Johan Alfred Björling (19 October 1871 – 1892/1893) was a Swedish

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and Arctic explorer. He led the ill-fated Swedish NW Greenland Expedition, also known as Björling–Kallstenius Expedition, in 1892.

Life

Björling was born on 19 October 1871 in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden and was the son of Johan Alfred Björling and Lydia Kastengren. He passed his ''

studentexamen Studentexamen (Swedish for "students' examination" or "students' degree"), earlier also ''mogenhetsexamen'' ("maturity examination") was the name of the university entrance examination in Sweden from the 17th century to 1968. From 1862 to 1968, ...

'' in 1891 and took part in the 1890 expedition to

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

and shipped in 1891 a Greenlandic merchant ship to the west coast of

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, where he using a rowboat penetrated north to the area of

Devils Thumb Devils Thumb, or Taalkhunaxhkʼu Shaa in Tlingit, is a mountain in the Stikine Icecap region of the Alaska–British Columbia border, near Petersburg. It is named for its projected thumb-like appearance. Its name in the Tlingit language means ...

. He died in 1892 or 1893 in the Canadian

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

. He was the nephew of Swedish mathematician Emanuel Björling (1808–1872).

Expeditions

In the summer of 1889 as a 17‑year‑old, he led an expedition along with two companions to become the first to climb

Kebnekaise Kebnekaise (; from Sami language, Sami or , "Cauldron Crest") is the highest mountain in Sweden. The Kebnekaise massif, which is part of the Scandinavian Mountains, Scandinavian mountain range, has two main peaks. The glaciated southern peak use ...

, the highest mountain in Sweden. In 1890, he participated in an expedition to

and

. He continued his exploration of Greenland by going to Upernivik, which is the northernmost part of Greenland. From there he successfully rowed an

Eskimo ''Eskimo'' () is a controversial Endonym and exonym, exonym that refers to two closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Canadian Inuit, and the Greenlandic Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Sibe ...

boat all the way north to the Devil's Thumb.

1892 Swedish NW Greenland Expedition

In the spring of 1892 he was on the EGG Kallstenius, heading for northwest Greenland. His planned to survey the largely unexplored polar basin at the northern tip of North America. His route passed through

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

, where he bought a schooner called ''Ripple'' for the trip north. He also hired a crew and bought provisions for the trip. The ship sailed and was never heard from again. The next time people heard about the company was through a telegram, sent in November 1893 by the whaler ''Aurora'', which stated that the ship had passed the wrecks of ''Ripple'' on June 17 of that year at the mouth of

Smith Sound Smith Sound (; ) is an Arctic sea passage between Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are ...

. Notes found later revealed details of Björling's tragic expedition. According to the notes, ''Ripple'' sailed from

Godhavn Qeqertarsuaq (, historically known as Godhavn) is a port and town in Qeqertalik municipality, located on the south coast of Disko Island on the west coast of Greenland. Founded in 1773, the town is now home to a campus of the University of Cope ...

on August 2, 1892 toward

Baffin Bay Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; ; ; ), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is sometimes considered a s ...

, and crossing it to

Melville Bay Melville Bay (; ), 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, ''Qimusseriarsuaq'', means "the great dog sledding pla ...

to Cape York. From there Björling moved on to

Carey Islands The Carey Islands (; ) are an island group off Baffin Bay, in Avannaata municipality, northwest Greenland. Located relatively far offshore the Carey Islands are the westernmost point of Greenland as a territory. The sea surrounding the islands ...

to replenish his supplies from the English depot there. His ship, however, had to be abandoned at the island's south coast. After that, instead of trying to head for Greenland's west coast, where the expedition almost certainly would have been rescued, Björling headed north to Northumberlandön and from there back to the Carey Islands, finally arriving in Ellesmereland. There Björling hoped to meet Eskimos and ask for food and help. Unfortunately, that never happened.

Posthumous honours

Björlingø, an island of the Carey group is named after this Swedish explorer.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjorling, Johan Alfred 1871 births 1890s deaths 19th-century Swedish botanists Swedish explorers Scientists from Stockholm Lost explorers 19th-century explorers