German polar expedition

German North Polar Expedition was a short series of mid-19th century German expeditions to the Arctic. The aim was to explore the North Polar Region and to brand the newly united, Prussian-led German Empire as a great power. In 1866, the German geographer August Petermann wrote a pamphlet ("Proclamation to the German Nation") strongly advocating German participation in the international quest for the North Pole, which stimulated the setup of a German expedition.

The first expedition took place in the summer of 1868 and was led by Carl Koldewey on the vessel Grönland. The expedition explored some hitherto unknown coastal tracts of northeastern Spitsbergen, but did otherwise not lead to any new scientific knowledge. However, it served as preparation for the second expedition.

The second expedition consisted of a two-vessel convoy:

The crew included two medical doctors, who were also capable naturalists – Adolf Pansch on Germania and Reinhold Wilhelm Buchholz on Hansa – the astronomers and geophysicists Karl Nikolai Jensen Börgen and Ralph Copeland, the Austrian cartographer Julius von Payer and the Austrian geologist Gustav Karl Laube.

The expedition left Bremerhaven on 15 June 1869 and headed north. After one month dense pack ice was encountered at approximately 75.5°N. The two ships got separated by mistake.

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Wikipedia