Jens Munk

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Jens Munk (born June 3, 1579 in Barbu, today a district of Arendal , Norway ; † June 3 or 23, 1628 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish-Norwegian navigator and explorer .

Life

Munk was the son of Erik Munk († 1594), an officer ennobled for his services in the Three Crown War. After his father fell from grace in 1585 and was imprisoned at Dragsholm Castle , Jens Munk grew up in southern Norway and with his aunt in Aalborg, Denmark . He went to sea at the age of twelve. After a six-year stay in Brazil , Munk returned to Denmark in 1598. In 1609 and 1610 he attempted to find the Northeast Passage through the Arctic Ocean on two dramatic journeys . Both expeditions failed, however. Appointed captain by the Danish King Christian IV , Munk took part in the Kalmar War, which was victorious for Denmark from 1611 to 1613 . Through spectacular actions in the following years, in which he z. B. under Admiral Jørgen Daa († 1619) captured the pirate Juan Mendoza († 1615), Munk advanced to one of the most important officers of the royal Norwegian-Danish fleet.

In 1619, King Christian IV commissioned him to find the sea route to China through the Northwest Passage . Munk left Copenhagen on May 9, 1619 with the two ships Enhjørningen , a small frigate , and Lamprenen , a sloop , which he himself monitored . His 64-strong team also included Rasmus Jensen , who is now considered to be the first Lutheran pastor to come to Canada . Munk first crossed Davis Street to 69 ° N and also came to Frobisher Bay . Difficulties in navigation and bad weather conditions made him miss the Hudson Strait , the gateway to Hudson Bay , at first, and so it took him almost a month to finally get to Hudson Bay in September 1619. As a result of this delay, the ships were enclosed by the ice near the mouth of the Churchill River , and the expedition, which was not prepared for this, was forced to winter. When the ice broke in June 1620, 61 crew members had died from cold , hunger and scurvy . Only Jens Munk and two crew members survived. They made their way back on July 16, 1620 with the sloop Lamprenen and reached Bergen in Norway on September 20, 1620 . A group of Indians later came to the place where Munk had wintered. They came across a number of unburied bodies of strange appearance and Munk's leftover supplies. When they set fire to an unknown gunpowder, many of them were killed.

Promoted to admiral , Munk continued his military career in the service of the royal Danish fleet until his death in 1628.

Honors

The Canadian island of Jens Munk Island in the north of the Foxe Basin and the Jens Munk Plateau ( 71 ° 28 ′  N , 23 ° 30 ′  W ) in northern Jamesonland on Greenland were named in honor of Munk.

Works

A report on his first voyage was published in Copenhagen in 1623 under the title Efterretning af Navigationen og Reisen til det Nye Danmark af Styrmand Jens Munk , a new edition was done by Peter Lauridsen (Copenhagen, 1883). Christian Carl August Gosch gave under the title Danish Arctic Expeditions 1605 to 1620 , volume ii. Hakluyt Society , No. xcvii (London, 1897) published an English translation.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erik Munk fra Halland , pedigree of the Danish nobility, accessed on July 13, 2013 (Danish)
  2. ↑ Jens Munk , Pedigree of the Danish Nobility, accessed on July 13, 2013 (Danish)
  3. ↑ Jens Munk Plateau . In: Anthony K. Higgins: Exploration history and place names of northern East Greenland. (= Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin Volume 21, 2010). Copenhagen 2010, ISBN 978-87-7871-292-9 (English), accessed July 3, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Munk, Jens
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish navigator and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1579
PLACE OF BIRTH Barbu
DATE OF DEATH June 3, 1628 or June 24, 1628
Place of death Copenhagen