Svenskhuset

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Svenskhuset on Svalbard (2010)

The Svenskhuset (also Svenskehuset , German  Swedish House ) is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Svalbard and is closely linked to the history of the scientific exploration and economic exploitation of the archipelago in the 19th century. It stands as "historical and archaeological site" under monument protection .

Construction of the Svenskhuset

Location of Svenskhuset on Cape Thordsen

In 1864 the Finnish-Swedish polar explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld found phosphorite at Cape Thordsen on the Isfjorden . On his initiative the company AB Isfjorden was founded, in which he himself held shares. The company's business objectives were the mining of phosphorite and its processing into fertilizer . The first building in the future miners' settlement was built by the mining engineer Per Öberg (1842–1934) in 1872 at Cape Thordsen - today called Svenskhuset - two-story house, which was prefabricated in Gothenburg . It stands 700 m from the bank of Isfjorden on a plateau that drops off 30 m to the beach. To overcome the cliff there was a material ropeway and a staircase with a railing. The house was completely furnished and supplied with provisions and fuel . However, the mining of the phosphorite was never started.

The tragedy of 1872/73

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
Svenskhuset (Svalbard and Jan Mayen)
Svenskhuset
Svenskhuset
Gråhuken
Gråhuken
Velkomstpynten
Velkomstpynten
Location of Svenskhuset, Velkomstpynten and Gråhuken in the Svalbard Archipelago

In the autumn of 1872 six ships of Norwegian seal hunters were trapped in the ice off Velkomstpynten and Gråhuken in the north of the island of Spitsbergen . Since there was not enough food for the winter, a delegation went about 50 km across the ice to Nordenskiöld, who was leading an expedition on the other side of the Wijdefjord at the same time , and asked him for help. Nordenskiöld, however, did not have the means to supply all of the hunters. It was then agreed that some of the men should go to Svenskhuset, where - as Nordenskiöld knew - sufficient food, coal and tools were stored. Seventeen men without families of their own were selected and abandoned in row boats. The crew needed seven days for the 350-kilometer journey and reached their destination on October 14, 1872. At the beginning of November, a heavy storm broke the ice on Velkomstpynten, so that 38 sealers on the two liberated ships Pepita and Jacobine were able to escape. Only the experienced skipper Johan Mattilas Johannesen stayed with the young Gabriel Anderssen with the ships that were still frozen at Gråhuken. They lived on the coast in a makeshift dwelling made up of two overturned boats and canvas . Both died of scurvy and were buried by Nordenskiöld in the summer of 1873.

There were three unsuccessful attempts to rescue the men in Svenskhuset from their misery. On November 21, the steamer ran Albert in Hammerfest , but returned on December 14, to have had no success. The Isbjørn also failed at the beginning of January 1873. The third attempt was made by the Bremen shipping company Rosenthal. She equipped the screw steamer Groenland , which left Kristiansand led by Captain Jacob Melsom (1824–1873) on January 28th, but had to turn off on March 7th at Alkhornet at the entrance to the Isfjorden. It was not until June 1873 that Ole Barth Tellefsen (1836–1906) reached Svenskhuset with the Elida . Outside the house he found five corpses wrapped in tarpaulin . There was a message on the door, which was locked from the inside, warning against entering. Inside the house, four bodies lay scattered on chairs, beds and in the hallway, and six more in an adjoining room. A total of 15 bodies were found by the expedition, which were taken outside and buried in a grave bed. Two more corpses in a double grave were discovered a few years later by a research group. One of the seal hunters, Carl Albrigtsen, had kept a diary while he was in the house. The first indication of an illness can be found in the entry of December 9th. Just before Christmas, almost all of the men in the house were sick. The first two died on January 19, 1873 and were buried by the others. Albrigtsen's last entry in his diary was recorded on April 19, 1873. Below is an incomprehensible entry in a different handwriting.

A significant amount of leftover food and fuel ruled out the possibility that the men's deaths were due to malnutrition or hypothermia . Therefore, it was long assumed that they died of scurvy, a vitamin C - deficiency disease , which in the polar regions is widespread. However, Axel Envall, Nordenskiöld's doctor, had informed the sealers about the dangers of this disease and the necessary preventive measures before they left. Therefore, they were accused of being ignorant and negligent.

In the 1990s, doubts arose that the men at Svenskhuset had actually died of scurvy. The anthropologist Owen Beattie (* 1949) had proven in the 1980s that the greatest catastrophe in polar research, the sinking of the Franklin expedition in the years 1845 to 1848, was also due to lead poisoning , which the participants suffered from the consumption of Had consumed canned food. Early food cans , common for food in the 19th century, were made of tin-plated sheet iron that was bent around a cylindrical shape with a slight overlap at the ends. The seam was soldered inside and outside, whereby the lead content of the solder could be up to 50%.

In 2007 the doctor Ulf Aasebø and the historian Kjell Kjær applied for permission to open the graves in order to find out the cause of death of the victims. They suspected that the seal hunters, like those on the Franklin expedition, had died of lead poisoning rather than scurvy. Initially, the application was rejected by the Norwegian monument protection authority Riksantikvaren , but after more detailed information on the scientific purpose and methodological procedure were given, the authority issued the permit in July 2008.

The researchers stayed at Cape Thordsen from August 7th to 9th, 2008. Frozen corpses were found in the communal grave. The bodies were so well preserved that the expedition failed to examine them further. Both approval and ethical concerns did not allow samples to be taken. Instead, these were taken from the skeletal remains of the two men buried in a shallow double grave. No typical traces of scurvy were visible on the bones. Also botulism could be ruled out as a cause of death. In contrast, the researchers found a significantly increased lead concentration in the bone substance. The inner soldered seam was clearly defined on the numerous cans found in the vicinity of the house. “Many cans had“ icicles ”of solder on the sides.” Aasebø and Kjær therefore came to the conclusion that acute lead poisoning must be assumed as the most likely cause of the tragedy in Svenskhuset. The findings invalidated the suspicion that the men had acted negligently. According to Kjær, the scientific expedition helped restore the men's reputations posthumously .

Research station in the First International Polar Year 1882/83

Nils Gustaf Ekholm
Northern lights over Svenskhuset, 1882

At the suggestion of Carl Weyprecht , the nations involved in polar research agreed to undertake coordinated scientific observations between August 1, 1882 and August 31, 1883, especially in the fields of meteorology and geomagnetism . To this end, twelve research stations were set up in the Arctic and two in the Sub-Antarctic . Sweden decided to operate its station on Svalbard, thus continuing the tradition established by Torell and Nordenskiöld. The expedition, led by meteorologist Nils Ekholm , wanted to use the house built in 1872 by Nordenskiöld on the Mosselbukta on the Liefdefjorden, but the difficult ice conditions in the summer of 1882 prevented the ships Urd and Verdande from reaching their destination. As an alternative solution, the scientists moved into Svenskhuset, which was still in good condition ten years after it was built.

Under the direction of the engineer Salomon August Andrée , who became famous in 1896/97 for his attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon , some modifications were made to the building. The attic was expanded and served as a bedroom for the assistants. In addition to the existing external staircase, it was connected to the kitchen inside via a staircase. An additional room with a veranda was created on the south side through an extension. A pigsty , a pigeon house , a powder store , a thermometer hut, a hut for geomagnetic observations and a small observatory were built as outbuildings . The route of the material ropeway was extended to Svenskhuset.

From July 21, 1882 to August 25, 1883, six scientists worked, in addition to Ekholm and Andrée, the photographer Vilhelm Carlheim-Gyllenskiöld (1859–1934), who also observed the aurora , the doctor Richard Henrik Albert Gyllencreutz (1850–1914), the Geophysicist Emil Otto Solander (1858–1933), who was responsible for the geomagnetic measurements, and the topographer Lieutenant Henrik Allan Stjernspetz (1850–1920) and six assistants on the station. The foundation of a layer of clay about two meters thick, overgrown with moss and interspersed with frozen water, caused some difficulties when setting up the scientific equipment. It therefore took until January until all the measuring instruments were installed.

The daily routine of the expedition participants was structured by the regular observations made every six hours. Free time was spent on hunting trips, walks, card games and billiards . The expedition also had a well-stocked library , and every occasion to celebrate was taken advantage of. In November the sauna was put into operation and used weekly. Gyllencreutz provided a varied diet of dried foods, fresh pork and reindeer meat , hunted birds and more than 600 collected eggs. Some herbs were grown in a small garden with moderate success. Regular consumption of lemon juice, jam, dried fruit and other things successfully prevented scurvy.

The Swedish expedition to Cape Thordsen is considered to be one of the most fruitful of the First International Polar Year . Their location was the second most northerly of all operated stations.

Svenskhuset today

Svenskhuset is the only large house from the 19th century that has been preserved on Svalbard and the second oldest preserved building in the archipelago. All outbuildings with the exception of the observatory have fallen into disrepair. There are only traces of the cable car and the stairs on the cliff. The Svenskhuset was renovated in 1982, and repairs were carried out regularly in the years that followed. The house is now a listed historical and archaeological site in the Nordre-Isfjorden National Park .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Svenskhuset, Kapp Thordsen, Isfjord. Riksantikvaren , accessed December 5, 2018 (Norwegian).
  2. ^ Liesen Roll: The Remains of the Early Industrialization of Svalbard as Cultural Heritage . In: Janina Repelewska-Pȩkalowa, Kazimierz Pȩkala (ed.): XX Polar Symposium; Man Impact on Polar Environment . Lublin 1993, ISBN 83-227-0560-3 (English, lublin.pl [PDF; 8.0 MB ; accessed on December 29, 2012]).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Susan Barr, Erki Tammiksaar, Natal'ya Georgievna Sukhova: The Expeditions of the First International Polar Year . In: Susan Barr, Cornelia Lüdecke (ed.): The History of the International Polar Years (IPYs) , Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-12401-3 , p. 90 (English)
  4. ↑ Anders K. Orwin: The settlements and huts of Svalbard. In: Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift. 1939, accessed December 5, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c Kristin Prestvold: Isfjorden. A journey through Svalbard's natural and cultural history. (PDF; 7.1 MB) Sysselmannen på Svalbard, 2003, accessed on December 5, 2018 (Norwegian).
  6. ↑ a b c d Nina Brigitte Eine: Fant 15 lik. Norsk rikskringkasting , August 13, 2008, accessed December 21, 2012 (Norwegian).
  7. ↑ a b c The Spitzbergen drama. Seventeen whalers perish in the ice. The New York Times , August 3, 1873, accessed January 5, 2012 .
  8. ↑ Hauke ​​Trinks : The Trappers of Spitsbergen: I feel how they lived. Die Welt , January 24, 2000, accessed December 21, 2012 .
  9. ↑ a b Odd Lønø: Norske fangstmenns overvintringer. Del 1 1795 to 1892 (PDF; 2.9 MB). (= Norsk Polarinstitutt Meddelelser 102), Norsk Polarinstitutt, Oslo 1972, p. 37 ff (Norwegian)
  10. ↑ Kristin Prestvold: Wood fjords area's history and cultural remains. Norwegian Polar Institute, 2009, accessed January 11, 2013 .
  11. ↑ Reinhard A. Krause, Ursula Rack (ed.): Journal, kept on board the steamship GROENLAND, Captain Ed. Dallmann, on the journey from Hamburg to d. Whale and Seal fishing on the coasts of South Shetland Islds. Coronation Isld. Trinity Land & Palmerland, run by Rud. Küper, Hamburg (PDF file; 4.91 MB), Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven 2006, accessed on January 13, 2012
  12. ↑ a b c d e f Ulf Aasebø, Kjell G. Kjær: Lead poisoning as possible cause of deaths at the Swedish House at Kapp Thordsen, Spitsbergen, winter 1872–3. In: BMJ (Clinical research ed.). Volume 339, 2009, p. B5038, ISSN  1756-1833 . PMID 19965937 . PMC 2789173 (free full text). doi : 10.1136 / bmj.b5038 (English)
  13. ↑ Glimt from Svalbard's history: Tragedien i Svenskehuset. (No longer available online.) Norsk Nettskole, archived from the original on February 22, 2013 ; Retrieved December 21, 2012 (Norwegian).
  14. ↑ a b Owen Beattie, John Geiger: The icy sleep. The fate of the Franklin expedition . vgs, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-8025-2182-X , p. 154 .
  15. ↑ a b Heidi Schei Lilleås: Vil lose 130 år gammel dødsgåte. Nettavisen, May 19, 2007, accessed December 21, 2012 (Norwegian).
  16. ↑ a b Line Nagell Ylvisåker: Får likevel åpne grav ( Memento from July 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Svalbardposten , July 19, 2008 (Norwegian)
  17. ^ Susan Barr, Rip Bulkeley: Side-Effects and Traces of the Early IPYs . In: Susan Barr, Cornelia Lüdecke (Eds.): The History of the International Polar Years (IPYs) , Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-12401-3 , p. 283 (English)

Coordinates: 78 ° 28 '43.14 "  N , 15 ° 41' 47.3"  O