Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

Andreas Peter Hovgaard (1 November 1853 – 15 March 1910) was a

Royal Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy (, ) is the Naval warfare, sea-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Denmark, Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and ...

officer and explorer. Hovgaard became a sub-lieutenant of the

Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy (, ) is the Naval warfare, sea-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Denmark, Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and ...

in 1874, rising to the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

in 1876,

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in 1888 and commander in 1901. He retired from active service in 1909.

Career

Andreas Hovgaard was the son of Ole Anton Hovgaard (1821–1891) and Louise Charlotte Munch (1823–1872). Little is known about his early life, except that he joined the Danish Navy and quickly rose through the ranks. In 1878 Hovgaard, as a young lieutenant, became a member of

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (; 18 November 183212 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the noble Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friherre (ba ...

's Vega Expedition, in which he was in charge of making

meteorological Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agriculture ...

as well as

geomagnetic Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from structure of Earth, Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from ...

observations. Shortly after returning to Denmark, he married Sophie Christiane Nielsen (1856–1934) and published his report ''Nordenskiölds rejse omkring Asien og Europa'' about the first Arctic expedition to have navigated successfully through the

Northeast Passage The Northeast Passage (abbreviated as NEP; , ) is the Arctic shipping routes, shipping route between the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, Pacific Oceans, along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Russia. The western route through the islan ...

.A. P. Hovgaard in the ''Dansk biografisk leksikon''
/ref> In 1882 Hovgaard led the Dijmphna Expedition, an Arctic survey expedition to explore the unknown northeastern limits of the

Kara Sea The Kara Sea is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. Ultimately the Kara, Barents and Laptev Seas are all ...

on the

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

''Dijmphna'', financed by Danish trader Augustin Gamél (1839–1904), who would also later assist

Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and co-founded the ...

. The '' Dijmphna'' became stuck in the ice off Dikson while trying to rescue the Dutch Polar Expedition's ship ''

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city ** Varna Province ** Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna ** Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis * Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy * Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia Asia * Var ...

'', which was surveying the mouth of the Yenisei. During the winter of 1882/83, it began a long drift in the Kara Sea that prevented the expedition from accomplishing its goals. The ship was able to return home only with the 1883 summer thaw, the Varna becoming lost. In 1887 he served aboard the Danish ironclad ''Dannebrog''. From 1890 to 1893 Hovgaard was the captain of the

mail steamer Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed mainly for domestic mail and freight transport in European countries and in North American rivers and canals. Eventually including basic passenger accommodation, they were used extensively during t ...

''Thyra'', which plied the route to the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

and

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. Later he commanded the cruiser HDMS ''Heimdall'' and the coastal defense ship HMDS ''Olfert Fischer''. Andreas Hovgaard was the president of the Danish Naval Officers Association ''(Søofficers-Foreningen)'' between 1907 and 1909.

Honours

Hovgaard Island Hovgaard Island may refer to: * Hovgaard Island (Antarctica) * Hovgaard Island (Greenland) * Hovgaard Island (Kara Sea), Siberia, Russia See also * Hovgaard Islands The Hovgaard Islands are a Canadian Arctic island group in the Kitikmeot Re ...

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

''(Ostrov Khovgarda)'' in the

Nordenskiöld Archipelago The Nordenskiöld Archipelago or Nordenskjold Archipelago () is a large and complex cluster of about 90 islands in the eastern region of the Kara Sea. Its eastern limit lies west of the Taymyr Peninsula. The archipelago is part of the Taymyrsk ...

of the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, and the

Hovgaard Islands The Hovgaard Islands are a Canadian Arctic island group in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut Territory. They were named after Andreas Hovgaard, a Polar explorer and officer of the Danish Navy who led an expedition to the Kara Sea on steamship ''Di ...

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, were all named after him. * Danish Service medal in gold (1883) *

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V of Denmark, Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single cla ...

; Knight (1880); Commander 2nd Class (1907) *''

Dannebrogordenens Hæderstegn Dannebrogordenens Hæderstegn, also referred to as the Cross of Honour of the Order of the Dannebrog (post-nominals: D.Ht.), is a meritous award connected to the Danish Order of the Dannebrog. The cross was instituted by King Frederick VI of Den ...

'' (1904)

Works

*''Nordenskiölds Reise omkring Asien og Europa - Populairt fremstillet efter mine Dagböger'', 1915 (Danish) * ''Forslag til en dansk arktisk expedition'', Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1882''The Danish-Arctic Expedition'', English edition
/ref> * ''Dijmphna-Expeditionen 1882–83. Rapporter til Dijmphna’s Rheder'', Kopenhagen 1884 (Danish) * ''Die Eiszustände im Karischen Meere'', Gotha 1884 (German) * ''Compasset i Jernskibe'', Kopenhagen 1888 (Danish) * ''Under Islands Kyst'', 1906 (Danish)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hovgaard, Andreas 1853 births 1910 deaths 19th-century Royal Danish Navy officers 20th-century Royal Danish Navy officers Danish polar explorers Explorers of the Arctic Honorary Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Military personnel from Aarhus