Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen by Marius Christensen 02 cropped

Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen (15 January 1872 – 25 November 1907) was a Danish author, ethnologist, and explorer, from

Ringkøbing Ringkøbing (older spelling ''Ringkjøbing'') is a town in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality in Region Midtjylland on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in west Denmark. It has a population of 9,894 (1 January 2022).Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

Literary expedition

With Count

Harald Moltke Harald Viggo Moltke (14 December 1871 – 24 June 1960) was a Danish painter, author and explorer. Among his activities Moltke, participated as draftsman in four Arctic expeditions. Early life and education Harald Moltke was born in Helsingø ...

and

Knud Rasmussen Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen (; 7 June 1879 – 21 December 1933) was a Greenlandic–Danish polar explorer and anthropologist. He has been called the "father of Eskimology" (now often known as Inuit Studies or Greenlandic and Arctic Studie ...

Mylius-Erichsen formed the Danish

Literary Expedition Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

(1902–04) to West Greenland, and, in the early stages (1902), discovered, near Evighedsfjord, two ice-free mountain ranges. The party later proceeded to Cape York and lived for 10 months in native fashion with the Eskimo. The return journey of the expedition to

Upernavik Upernavik (Kalaallisut: "Springtime Place") is a small town in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, located on a small island of the same name. With 1,092 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the twelfth-largest town in Greenland. It c ...

across the ice of

Melville Bay Melville Bay ( kl, Qimusseriarsuaq; da, Melville Bugt), is a large bay off the coast of northwestern Greenland. Located to the north of the Upernavik Archipelago, it opens to the south-west into Baffin Bay. Its Kalaallisut name, ''Qimusseriarsu ...

was the first sledge crossing on record.

Denmark expedition

As commander of the Denmark Expedition (1906–08) Mylius-Erichsen undertook and carried out the task of exploring and charting the entire coastline of unknown northeast Greenland by three months' field work. The expedition made sledge journeys of more than 4000 miles (6,436 km), exceeding the record of any single Arctic force. The main travel, excluding duplications, of

Johan Peter Koch Johan Peter Koch (15 January 1870 – 13 January 1928) was a Danish captain and explorer of the Arctic dependencies of Denmark, born at Vestenskov. He was the uncle of the geologist Lauge Koch Career J.P. Koch participated in Amdrup's expeditio ...

was some 1250 miles (2011 km), and that of Mylius-Erichsen must have exceeded 1000 miles (1609 km). Their explorations showed that Robert Peary's chart of a coast trending southeast from Navy Cliff was radically incorrect. Instead the shore ran to the northeast, adding about 100,000 square miles (259,000 km²) to Greenland and extending it about halfway from Navy Cliff—where the maps wrongly placed Greenland Sea—to

Spitzbergen Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

. Mylius-Erichsen's own exploration proved that

Peary Channel The Peary Channel is a waterway in the territory of Nunavut. It is an arm of the Arctic Ocean, and it spreads southeast between Meighen Island to the north, Axel Heiberg Island to the east, Amund Ringnes Island to the south, and Ellef Ringnes ...

did not exist. Two years later

Ejnar Mikkelsen Ejnar Mikkelsen (December 23, 1880 – May 1, 1971) was a Danish polar explorer and author. He is most known for his expeditions to Greenland. Biography Mikkelsen was born in Vester Brønderslev, Jutland. He served in the Georg Carl Amdrup exp ...

(1880–1971), leader of a new Danish Greenland expedition, assumed the channel existed until he found Mylius-Erichsen's report in a cairn at the head of

Danmark Fjord Danmark Fjord (), also known as Denmark Sound, is a fjord in northeast Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the Northeast Greenland National Park. The fjord was explored and named after the expedition ship '' Danmark'' at the time of the ill ...

, where Mylius-Erichsen had written emphatically that: Mylius-Erichsen established the continuity of Greenland from Cape Farewell, 60° N, to the most northern land ever reached, 83° 39' N. He also discovered and explored the great fiords of Danmark, Hagen, and Brønlund.

Death

Misled by existing maps, Mylius-Erichsen with

Niels Peter Høeg Hagen Niels Peter Høeg Hagen (15 October 1877 – 15 November 1907) was a Danish military officer, polar explorer and cartographer. He participated and perished in the ill-fated Denmark expedition to NE Greenland in 1906. The Denmark expedition ...

and the Greenlander Jørgen Brønlund so prolonged his journey that a return to the ship that spring was impossible, and they were forced to spend the summer in the area of the

Denmark Fjord Danmark Fjord (), also known as Denmark Sound, is a fjord in northeast Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the Northeast Greenland National Park. The fjord was explored and named after the expedition ship '' Danmark'' at the time of the ill ...

without the necessary footgear for hunting in the stony area. The need for food for men and dogs forced them to reduce their three dogteams to one. Finally, in September, they were able to start their return journey on the new frozen sea ice, around the northeastern corner of Greenland. However, when they arrived at the southern shore of

Mallemuk Mountain Mallemuk Mountain ( da, Mallemukfjeldet) is a mountain plateau with seaward cliffs in NE Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park zone. This mountain was named by the ill-fated Denmark expedition after the ...

, they found open water and were forced to travel inland. En route, Mylius-Erichsen and Hagen perished of starvation, exhaustion, and cold walking on the ice of the

Nioghalvfjerd Fjord Nioghalvfjerdsbrae (), sometimes referred to as " 79 N Glacier", is a large glacier located in King Frederick VIII Land, northeastern Greenland. It drains an area of of the Greenland Ice Sheet with a flux (quantity of ice moved from the land to ...

. Hagen's map sketches and the body of Brønlund together with his diary were found next spring by Koch in

Lambert Land Lambert Land is a land area —possibly a peninsula or an island— in King Frederick VIII Land, northeastern Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the NE Greenland National Park area. Geography Lambert Land is bounded in the north by the ...

. Some cairn reports, left at

by Mylius-Erichsen, were found and brought to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1912.

Works

* ''Tatere'' (1898), a drama * ''Vestjyder'' (1900), tales * ''Den Jydske Hede før og nu'' (1903) * ''Isblink'' (1904), poems from Greenland * ''Grønland'' (1906) * Report on the nonexistence of Peary Channel in ''Meddelelser om Grønland'', (50 volumes, Copenhagen, 1876–1912), volume xli (1913), edited by

Honours

Mylius-Erichsen Land Mylius-Erichsen Land is a peninsula in King Frederick VIII Land, northeastern Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the NE Greenland National Park area. Geography Mylius-Erichsen Land is bounded in the north by the Independence Fjord, in th ...

in northern Greenland was named after him. *

Denmark Expedition Memorial The Denmark Expedition Memorial is a sculpted boulder at Langelinie in Copenhagen, Denmark, commemorating Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen (1872–1907), Niels Peter Høeg Hagen (1877–1907) and Jørgen Brønlund (1877–1907) who died on the Denmark Expe ...

in Copenhagen. *A silver commemorative medal issued in 1933 —25 years after the expedition— by Alf Trolle (1879–1949), captain of expedition ship ''Danmark'' and leader of the Denmark expedition after Mylius-Erichsen's death.

Literature

* Achton Friis, ''Danmark Expeditionen til Grönlands Nordostkyst'' (1909), reprinted in 1987 and 2005. * Greely, ''True Tales of Arctic Heroism'' (New York, 1912) *

Rasmussen The surname Rasmussen () is a Danish and Norwegian surname, meaning '' Rasmus' son''. It is the ninth-most-common surname in Denmark, shared by about 1.9% of the population.

, ''People of the Polar North'' (Philadelphia, 1908) * G. C. Amdrup, ''Report on the Denmark Expedition to the North-East Coast of Greenland'' (Copenhagen, 1913). * Ole Ventegodt, "Den sidste Brik", Copenhagen, 1997 * Peter Freuchen, "Min grønlandske ungdom", 1936 (Memories)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mylius-Erichsen, Ludvig 1872 births 1907 deaths Danish explorers Scandinavian explorers of North America Greenlandic polar explorers Danish male writers People from Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality