page_title: Herbert Schröder-Stranz
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Herbert Schröder-Stranz / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: The picture shows all members of the expedition Schroeder-Stranz (Deutsche Arktische Expedition, German Arctic Expedition) on board of their ship "Herzog Ernst". Depicted persons (from left to right): first row:&#160;?, Herbert Schröder-Stranz (with dog),&#160;?,&#160;?,&#160;? second row:&#160;?, Walter Moeser (looking left towards the mast),&#160;?, Erwin Detmers,&#160;? third row: Norwegian crew members&#160;? Deutsch: Das Foto zeigt die Mitglieder der Expedition Schröder-Stranz (Deutsche Arktische Expedition) im Jahr 1912, an Bord der "Herzog Ernst". Abgebildete Personen (von links nach rechts): erste Reihe:&#160;?, Herbert Schröder-Stranz (mit Hund),&#160;?,&#160;?,&#160;? zweite Reihe:&#160;?, Walter Moeser (etwas zurückstehend, von der Kamera abgewendet nach links schauend),&#160;?,&#160;?, Erwin Detmers (mit spitz zulaufendem Hut),&#160;? dritte Reihe: Mitglieder der norwegischen Crew &#160;?
context_page_description: Herbert Schröder-Stranz was a German officer and explorer of polar regions. He led the German Arctic Expedition of 1912.
context_section_description: Schröder-Stranz was born at his family estate at Stranz, West Prussia (modern Strączno, Poland) and later added the name of his birthplace to his family's name (Schröder is a common name in Germany).
  Schröder-Stranz joined the German Army and was deployed in German South-West Africa, he later travelled the Russian Kola peninsula, where he began to plan an expedition to discover the Northeast Passage.
  In 1912 a preliminary expedition started aboard of the schooner "Herzog Ernst", a ship under the command of Alfred Ritscher and named after Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, the main sponsor of the project.
  The crew, among them the illustrator Christopher Rave, assembled on 1 August 1912 in Tromsø. As the public fund-raising had been less successful than expected, Schröder-Stranz searched for a way to improve the publicity. He changed the initial plans and proposed to cross Spitsbergen's Nordaustlandet from the South to the North, the first expedition to do so.
  The expedition left Tromsø on 5 August 1912. On 13 August 1912 the "Herzog Ernst" was halted by pack ice three miles beyond Nordaustlandet's North Cape. On 15 August 1912 Schröder-Stranz and three crew members disembarked and tried to cross the pack ice, ten miles away from the nearest mainland, with kayaks and sledges. This was the last time Schröder-Stranz was seen alive, only 7 out of 15 members of his crew survived the following winter.
caption: The crew of the German Arctic Expedition, Schröder-Stranz in the center
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