A forgotten explorer: Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink

Abstract

C. E. Borchgrevink was born in Christiania (present-day Oslo) in 1864. His Norwegian father was a lawyer, and his English mother was a Miss Ridley. Little is known about his early years, but he said he had part of his education at Gjertsen College. He was a full-time student from the winter term 1885 to the winter term 1888 at the Royal Forestry School, Tharandt, Saxony, but seems to have obtained no certificate or diploma; later he mentioned that he had been a pupil of Professor E. Nobbe. When he was in his thirties he told H. J. Bull that he had been educated at Christiania University, but there is no evidence to support this. He also said he had served as a boy or apprentice in the Borghild in 1878, crossing the Atlantic in her, but there are no details.

Hobart, Tasmania: Antarctic and Southern Ocean connections

“…After this journey Borchgrevink was inspired to return to the Antarctic. He offered himself as leader of an expedition to Cape Adare, where he proposed to winter (Evans and Jones 1975;Huntford 1979: 60). He received financial backing from Sir George Newnes, a British publisher, and, as head of a British expedition that included Louis Bernacchi, a Tasmanian physicist, sailed south in 1898 aboard Southern Cross.…”