ARKHANGELSK, January 22. /TASS/. The finds that first Arctic explorers found on Franz Josef Land at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries underwent restoration in Arkhangelsk, head of the Russian Arctic National Park's department for preservation of historical and cultural heritage, Evgeny Ermolov, told TASS. Among those objects are a knife, made from a sled, with the owner's initials, a box from expensive Italian wine, a snowshoe for ponies, and mysterious objects the purpose of which is still to be identified.
"The finds from the Alger Island are artifacts from the Evelyn Baldwin expedition, and the finds from the Rudolf Island are from the expeditions of the Duke of Abruzzi and Anthony Fiala - some of them have been restored. All the items are very interesting and unique, some were made on the spot, like for example, a knife with a handle, made of a sled detail, was clearly made on the spot, and the owner carved his initials on it, noteworthy the font is very beautiful, and clearly the object was quite dear. We also have mysterious artifacts, the purpose of which we are still unable to determine," he said.
The Norwegian-American expedition of 1901-1902 led by Evelyn Baldwin had a base on the Alger Island. It was very well equipped, but the trip to the North Pole failed, and many objects remained there, including a collection of knives of different sizes. The blade of a self-made knife is broken, but part of it has been preserved, and the metal does not crumble after the restoration. The wooden handle was coated with special wax, and the RWP initials are perfectly legible. The owner turned out to be a scientist. "These are the initials of the Baldwin expedition's member, Russell Williams Porter - a surveyor and artist who conducted scientific observations on the expedition and painted watercolors," the historian said.
Porter most likely owned a geological magazine, from which has remained a leather cover with an inscription, apparently in gold leaf.
Another object is not yet on display. This is a real cleaver - a large knife for cutting meat. It's the size of a saber, the handle is like that of a baseball bat, and the blade has a hook to pull away carcass parts. The expedition's America schooner previously had been a whaling vessel, and that item apparently was on board, while the polar explorers could have used it to chop meat for dog food.
A collection of cutlery has been put together on the Alger Island. "We know a photo on which our fellow citizens in kosovorotkas (men's shirts with side fastening), Ostyaks (indigenous peoples in Western Siberia), the Russian Empire citizens, are sitting at a table, eating from such plates and with these knives," the historian said. "There were six people from Russia on Baldwin's expedition."
Mysterious finds
Some artefacts found on the Alger Island have unclear purpose. For example, two identical metal objects with a bone handle and a carabiner. "It can be either a file or a flintlock, a sort of a lighter, therefore it's on a carabiner. There are two of them. We haven't determined what they are. Someone may exclaim seeing it: Oh, that's for this!" he said.
A similar story was about another mysterious object - a small metal grate fixed on a circle of wood. It was found at Cape Flora on the Northbrook Island. At first, they thought it could be a strainer or a trap. Later on, it turned out to be a snowshoe for small shaggy Siberian horses - polar explorers used to call them ponies. Several pioneer expeditions used to bring them to Franz Josef Land. Horses were uncomfortable on the archipelago, and people used to wrap horses' feet with bags, making experiments to make sure the animals did not fall through the snow. Frederick Jackson's expedition had a blacksmith shop on the Flora, where they were improvising with snowshoes.
Restorers have identified a wine box in the find from the Rudolph Island. It was left by the Italian expedition of 1899-1900 led by Duke Luigi Amedeo, Prince of Savoy, Duke of Abruzzi. The Italians also undertook unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Pole, where three people died. Not many items have remained at the Italians' base in Teplitz Bay - some of them are boards and boxes with the ship's name on them - Stella Polare (Polar Star).
"It's a rough object here: thick wood and the name is just burned out. And look at this thin wood. To strengthen the perimeter, here's a metal ribbon, the board is perfectly smooth, and Stella Polare is written in beautiful script. This is something expensive. Clearly, Italians could not travel without wine, apparently, it was for the duke's table," the scientist said.
The Algera Island base
Most items left on the Rudolf Island were those that polar explorers had thrown away, and other expeditions did not use as fuel. The artifacts were mixed with pebbles, wood chips and hay that remained from the subsequent expedition's camp. That expedition was led by Anthony Fiala in 1903-1905. As for the Alger Island, there used to be a solid base with warehouses and food depots. That island, unlike most Franz Josef Land's islands, has a sandy shore. The sand has contributed to the objects' preservation.
Nobody now can say anything about the Ziegler Camp, as this base is called. It may have been lost. The surf has been destroying the sandy coast over the recent decade due to climate change in the Arctic. "The last time we were there was in 2021, the houses were still there, everything was not too bad. But we have been losing them because they are going into the water. This is an inevitable story for such monuments, because they are located on the shore, and the shore degradation is a natural process, where the Arctic is no exception," the historian told TASS.
In 2018, the national park's specialists and invited archaeologists conducted excavations on the monument's territory and made a topographic survey of the area. They tried to collect as many artifacts as possible to save them. Nowadays, they are the main part of the national park's collection, and scientists continue studying them. The objects reflect the era of the Arctic explorers. To conquer the North Pole, they tried to use advanced developments of their time, and this is of great interest to researchers.
About the National Park
The Russian Arctic National Park is the northernmost specially protected natural area of Russia and Eurasia. The park unites the northern part of the Severny Island (Novaya Zemlya archipelago) and the entire Franz Josef Land archipelago.