Evelyn Briggs Baldwin

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Evelyn Baldwin

Evelyn Briggs Baldwin (born July 22, 1862 in Springfield , Missouri , † October 25, 1933 in Washington, DC ) was an American polar explorer and meteorologist .

Life

Origin and education

Baldwin was born in 1862 as the eldest son of hiking teacher Elias Briggs Baldwin (1834–1921). The family settled on a farm in Labette County , Kansas , in 1869 . At Northwestern College in Naperville , Illinois , Baldwin completed his Master of Science degree in 1885 and then traveled for one year through Europe and several years through the American West. He financed the trip through his monthly travel experiences, which were read by 2,000 subscribers.

After working for the American Meteorological Service, he took part in Robert Peary's second expedition to North Greenland as a meteorologist from 1893 to 1894 . Upon his return, Baldwin wrote a book on the history of Arctic exploration ( The Search for the North Pole , 1896). He hoped to use the proceeds to finance his own expedition. A critical passage to Peary's expedition led to a permanent rift between the two men.

When Salomon August Andrée announced his plan to reach the geographic North Pole in the basket of a hydrogen balloon , Baldwin applied to participate, but was not considered. In the summer of 1897 he nevertheless traveled to Spitsbergen , but came too late to see the start of the balloon flight.

The Wellman Expedition 1898–1899

In 1894 Baldwin had contacted Walter Wellman on his return from Greenland . The American journalist had just tried unsuccessfully to reach the North Pole from Spitsbergen, but was not discouraged. In 1898 preparations were complete for a new expedition, in which Baldwin took part as a meteorologist and Wellman's deputy. Wellman had chosen Franz Josef Land as a starting point this time . He set up his base camp at Cape Tegetthoff on Hall Island and commissioned Baldwin to set up a storage facility further north in order to logistically prepare the advance to the Pole planned for 1899. As the leader of a four-person team, Baldwin transported the supplies to Cape Heller on Wilczek Land and left two Norwegian expedition members, Bernt Bentsen (1860–1899) and Paul Bjørvig (1857–1932), in a primitive house as a guard. Bentsen died before the next spring.

Wellman was disappointed with Baldwin, having expected the depot significantly further north, around the 82nd parallel. When putting together his team for the decisive advance to the North Pole, he did without Baldwin. He commissioned him to map the still unexplored east coast of Wilczek-Land. The group around Baldwin discovered the easternmost island of the Franz Josef Archipelago. Wellman named it Graham Bell Island . This geographical discovery was the most important achievement of the expedition.

The Baldwin-Ziegler Polar Expedition 1901–1902

The America
Officers and crew of the Baldwin-Ziegler polar expedition (1901)
Map with the planned route of the Baldwin-Ziegler polar expedition

Soon after the return of the Wellman expedition, Baldwin was able to win the American entrepreneur William Ziegler (1843-1905), who had made a fortune with baking powder , as a sponsor for a new attempt to reach the North Pole. Ziegler provided Baldwin with "unlimited resources" to carry out his plans. In the end, according to Baldwin's statements, the expenditure amounted to 142,000 US dollars (around 4,346,000 euros today).

Baldwin's plan was to travel from Franz-Josef-Land to the North Pole by dog sled and - using the ice drift - return to inhabited areas with the Greenland Current. To secure the way back, he sent Johan Bryde (1858–1925) with the Belgica to East Greenland in 1901, who put up storage depots on Bass Rock and Shannon Island . The 42-person expedition team left Norway on board America in the summer of 1901. At Cape Flora in the south of Northbrook Island , they met the supply ship Frithjof . The expedition had provisions for three years, more than 400 sled dogs and 15 ponies , as well as two tethered balloons , each of which could carry an observer, and a system for producing the necessary hydrogen .

Baldwin's plan to advance with the America to Rudolf Island failed because of the unfavorable ice conditions. In October he had the winter camp built on the Alger Island . In preparation for the planned advance to the Pole, the expedition members set up three depots in the spring of 1902, the northernmost at Cape Auk on Rudolf Island. Rather than head for the Pole, Baldwin decided it was too late to begin the experiment in 1902. Instead, he tried to find the spot on Jackson Island where Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen had spent the winter of 1895/96 during the Fram expedition . On May 14th, he found the hut and took out the note that Nansen had left there.

Baldwin hoped to be able to navigate America further north in the summer, but then the coal supply for the return voyage would have run out. In order to establish a connection to Europe and to ask Ziegler for an additional delivery of coal, he sent a total of 422 balloon buoys on the journey, none of which, however, was found in time. In mid-July Baldwin broke off the expedition and returned to Norway with the America . Ziegler was disappointed with how little Baldwin had achieved and stopped working with him. He commissioned his deputy and expedition photographer Anthony Fiala (1869-1950) to undertake a second attempt, the Fiala-Ziegler Expedition from 1903 to 1905.

Late years

In the following years Baldwin tried in vain to raise funds for another polar expedition. On extensive lecture tours, he reported on his experiences and plans. He now saw the best chance of reaching the pole in letting an expedition ship drift north with the ice from the Bering Strait , a new edition of Nansen's Fram expedition.

During the First World War , Baldwin discovered the German spies Bernhard Dernberg (1865–1937), Franz von Papen and Karl Boy-Ed in 1915 .

He died on October 25, 1933 in Washington, DC when he was struck by a car while crossing a street.

Works

  • The Search for the North Pole , 1896
  • Meteorological Observations of the Scond Wellman Expedition , 1901
  • Inscriptions from the Cornell Place Burial Ground, Poughquag, Dutchess County, NY , 1904
  • Plan to Drift Across the Arctic Ocean , 1909
  • Positive Proof of Dr. Cook's Attainment of the Pole , 1911
  • Drifting Across the Pole , 1925

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elias Briggs Baldwin (1834–1921) on the Find A Grave Flowers website (English)
  2. ↑ Capelotti (2006), p. 156f
  3. ↑ Baldwin (1896), p.442ff
  4. ↑ a b Capelotti (2008), p. 55
  5. ↑ Calculation using a template: inflation .
  6. ↑ Baldwin (1901)
  7. ^ Evelyn Baldwin: To cross the Arctic Ocean and life in the great white world. Brochure of Chautauqua , 1908
  8. ↑ Mary Elizabeth Ruwell: Evelyn Briggs Baldwin Papers. A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress (PDF; 39 kB), Washington, DC, 2009
  9. ↑ US Explorer Killed In Street Accident . In: The Advertiser , Adelaide, October 7, 1933, p. 27
personal data
SURNAME Baldwin, Evelyn Briggs
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American polar explorer and meteorologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Springfield , Missouri
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 1933
Place of death Washington, DC