The discovery of Franz Josef Land 150 years ago and its Impact on International Polar Research

Location of Franz Josef Land in the Eurasian Arctic

Satellite images show the structure of 191 islands, most of which are glaciated. 85% of the approximately 16,000 km2 are glaciated, which is about 14,000 km2. In between is mostly drift ice from the Arctic Ocean. The climate is maritime arctic with low temperatures all year round. The warmest months are July and August, but even then the temperature remains only just above freezing. Precipitation is low – a polar desert climate – which almost always falls in the form of snow and feeds the glacier caps. Franz Josef Land has never been colonised by an indigenous population. After its discovery by the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition under Julius Payer and Carl Weyprecht in 1872–1874, it attracted many expeditions. Several scientific research stations have been established since the 20th century. During the Cold War, the Russian military built bases and sealed off the archipelago. It was not until 1990 that Western expeditions were able to visit Franz Josef Land again for around 25 years. After the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it became a restricted zone again.

My very personal relationship with Franz Josef Land was shaped by an expedition trip in 2012. This year was characterised by a completely sea ice-free archipelago and allowed me to witness the lowest summer sea ice cover since satellite measurements began in 1979. Franz Josef Land impresses as a high Arctic landscape and as a fragile ecosystem.

Expedition Franz Josef Land in 2012 with the lowest sea ice coverage (© Christoph Ruhsam)

The collapse of the summer sea ice level by 50% enabled the ice-strengthened ship to reach 83 degrees. Even more decisive was the fact that the volume of ice had decreased by 80% compared to 1979, which made the fundamental climatic changes of modern times tangible.

The theory of an ice-free Arctic Ocean characterised the imagination of geographers in the 1870s and was one of the reasons for the Payer-Weyprecht expedition. The German geographer August Petermann put forward this theory in the 1850s. He postulated that the Gulf Stream should keep the sea open very far north beyond Norway and along the Siberian coast. The experiences of the many expeditions of the first half of the 19th century, e.g. by the Briton John Franklin, provided contrary evidence. Ships were crushed by the ice and many people perished in the cold of the polar winter. What Payer-Weyprecht proved to be false is now beginning to become reality in the 21st century due to climate change. However, Petermann was able to convince the scientific community that it was only necessary to break through the ice barrier that lies like a ring around the Arctic Ocean. This was the motivation for many expeditions.

Petermann initiated the first German North Polar expedition in 1868 under the leadership of Captain Carl Koldewey. He sailed to Svalbard and on to north-east Greenland, but ended up getting stuck in the ice. This prompted Petermann to initiate the second German North Pole expedition in 1869-70. Carl Koldewey was again in charge, this time with Julius Payer as the Austro-Hungarian officer on board. His experience as an alpinist and surveyor of the South Tyrolean Alps in the Ortler region and the Adamello group was to help topographically map newly discovered countries. The expedition of two ships soon had to battle with the ice again. One ship sank and the crew had to hold out on a large floe of drifting ice for many months until they were rescued at the southern tip of Greenland. Payer’s ship froze in the north-east of Greenland. He used the opportunity for sledge expeditions and named the explored and mapped areas after Austrian names such as “Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Fjord” and “Pasterze” as well as “Großglockner”. Petermann then campaigned for a further expedition and brought Julius Payer and Carl Weyprecht together for this. This became the great North Pole expedition of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. A committee was founded to finance the expedition. As a coal baron, Hans Wilczek was one of the wealthiest people in the empire and financed the majority of the expedition, while Emperor Franz Josef only provided a small share. As an Austro-Hungarian navy officer, Carl Weyprecht took responsibility for the ship, while Julius Payer became the expedition leader on land.

The ice soon became very thick and trapped the ship, making it impossible to steer. This condition lasted 38 days, which was slightly less than 5% of the total duration of the expedition. The rest of the journey was determined by the ocean currents and winds, exposing the crew to the “horrors of ice and darkness” for 637 days. With no connection to the outside world, almost 80% of the entire passage was spent in passivity, drifting at chance towards Franz Josef Land, which was sighted for the first time on 30 August 1873. But it was not until March 1874 that Payer was able to explore the land with dog sleds. During the 37 days of the land expeditions, Payer was completely in his element. It soon became clear that the ship would not be able to get free of the ice. It was therefore decided to abandon it in May 1874 and, in an enormous effort, to pull the rowing boats southwards on sledges. After 87 days of marching, they reached the boundary of the ice and were able to launch the boats. In 9 days, they rowed across the rough Barents Sea to Novaya Zemlya and southwards along the west coast until they came across Russian fishermen who took the crew to Vardö in Norway, where they were able to send their first telegram to the rest of the world after 2 ½ years of icy isolation: We are alive and have discovered a new country, Franz-Josef-Land!

The Tegetthoff was built especially for this expedition at the Tecklenborg shipyard near Bremerhaven. With 220 tonnes, a length of 34 metres and a 100 hp steam engine, it set new standards. It was equipped for 24 people. In addition, 8 sled dogs were taken on board to enable expeditions across the sea ice. The ship was supplied with provisions for 3 years. Canned vegetables and lemon juice concentrate were carried to prevent scurvy. Hunting polar bears and seals for sufficient fresh meat was an essential part of the supply. Most of the crew were recruited from the Dalmatian parts of the monarchy, as the cheerful temperament of the southerners was more likely than that of the northerners to survive the long stay in the ice and polar night without depression. The only Norwegian on board was Elling Carlsen, who performed an important service as the ice navigator and enjoyed the rank of an officer.

On 14 July 1872, they left Tromsø heading north-east, with Elling Carlsen on board as the 24th member of the expedition. They came across ice for the first time on 30 July. Count Wilczek was travelling at the same time as the Isbjörn to set up a depot for emergencies. By chance, the two ships came together in the ice and on 15 August they moored the depot together in a crevice near the “Three Coffins” on Novaya Zemlya, protected from polar bears. The ships separated just in time, Wilczek sailed back south, the Tegethoff continued the journey north before the “Petermann ice barrier” trapped the ship on 21 August, so that it was no longer possible to sail any further. The steam engine was also too weak to propel the ship, which was now helplessly exposed to the currents and winds.

This marked the beginning of the “horrors of ice and darkness”, to which Christoph Ransmayr dedicated the book of the same name. In September, the midnight sun began to disappear below the horizon and in October it was time to prepare for the first polar night. The ship was stuck in the ice and was frequently subjected to massive ice pressures. It was lifted and pressed, causing terrible noises on the wooden walls. Attempts to fend off the ice walls building up around the ship were unsuccessful. It was feared that the ship would be damaged. A provisional house was built from the coal reserves so that provisions and other important equipment could be brought to safety in the event of the ship sinking. It was a very depressing time for the whole crew, with temperatures as low as -50°C. The ship was difficult to heat. The use of the bunks was therefore swapped in a cycle so that particularly cold or damp bunks were not reserved for individuals.

Weyprecht prescribed a highly structured daily routine. Sunday masses with Bible readings were intended to encourage the crew and prevent mutiny or depression. Hunting was an important activity. On the one hand, to be able to feed on fresh polar bear meat. On the other hand as a pastime, as everyone was very keen on hunting. Over the entire period of about 2 ½ years, 67 polar bears were shot, even if not all of them were used for food. After Christmas and New Year’s Eve in the ice, the easternmost point of the drift was reached at the beginning of February. The drift to the north-west made it clear that the North-East Passage could not be travelled through. To keep spirits high, a carnival day was celebrated on which everyone dressed up and a hot grog was served as a prize. The return of the sun in mid-February was crucial. The ice was metres thick in walls around the Tegetthoff, which were climbed in order to see the sun again as early as possible. Sun, light and warmth, even if only in the heart, were important for the mood. From May onwards, the spring sometimes brought thaws and hopes rose that the ship would be cleared.

In August 1873, they had drifted close to Franz Josef Land. Due to large icebergs with debris on them, it was assumed that there must be land in the area, with large glaciers and moraines. In summer, with a few degrees above zero and partly open water, dense fog often forms there. On 30 August, Franz Josef Land was unexpectedly sighted for the first time. When the snow-covered, alpine-looking mountains emerged from the fog, everyone shouted loudly: “Land, land, finally land!” The newly discovered land was given the name of the Emperor. However, it took two months, until 1 November, before the nearest island could be reached across the ice, which was frequently interrupted by waterways. This was named “Wilczek Island” after Graf Wilczek.

Payer deposited a message in a bottle with the details of the expedition in a stone pyramid. After the collapse of the USSR and the possibility for Western expeditions to travel to Franz Josef Land again, Arved Fuchs’ German expedition discovered the original letter in 1991 and handed it over to the Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven. Surprisingly, the letter was not handed over to the Austrian government. The second polar night made further land expeditions impossible and brought with it the familiar hardships. However, the ice pressures were now much lower near the land. Nevertheless, the ship was heavily tilted and the worry of being crushed in a storm remained. The daily routine work included scientific investigations, which were carried out on a regular basis throughout the years: meteorological data, temperature measurements, ocean current measurements, depth soundings, magnetic and auroral observations. Holes were drilled in the ice and its thickness was measured. It was sometimes possible to go ashore in the moonlight on clear nights, but the temperatures were low and prevented longer excursions.

The first sledge journey was carried out on 10 March 1874. Payer, as the expedition leader on land, explored the interior of the country with a smaller group and named the cape on Hall Island “Cape Tegetthoff”. The material for the 6-day journey was pulled on sledges by a few dogs and the expedition members. Detours had to be made via open waterways until the “Sonnklar Glacier” was reached and climbed. The ship was relatively stationary off Wilczek Island, so returning to the ship was not a major risk.

The death of engineer Otto Krisch on 16 March was a dramatic event. He was the only man to die on the expedition. He suffered from tuberculosis and an unbalanced diet. It is unbelievable that the years of hardship were endured so well by everyone else! Attempts were made to grow cress under the light of paraffin lamps, which only worked to a limited extent. Krisch’s lungs were too badly damaged. His diary shows the monotony of the expedition, often only in keywords. According to the Catholic tradition of Austria-Hungary, he was buried on Wilczek Island.

Payer’s great time was then the second great sledge expedition from 26 March to 12 April 1874, during which they reached the northernmost point, Cape Fligely, on Crown Prince Rudolf Island. He selected 6 suitable men from the crew to join him on this challenging expedition with low temperatures, storms and snowfall. Some dogs and the men pulled the sledges over the uneven ice of the sounds. They passed Berghaus Island, Cape Frankfurt, Klagenfurt Island, and the Wüllerstorf Mountains on Wilczek Land.

Their route northwards followed the wide Austria Sound to Wiener Neustadt Island, which Payer named in memory of his training centre at the military academy. With the 620 metre-high Peak Parnass, it has the highest elevation of the entire archipelago. He climbed Cape Tyrol with the Tyroleans over the huge glaciers. In 2005, it was climbed again by Christoph Höbenreich during the Payer-Weyprecht remembrance expedition. Many dramatic experiences were survived, from frostbite to ice baths when sinking into a crevasse in the sea ice. The northernmost island was named after Crown Prince Rudolf, the heir to the throne, who was also very interested in science. Due to his liberal views, Rudolf could no longer identify with his father’s ideas. In 1889, he shot himself and his lover Mary Vechera at the Mayerling hunting lodge in Lower Austria. Emperor Franz Josef then had the castle converted into a Carmelite convent on the condition that atonement be made for the lost souls of the two.

As part of the group was already too weak to endure the hardships any longer, a camp was set up for them at Hohenlohe Island. Payer and four other people continued northwards across the glaciated interior of Rudolf Island. The sailor Zaninovic fell into a crevasse. They had to return to Hohenlohe Island to get help and a rope. The experienced mountaineer Johann Haller from Tyrol was able to use it to rescue Zaninovic, the sledge and the dogs.

The coastline was then followed to the northernmost end of the archipelago at Cape Fligely. However, Payer believed he could see more islands to the north: “Cape Vienna” on “Petermann Land” and “King Oscar Land”. Later expeditions, such as that of Fridtjof Nansen, were unable to sight any islands. Payer had probably been deceived by cloud banks. But even here, at the northernmost end of Eurasia, there was no open Arctic Ocean as postulated by Petermann, apart from coastal waterways. The Austro-Hungarian flag was hoisted and a message deposited in a stone pyramid. Afterwards, they quickly made their way back to the ship, hoping to reach it again before the great thaw in spring. The ship had remained stationary in the near zone of the archipelago. How dramatic it would have been if the ship had drifted away in the meantime and could no longer be found!

The last short sledging expedition took Payer westwards. On the Simony Glacier, named after the explorer of the Dachstein mountains Friedrich Simony, they sighted the Richthofenspitze and Markham Sund.

The ship could not be freed from the ice during the spring. They saw waterways to the south, but were unable to reach them despite all attempts to saw the ship free or break the ice. At the beginning of the Arctic summer, it was decided to abandon the ship, which was already leaking. On 20 May, three sledges loaded with rowing boats pulled by the crew set off for the south. Because of the high ice-pressed hills, they often had to make the journey several times to catch up with all the sledges. They discovered the southernmost island, Lamont Island. Several messages in a bottle were sent, in the hope that they would be found to save them, or that if they did not return, at least some news of the discovery would be found. Amazingly, this message was found in the 1970s by a Russian scientist and passed on to Austria, where it is kept at the Academy of Sciences.

On 4 June, they were still so close to the ship that they could see it clearly on the northern horizon. They repeatedly went back to fetch provisions. This led to repeated disputes between Payer and Weyprecht. They had lost all energy. When Payer became a painter in old age, he processed this situation in historical-heroic paintings such as “The Abandoned Tegetthoff” (Natural History Museum Vienna) and “Never Back”. Weyprecht then admonished the ailing crew not to return to the ship, but to march steadily southwards. Only there they could hope to be rescued. From the end of May to the end of August, a period of 87 days, they fought against strong ocean currents without realising it and were driven back again and again. When they were finally able to launch the boats, they had travelled 550 km across the ice, for a real distance of only 220 km!

Once they had reached the edge of the ice, it took nine days to row across the sea to Novaya Zemlya. The boats lost each other in the fog and were also unable to find the food depot at the “three coffins”. They rowed further south in the hope of being rescued. It was already late in the summer and the likelihood of finding anyone this late was slim. In Dunen Bay, they did come across Russian fishermen. They had given signals and were warmly welcomed. They then demanded 1000 roubles and all the rowing boats for their rescue. Captain Voronin took them to Vardö in northern Norway, where they landed on 4 September 1874. Carl Weyprecht sent a telegram to the world: “We are alive, land discovered! Krisch has died of tuberculosis, rest of the crew healthy.”

The welcome on 25 September 1874 in their home town of Vienna became a national celebration. They were received as the great heroes. The entire media world of the monarchy reported on the events. They were heroically staged, with an audience with the Emperor and many banquets. The population was moved by the dramas of the expedition, which they were soon able to relive in the dice game “Wir reisen ins Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Land”. Austria-Hungary became an important player in the research of the Arctic.

The second part of this article on the discovery of Franz Josef Land 150 years ago presents the scientific results, the International Polar Years and Austria’s contribution to Franz Josef Land research after the Cold War up to the construction of the Austrian polar research station “Sermilik” in East Greenland.