In 1910, a Danish explorer named Ejnar Mikkelsen and an inexperienced crew member spent 28 months alone in the Arctic after they were abandoned by the rest of their expedition. It took the explorer three years to make it back home.
Ejnar Mikkelsen was born on December 23, 1880, in Vester-Brønderslev, Denmark. His family was all explorers and adventurers, so he was destined to follow in their footsteps. When he was 14 years old, he set sail for the first time on his own.
In 1896, he apparently walked 320 miles to convince Salomon August Andrée, a Swedish explorer, to take him on his balloon flight to the Arctic.
Ejnar’s pleas were rejected, which was for the best. In October 1897, the balloon failed to make it to the North Pole, and all three passengers perished.
Ejnar joined Sir George Carl Amdrup’s expedition to eastern Greenland in 1900. They surveyed a previously inaccessible coastline for the first time.
The next year, Ejnar was the cartographer for Evelyn Baldwin’s expedition to Franz Josef Land, an Arctic archipelago that is used only by the Russian military today.
In 1906, Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen led a Danish expedition to explore the northeast coast of Greenland. The purpose of the expedition was to prove that Greenland belonged exclusively to Denmark.
Two years later, in 1908, it became known that the men had perished in the Arctic. Most of their journals and records of their observations were missing. Ejnar was determined to find the documents and preserve the men’s work.
He chose six men to join his crew and left Copenhagen on board the Alabama on June 20, 1909. One member of the crew turned out to be an incompetent alcoholic.
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When the ship stopped in Iceland, a young man named Iver Iversen volunteered to replace him.
Upon their arrival in the Faroe Islands, the expedition immediately ran into problems. The dogs they planned to take on board were infected with rabies, so they had to find replacements, which delayed their arrival in Greenland.
At the end of summer, the ship became trapped in the ice. Ejnar and his crew were forced onto land on August 27, 1909. Before winter set in, Ejnar and Iver Iversen decided to explore the area, leaving the rest of the crew behind on September 25. Then, they returned to the Alabama for the winter.
In March 1910, the pair left the ship once more and found the diary of Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen. It took them eight months to return to the ship.
By the time they finally made it back, they discovered that the rest of the crew had abandoned them. They found a way home via a passing sealing vessel.
Ejnar and Iver Iversen spent two winters alone in Greenland. They survived on rations and had to use wood from the Alabama to construct a cottage for shelter.
On July 19, 1912, they were finally rescued by the Norwegian steamer, Sjøblimsten. At first, the steamer’s crew cowered at the sight of the two men. After spending 28 months in the wilderness, they were quite a sight to behold.
But after the initial shock, they were welcomed on board. During the pair’s absence, their king had passed away. Even after enduring such an ordeal, Ejnar did not shy away from adventure. He spent the rest of his career traveling to Greenland.
On his 90th birthday in 1970, Ejnar received a national tribute from the Danish government. He soon died on May 1, 1971. Now, a Danish patrol vessel and a Greenland mountain range are named after him.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
