysund]].<ref name="Mills" /> In 1932, he led the "Second East-Greenland Expedition of the Scoresbysund Committee" that carried out the first archaeological excavations on the [[Skaergaard intrusion]] by the shores of the [[Kangerlussuaq Fjord, East Greenland|Kangerlussuaq Fjord]].<ref name="Skaergaard">[http://www.skaergaard.org/history.html Skaergaard history]</ref> |
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{{cite news |
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|url = http://www.casr.ca/id-arcticviking-northern-deployment-09.htm |
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|title = Update: Denmark's Arctic Assets and Canada's Response — Northern Deployment 2009: Danish Navy & CCG in the High Arctic |
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|date = September 2009 |
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|publisher = [[Canadian American Strategic Review]] |
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|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20091007103337/http://www.casr.ca/id-arcticviking-northern-deployment-09.htm |
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|archivedate = 2009-10-07 |
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|url-status = dead |
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}}</ref> The [[Ejnar Mikkelsen Range]] is named after him.<ref name="mapcarta">{{cite web|url=http://mapcarta.com/19193610|title=Ejnar Mikkelsen Fjeld|work=Mapcarta|accessdate=3 August 2016}}</ref> |
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In 1970, on his 90th birthday, a national tribute was paid to him in Denmark; he died in Copenhagen a few months later on 1 May 1971.<ref>"Captain Einar Mikkelsen." Times [London, England] 5 May 1971: 18. The Times Digital Archive. Weborn 22 March 2014.</ref> In 2009, the [[Royal Danish Navy]] named the second [[Knud Rasmussen class]] patrol vessel the {{HDMS|Ejnar Mikkelsen|P571|6}}.<ref name="Casr2009-09-10b">{{cite news |url=http://www.casr.ca/id-arcticviking-northern-deployment-09.htm |title=Update: Denmark's Arctic Assets and Canada's Response – Northern Deployment 2009: Danish Navy & CCG in the High Arctic |date=September 2009 |publisher=[[Canadian American Strategic Review]] | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007103337/http://www.casr.ca/id-arcticviking-northern-deployment-09.htm |archivedate=7 October 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Ejnar Mikkelsen Range]] is named after him.<ref name="mapcarta">{{cite web |url=http://mapcarta.com/19193610 |title=Ejnar Mikkelsen Fjeld |work=Mapcarta |accessdate=3 August 2016}}</ref> |
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* ''Conquering the Arctic Ice'' (London, 1909) |
* ''Conquering the Arctic Ice'' (London, 1909) |
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* ''Lost in the Arctic'' (1913). Some of his Greenland expeditions are recounted here. |
* ''Lost in the Arctic'' (1913). Some of his Greenland expeditions are recounted here. |
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* ''Mylius-Erichsen's Report on the Non-Existence of Peary's Channel'' (1913) |
* ''Mylius-Erichsen's Report on the Non-Existence of Peary's Channel'' (1913) |
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* ''Tre Aar par Grönlands Ostkyst'' (1914) |
* ''Tre Aar par Grönlands Ostkyst'' (1914) |
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* Nord-syd-øst-vest (1917) |
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* ''Norden For Lov og Ret'', a story (1920) |
* ''Norden For Lov og Ret'', a story (1920) |
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** |
** translated as ''Frozen Justice'' (1922) |
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* ''John Dale'', a novel (1921) |
* ''John Dale'', a novel (1921) |
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* ''Farlig Tomansfaerd'' (1955) |
* ''Farlig Tomansfaerd'' (1955) |
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** translated as ''[[Two Against the Ice]]'', (1957) |
** translated as ''[[Two Against the Ice]]'', (1957) |
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==Awards== |
== Awards == |
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* 1933 [[Hans Egede Medal]] of the [[Royal Danish Geographical Society]].<ref name="Elberling Hjelmstjerne-Rosencroneske stiftelse 1933 p. 161">{{cite book |last=Elberling |first=V. |author2=Hjelmstjerne-Rosencroneske stiftelse |title=Avis-aarbogen ...: Aarets begivenheder hjemme og ude i faa orde |publisher=C. A. Reitzel |issue=vb. 10 |year=1933 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qlHAQAAIAAJ |language=da |access-date=26 June 2023 |page=161 ff.}}</ref> |
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* 1933 [[Hans Egede Medal]] of the [[Royal Danish Geographical Society]].<ref>[https://tidsskrift.dk/index.php/geografisktidsskrift/article/view/4567/8563 (in Danish)]</ref> |
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* 1935 [[ |
* 1935 [[Patron's Medal]] of the [[Royal Geographical Society]] |
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==In popular culture== |
== In popular culture == |
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The film ''[[Against the Ice]]'', released on |
The film ''[[Against the Ice]]'', released on 2 March 2022, depicts Mikkelsen's most famous ordeal. He was portrayed by [[Nikolaj Coster-Waldau]]. |
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==See also== |
== See also == |
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*[[Cartographic expeditions to Greenland]] |
* [[Cartographic expeditions to Greenland]] |
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*[[List of inspectors of Greenland]] |
* [[List of inspectors of Greenland]] |
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==References== |
== References == |
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{{reflist}} |
{{reflist}} |
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==Further reading== |
== Further reading == |
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* ''Meddelelser om Grønland'' (50 volumes, Copenhagen, 1876–1912) |
* ''Meddelelser om Grønland'' (50 volumes, Copenhagen, 1876–1912) |
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* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Mikkelsen, Ejnar}} |
* {{Cite Americana |wstitle=Mikkelsen, Ejnar}} |
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==External links== |
== External links == |
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{{ |
{{Commons category|Ejnar Mikkelsen}} |
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* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Ejnar Mikkelsen}} |
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Ejnar Mikkelsen}} |
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[[Category:1880 births]] |
[[Category:1880 births]] |
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[[Category:1971 deaths]] |
[[Category:1971 deaths]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:20th-century Danish male writers]] |
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[[Category:20th-century Danish novelists]] |
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[[Category:Danish male novelists]] |
[[Category:Danish male novelists]] |
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[[Category:Danish polar explorers]] |
[[Category:Danish polar explorers]] |
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[[Category:Explorers of the Arctic]] |
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[[Category:Explorers of Alaska]] |
[[Category:Explorers of Alaska]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Explorers of the Arctic]] |
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[[Category:Greenlandic polar explorers]] |
[[Category:Greenlandic polar explorers]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:People from Brønderslev]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Scandinavian explorers of North America]] |
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Latest revision as of 13:46, 26 June 2023
Ejnar Mikkelsen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Royal Inspector of East Greenland | |
| In office 1933–1950 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 23 December 1880 Vester-Brønderslev, Jutland, Denmark |
| Died | 1 May 1971 (age 90) Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Occupation | Explorer, author, administrator |
Ejnar Mikkelsen (23 December 1880 – 1 May 1971) was a Danish polar explorer and writer. He is most known for his expeditions to Greenland.
Biography
[edit]
Mikkelsen was born on 23 December 1880, in Vester Brønderslev, Jutland.
In 1900, he served in the Georg Carl Amdrup expedition to Christian IX Land in East Greenland. He then served in the Baldwin-Ziegler North Pole Expedition to Franz Joseph Land, which took place from 1900 to 1902.[1]
With Ernest de Koven Leffingwell, he organized the Anglo-American polar expedition which wintered off Flaxman Island, Alaska, in 1906–07. They lost their ship, but in a sledge journey over the ice, they located the continental shelf of the Arctic Ocean, 65 miles (105 km) offshore, where in a span of 2 miles (3.2 km), the sea's depth increased from 50 meters (160 feet) to more than 690 meters (2,260 feet).[2]
Mikkelsen organized an expedition to map the northeast coast of Greenland and to recover the bodies of the ill-fated Denmark expedition leader, Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen, and cartographer, Niels Peter Høeg Hagen, in addition to their records. For this task, Mikkelsen wintered from 1909 to 1910 at Shannon Island. His wooden ship, the Alabama, became trapped in the ice of Shannon Island and, while he was exploring, the rest of the party returned home on a whaler. Remaining with his engineer, Iver Iversen, Mikkelsen succeeded through a series of hazardous sledge journeys. They recovered the lost records in a cairn at the head of Danmark Fjord, discovering that "the Peary Channel does not exist."[3]
Hence, he rebutted the existence of a hypothetical sound or marine channel running from east to west separating Peary Land in northernmost Greenland from the mainland further south.[3]
The two explorers returned to Shannon Island to find the crew gone, but they used salvaged timbers and planking to erect a small cottage. Mikkelsen and Iversen then spent two winters at the cottage before they were rescued, in the direst of extremities, by a Norwegian whaler in the summer of 1912.[2] The so-called Alabama cottage has survived and was photographed during a visit by the Danish Navy inspection ship Ejnar Mikkelsen in September 2010.[4]
In 1924, he led an expedition to settle what later came to be Scoresbysund.[2] In 1932, he led the "Second East-Greenland Expedition of the Scoresbysund Committee" that carried out the first archaeological excavations on the Skaergaard intrusion by the shores of the Kangerlussuaq Fjord.[5]
In 1970, on his 90th birthday, a national tribute was paid to him in Denmark; he died in Copenhagen a few months later on 1 May 1971.[6] In 2009, the Royal Danish Navy named the second Knud Rasmussen class patrol vessel the HDMS Ejnar Mikkelsen.[7] The Ejnar Mikkelsen Range is named after him.[8]
Works
[edit]- Conquering the Arctic Ice (London, 1909)
- Lost in the Arctic (1913). Some of his Greenland expeditions are recounted here.
- Mylius-Erichsen's Report on the Non-Existence of Peary's Channel (1913)
- Tre Aar par Grönlands Ostkyst (1914)
- Nord-syd-øst-vest (1917)
- Norden For Lov og Ret, a story (1920)
- translated as Frozen Justice (1922)
- John Dale, a novel (1921)
- Farlig Tomansfaerd (1955)
- translated as Two Against the Ice, (1957)
Awards
[edit]- 1933 Hans Egede Medal of the Royal Danish Geographical Society.[9]
- 1935 Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society
In popular culture
[edit]The film Against the Ice, released on 2 March 2022, depicts Mikkelsen's most famous ordeal. He was portrayed by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ *Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). . Encyclopedia Americana.
- ^ a b c Mills, William James (2003) "Mikkelsen, Ejnar (1880–1971)" Exploring polar frontiers: a historical encyclopedia, Volume 1 pp 426 ff, ABC-CLIO ISBN 1-57607-422-6, ISBN 978-1-57607-422-0
- ^ a b Koch, L. (1925). "The Question of Peary Channel". Geographical Review. 15 (4): 643–649. doi:10.2307/208628. JSTOR 208628.
- ^ Danish Armed Forces, FORSVARET, Greenland Command, press release, 11 September 2010, Ejnar Mikkelsen back at Shannon Island after 98 years Archived 30 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Google translate, 26 September 2010.
- ^ Skaergaard history
- ^ "Captain Einar Mikkelsen." Times [London, England] 5 May 1971: 18. The Times Digital Archive. Weborn 22 March 2014.
- ^ "Update: Denmark's Arctic Assets and Canada's Response – Northern Deployment 2009: Danish Navy & CCG in the High Arctic". Canadian American Strategic Review. September 2009. Archived from the original on 7 October 2009.
- ^ "Ejnar Mikkelsen Fjeld". Mapcarta. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
- ^ Elberling, V.; Hjelmstjerne-Rosencroneske stiftelse (1933). Avis-aarbogen ...: Aarets begivenheder hjemme og ude i faa orde (in Danish). C. A. Reitzel. p. 161 ff. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
Further reading
[edit]- Meddelelser om Grønland (50 volumes, Copenhagen, 1876–1912)
- Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). . Encyclopedia Americana.
External links
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ejnar Mikkelsen.
