Carl Ryder

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Carl Ryder (between 1880 and 1890)

Carl Hartvig Ryder (born September 12, 1858 in Copenhagen ; † May 3, 1923 ibid) was a Danish naval officer and polar explorer . He undertook several expeditions to Greenland and was director of the Danish Meteorological Institute from 1907 to 1923 .

Life

Early years

The Fylla in the port of Copenhagen

Carl Hartvig Ryder was the eldest son of the grocer (or master baker ) Frederik Valentiner Ryder (1821–1909) and his wife Henriette Sophie Cathrine Husmann (1836–1896). He embarked on a military career in the Royal Danish Navy , which raised him to Kaptajn until 1897 . As a lieutenant he took part in the Danish Arctic expedition as part of the First International Polar Year 1882/83 , which was under the direction of the physicist Adam Paulsen . Meteorological and geomagnetic observations were made at the station in Godthåb (now Nuuk ) in Greenland . But the focus was on aurora research . Ryder also took the opportunity to examine the ruins of the western settlement of Grænlendingar . In 1884 he was back in West Greenland with the scientific expedition of the botanist Eugenius Warming on board the schooner Fylla . A year later he took part in the survey of the west Greenland coast between Nuuk and Maniitsoq by J.A. D. Jensen . In 1886/87 Ryder himself led an expedition, the aim of which was to measure and map the area around Upernavik . Together with Christian Bloch (1559-1944) he explored the west coast of Greenland to 74 ° 25 ′ north, using dog sleds in February and March 1887 and boats from June to August.

Expedition to East Greenland 1891/92

Geological map of Scoresbysund created after Ryder's expedition from Edvard Bay (1896)

In 1891 the Danish Navy entrusted Ryder with the difficult task of mapping a largely unknown part of the east coast of Greenland. The south of the Greenland east coast to about 66 ° north was measured by Gustav Frederik Holm between 1883 and 1885 . From here to the Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Fjord at about 73 ° North, which was discovered and explored by the Second German North Polar Expedition under Carl Koldewey in 1870 , there was no detailed knowledge of the coastline. Ryder was accompanied by Lieutenant Helge Vedel (1863-1931), the zoologist and geologist Edvard Bay (1867-1932), the botanist Nikolaj Hartz , the ornithologist Henrik Deichmann (1871-1939) and the West Greenland interpreter Johan Petersen , who was already at Holms Had heard of the expedition team. Ryder had the Hekla seal- catching ship and a small steamboat at his disposal.

On June 20, 1891, the Hekla encountered an initially impenetrable ice belt 350 km off the Greenland coast. The ship had to go north to Shannon Island and finally reached Cape Broer Ruys at 73 ° 32 ′ north. Because heavy pack ice prevented entry into the Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Fjord, the Hekla drove slowly south in thick fog, taking temperature measurements , depth sounding and even trawling to research the animals living on the seabed. Sometimes the ship did not move forward for days. On August 2nd, the Hekla entered the Scoresbysund, where the expedition members went ashore at Cape Stewart. The vegetation here was surprisingly rich - Hartz found 150 species of flowering plants. Ryder decided to spend the winter in Scoresbysund and found a suitable natural harbor in the south of the island of Danmark Ø , which he called Hekla Havn . In autumn 1891 and spring 1892 the expedition explored the extensive fjord system by steamboat. The remains of 50 abandoned winter houses as well as graves and numerous artefacts have been found on Danmark Ø and in other places , which show that the region was inhabited until relatively recently. The scientists also discovered numerous plant and animal fossils . As a result of the work, detailed topographical and geological maps of the Scoresbysund were created.

It was not until August 8, 1892 that the Hekla could leave their winter quarters and find their way to the exit of Scoresbysund. She initially drove southwest along the coast, but could not carry out any survey work in the ice and fog. On August 19, Ryder abandoned the attempt and steered the Hekla to Iceland to replenish the coal supplies. Then he drove to Ammassalik (now Tasiilaq ), hoping to be able to take the steamboat north on the coast, which the weather conditions did not allow. The expedition stayed in Ammassalik for two weeks and put together a large ethnological collection. She left Greenland on September 24th and reached Copenhagen on October 12th, 1892.

Further life

In 1893 Ryder undertook an expedition to Iceland and the Faroe Islands with the schooner Diana . In the following years he was in command of various ships. In 1895 he was the captain of the gunboat Lille Bælt . From 1897 to 1899 he drove the mail steamer to Iceland, and in 1901 he commanded the gunboat Falster . 1901/1902 on the protected cruiser Valkyrien to Danish West Indies . From 1902 to 1907 Ryder was Chief of Staff in the Ministry of the Navy and thereafter until his death in 1923, succeeding Adam Paulsen as director of the Danish Meteorological Institute. He modernized this institution and actively participated in international cooperation in the field of meteorology.

Familiar

Carl Ryder was married to Ida Caroline Helene Clara Wolff (1864-1933) from October 15, 1888. His daughter Ulla Ingrid was born in 1896.

Honors

Carl Ryder received the following medals and orders:

The following geographical objects are named after him:

Fonts (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ P. Stauning: Danish auroral science history (PDF; 6.14 MB). In: History of Geo- and Space Sciences . Volume 2, 2011, pp. 1–28, here p. 21 (English). doi: 10.5194 / hgss-2-1-2011
  2. ↑ a b c d e f C. H. Ryder in Dansk biografisk leksikon (Danish)
  3. ↑ a b Ryder, Carl Hartvig , Slægtsdatabase, accessed on February 20, 2017 (Danish)
  4. ^ Explorations in Greenland . In: Science . Volume 11, No. 278, 1888, pp. 259 f.
  5. ↑ Lille Bælt (1875–1919) at http://www.navalhistory.dk , accessed on February 23, 2017 (Danish)
  6. ↑ Falster (1873–1919) on http://www.navalhistory.dk , accessed on February 23, 2017 (Danish)
  7. ↑ Cape Ryder . In: Anthony K. Higgins: Exploration history and place names of northern East Greenland. (= Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin Vol. 21, 2010). Copenhagen 2010, ISBN 978-87-7871-292-9 (English)
  8. ↑ Ryder Elv . In: Anthony K. Higgins: Exploration history and place names of northern East Greenland. (= Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin Vol. 21, 2010). Copenhagen 2010, ISBN 978-87-7871-292-9 (English)
  9. ↑ Ryder Glacier on geographic.org (English)
  10. ↑ Ryder Øer on geographic.org (English)
  11. ↑ Ryder Isfjord on geographic.org (English)
personal data
SURNAME Ryder, Carl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ryder, Carl Hartvig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish naval officer and polar explorer
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH May 3, 1923
Place of death Copenhagen