Godske Lindenov

Godske Christoffersen Lindenov († 1612 in Copenhagen ; also Lindenow or Lindenose ) was a Danish admiral and seafarer.

Life

Lindenov came from a noble family. His father was Christoffer Clausen Lindenov († 1593), his mother Sophie Hartvigsdatter Plessen. In 1602 he belonged to the escort of Prince Johann , son of Frederick II , who fell ill and died on the journey to Moscow to marry Russian Princess Xenija , the daughter of Tsar Boris Godunov .

From 1605 Lindenov took part in the first two Greenland expeditions under Christian IV . During the first expedition he was given command of the Røde Løwen . In the course of the expedition there was a dispute with the navigator James Hall , and Lindenov continued the journey on his own. He landed on the west coast of Greenland near what is now Qeqertarsuatsiaat , where he bought furs as well as walrus and narwhal horns . On his return to Copenhagen he was celebrated as the rediscoverer of Greenland.

During the second expedition in 1606 he was appointed general manager. The expedition fleet of five ships left Copenhagen on May 27th. Since Lindenov insisted on a course much further north than before, the ships got caught in the East Greenland Current and were driven to the coast of the Labrador Peninsula . During the subsequent attempt to reach Greenland, the ships lost contact with each other in thick fog and drift ice, so that three ships had to turn back. Lindenov reached the Greenland coast on July 27, near present-day Sisimiut , on board the Trost . On August 6th they reached the Itillip Ilua . Lindenov had extensive rock samples collected, in which he suspected silver ore, before he started the return trip on August 10th.

After arriving in Denmark on October 4, 1606, however, the rock turned out to be worthless, and otherwise the result of Lindenov's expedition was sobering. While Christian IV led another expedition to the Arctic the following year, now with Carsten Richardson , Lindenov was appointed head of the shipyard. From 1611 he participated in the Baltic Sea on the Kalmar War part. On March 10, 1611 he married Karen Gyldenstjerne, daughter of Henrik Gyldenstjerne and Birgitte Trolle. From the marriage went Christoffer Lindenov (c. 1612-1679), also Admiral of the Danish Navy, out.

Lindenov died the following year in Copenhagen after illness. The Lindenow Fjord (Kangerlussuatsiaq) in southern Greenland is named after him.

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• William J. Mills: Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara 2003, pp. 381f., ISBN 978-1576074220 .
• Lindenov, Godske. From: Carl Frederik Bricka (ed.): Dansk biografisk Lexikon, tillige omfattende Norge for tidsrummet 1537–1814. 19 vols., Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1887–1905.