This book provides a well-researched, well-structured, interesting, and informative narrative depicting the little-known yet successful efforts of the Captain Arve Staxrud Norwegian Arctic Rescue Expedition of 1913 that searched for and saved members of the Lieutenant Herbert Schro der-Stranz German Arctic Expedition of 1912 in Spitsbergen (Svalbard). The book portrays the cooperative and strategic endeavors of the humans and animals involved in the Staxrud expedition who worked together to save human lives on the icy fjords and glaciers of the far north during an unseasonable time of year for exploratory expeditions. It examines and analyzes the unpreparedness and lack of training that resulted in the failure of the Schro der-Stranz expedition. It compares and contrasts concurrent rescue expeditions that failed, including the Kurt Wegener expedition and the Theodor Lerner expedition. It describes the crucial role of animals in both the Norwegian and German expeditions, as well as German interest and Norwegian activity in Spitsbergen leading up to the expeditions. And it reconstructs the interaction and organization of principal officers, overwintering experts, Norwegians, Sämi, draft reindeer teams, and experienced sledge dogs who made the Staxrud rescue mission a success and who created and enabled improved search and rescue capabilities for Spitsbergen and for the future of the Arctic archipelago.
Biografie (Cornelia Lüdecke)
Cornelia Lüdecke, Dr. habil., ist bei der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Polarforschung Leiterin der Sektion Geschichte der Polarforschung und Privatdozentin für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften an der Universität Hamburg. Sie ist Vorsitzende der SCAR Action Group on the History of Antarctic Research.
