An entry in the museum’s accession register piques my interest. “Shoes worn by Nils Nilsen on an expedition to Greenland, led by French count.” My investigations lead to a rollercoaster of events during the French-Norwegian expedition while Europe is at the brink of war.
By Jitse Jonathan Buitink // Andøy Museum
There is a history behind every object, but some objects hide more than others. The Andøy Museum is full of objects and stories of people from Andøy who didn’t lead typical lives.
Weapons are exciting objects to investigate, and they spark interest and debate. I came across the story I am about to tell while I was trying to discover how the museum received a so-called P14 rifle. I was hoping to find more evidence to suggest that one or more of the Nøis-brothers participated behind enemy lines during the Allied invasion towards the end of World War 2.
But the history of the rifle will have to wait for a bit. Over 1 million of these rifles were produced, and many ended up in Norway, so the job might be bigger than I first thought.
The brothers’ adventures are almost infinite. And while I was reading old accession registers, I found an entry: “Article number 178 and 179” with the following text:
“Shoes worn by Nils Nilsen, Risøyhamn, on a sleigh ride across Northeast Greenland winter of 1938-39. Expedition leader: French count, Gaston Micard”
Very little is written about Nils. We know that he lived in Myrland, and that he was the brother of Hilmar and Edvin. Written in “Polarboken 2009 – 2010” is the following:
“Hilmar’s younger brothers were trained by him to be professional trappers during their youth between the world wars. We first meet Nils as a sailor under skipper Daniel Nøis, but in 1923 he decided to winter as a trapper with Hilmar. He was a winterer continuously until 1930. In 1939, Nils was in Greenland. Gaston Micard, a french duke was probably also present in his trapping party. Nils brought his wife Dagny with him for three winterings in the period of 1927-1930. Nils settled down in Myrland in Andøy, also as a smallholder. He had eight winterings.”(by John Eldar Pedersen //nordpol.no).
A young Nils Nøis. Photo borrowed from the family.
In Kjell Fjørtofts book, «Kongen av Sassen» (The King of Sassen) you can read:
“There is one thing that is conspicuous when you look through the official records of those who through the years have wintered in trapping cabins on Svalbard. The strong dominance of the Nøis-family from Andøya. In total, 14 men and 4 women from this family would winter as trappers. Together they strongly influenced the unique trapping environment in Svalbard. Every other trapper could count on the fact that one or more of the Nøis people would show up when fall arrived. They were skilled people who constantly participated in the battle to be first. Tough. Hardworking. Known to always settle their debts. This is why they get credit where others don’t.”
They used both Nøis and Nilsen, but in the family were also people named Pettersen, Paulsen, Klausen, and other names. Nils was born in 1898 and used Nøis as a last name when he was in Svalbard and Greenland.
THE FRENCH-NORWEGIAN EXPEDITION TO NORTHEAST GREENLAND
The expedition, which was named The French-Norwegian expedition to Northeast Greenland, started as an idea by Willy Knutsen. The year before, he had taken his first trip with the ship “Quest” and had shown a lot of the experienced Arctic Ocean sailors that he had good qualities and skills for the Arctic Ocean. He wintered in a cabin with Karl Nicolaisen from Tromsø. Both of them were young, but Karl, or Kalle, as he was called, had been trapping since he was 15 years old. The “Quest”-expedition was financed by Count Gaston Micard. The aging count also finances the new expedition.
They buy the polar expedition ship “Ringsel” and rename it “En Avant” in the count’s honor. “En Avant” is French for “Forward”, alluding to “Fram”.
Nicolaisen was appointed skipper by Knutsen, who was tasked with finding the crew. Nils is hired in Tromsø as a trapper. Exactly how these two came in contact is unknown to me, but Nicolaisen spent a lot of time in Svalbard during the time before “Quest”.
He wintered in 1934/35 in the Ritter-cabin in Gråhuken in Svalbard, with the soon to be notorious Herman Ritter, and his wife. The cabin was built by Hilmar Nøis around ten years previous. It’s fair to assume that Nils got to know Kalle here. Hilmar had regular contact with the Ritters while they were in Svalbard, and the couple also visited Hilmar’s Fredheim.
Check out this story about Taubane-Søren.
Knutsen did not write a lot about Nils in the book, which was published in the 1990’s. The shoes were also not mentioned, but this picture is of Count Gaston on “Quest” the previous year. They almost look like the shoes that are in the museum. The count always brought his colorful parasol with him, which the crew would make a big deal out of. The parasol was gifted to Gaston’s grandfather for building a railway in Ethiopia, by the Ethiopian emperor. Gaston has no descendents, from what I could find. He supposedly said that had been cured from his interest in women early.
Even though he isn’t mentioned much in the book, he is highlighted as a person that the others could trust. It tells of how he saved several of the crew from death by gas, and how he procured food.
Greenland at this time was still perceived by many as “should be Norwegian”. Knutsen had therefore clarified for the Danish authorities that this was not a colonization trip, but a research trip to discover new trapping grounds, which was allowed according to the agreement between Norway and Denmark. For this reason, Nils is one of the most important people aboard. Everyone needed a specific relevant job to be allowed to travel.
However, a Danish expedition was readied and it became like a race. Knutsen doesn’t pay much mind to this, other than to acquire a plane, which the Danes also did. But the plane is lost before the journey. Helmer Hanssen from Bjørnskinn, also a well-known polar explorer, approves the ship and crew, and toasts to their success. Crown Prince Olav sends a telegram wishing them well.
The journey to Greenland goes well and the expedition is a success. They establish a trapping station named after the count, Micardbu. This would later be of great interest to the Germans during the war.
You can also read about: Soldier nr.4859 Alf Natland
THE FIRST AIR AMBULANCE FLIGHT TO GREENLAND
Nils had many expeditions with dog sleds and on skis in the winter of 1938/39. He also hunts polar bears. At one occasion he shoots two sows. When they go to collect them, they are surprised by four cubs that they bring with them. The plan is to sell them to zoos in Europe, but the cubs run away during a storm.
The count is happy and wants to eat polar-bear-tartare. After this, the count becomes gravely ill. A large drama unfolds and all of Europe holds its breath while the count is suffering in the icy wasteland. The newspapers wrote that the Norwegian crew had left the count for dead. This is the opposite of what really happened.
The first rescue operation by plane to Greenland commenced, and Count Micard was saved. The count was operated for kidney stones, supposedly they removed a whole cup of them, in Oslo. That would be his final expedition.
Nils’s final expeditions were with the Norwegian Coastal Express from Risøyhamn to Harstad for every birthday of his great grandson with the same name, Nils Petter Andreas Nilsen. He died at 85 years of age and made it to four birthdays.
Sources:
«Mitt Arktisk» by Willy Knutsen
«En kvinne i Polarnatten» by Christiane Ritter
Nordpol.no
Nils Petter A. Nilsen (great grandson) – Thank you for lending us the photos
Nasjonalbiblioteket // nb.no