Wilhelm August Graah

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Wilhelm August Graah

Wilhelm August Graah (born October 24, 1793 in Copenhagen , † September 16, 1863 there ) was a Danish naval officer and polar explorer . From 1828 to 1830 he led an expedition to search for the eastern settlement of Grænlendingar , which was suspected to be on the east coast of Greenland . He discovered and mapped 550 km of previously unknown coast.

Life

Early years

Wilhelm August Graah was the son of the Supreme Court judge Peder Hersleb Graah (1750-1830) and his wife Eleonora Sophie Beck (1759-1829). He embarked on a military career, serving as a lieutenant in the Danish Navy in 1813, first lieutenant in 1820, lieutenant captain in 1830, captain in 1840 and captain à la suite in 1841 . In 1818 he published a book on the history of the Danish naval wars ( Udkast til Danmarks Søekrigshistorie ).

In 1821 Graah undertook surveying and mapping work in Iceland . In 1823 he was sent to West Greenland on a similar mission. He wintered in Godhavn, now Qeqertarsuaq , on Disko Island and measured the coast between Egedesminde and Upernavik . As a result of his work, the Royal Nautical Chart Archives published a nautical chart of West Greenland with sailing instructions for the Davis Strait and the main Greenland ports in 1825 .

The expedition to East Greenland

At the beginning of the 19th century, the east coast of Greenland was largely unknown. The pack ice carried along with the East Greenland Current had prevented landings, although several captains had tried to break through it. It was only in 1752 that the Danish merchant Peder Olsen Walløe (1716–1793) managed to pass Cape Farvel in an umiak , the Eskimos ' female boat , coming from West Greenland and drive about 60 km along the east coast. It was not until the summer of 1822 that the British whaler William Scoresby explored the approximately 650 km long coastline between 69 and 75 ° north latitude. A year later, the Scottish captain Douglas Clavering had reached Shannon and the Pendulum Islands .

In this situation, the Danish King Friederich VI. to send out an expedition whose aim was on the one hand to secure the Danish claims to all of Greenland and on the other hand to search for the legendary eastern settlement of the Grænlendingar, which was suspected to be here. In particular, the section of the coast between Walløe's northernmost and Scoresby's southernmost point, i.e. between 60.5 ° and 69 ° north latitude, should be explored and mapped. The order went to Wilhelm Graah, who had the experience necessary to solve the task. He was supported by the botanist Jens Vahl (1796–1854), the head of the Frederikshåb colony, JM Matthiesen, and a seaman who was responsible for cooking.

Graah came to Julianehåb with Vahl in June 1828 , where he built two umiaks and recruited five local men for hunting and ten women for rowing. In October he went on a reconnaissance trip to Prins Christian Sund . Graah and Vahl spent the winter with meteorological and geomagnetic observations in Nanortalik . The expedition set out on March 21, 1829 and passed the Prins Christian Sund by April 1. From now on she had to struggle with heavy pack ice and often couldn't make headway for weeks. Calving glaciers were a constant danger for the boats. Graah repeatedly met East Greenlandic Inuit , whom he asked in vain about the Grænlendingar or traces of their settlement. In order to conserve the dwindling food supplies, Graah sent back almost the entire expedition team on June 20 north of Cape Tordenskjøld at 61 ° 37 ′ north, where he had encountered a camp of 50 Inuit. He continued the journey with only two rowers from Nanortalik and two Inuit families from the east coast. On August 21, Graah reached its northernmost point at 65 ° 15 '36 ". He hoisted the Danish flag on the island of Dannebrogsø and took possession of the entire area he had discovered as Kong Frederik VI Kyst for the Danish crown. It was now 645 km as the crow flies from Prins Christian Sund, but had not reached the targeted 69th parallel. On October 1st, he arrived at his intended wintering site, Nukarfik on the island of Imaersivik at 63 ° 21 ′ north. During the next few months, which he spent in an Inuit winter home, Graah was seriously ill. Nevertheless, on April 5, 1830, he tried to advance further north than the year before, but had to give up in July. On October 16 he reached Nanortalik and spent the winter in Julianehåb. In 1831 he returned to Denmark.

Graah's expedition was the first planned and successful attempt to explore and map the east coast of Greenland. Graah explored 550 km of previously unknown coastline and gathered extensive information about the country and its people. Many of his descriptions were taken verbatim in the sea manual for East Greenland and Iceland, which appeared 110 years later. Similar large stretches of coastline in East Greenland were only discovered again by Georg Carl Amdrup in 1900 and Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen in 1907.

Further life

On September 2, 1832, Wilhelm Graah married Maren Cathrine West (1810–1879), the daughter of Johannes West , who had been an inspector for North Greenland from 1817 to 1824. Graah probably met her in Godhavn in 1823.

Immediately after his return to Copenhagen in 1831 he was admitted to the Directory of Greenland and Faroese Trade. From 1835 Graah was also a member of the Greenland Commission. His work in both bodies was aimed at improving the living conditions of the Inuit. He made suggestions for developing the school system, improving housing conditions and promoting cod fishing . Alongside Hinrich Rink , he is seen as the most important reformer of the Danish administration in Greenland in the 19th century.

In the years 1837 to 1839, Graah traveled to the Danish West Indies as commandant of the brig St. Thomas for surveying work .

In 1850 he retired from his offices. He died in 1863.

Honors

Wilhelm Graah became a knight of the Dannebrog Order in 1831 . In Greenland several geographical objects are named after him, such as the Graahfjord, the Graah Mountains (Graahs Fjelde), the Graah Islands (Graahs Øer) and Cape Graah.

Works

  • Udkast til Danmarks Søekrigshistorie , 1818
  • Description til det voxende Situations-Kaart over den vestlige kyst af Grønland fra 68 ° 30 ′ til 73 ° Bred , 1825 ( limited preview in google book search)
  • Undersøgelses-Reise til Østkysten af ​​Grønland, efter kongelig Befaling udført i Aarene 1828–31 , 1832
English edition: Narrative of an Expedition to the East Coast of Greenland, Sent by Order of the King of Denmark, in Search of the Lost Colonies , 1837 ( limited preview in Google Book Search)

literature

personal data
SURNAME Graah, Wilhelm August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish polar explorer and naval officer
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1793
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH September 16, 1863
Place of death Copenhagen