Being devoted partisans of August Peterman's theory of the "warm" ice-free waters in the Arctic Ocean, Payer and Weyprecht expected to reach the Strait of Bering through the Great Siberian Unfrozen Sea supposedly located to the north-east of Novaya Zemlya. The "Tegetthof", a wooden hull steamship of 200 tons displacement, powered with a 100 h.p. engine had been specially built for this expedition. On June 1872 she left German seaport Bremerhafen and headed to Novaya Zemlya . On August 21 west of Novaya Zemlya the "Tegetthof" was trapped by the ice of the Barents Sea , and started drifting with the ice fields to the north-west. A year later, August 30, 1873, the monotonous reality of the ice-bound ship was suddenly interrupted. "Toward the midday, - Julius Payer recalled afterwards, - we were standing on the deck... staring aimlessly at the mist... All of a sudden the mist was completely gone in the north-west, and we saw cliffs. In a few minutes we caught an astonishing sight of a majestic mountainous landscape and glaciers, dazzling in the sunshine. For a few seconds we stood stunned and couldn't believe our eyes. Then, overwhelmed by emotions, we burst out crying: "Land! Land!" And we named this unknown land after the Austrian Emperor - Franz Josef Land ". Then on November 1, 1873 after two-months drift the ice flow with the trapped ship froze onto the shore ice, and the members of the expedition managed to land on a small island, later named after one of the main expedition sponsors - Count Hans Wilczek. The polar night hindered the team in the exploration of the newly found land. The wintering near Franz Josef Land shores was overshadowed by scurvy. Early in March the machinist Krish died of scurvy. In spring the disease started ceding, due to the successful polar bear hunting.
Once the Polar Day had set, the expedition started preparations for sledge trips to explore Franz Josef Land. The first one took place in the middle of March. Payer got to the Tegetthof Cape and climbed the Sonklar Glacier on the Galle Island. The air temperature at the top of the glacier was 50 degrees Celsius below zero. Late in March Payer and 6 other men carried out a long sledge expedition. During next month Payer traveled about Franz Josef Land, collecting rock samples, studying land's structure and outline, as well as the wildlife. During this expedition the Austrians reached the northernmost part of Franz Josef Land - the Fligely Cape and hoisted the Austrian flag there. But at that time Payer believed that to the north of the Franz Josef Land archipelago there was another land, that he had named Peterman Land.
"Nie Zuruck"
The painting by
Julius Payer | Click to load Big Photo |  |
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Early in May Payer along with two other people made a trip westward. In the course of the expedition he found out that the newly found land was of enormous extension in that direction. The explorations carried out by Julius Payer produced the first, though rather inaccurate map of the Franz Josef Land . In May 1874 the expedition decided to abandon the ice-caught "Tegetthof" and try to reach Novaya Zemlya shores hoping to spot a whaleboat or some hunting vessel. They scrambled through the ice floes using crowbars and axes, carried their load on sledges and crossed ice-free expanses of water in four boats either paddling with oars or sailing. Only after 96 days of exhausting travel, in the small hours of August 18 the explorers reached the Admiralty Cape of Novaya Zemlya. Fortunately on August 24 they met a group of pomors, the Russian Arctic coast dwellers, headed by Fyodor Voronin. Their new friends took them on board the schooner "Nikolay" to the Norwegian port of Warde . And from there, on September 3, 1874, after 812 days the Austrian Polar explorers finally returned home.
Navigation in Arctic regions depends heavily on weather and ice condition. Our routes are structured so that they should allow the passengers to spend as much time as possible on the shore getting to know live nature and historical places of this severe region. Using our special boats, we shall land in the places where other ships dare not approach.
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