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Otto Sverdrup was a key figure in the
construction of the arctic vessel "Fram". In 1893 Fridtjof Nansen set off on his famous expedition to the North Pole with Otto Sverdrup as captain of the ship. While Fridtjof Nansen and his companions tried to
reach the North Pole using dog sledges and skiis, Otto Sverdrup navigated the "Fram" safely through the ice until the expedition was able to return to civilization in 1896.
Shortly after his return and having set the record at the time for any human expedition in the northernmost parts of our planet, Fridtjof Nansen provided the opportunity for Otto Sverdrup to take over command of the second expedition of "Fram". The ship was
rebuilt and in 1898 Otto Sverdrup set off on his new expedition. The goal was to lead "Fram" as far north as possible along the west coast of Greenland and then to navigate the expedition around the northernmost part of Greenland and then south along Greenland’s east coast. However, the ice condition made
it impossible to navigate through "Kane
Basin". Otto Sverdrup had to change his
plans and instead he explored the territory west of Ellesmere Island. The expedition spent the next four years carrying out extraordinary exploration trips using dog sledges; often setting out from frozen, naturally made harbours. So he became the first to thoroughly map the southern and
western coastline of Ellesmere Island. All in all approximately 160,000 square kilometres – an area the size of half of Norway!
Otto Sverdrup overcame an early loss of his physician as well as the closest to a shipwreck he could come, due to a fire onboard.
In 1902 "Fram" returned to Oslo and Otto
Sverdrup and his companions returned home to a munificent welcome by the
Norwegian population, the State of Norway and the Norwegian scientists. Otto Sverdrup was presented with the Royal Norwegian Society’s golden medal. The exercise of sovereignty over the territories Otto Sverdrup had explored and claimed in the name of King Oscar II, remained a matter of dispute
until the Canadian government bought Otto Sverdrup’s papers shortly before his death in 1930. At the time Otto Sverdrup achieved great international fame for his explorations.
However, his achievements were celebrated much less in Norway than his formerly mentioned colleagues.
Finally in 1957 a monument was erected in Steinkjer, the hometown of his parents, in honour of their local expedition hero.
With this joint issue of a special stamp in honour of Otto Sverdrup, POST Greenland, Post Canada and Posten Norge hope to contribute to the greater awareness in people’s minds of the fantastic arctic explorations of
this Norwegian – and who knows – maybe
also give him a more prominent position in the history books.