Johansen Fredrik Hjalmar
(15.05.1867–03.01.1913)
Norwegian
polar explorer, member of the expeditions of F.
Nansen and R.
Amundsen on the
"Frame".
Born in Skien. He
became a student in 1886, then in 1891-1892. studied
at a military school. He
went to the reserve in the rank of lieutenant. His
desire to get on Nansen's expedition was so great that, in the
absence of another free position, he agreed to go to the Fram as a
fireman. On
the ship, most of the time was an assistant for meteorological
observations. Nansen
has mapped him to his companions for a sleigh trip to the pole,
because, according to Nansen, "he is an excellent skier, endurance
does not know his equal, and in addition a wonderful guy". This
assessment of Nansen was fully confirmed during their unprecedented
campaign, which demanded from the participants the unthinkable
exertion of all physical and mental strength. An
isolated team of two people is the most problematic in the sense of
the relationship of its members. The
incompatibility of characters can negate everything, even the most
remarkable physical data.Both Nansen and Johannsen left their
memories of this expedition, and neither one nor the other has any
hint of the existence of any friction. Of
course, the main merit in this belongs to Nansen, whose authority
and greatness evoked veneration from Johannsen, but Nansen's
assessment of the “wonderful guy” speaks for itself.
On November 19, 1894, Nansen asked Johansen if he would agree to
go with him to the pole and after receiving unconditional consent in
the presence of O. Sverdrup set
out his plan for him: at the end of February or the beginning of
March of the following year, leave the ship and go to the pole, and
from there to Svalbard or
Franz Josef
Land. Nansen
described the seriousness and danger of the intended enterprise.
They started on March 14, 1895, when the Fram was at the
coordinates of 83° 59'N and
102° 27'E ,
taking with him 28 dogs, four sledges and two kayaks.
Unfortunately, they failed to carry out their plans. Vast
zones of hummocky ice covered with deep snow made it extremely
difficult and slowed down. Nansen
realized that, even if they reached the pole, they would not be able
to go back due to food shortages, and made a difficult, but the only
correct, salutary decision: to turn back. Johansen
writes: “How terribly I wanted to go on! The
only consolation was that we did everything we could, and that
although we slightly lifted the veil that hid this area of the
globe from people's eyes. Now
all the space where our gaze turned, turned out to be cluttered with
such ice, through which we could travel the most insignificant
distance with great difficulty, had to come to terms with the
necessity and turn to the south”. Turned
on April 8, reaching a record point for those times - 86° 14′N.
In one of the most difficult and exhausting passages they forgot
to start chronometers, which were carried behind the bosom, keeping
it from frost and jarring. Having
lost the exact time, they lost the ability to determine longitude. From
this point on, the main topic of their conversations was the
question: “Where are we now?”. And
in early August, when they reached the land, they did not know where
they went - to Franz Joseph Land or Spitsbergen. They
were going to find out in the process of movement, guided by the map
of Yu.
Payer, which was available from Nansen. In
the case of Franz Josef Land, they would like to go south and find a
wintering place for B.
Lee-Smith, but reason suggested that it would not be possible to
do this before the onset of winter and it was necessary to build a
hut and prepare supplies. Optimism
did not leave them: “It would be a mistake to assume that the
upcoming wintering plunged us into despair and dark thoughts ...
Hope for a better future did not leave us, especially since we were
convinced that we can live very well with bear meat. But
patience had to stock up. Our
whole expedition was a school of patience from beginning to end”.
Wintering place of Nansen and Johansen
(photo from
http://www.rgo.ru/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/018.jpg) |
And then dragged monotonous, sad third polar night. “Concerning,
however, we settled down not badly; could
be worse. What
was worth one calm consciousness of their security in terms of food
... Ham, shovels and whole carcasses stuck in rows in the snow
around the hut. We
buried in the snow and the tiny remnants of our provisions from the
Fram; we
did not risk touching them before we set off again, and, moreover,
they might need them if one of us did not take out monotonous meat
food. But
she went to us all the time, as well as possible”.
Most of the time they spent in a bag and slept for almost a whole
day - an enviable sample of mental and physical health. On
the last day of 1895, Nansen proposed to Johansen to switch to
“you".
May 19, the Norwegians continued their journey. Each
of their crossings, each stretch of path, be it on the ice, or on a
glacier, or in kayaks on clear water, was accompanied by a deadly
risk. Even
the death or severe injury of one of them, even the loss of weapons
or ammunition meant the end. The
critical moment was during one of the crossings, when kayaks with
all their belongings were blown away by the wind from the edge of
the ice floe, on which they landed. Nansen
threw off a piece of clothing, watches, and rushed into the icy
water. "All
our wealth, food, dress, war projectiles, guns — all means to
continue the journey and life”. Nansen
swam for kayaks, which went farther and farther away. “It
was not known how long he would last in icy water ... I was terribly
afraid that he would have seizures, and he would sink before my
eyes.From time to time he lay on his back and rested. Nansen
floated farther and farther away, but the sweeps of his hands became
weaker and weaker ... ”. Finally
he managed to reach the kayaks and with difficulty get into one of
them. When
he drove them to the edge of the ice and climbed up to Johansen, “he
looked terrible; pale
as death, with wet hair and a beard, foaming at the mouth, he could
barely speak, could hardly stand, staggered and all was shaking from
the cold.
Nansen caught up with gone kayaks |
On June 17, during one of the stops, Nansen heard dogs barking
and went exploring. There
he held his famous meeting with F.
Jackson. One
of the companions of Jackson J. Childe went to Johansen. “When
he saw our sleigh, kayaks, our pitiful tent, the brewing apparatus
filled with lard and meat, he turned his beautiful dark eyes on me,
then again on things, and his face showed amazement”. Then
came Bargis, Fisher, Blomkvist, Ketlitz and Armitage. Somehow
through Ketlits they spoke German. Armitage
took out a travel flask, poured a glass of port wine and offered it
to Johansen. Everyone
took off their hats and, looking at the flag, declared “hurray” in
honor of Norway.“Never before have I realized with such force that I
form a whole with my homeland”.
The British gave the warmest welcome to the Norwegian heroes and
did everything possible for them until their very departure on the
ship of the Jackson expedition Windward, which arrived on July 27.
Upon his return, Johansen participated in research on Svalbard as
part of the Prince of Monaco expedition, U.S. Bruce, G.
Isaksen.
Possessing great physical strength, Johannsen was not by nature a
leader. All
subsequent life, a model for him, the benchmark by which he
evaluated other people, was Nansen. And,
oddly enough, it played a fatal role in his fate. On
the recommendation, perhaps insisting, Nansen Johansen was included
on the expedition of R. Amundsen on the Fram, which was planned for
the Arctic, but, to the amazement of the whole world, from the
middle of the road turned to Antarctica. His
relationship with the head of the expedition did not develop
initially. Amundsen
always personally chose his companions and was dissatisfied with the
interference of others, although he could not refuse Nansen. The
natural desire of Amundsen, like any other head of such an
expedition, was to ensure a healthy psychological climate in the
team. But
if Nansen achieved this by his democracy, respect for the person and
his opinion, then for Amundsen the main demand was the loyalty of
the subordinate to him personally and the inadmissibility of
criticism of the boss. For
example, Amundsen never took people with higher education, as he was
afraid that they could put him in the eyes of others in an
unfavorable light.Johannsen involuntarily compared Amundsen with
Nansen, and the comparison was not in favor of the first. This
can be judged by the lines of his diary: “Military orders reign on
board, acting very annoyingly. It
is necessary to change. And
it will be changed". Or
another, later entry: “I often involuntarily compare this trip with
the first voyage of the "Fram”. Very
much a big difference between them. There
are too many formalities, there is no cohesion between us,
camaraderie, not to mention such a high feeling as friendship ... Of
course, everything will gradually get better with time”. Johannsen
did not keep his assessments secret and often expressed out loud,
which led to an even more dramatic deterioration in relations. For
the sake of justice, it should be noted that the negative phenomena
that Johansen noted at the beginning of the expedition were largely
related to the severe mental state of Amundsen. After
all, he had to hide his true intentions from almost the entire team. He
was afraid of the moment when it would be necessary to reveal the
cards, since changing the goals of the expedition gave every
participant the legal right to terminate the contract.Amundsen could
be at the broken trough. After
it became aware of the movement to the south and the desire to
conquer the South Pole to the glory of Norway, after the expedition
members enthusiastically unanimously approved this decision, the
relations in the team improved dramatically. Apparently,
they also improved between Amundsen and Johannsen. On
the anniversary of the start of the expedition, Amundsen made a
speech in which he spoke about the cohesion of the team and thanked
the participants. Johansen
made a toast to the health of the chief and said that it was easy
for everyone to work, because he was led by such a skilful,
sensitive and amiable boss. It
is significant that, despite the friction, Johannsen was included in
the pole game.
Autumn was approaching, the moment of launch, Amundsen’s nervous
tension was growing, caused by the expectation of fierce competition
from the English group R. Scott, who was also preparing to roll
south. He
insisted on a speedy performance, although there was no complete
readiness, and there were severe frosts. Experienced
Johannsen objected to forcing events, but this only irritated the
boss. At
the insistence of Amundsen, they spoke on September 8, but the
attempt, as predicted by Johannsen, was unsuccessful. The
frosts exceeded 50°,
all the compasses froze, the dogs pulled badly, their feet were
bleeding, the sleighs were breaking, the harness was torn, people
also could not cope with the loads. Finally,
Amundsen admitted his mistake and ordered to turn north from 80°. On
the way back, he did not wait for the lagging comrades who, out of
their last strength, arrived at the base very late. Sharp
and direct, Johannsen accused him of violating the duty of his
superior, and this was the last straw.Amundsen removed him from the
march and assigned him to an auxiliary reconnaissance group. The
march to the pole took place without him, which turned out to be a
heavy moral blow for Johansen. However,
this was not all. Not
forgetting the offense Amundsen wrote off Johansen from a vessel in
Tasmania and sent it off to Norway by cargo ship. This
is what this story looks like from the point of view of Amundsen. In
a letter to Nansen after the words of gratitude for support, he
writes: “... Unfortunately, my letter will bring you not only good
news. I
was forced to write off ashore Johannsen. His
behavior on board from the first moment was unpleasant to everyone
else. During wintering, he refused to obey for any reason, and I had
to remove him from participating in the campaign to the South Pole. It
only added fuel to the fire. Upon
our arrival here, he got drunk, started a quarrel with his friends,
making it difficult for them to work. To
establish consent on board, I was forced to take extreme measures
...". Considering that Johansen will be at home earlier, and,
fearing his exposition of events, Amundsen, with the help of the
Norwegian Geographical Society, succeeded in removing Johannsen from
all official events and banning the publication of his expedition
notes. After
the expedition, Amundsen was accused of unethical behavior towards
Scott; the story of Johansen also did not improve his reputation. For
Johannsen, this was a real life tragedy.
Thanks to Nansen, Johannsen took part in celebrations on the
occasion of the conquest of the South Pole, and never once did he
allow himself unflattering remarks about Amundsen. Moreover,
he spoke about him and the expedition only good. However,
his spirit was broken. Friends
tried to take him on an expedition to Svalbard, but in vain.
He
burned his life and died on January 3, 1913, far from his relatives
and friends. The
great Nansen spoke of his friend with the following words: “I loved
him very much.There is no end to my sorrow”.
Johannes Cemetery |
He was buried at Johannes
Cemetery in Skien,
Telemark Norway.
Cape in
the west of the island Georg Land Archipelago Franz-Josef Land. Opened
and named in 1897 by the expedition of F. Jackson.
Cape on
the island of Nansen archipelago of Nordenskiöld. Named
by Russian Polar Expedition in 1900-1901.
Mountain in
the central part Prince
Karl Vorland Island. The
coordinates are 78°
28.0'N 11° 25.5'E.
A glacier emerging
from the Negri Glacier, in the extreme northeast of Sabina Land. The
coordinates are 78°
33'N 18° 30'E. |