Henrik Johan Bull (13 October 18441 June 1930) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

businessman and whaler. Henry Bull was one of the pioneers in the exploration of

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

Biography

Henrik Johan Bull was born at

Stokke Stokke is a town in Sandefjord municipality in Vestfold County, Norway. It lies in-between Sandefjord and Tønsberg, two of Vestfold's largest cities. It was a municipality from 1838 to 2016. The administrative centre of the municipality was th ...

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered ...

County, Norway. He attended school in

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative c ...

and worked for several years as a businessman in Tønsberg. During the late 1880s, he traveled to

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metr ...

, where he was associated with a company in shipping and trade. In 1893, Norwegian whaling and shipping magnate

Svend Foyn Svend Foyn (July 9, 1809 – November 30, 1894) was a Norwegian whaling, shipping magnate and philanthropist. He pioneered revolutionary methods for hunting and processing whales. Svend Foyn introduced the modern harpoon cannon and brough ...

agreed to financially support an

expedition led by Henrik Bull in search of the elusive

Right whale Right whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus ''Eubalaena'': the North Atlantic right whale (''E. glacialis''), the North Pacific right whale (''E. japonica'') and the Southern right whale (''E. australis''). They are c ...

. Svend Foyn was a businessman who patented the grenade-harpoon gun which was to be used for whaling. The ship provided by Svend Foyn was the ''

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and othe ...

'', a three masts barque equipped with a steam engine. It was also equipped with eleven harpoon guns, an arsenal of explosives, eight whaleboats and a thirty-one man crew. The ship was captained by Leonard Kristensen (18571911). The crew included

Carsten Borchgrevink Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink (1 December 186421 April 1934) was an Anglo-Norwegian polar explorer and a pioneer of Antarctic travel. He inspired Sir Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, and others associated with the Hero ...

, who later lead the

Southern Cross Expedition The ''Southern Cross'' Expedition, otherwise known as the British Antarctic Expedition, 1898–1900, was the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and the forerunner of the more celebrated journeys of Robert Falcon Sc ...

to Antarctica. Over the course of the two-year expedition, they visited

Tristan da Cunha Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcano, volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the Extreme points of Earth, most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town, Sou ...

, the

Prince Edward Islands The Prince Edward Islands are two small uninhabited islands in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean that are part of South Africa. The islands are named Marion Island (named after Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, 1724–1772) and Prince Edward Islan ...

Îles Crozet The Crozet Islands (french: Îles Crozet; or, officially, ''Archipel Crozet'') are a sub-Antarctic archipelago of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They form one of the five administrative districts of the French Southern and Antarc ...

Îles Kerguelen The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a group of islands in the sub-Antarctic constituting one of the two exposed parts of the Kerguelen Plateau, a larg ...

, the

Balleny Islands The Balleny Islands () are a series of uninhabited islands in the Southern Ocean extending from 66°15' to 67°35'S and 162°30' to 165°00'E. The group extends for about in a northwest-southeast direction. The islands are heavily glaciated an ...

, Campbell Island and

Possession Islands The Possession Islands are a group of small islands and rocks extending over an area of about , lying in the western part of the Ross Sea, lying south-east of Cape McCormick and east of Cape Roget, in Victoria Land, Antarctica. The Possessi ...

. On 19 January 1895, a small party landed on Possession Island, a rocky island about 2 miles long. On 24 January 1895, a boat was put ashore with six men including Bull, Leonard Kristensen, Carsten Borchgrevink and seaman

Alexander von Tunzelmann Alexander Francis Henry von Tunzelmann (15 June 1877 – 19 September 1957), a New Zealand crew member of the Norwegian whaling ship ''Antarctic'' was part of the first group known with certainty to have set foot on the mainland of Antarctica&md ...

Cape Adare Cape Adare is a prominent cape of black basalt forming the northern tip of the Adare Peninsula and the north-easternmost extremity of Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Description Marking the north end of Borchgrevink Coast and the west ...

, Antarctica. At the time they believed they were the first men to set foot on Antarcticaand they are certainly the best confirmedbut unknown to them sealer John Davis, had made a disputed claim that he stepped onto the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

much earlier in 1821. In 1898, Henrik Johan Bull wrote his memories of the expedition in his book, ''Sydover. Ekspeditionen til Sydishavet i 1893–1895''. The book was also published in English under the title ''The cruise of the 'Antarctic' to the South Polar regions'' (London & New York: Edward Arnold, 1896). He later founded a company engaged in the fishing, sealing and whaling industry. Bull died in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway at 85 years of age.''Henrik Johan Bull'' (Norsk Polarhistorie)
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References

Other sources

* Per Gramsborg. "The first man to have set foot on the Antarctic continent". I: ''The Norseman'', nr 2 (1992)
Norsk biografisk leksikon
* Henrik Johan Bull (1898) ''Sydover. Ekspeditionen til Sydishavet i 1893–1895'' (British Library, Historical Print Editions) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bull, Henrik Johan 1844 births 1930 deaths People from Stokke People from Tønsberg Norwegian people in whaling Norwegian polar explorers Explorers of Antarctica Australian people in whaling Sealers Sportspeople from Vestfold og Telemark