John Cunningham (explorer)

John Cunningham (* 1575 ; † 1651 ; Danish also Hans Køning ) was a Scottish polar explorer and explorer .

Expedition to Greenland 1605

→ Main article : Greenland expeditions under Christian IV.

Cunningham served as a captain in the Danish Navy from 1603 . Denmark had had no contact with the Grænlendingar settlements on Greenland since 1410 , and although several expeditions had been sent there under Frederick II , none had succeeded in landing on Greenland. In contrast, English captains like Martin Frobisher or John Davis had made successful trips to the Arctic towards the end of the 16th century.

Christian IV wanted to assert the Danish Crown's claim to Greenland, but to do this it was necessary to find the settlements of the Northmen. He therefore hired seafarers from the British Isles for a total of three expeditions from 1605 to 1607. Cunningham was selected to lead the first expedition. The expedition consisted of three ships: Cunningham sailed with his helmsman James Hall on board the Trost , the Englishman John Knight was the captain of the Pinasse Katten ("Cat") and the Danish nobleman Godske Lindenow commanded the Røde Løwen ("Red Lion"). Hall, Knight and Lindenow later led trips into the polar region themselves.

On May 2, 1605, the fleet set sail. On May 30th, Cape Farvel , the southernmost point of Greenland, was passed. Then, on Hall's advice, they set out on a course a great distance from the west coast of Greenland, where they encountered thick pack ice. Since this was not the traditional trade route to the Nordic settlements, a dispute broke out between Hall and Lindenow. Lindenow feared that this would miss the settlements and decided on June 11 to sail alone with the Røde Løwen towards the coast. As Hall had foreseen, however, Lindenow could not land on the bank there, but he first had to drive far back south until he could go ashore between 62 and 63 degrees of latitude (probably near today's Qeqertarsuatsiaat ). There he met Inuit , from whom he bought skins, walrus and narwhal horns . Since he could not achieve anything, he decided to go back and arrived in Copenhagen on July 28th .

The Trost and the Katten, however, landed on June 12 at 66 ° 30 'N in Itillip Ilua , where Davis had anchored in 1586. While Cunningham remained on the consolation , his helmsman continued north on June 20 with the Katten . During this trip, Hall made four maps, including the first map of West Greenland. He probably reached 68 ° 35'N and was the first European to see the southern foothills of Disko Bay . There the group collected rock samples that later investigated contained silver. Hall wanted to continue the journey, but was changed by his crew, who feared the Consolation would head home without them. On July 11th they met again at the Consolation in Itilleqfjord .

In the meantime, initially good relations with the Inuit had deteriorated dramatically after Cunningham captured four of them. The Inuit then attacked the ships, but were driven away by cannon fire. The expedition set out on the return journey and reached Copenhagen on August 10, 1605.

More years

Christian IV was pleased with the results of the expedition and agreed to finance a larger expedition to Greenland the following year. In particular, extensive searches should be made for silver deposits. During this expedition, however, Cunningham was demoted from leader to captain of Røde Løwen and Lindenow was given command. Both this and another expedition that took place in 1607, in which Cunningham no longer took part, turned out to be a failure.

Cunningham remained in the service of the Danish Crown until the end of his life. In 1615 he led an expedition to Spitzbergen , which was intended to underpin the Danish claim to it. At that time it was assumed that Svalbard was part of Greenland. The mostly English and Dutch whalers there, however, ignored his fleet.

In 1619 Cunningham was appointed governor of the province of Finnmark in northern Norway and was stationed in Vardø . He held this post until shortly before his death.

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• William J. Mills.: Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara 2003, pp. 287 f. ISBN 978-1576074220
• Entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online