''Gauss'' was a ship built in Germany for polar exploration, named after the
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
and
physical scientist Carl Friedrich Gauss
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; ; ; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician, astronomer, geodesist, and physicist, who contributed to many fields in mathematics and science. He was director of the Göttingen Observatory and ...
. Purchased by Canada in 1904, the vessel was renamed CGS ''Arctic''. As ''Arctic'', the vessel made annual trips to the Canadian Arctic until 1925. The ship's fate is disputed among the sources, but all claim that by the mid-1920s, the vessel was out of service.
Ship construction
The ship was built by the
Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft
Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (often abbreviated HDW) is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Kiel. It is part of the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) group, owned by ThyssenKrupp. The Howaldtswerke shipyard was founded in Kiel i ...
shipyard at
Kiel
Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...
at a cost of 500,000
marks
Marks may refer to:
Business
* Mark's, a Canadian retail chain
* Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain
* Collective trade marks
A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...
.
Launched on 2 April 1901
she was modelled on
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 ...
's ship ''
Fram'', and rigged as a
barquentine.
Displacing , ''Gauss'' had a tonnage of .
The ship was long, in the
beam, with a
draught of .
With a
triple expansion steam engine driving one
screw
A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...
to augment the sails, she was capable of .
Classed "A1" by
Germanischer Lloyds, she was designed to carry 700 tons of stores, enough to make her self-sufficient for up to three years with a crew of 30 aboard. The hull was robust, and the rudder and propeller were designed to be hoisted aboard for inspection or repairs.
Ship history

Between 1901 and 1903 ''Gauss'' explored the
Antarctic
The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole.
The Antar ...
in the
Gauss expedition under the leadership of
Erich von Drygalski
Erich Dagobert von Drygalski (; February 9, 1865 – January 10, 1949) was a German geographer, geophysicist and polar scientist, born in Königsberg, East Prussia.
Between 1882 and 1887, Drygalski studied mathematics and natural science at ...
.
In early 1904, the Canadian government purchased the ship under the advice of
Joseph-Elzéar Bernier, who surveyed the ship before the acquisition. The ship was renamed ''Arctic'' and under the command of Bernier she explored the
Arctic Archipelago
The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland (an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, which is, by itself, much larger ...
. Bernier and ''Arctic'' made annual expeditions to Canada's north.
[ On 1 July 1909, Bernier, without government approval, claimed the entire area between Canada's eastern and western borders all the way to the ]North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...
. Bernier only left the ship during the First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, returning to command ''Arctic'' again from 1922 to 1925.[ The vessel's end is not agreed upon. According to ''schiffe-und-mehr.com'', ''Arctic'' was abandoned in 1925 and left to rot at her moorings.] Maginley and Collin claim the vessel was broken up in 1926 while the Miramar Ship Index say the ship was abandoned in 1927.[
]
See also
* List of Antarctic exploration ships from the Heroic Age, 1897–1922
Notes
References
Further reading
*
External links
W.B. Wiegand Diary of a Voyage on the Arctic in 1912
at Dartmouth College Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gauss
1901 ships
Exploration ships
Canadian Government Ship