Godfred Hansen

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Godfred Hansen

Godfred Hansen (born February 23, 1876 in Copenhagen , † May 26, 1937 there ) was a Danish polar explorer and naval officer . From 1903 to 1906 he was the first officer of the Gjøa and also the deputy of the expedition leader Roald Amundsen when he first crossed the Northwest Passage .

Life

Portrait photo of Godfred Hansens (1937)

Godfred Hansen was born in 1876 as the fourth child of the lawyer and conservative politician Hans Nicolai Hansen (1835-1910) and his wife Ovidia Hansen (1841-1924), née Rode. He went to sea at the age of 15 and embarked on a military career in the Danish Navy . In 1893 he became a cadet , in 1897 a lieutenant and in 1902 a prime lieutenant . When he met Roald Amundsen, he had already made several trips to Iceland and the Faroe Islands .

It is thanks to Fridtjof Nansen's influence that Hansen was given leave of absence from 1903 to 1906 to take part in Amundsen's expedition on the Gjøa , which aimed to find the Arctic magnetic pole and to cross the Northwest Passage for the first time. As the ship's first officer, he was the second in command on board. In addition, he took on the tasks of astronomer , geologist and photographer and carried out meteorological and geomagnetic work. On an extended sleigh journey with Peder Ristvedt (1873–1955), which lasted from April 2 to June 23, 1905, he explored and mapped the still unknown east coast of Victoria Island between the 70th and 72nd parallel. After Amundsen had left the Gjøa on September 5, 1906 in Nome , Alaska , Hansen took over the management of the ship on the voyage to San Francisco .

After returning from the Arctic, Hansen continued his military career. From 1911 to 1912 he served as first officer on the schooner Ingolf in the Danish West Indies , where he re-measured the coasts of Saint John and Saint Thomas . Back in Copenhagen on May 9, 1912, he married the widow Johanne Ane Sofie Petersen (1864–1918), née Plum. From 1912 to 1914 he traveled on the mail steamer between Denmark and Iceland. In 1914 he was promoted to captain , and from 1915 he commanded the torpedo boat Tumleren . In 1918 he became first officer on the coastal defense ship Peder Skram . From November 1, 1918 to November 15, 1929 he was adjutant to the Danish King Christian X.

Hansen took another leave of absence in 1919 and led the Third Thule Expedition to West Greenland and Ellesmere Island until 1920 . On behalf of the Norwegian government, he transported supplies by dog sled from Thule to the north coast of Ellesmere Island, where he docked at Fort Conger as well as Cape Columbia and Cape Richardson for Amundsen's drift expedition with the Maud .

On May 13, 1922, the now widowed Hansen married Anna Fischer-Jacobsen (1871–1964), née Vieweg, who was also widowed. On January 1, 1923, he was promoted to Orlogskaptajn and was given command of the protected cruiser Gejser . On May 25, 1923, a group of commanders and officers were to be shown a new smoke curtain generator on the ship. This led to an explosion of the phosphorus used, killing one officer and injuring 55 others. Godfred Hansen was one of the seriously injured and was admitted to the nearby Vordingborg Garrison Hospital. After his recovery in 1924, he was given command of the cruiser Hejmdal , which was used as a cadet training ship . In 1926 he commanded the artillery ship Niels Juel on the king's voyage to the Faroe Islands. In 1927 he was promoted to Kommandørkaptajn and in 1931 to Kommandør . From 1930 he headed the cadet school in Copenhagen, and in 1931 he commanded the Niels Juel on a training trip to Constantinople and Odessa . He died in 1937 at the age of 61 with the rank of rear admiral . The burial took place on Holmens Kirkegård in the Danish capital Copenhagen.

Godfred Hansen played an active role in Danish society. From a young age he was a corresponding member of the Norwegian Geographical Society. From 1926 until his death he chaired the committee for the preservation of the frigate Jylland , which can now be viewed as a museum ship in Ebeltoft . In 1934 he became chairman of the board of the Danish airline company ( Det Danske Luftfartselskab ).

Honors

The following geographical objects are named after Godfred Hansen:

He received the following medals and orders:

  • Danish Gold Medal of Merit (1906)
  • Knight of the Order of Dannebrog (1919)
  • Commander of the Order of Dannebrog (1933)

Fonts (selection)

  • Plan til en Ekspedition til Coronation-Golf , 1909 ( PDF ; 460 kB)
  • Polarforskningen, dens formaal og dens historie , 1909
  • Red Vest India. Et Forslag i the 11 Time , 1911
  • Den norske Gjøa-Ekspedition til den Magnetiske Nordpol and Nordvestpassagen, 1903-06 , 1912
  • Den tredje Thule Ekspedition. Norges depotekspedition til Kaptajn Roald Amundsen , 1921 ( PDF ; 808 kB)
  • Roald Amundsen og Northern Poland , 1925 ( PDF ; 794 kB)
  • Beretningen om, hvorledes frigate "Jylland" denne Gang blev reddet fra Ophugning , 1928
  • Kongerejsen til Færøerne og Iceland , 1931

literature

Web links

Commons : Godfred Hansen  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Godfred Hansen on anetavler for berønte danskere (Danish)
  2. ↑ Godfred Hansen in the family tree of the Krogsgaard family (English)
  3. ↑ Hans Nicolai Hansen in the family tree of the Krogsgaard family (English)
  4. ↑ a b Amundsen: Die Nordwest-Passage , p. 7
  5. ↑ Stephen R. Bown: The Last Viking. The Life of Roald Amundsen . Da Capo Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-306-82162-2 , pp. 52 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  6. ↑ a b Godfred Hansen (1876–1937) on the website of the Frammuseum (English)
  7. ↑ Godfred Hansen: Sleigh trip to Kong Haakon VII country . In: Amundsen: Die Nordwest-Passage , pp. 484-541
  8. ↑ Stephen R. Bown: The Last Viking. The Life of Roald Amundsen . Da Capo Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-306-82162-2 , pp. 93 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  9. ↑ a b c Hans Christian Bjerg, Th. Topsøe-Jensen: Godfred Hansen in Dansk biografisk leksikon (Danish)
  10. ↑ a b c d e Hansen, Godfred on www.navalhistory.dk (English)
  11. ^ William James Mills: Exploring Polar Frontiers - A Historical Encyclopedia . tape 1 . ABC-CLIO, 2003, ISBN 1-57607-422-6 , pp. 210 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  12. ↑ G. Hattersley-Smith et al. a .: Northern Ellesmere Island, 1953 and 1954 (PDF file; 7.6 MB). In: Arctic 8, No. 1, 1955, pp. 1–36 (English)
  13. ↑ Johnny E. Balsved: Adskillige hårdt sårede ved voldsom eksplosion om bord på krydseren Gejser on www.navalhistory.dk (Danish)
  14. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Godfred Hansen
  15. ↑ Godfred Hansen Ø on Geographical Names
  16. ↑ Cape Godfred Hansen on Mapcarta
  17. ↑ Cape Godfred Hansen . In: Anthony K. Higgins: Exploration history and place names of northern East Greenland. (= Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 21, 2010). Copenhagen 2010, ISBN 978-87-7871-292-9 (English), accessed April 4, 2019
  18. ↑ Cape Godfred Hansen on Mapcarta
  19. ^ Hansen Point on Natural Resources Canada

Remarks

  1. ↑ In some sources - such as the Dansk Biografisk Leksikon - May 27 is given as the date of death.
personal data
SURNAME Hansen, Godfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish polar explorer and naval officer
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH May 26, 1937
Place of death Copenhagen