I don't wanna brag, but I will. Ha. I once explored one of the harshest lands in the
world, figured out how to dig myself out of a death-trap, and also brawled with a polar
bear. Oh, and I played in a movie that got an Oscar. Okay, that wasn't actually me. It
was one of the most interesting people in history – Peter Freuchen. Check this out.
The life of this Danish explorer was full of wild adventures that Hollywood action movies
can’t even compare to. By the way, he was 6'7'' (2 m) tall, which made this giant, powerful
man look like a real hero; and he really was. But let's not get ahead of the story!
Peter Freuchen was born in 1886, in the town of Nykøbing Falster, in Denmark. His father
was a wealthy businessman who hoped that his son would have respectful career. At first,
Freuchen obeyed his father’s wish and went to the University of Copenhagen to study medicine.
But soon he realized that an ordinary life just wasn’t for him; he craved danger. And,
oh, boy, did he get what he wanted! Freuchen dropped out of the university, not
knowing that two years of studying medicine would save his life one day. The beginning
of the 20th century was a time when explorers were immensely interested in the Arctic. It’s
no wonder that Freuchen ended up joining one of these expeditions. In 1906, he and some
other members of the Denmark expedition sailed north as far as possible, then left the ship
and continued traveling 600 miles (966 km) by dogsled, exploring the uncharted wilderness
of Greenland and the North Pole. Freuchen served there as a meteorological assistant,
gathering different geographic information. As you can guess, life there was anything
but easy. Imagine living in a hut where there’s no one within miles. Only frigid cold and,
well, lurking wolves. That’s how Freuchen spent most of his time.
But the harshness of the Arctic land didn’t scare him. On the contrary, it intrigued him.
During the expedition, which lasted 2 years, he met with the Inuit people. They taught
him their language and took him to hunt walruses, whales, seals, and even polar bears. Allegedly,
Freuchen was once attacked by a polar bear. But the ferocious animal was no match for
the tough man. Freuchen killed it with his bare hands, then made himself a pretty staggering
fur coat. But that was only the first time he had to face death.
Freuchen eventually became close with Knud Rasmussen, who was an anthropologist and Arctic
explorer, often called “the father of Eskimology.” The two men developed a strong friendship,
sharing a love for dangerous experiences. When the expedition was over, Freuchen came
back home to Denmark, but only for a very short time. In 1910, Peter, together with
Rasmussen, established the Thule Trading Station at Cape York, Greenland, to serve as a trading
port. After some time, Thule became the home base for several expeditions (aptly called
The Thule Expeditions) between 1912 and 1933. One of those expeditions cost him a leg but
I’ll come back to that in a minute. Trade was too boring for Freuchen and Rasmussen,
so they started to explore the island actively. During their stay with the Inuit, they explored
most of the territory, travelling more than 6,200 miles (10 000 km) on a dogsled. The
men crossed the Greenland ice sheet, found a site of ancient people, made several geographical
discoveries and were able to draw a detailed map of Greenland. While staying there, Freuchen
also married an Inuit woman and studied the culture of her people, becoming an expert.
That’s why, later, he gave lectures on it during his short visits home and wrote several
books about their life and traditions. His knowledge of their culture would even lead
to him make an Oscar-winning movie. Ah, I’m getting ahead of myself again. Let’s go
back to his life in Greenland. During one of the Thule expeditions, something
both terrible and amazing happened. Freuchen and Rasmussen decided to test American explorer
Robert Peary’s infamous claim that a channel divided Greenland from Peary Land. They proved
it to be false, but almost died on their 620 mile trek into the heart of the frozen continent.
On their journey, they were caught up in a violent blizzard. Freuchen took shelter under
a dogsled, but the storm was so powerful that he was buried completely under the snow, which
started turning into ice. The ice was so tightly packed around him that his beard was frozen
to it. The man found himself trapped in a tiny cave, unable to escape because he didn’t
have any daggers or spears with him. He tried to break the ice with his own hands but failed.
The situation was becoming more and more critical with every minute. If Freuchen didn’t find
a way to break free soon he could die from of lack of oxygen. But, knowing there was
no one to rescue him, his will to survive kicked in. Freuchen made a dagger out of his
own feces, which froze solid and became hard enough to help him dig his way out. Now that’s
probably the most bizarre survival story I’ve ever heard! Talk about ingenious solutions!
But that was only the first part of his ordeal. When he got back to the camp, he noticed that
his two toes looked almost black because of severe frostbite. It’s no wonder, by the
way, since the average temperature in Greenland was around -12 F (- 25 C). Freuchen realized
that the toes had turned gangrenous, which meant that his life was in danger. Yeah, again.
Obviously, he couldn’t count on getting medical help and the only thing left to do
was to rely on his memory of everything he studied about medicine back in the university.
Without any anesthesia or painkillers, Freuchen had to amputate the toes on his own. Ok, I
can’t even imagine how painful that was! This man was just way too tough! No wonder
the Inuit people called him “Peter the Great”.
Soon he returned to Denmark and went to see a doctor. Unfortunately, the doctor had to
amputate his leg, and Freuchen ended up with a peg. But if you think that it somehow stopped
him from living his wild life, then think again. Of course, at first, he took some time
off from expeditions to recuperate. He settled down on his own island, which he had previously
bought using the money he earned during the trading with the Inuits. Since his first wife
passed away from the flu, Freuchen decided to marry again. Being a man of many talents,
for some time he worked as the editor-in-chief of a magazine that belonged to the family
of his new wife, and wrote books about his adventures in his free time.
However, in 1932, he finally went back to Greenland. This time, the expedition was financed
by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film-studios. Turned out that Hollywood was interested in the books
about Freuchen’s experiences in The Arctic, and wanted to make a movie based on them.
Freuchen helped to write the screenplay, translated the dialogue into Inuit language, worked as
an interpreter on set, helped the film crew survive, and even played the film’s villain.
A year later, in 1933, the movie, called “Eskimo”, came out and won an Oscar. Freuchen kept working
as a consultant for the film industry and wrote a few other screenplays related to the
Arctic.
But when the Second World War broke out, Freuchen joined the resistance movement and fought
against the invaders. Because of this, he was caught and sentenced to be executed. However,
Freuchen managed to escape and flee to Sweden, and later moved to the US. It still remains
a mystery how he pulled it off, but honestly, I’m not even surprised at this point. I
mean, not like it was the first time he had a brush with death.
In 1945, Freuchen married for the third time since his previous wife decided to stay in
Denmark. He settled in New York, where he gave lectures on his expeditions and went
back to working for the film industry. During the 50s, television became the new cool thing
and Freuchen made an appearance on it taking part in the popular quiz show “The $64,000
Question”. And since the man was not only fearless, but also very smart and lucky, he
won the jackpot on the game, walking away with $64,000. But soon Freuchen got bored
again. The Arctic ice was still calling for him. So he decided to go on another trip to
Alaska. But he had a heart attack while walking up the steps to the plane in Anchorage, Alaska.
Freuchen’s life ended at the age of 71. He remains in the memory of many people as
the Danish legend who proved to the world that nothing is greater than the human spirit.
His ashes were scattered just outside of Thule which was his real home. Wow!
Do you know any other explorers who had many crazy adventures? Let me know down in the
comments! If you learned something new today, then give this video a like and share it with
a friend. But – hey! – don’t go anywhere just
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