2433) Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition, Republic of Austria: 150th Anniversary (1872-1874): Österreichische Post AG (Austrian Post) has issued a Miniature Sheet (MS) commemorating this milestone: Date of MS issued: 13.07.2022:
The Miniature Sheet (MS) is titled "150 Jahre Nordpolarexpedition - Osterreich Ungarn" ("150 Years of the Austro-Hungarian North Polar Expedition")
This adventurous expedition took place under the leadership of Julius Payer and Carl Weyprecht, who were both experienced Arctic explorers.
The Austro-Hungarian North Pole expedition's objective was an Arctic expedition to explore the Arctic Ocean to the North of Russia and ideally to find the Northeast Passage. The plan was to travel from Norway to the north coast of Novaya Zemlya and from there via the New Siberian Islands to America, all in 2.5 years (1872-1874).
It was also hoped that the exploration of this area might discover land that could be used as a base for reaching the North Pole by sea. The expedition discovered and partially explored Franz Josef Land.
In the summer of 1872, they set out on their expedition on "Admiral Tegetthoff", a steam vessel, with a crew of 24, with the goal of finding new navigable paths and exploring the Arctic Ocean. It was built for this expedition by Teklenborg & Beurmann in Bremerhaven. It was a three-masted barkentine of 220 tons, 38.34 m long, with a 100 horsepower (75 kW) steam engine.
However, the ship was soon trapped in the ice and drifted further and further away. This was when the crew discovered a group of islands that they named Franz Josef Land.
In 1874, they abandoned the ice-locked ship, repurposed their boats as sledges and marched across the ice on foot.
After almost three months of hardship, they reached the open sea and, having turned their sledges back into boats, started rowing. They were ultimately found by fishermen.
The expedition returned to Austria-Hungary by coastal steamer from Vardø and by train from Hamburg.
On the journey they were met by crowds and invited to dinners hosted by local dignitaries and geographical societies in Norway, Sweden and Germany.
They entered Vienna in triumph, welcomed, according to contemporary newspaper reports, by hundreds of thousands of people. Further festivities followed throughout Austria-Hungary as the individual explorers returned to their homes.
“Never go back,” the painting made by Julius Payer himself, shows the dramatic scene when Carl Weyprecht once again persuaded the exhausted men to continue marching south, thus saving their lives.
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