Mikkelsen, Ejnar (1880-1971)

Danish polar explorer. He took part in many expeditions of exploration to the North Atlantic, Greenland, Franz Josef Land, and Alaska. In 1907 he was instrumental in helping to disprove the polar land theory, when at 72° N latitude and 150° W longitude a deep sounding failed to reach the bottom. Setting out on an expedition to Greenland in 1909, he and Iversen were presumed dead when they became separated from the rest of their party, but they managed to reach Europe in 1912.

The 1909 expedition to Greenland was a search for the records of the 1902-04 Mylius-Erichsen expedition to study the Inuit of Kap York. The main body of the expedition returned without Mikkelsen and Iversen. The two spent the winter of 1911-12 on Bass Rock, near Shannon Island, before reaching Europe.

Mikkelsen commanded the colonizing expeditions to Scoresbysund in 1924 and southeast Greenland in 1932. He was inspector of East Greenland 1933-39 and 1945-50.

He published Conquering the Arctic Ice (1909), Lost in the Arctic (1913), the novel John Dale (1921), Norden for Lov og Ret/Frozen Justice, a Story of Alaska (1922). Other works include a five-volume autobiography, of which two volumes have been translated into English: Mirage in the Arctic (1955), and Two against the Ice (1957).