32 G. Amurup. 



In the beginning of the 20th century Duke Philippe of Orleans^ 

 succeeded in reaching a little farther north, before the Danmark Ex- 

 pedition placed the coping stone on the work by journeying over 

 and charting the last part of the east and north-east coast of Greenland. 



On May 24th 1905 the Duke sailed from Bergen with his vessel 

 the "Belgica", which was commanded by the well-known South Pole 

 explorer A. de Gerlache. The object of the expedition was to make 

 hydrographical investigations in the waters between Spitzbergen 

 and East Greenland and here go as far north as possible, at the same 

 time to take an attempt to reach into the east coast of Greenland 

 north of Cape Bismarck. 



After visiting several places on Spitzbergen, the Belgica on July 

 8th stood into the ice at 80°08' N. lat., but at 80°24' already all fur- 

 ther progress northwards was stopped by the ice. The Belgica was 

 obliged to turn and sail south and south-west, constantly following 

 along the edge of an impenetrable mass of polar ice, until on July 

 22nd the course could be steered west and north-west in towards 

 the east coast of Greenland at 75°35' N. lat. 



On July 24th, when the Belgica was in 75°ö8' N. lat., the coast 

 was sighted and on the 27th the Duke landed on a small rocky island 

 Maroussia (76°39') - south of Cape Bismarck. Here the Duke met 

 a Norwegian sealing vessel, the schooner "Søstrene" of Tromsø, which 

 had forced its way right up here from the 72nd degree along the edge 

 of the fast land-ice, a witness af the unusually good ice conditions 

 that year. The Duke now stood northwards along the land-ice and 

 landed on the 28th at 77^36' (Cape Philippe). From here the course 

 was again steered northwards along the land ice, which extended 

 to a fairly great distance out to sea and which made further landing 

 north of Cape Philippe impossible. 



On July 31st at 78°16' the ice prevented further advance north- 

 wards. After a detour eastwards about 30 miles to make hydrogra- 

 phical observations, a course was again set in towards the edge of 

 the land ice and from there southwards, following the same route 

 as on the out journey. On August 3rd a landing was again made 

 at Cape Philippe, which was found to lie on an island and on an excur- 

 sion which the Duke made on August 4th in over the land ice in the 

 bay south of Cape Philippe, he believed, that he had made the dis- 

 covery, that Cape Bismarck did not lie on the mainland, as supposed 

 by Koldewey, but on an island^. 



' Due d'Orleans. a travers la banquise (hi Spitzbergen au cap Philippe, 

 Mai-Aout 19(15. Paris 1907. Ymer 1905. Heft 3, p. 342. 



- The exact latitude determined by Capt. J. P. Koch is 76°39.7'. 



' The Danmark Expedition has shown, however, that the Duke was mis- 

 taken, as Gape Bismarck really lies on tlie mainland. 



