Andreas Peter Hovgaard Explained

Andreas Hovgaard
Birth Date:1 November 1853
Birth Place:Aarhus, Denmark
Death Place:Copenhagen, Denmark
Allegiance:
Serviceyears:1871–1909
Rank:Commander
Commands:Mail steamer Thyra
Cruiser Heimdall
Coastal Defense Ship Olfert Fischer
Awards:Service Medal
Order of the Dannebrog
Dannebrogordenens Hæderstegn
Relations:William Hovgaard's brother

Andreas Peter Hovgaard (1 November 1853 – 15 March 1910) was a Danish naval officer and Arctic explorer.

Hovgaard became a sub-lieutenant of the Danish Navy in 1874, rising to the rank of lieutenant in 1876, captain in 1888 and commander in 1901. He retired from active service in 1909.

Career

Andreas Hovgaard was the son of Ole Anton Hovgaard (1821–1891) and Louise Charlotte Munch (1823–1872). Little is known about his early life, except that he joined the Danish Navy and quickly rose through the ranks. In 1878 Hovgaard, as a young lieutenant, became a member of Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld's Vega Expedition, in which he was in charge of making meteorological as well as geomagnetic observations.[1] Shortly after returning to Denmark, he married Sophie Christiane Nielsen (1856–1934) and published his report Nordenskiölds rejse omkring Asien og Europa about the first Arctic expedition to have navigated successfully through the Northeast Passage.[2]

In 1882 Hovgaard led the Dijmphna Expedition, an Arctic survey expedition to explore the unknown northeastern limits of the Kara Sea on the steamship Dijmphna, financed by Danish trader Augustin Gamél (1839–1904), who would also later assist Fridtjof Nansen. The Dijmphna became stuck in the ice off Dikson while trying to rescue the Dutch Polar Expedition's ship Varna,[3] which was surveying the mouth of the Yenisei.[4] During the winter of 1882/83, it began a long drift in the Kara Sea that prevented the expedition from accomplishing its goals. The ship was able to return home only with the 1883 summer thaw,[5] the Varna becoming lost.[6]

In 1887 he served aboard the Danish ironclad Dannebrog. From 1890 to 1893 Hovgaard was the captain of the mail steamer Thyra, which plied the route to the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Later he commanded the cruiser HDMS Heimdall and the coastal defense ship HMDS Olfert Fischer.[2]

Andreas Hovgaard was the president of the Danish Naval Officers Association (Søofficers-Foreningen) between 1907 and 1909.[7]

Honours

Hovgaard Island in Greenland, Hovgaard Island (Ostrov Khovgarda) in the Nordenskiöld Archipelago of the Kara Sea, Russia, Hovgaard Island in Antarctica, and the Hovgaard Islands in Nunavut, Canada, were all named after him.[8]

Knight (1880); Commander 2nd Class (1907)

Works

See also

Notes and References

  1. Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld: Die Umsegelung Asiens und Europas auf der Vega. Mit einem historischen Rückblick auf frühere Reisen längs der Nordküste der Alten Welt. German edition, Vol. 1, F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1882, p. 36
  2. http://denstoredanske.dk/Dansk_Biografisk_Leksikon/Forsvar_og_politi/S%C3%B8officer/A.P._Hovgaard A. P. Hovgaard in the Dansk biografisk leksikon
  3. Louwrens Hacquebord: The Netherlands – Beset in the Ice of the Kara Sea. In: Susan Barr, Cornelia Lüdecke (eds.): The History of the International Polar Years (IPYs). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg 2010,, p. 66
  4. Knud Rasmussen: Heldenbuch der Arktis. Entdeckungsreisen zum Nord- und Südpol. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1933, p. 176
  5. The Dutch Polar Expedition of 1882-3 . Frank Rust. Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York . 15 . 1883 . 375–380 . 196548 . 10.2307/196548.
  6. https://www.nytimes.com/1883/09/01/archives/a-fresh-arctic-disaster-loss-of-the-dutch-exploring-steamer-varna.html A fresh Arctic disaster; loss of the Dutch exploring steamer Varna. The New York Times, September 01, 1883
  7. http://sof.dk/ Søofficers-Foreningen
  8. Web site: Catalogue of place names in northern East Greenland . Geological Survey of Denmark . 18 June 2016 .
  9. https://archive.org/stream/danisharcticexp00hovggoog#page/n6/mode/2up The Danish-Arctic Expedition, English edition