Description
Original map of the return trip of the Osterr-Ungar expedition May-August 1874 in search of North Pole passage headed by Karl Weyprecht and discovery of Franz-Josef Land.
This Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition of 1872-1874 was funded by Austro-Hungarian nobles with the backing of Emperor Franz Joseph I. The three masted 200 ton schooner Tegetthoff was constructed in Bremerhaven specially for the voyage. Karl Weyprecht served as master of the vessel and overall expedition leader. Julius von Payer served as leader of the planned overland (or over-ice) effort. The schooner with its crew of 24 departed Tromsø, Norway on 3 July 1872, carrying eight sled dogs and supplies for three years. On 20 August, the schooner was beset in the ice off Novaya Zemlya. The ice carried the schooner and its crew northwest. In August 1873, they sighted the mountains of an unknown land. After some initial exploration, they named the newly found islands Franz-Josef Land in honour of their Emperor. The ice continued carrying them slowly north. Reaching 82°5N, they decided on 20 May 1874 that there was no open water to the north and that the time had come to abandon the vessel and make their way back. After three months of sledging, they reached open water. Taking to their boats, they returned to Novaya Zemlya and were rescued by the Russian schooner Nikolay, which took the expedition members to the port of Vardo, Norway on the Barents Sea. The team returned to Vienna, where they were greeted with great celebration.
From Petermann’s, Geographia Mittheilungen.
