FOOTNOTE PEOPLE IN HISTORY LORENZ PETER ELFRED FREUCHEN (1886 - 1957)
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orenz Peter Elfred Freuchen (February 20, 1886 – September 2, 1957) was a Danish explorer, author, journalist and anthropologist, notable for his role in Arctic exploration, namely the Thule Expeditions. Freuchen was born in Nykøbing Falster, Denmark, the son of Anne and Lorentz, a businessman. Freuchen was baptized in the local church and attended the University of Copenhagen where for a time he studied medicine. At full growth he stood 6 foot seven inches tall In 1906, aged twenty, he went on his first expedition to Greenland as a member of the Danish expedition. Between 1910 and 1924, he undertook several expeditions, often with the noted Polar explorer Knud Rasmussen. In 1910, Knud Rasmussen and Peter Freuchen established the Thule Trading Station at Cape York, Greenland, as a trading base. The name was chosen because it was the most northerly trading post in the world. It is named after the Latin phrase ultima Thule (literally farthest Thule), an expression referencing the most distant place beyond the borders of the known world. In Thule the daily mean temperature is twelve degrees below zero. Negative-twelve. Fahrenheit. As an average daily temperature. The only way of staying warm was fire or wearing furs, leather, and wool. Thule Trading Station became the home base for a series of seven expeditions, known as the Thule Expeditions, between 1912 and 1933. The First Thule Expedition (1912) aimed to test Robert Lorenz Peter Elfred Freuchen (1886 – 1957) Peary’s claim that a channel divided Peary Land from Greenland. They proved this was not the case in a 1,000 km journey across the native peoples of Greenland. the inland ice that almost killed both of them. Today Thule is home to a United States Air Force base. At one point he was caught in a blizzard and ended up Freuchen was married three times. First, in 1911, to being buried in an cocoon of ice so tightly packed he could Navarana Mequpaluk an Inuit woman who accompanied him on barely move. After thirty hours trapped in the frosty tomb he several expeditions. The two had two children, who were given escaped certain death by fashioning his own frozen faeces into the names of Mequsaq Avataq Igimaqssusuktoranguapaluk and a dagger and using it to carve through the solid wall of ice, then Pipaluk Jette Tukuminguaq Kasaluk Palika Hager. Navarana crawling another three hours back died in the Spanish Flu epidemic in to base camp where he found his 1921. toes had gangrene, and then had to His second marriage was to amputate them with a pair of pliers Magdalene Lauridsen in 1924 who and a hammer, without anesthesia. was from a very wealthy family. When he got back to safety he From 1926 to 1932 he served as the had his leg amputated. He had a editor-in-chief of Ude og Hjemme, a peg leg for the rest of his life. This magazine owned by the family of his did not stop him from going back to second wife. The magazine is still in Greenland, often. circulation today – it’s the longest Both Freuchen and Rasmussen running magazine in Danish history. almost died on the trip, but they From 1926 to 1940, became national heroes overnight Freuchen owned the Danish island for their accomplishment. Enehoje on Nakskov Fjord. During Freuchen wrote personal this period he wrote several books accounts of this journey (and others) and articles and entertained guests. in Vagrant Viking (1953) and I Sailed He wrote nearly thirty books with Rasmussen (1958). He states in in his career as a bestselling author. Vagrant Viking that only one other Most of his works were focused dogsled trip across Greenland was on Inuit culture and survival, but ever successful. he also wrote about the oceans, Freuchen lived in Thule for sailing, and put out some pulp the next decade, learning fluent fiction stories. At this time, Inuit and incidentally becoming the Freuchen became heavily invested Freuchen with his first wife, Navarana world’s first and foremost expert on in socialism and anti-fascism. 38