CROATIANS AND THE POLAR EXPEDITION OF 1872

The Austro-Hungarian Arctic Expedition of 1872-74 along with the discovery of Franz Joseph Land would normally pass into history and be recorded as an Austro-Germanic accomplishment were it not for a majority of the participants being Croatian Dalmatians. Croatia and her Dalmatian coast was under direct Austrian, Hungarian, Turkish and Venetian Rule from 400 to 700 years. Any and all accomplishments whether individual, collective or national were always recorded historically as Austrian, Hungarian, Turkish or Italian. The ship Tegetthoff with a crew of 24 including 13 Croatians from Dalmatia set sail on July 13, 1872 for the Arctic.

The Expedition

The British news agency, Reuter, announced that a letter had finally arrived in Vienna. This letter had an extraordinary history. It had been left in a bottle in the Arctic wastes 106 years before by Austrian explorer Karl Weyprecht, the leader of an expedition to investigate the icy ocean between Novaya Zemlya and the Spitzbergen islands. The news item prompted the exciting story of this unusual polar expedition which set sail in the ship Tegetthoff with a crew of 24, including 13 Croatians from Dalmatia.

The expedition was organized in 1872 by the Vienna Geographical Society. The sailing ship Tegetthoff was specially built for the expedition and adapted to conditions in icebound waters. It weighed 220 tons, had three masts and an auxiliary steam engine, enough food to last the crew two to three years, three lifeboats. and several polar sledges with an eight-dog team. The highest standards were applied when selecting the crew, for only the best sailors could stand up to the rigours awaiting them in the Arctic wastes. Consequently, the Tegetthoff with 13 Croatians among its crew - Petar Luzina from the island of Cres, Ante Zaninovic from the island of Hvar, Ante Lukinovic from the island of Brac, Ante Katarinic from Mali Losinj, Petar Falisic and Juraj Stiglic from Bakar, Frano Letis, Jakov Susic, and Vicko Palmic from Volosko, Lovro Manola from Rijeka, Josip Larkovic from Plomin, Ante Skarpa from Trieste, and Ante Vecerina from Draga near Rijeka - had a hard task ahead of them. Petar Luzina, otherwise captain of a merchant ship, was appointed leader of the ship's crew. The ship sailed from its home port of Bremerhaven on July 13,1872.

The members of the expedition reckoned that if they had good weather and no icebergs, they could get as far as latitude 90' north. But weather conditions were against them. Already on July 25, when they were only 75’ north, ice appeared and considerably hampered their progress: in twenty days they made only a hundred miles. On August 20, it suddenly grew colder and the ice started building up again. The ship sailed helplessly on, trapped amidst the ice floes which were driven forward by the wind. All around was a vast icy desert. The frosts grew intense and in December the temperature went down to 40' C. below zero. There was the danger that the ship might break up under the pressure of the ice gripping it on all sides, so the crew sawed the ice, mined it and removed the broken chunks. But their efforts were fruitless. The ice pressed in upon the ship and disaster seemed inevitable. Yet somehow the ship withstood everything. However, the lack of fresh meat and vegetables caused illness among the crew. The members often left the ship in search of food, but invariably returned empty-handed. The situation only improved when they started killing polar bears. They slaughtered 67 altogether, thus replenishing their meat supply.

Trapped in the ice they waited for summer 1873. The sun finally broke through and anticipating that the ice would soon begin cracking, the crew placed bottles with messages around the ship hoping that the current would carry them south eventually. All summer the sailors worked at freeing the ship from its icy embrace. They drilled a hole under the stern nine metres, deep, but still did not come upon water. Thanks to the sea current and the wind which carried the beleaguered Tegetthoff along with the ice, the crew woke up one morning to see the distant outlines of an unknown land, which they immediately christened Franz Josef Land. The situation on board ship, however, remained unchanged. The icy shackles would not budge and soon the period of polar nights started, to last over four months.

In spring 1874 they began thinking about returning by sledge and lifeboat. Several excursions were made into Franz Josef Land, the longest lasting a month. This excursion was led by lieutenant Pajer, accompanied by Ante Zaninovic, a sailor from Hvar. They made fast progress. At one point they came up against an iceberg which they could not cross with the big sledges and dog-teams. Leaving the rest of the group to wait for them 15 days and then return to the ship, Pajer and Zaninovic went on alone. They had only gone about ten kilometers north when Zaninovic, with a small sledge and team, fell into an icy crevasse. He was left hanging on a rope above the chasm. While Lieutenant Pajer rushed back to get Haller, an experienced mountaineer who had stayed with the group, Zaninovic half-froze to death and was hauled up at the last moment unconscious. Fortunately, he sustained no iniuries from his fall. After a brief two-day rest, they went on, but it was already clear that they would have to go back to the ship.

Once more there were efforts to free the Tegetthoff from the ice, but in vain. Finally, the expedition decided to abandon the ship which had been their shelter for two years. Behind them they left rare zoological and mineral specimens. They set off south, dragging the lifeboats containing provisions for 90 days. Their journey southwards was the severest test they had so far faced. Dragging and carrying the heavily loaded boats and sledges over ravines and icy mountains drained their last reserves of strength. They were tortured by thirst and snow-blindness. Their shoulders and arms were covered in sores. It was only when they had travelled 130 milles, as the crow flies from the abondoned ship, that they reached ice-free sea. Sailing 9 days along the coast of Novaya Zemlya in their flimsy boats, beset by storms and more dead than alive. they finally ran into two Russian fishing boats. It had been 96 days since they had left the Tegetthoff. The Russian fishermen took them to the Norwegian port of Vardo where they arrived on September 3, 1874, 812 days after the start of the expedition. Only one man was missing - ship's engineer Kris had died of tuberculosis and remained in the land of eternal ice.

The news of their return flashed round the world. Much mention was made of the courage of the Dalmatian sailors of whom the leader of the expedition. Lieutenant Pajer, a Slovak, said in his report: "The courage of all members of the expedition was exemplary, but that of the sailors was almost superhuman. Their heroic endurance of rigours which are almost indescribable. gave the rest of us hope that we would be saved, even when this seemed quite impossible. These men were not only fine sailors, but couid turn their hand to any job. They were bold and strong, and goodnatured and loyal friends. It is mainly thanks to them that we all came safely home again."

Ante Zaninovich

Ante Zaninovich achieved fame by being a member of the Austrian North Polar Expedition of 1873 which discovered Franz Josef Land, in the present Russian Arctic. The crews was mainly composed of sailors of Croatian origin from the Croatian coastline and islands. Ante Zaninovic, born in Sveta Nedjelja, Island of Hvar, distinguished himself as one of the most valorous and bravest member of the expedition. In 1875 The Royal Geographical Society of London decorated Zaninovic with the Silver Cross for his merits. He was the last living member of the Expedition and died in Triest on the 31st of May 1937 at the age of 88. The map of the Franz Joseph Land reveal the presence of the Austrian discovery: Crown Prince Rudolf Land, Weyprecht Sea, Julius Payer Sea, and the Austrian Sound.

Austrian Polar Expedition of 1882-1883

On April 2, 1882 the ship  "Pola" (supplied by the Austrian Navy)  left the port of Pola-Pula, Croatia. It was to supply the Austrian Station at Jan Mayern in the Arctic with 200 tons of equipment and material and establishing the station ( prefabricated by the Austrian Navy in Pola ) at the southern slope of the Vogelberg at the Maria Musch Bay. The station crew were: Emil von Wohlgemuth - expedition leader, Richard Basso, Adolf Bobrik von Boldva, Adolf Sobieczky, August Gratzl, Dr. Ferdinand Fischer, Stefan Rocco, Johann Samanich, Gustav Marterer, Josef Baretincich, Engel Furlani, Natale Josef Giordana, Anton Kikacich and Thomas Diminich.

Academy of Sciences, “Die Osterreichische Polarstation Jan Mayern 1882-1883.” Academy of Sciences in Vienna (3 volumes) 1886.

Aleksic, Boza. “An Unusual Polar Oddyssey.” Review, September 10, 1981. Included 13 Dalmatian sailors, 1872 expedition.

Eterovich, Adam S. Croatian Participation in the Arctic Expedition of 1872-1874. San Carlos, California: Ragusan Press, 1987. Croatian mariners were involved in North Pole expedition.