Anthony Fiala (September 19, 1869 – April 8, 1950) was an American explorer, born in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, and educated at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

and the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In early life he was engaged in various employments—as lithographic designer, chemist, cartoonist, head of the art and engraving department of the

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

'' Daily Eagle'' (1894–99), and correspondent for that paper while serving as a trooper in the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

. In 1901 and 1902, he accompanied the Baldwin-Ziegler Polar Expedition as photographer. From 1903 to 1905, he was in command of the

Ziegler Polar Expedition The Ziegler polar expedition of 1903–1905, also known as the Fiala expedition, was a failed attempt to reach the North Pole. The expedition party remained stranded north of the Arctic Circle for two years before being rescued, yet all but one o ...

, sent out by Ziegler from

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

in July 1903. The party reached 82° 4' N, and surveyed the Franz Joseph Archipelago, but lost their ship, ''America'' in

Teplitz Bay Prince Rudolf Land, Crown Prince Rudolf Land, Prince Rudolf Island or Rudolf Island (russian: Остров Рудольфа) is the northernmost island of the Franz Josef Archipelago, Russia and is home to the northernmost point in Russia. Owing ...

and failed to reach the pole. A relief party sent out under William S. Champ found Fiala and his men at Cape Dillon in July 1905, and brought them home. In November 1907, Capt.

George Comer Captain George Comer (April 1858 – 1937) was considered the most famous American whaling captain of Hudson Bay, and the world's foremost authority on Hudson Bay Inuit in the early 20th century. Comer was a polar explorer, whaler/ sealer, ethno ...

successfully established a provisions base in the Arctic for Fiala's 1908 expedition. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' stated:

The Captain has been successful in his work for the Fiala expedition, and says that he confidently expects that the men under Fiala, by merely entering one of the northward drifts and sailing with it, will reach the North Pole.

In 1914 Fiala accompanied

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

on the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition into hitherto unexplored parts of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. He wrote ''Troop "C" in Service'' (1899) and ''Fighting the Polar Ice'' (1906).

References

External links

Arctic chronology

Francis Joseph Long Collections
American explorers Theodore Roosevelt Writers from Jersey City, New Jersey Military personnel from New Jersey People of the Spanish–American War 1869 births 1950 deaths Cooper Union alumni National Academy of Design alumni American nature writers American male non-fiction writers {{US-explorer-stub