![[NICOLAI HANSON (d.1899)]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2004/CKS/2004_CKS_06934_0152_000(083456).jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
A POIGNANT SOUVENIR OF THE FIRST MAN TO BE BURIED ON THE ANTARCTIC MAINLAND.
The Norwegian Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink's Southern Cross expedition of 1898-1900 was the first to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland. The expedition, including three Britons, four Norwegians, two Finns and around 80 Siberian husky dogs, was landed at Cape Adare in February 1899 and assembled a pre-fabricated hut on the stony ground in the middle of an Adelie penguin colony at the Cape, near Victoria Land. Borchgrevink named his base Camp Ridley and his expedition made short sledging journeys (the first ever on the continent) and explorations along the coasts of Robertson Bay before the winter confined the party to its hut in mid-May. Hanson, the Norwegian biologist, who had been unwell on the voyage south, fell ill and died in the hut at Cape Adare on 14 October of 'intestinal occlusion'. Following his wishes, he was buried on the high ridge overlooking Cape Adare. The site, at 71°17'S, 170° 13'E, is the first known grave in the Antarctic.
The Norwegian Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink's Southern Cross expedition of 1898-1900 was the first to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland. The expedition, including three Britons, four Norwegians, two Finns and around 80 Siberian husky dogs, was landed at Cape Adare in February 1899 and assembled a pre-fabricated hut on the stony ground in the middle of an Adelie penguin colony at the Cape, near Victoria Land. Borchgrevink named his base Camp Ridley and his expedition made short sledging journeys (the first ever on the continent) and explorations along the coasts of Robertson Bay before the winter confined the party to its hut in mid-May. Hanson, the Norwegian biologist, who had been unwell on the voyage south, fell ill and died in the hut at Cape Adare on 14 October of 'intestinal occlusion'. Following his wishes, he was buried on the high ridge overlooking Cape Adare. The site, at 71°17'S, 170° 13'E, is the first known grave in the Antarctic.