Benjamin Leigh Smith

Benjamin Leigh Smith, b. 1828 – d. 1913, was a British yachtsman and Arctic explorer. Between 1871 and 1882 Mr. Smith undertook no less than five scientific expeditions to Svalbard and Franz Josef Land.

Benjamin Leigh Smith was shipwrecked at Cape Flora, Northbrook Island (Franz Josef Land), in 1881. He discovered and named Brochøya, Foynøya, and 31 other points in northeast Svalbard. Despite his expertise in the Arctic, Benjamin Leigh Smith's work has received little attention.

Benjamin Leigh Smith was born in East Sussex, England, on 12 March 1828 into a wealthy and politically progressive family. His father, also named Benjamin, was a Member of Parliament for three years and encouraged his children to independent travel as well as thought. Leigh Smith entered Cambridge at twenty, where he was reputed a good shot and yachtsman. He earned BA (1857) and Master’s (1861) degrees, and was admitted to the Bar but did not practice. Leigh Smith did not marry until age fifty-nine, to Charlotte Seller, a woman some thirty years younger. They had one son, Philip. Despite the active scientific research practiced on his polar expeditions, Leigh Smith published no detailed account of his expeditions. A very private individual, he published no memoir and was despite his accomplishments largely forgotten by the time of his death at Hampstead on January 4, 1913.

Among the geographical features named for him are a kapp (cape) and breen (glacier) in Svalbard, a sound in Franz Josef Land, as well as Ostrov Li-Smita (Leigh-Smith Island), lying east of Hooker Island in (Franz Josef Land).

Arctic Exploration Career

Leigh Smith made early geographical surveys of Svalbard and Franz Josef Land between 1871 and 1881. Unlike other contemporary yachtsmen, who organized sailing trips to the Arctic to engage in hunting exotic species and navigating in high latitudes, Leigh Smith was preoccupied with the scientific exploration of the Arctic. A financially and politically independent graduate of Cambridge, he earned a Master’s certificate to gain the competence to sail his own ships. His five expeditions all sought to engage in detailed surveying of uncharted Arctic coastlines, conduct oceanographic research, and gather geological and biological specimens for natural history collections in Britain.

In the summer of 1871, Leigh Smith launched his first Arctic expedition, a geographic and oceanographic exploration of the north coast of Svalbard from the decks of an eighty-five-ton ice-strengthened ketch named "Samson". Samson was guided by a Norwegian sealing skipper and explorer by the name of Erik Andreas Ulve (1833-1896). The "Samson" cleared Bjørnøya and Prince Karls Forland before rounding the northwest corner of Svalbard, sailing across the northern entrance of Hinlopenstretet, and thence along the northern coast of Nordaustlandet as far as a point later named for Leigh Smith. After charting several small islands, Leigh Smith raised his yacht club’s ensign on the flagstaff erected on Parryøya by Pary’s 1827 expedition. The five-month expedition returned to England after gathering an extended series of data on seawater temperatures.

Leigh Smith had "Samson" fitted out for another voyage to the Arctic in 1872. The expedition left Hull on 13 May and at Jan Mayen Land mapped several craters. Sailing for Svalbard, harpooners on board killed and processed two whales and 250 seals. Ice conditions were considerably worse than a year earlier, and "Samson" was damaged and beached for repairs at Widjefjorden. Leigh Smith was forced to make for England in September, without sailing nearly as far to the north and east as during his first expedition. On the latter of these two Arctic voyages Leigh Smith was joined by a Royal Navy Captain, John C. Wells, who collected much of the oceanographic data in the form of soundings, dredgings, ocean temperature readings, and measurements of currents.

In 1873, Leigh Smith chartered James Lamont’s Arctic steamer "Diana", and with "Samson" in reserve attempted to round Svalbard and survey Kong Karls Land. Before being stopped and forced to turn back by ice at Kapp Platen, Leigh Smith succeeded in relieving A.E. Nordenskiöld’s Swedish expedition, beset the previous year near Mosselbukta. In addition to their pioneering Arctic oceanographic research, these three expeditions were critical in establishing the coastline and eastern extent of Nordaustlandet. Leigh Smith’s experiences with varying ice conditions north of Svalbard, as well as his apparent desire to see how far north he could force a properly equipped screw steamer, likely factored into the design and construction of Eira. This 125 ft screw barkentine would take Leigh Smith on two pioneering expeditions to Franz Josef Land, so recently discovered by the Austro-Hungarian Tegetthoff expedition of 1872-74.

Leigh Smith’s plans to explore Jan Mayen Land and the northeastern coast of Greenland in the summer of 1880 were thwarted by fog and ice, as was his attempt to pass beyond Amsterdamøya off Northwest Spitsbergen. Leigh Smith, showing an admirable flexibility in the execution of his research cruise, made for the known parts of Franz Josef Land. The archipelago was sighted on 14 August. From a point about seventy-five kilometers west of Wilczek Island, Leigh Smith surveyed westward.

The expedition charted the shorelines of McClintock, May, Hooker, Etheridge, Bruce, and Northbrook islands (the latter of which Leigh Smith named after the late president of the Royal Geographical Society), as well as parts of George Land and Alexandra Land. A striking amphitheater-like natural anchorage was discovered between Bell and Mabel islands and named Eira Harbour. Before returning to Svalbard in September and home to England in October, Leigh Smith surveyed 176 km of coast and extended geographical knowledge of the Franz Josef Land archipelago by 9° of longitude. Marine organisms dredged from Franz Josef Land waters, as well as flora and geological specimens collected on various islands, were sent to the British Museum, and two live polar bear cubs captured and delivered to the London Zoological Gardens. The Royal Geographical Society rewarded Leigh Smith’s success with its patron’s gold medal.

The following year Leigh Smith attempted a return voyage to Franz Josef Land with the same ship and a similar number of crew. Finding the ice fast around the archipelago, Leigh Smith had a prefabricated storehouse named Eira Lodge erected at Eira Harbour. Leigh Smith intended to search eastwards for the lost American Jeannette expedition, but ice conditions forced him ashore at Cape Flora where, on 21 August 1881, Eira was nipped by the ice and sunk in eleven fathoms. The crew salvaged about two month’s supplies from the research vessel before it sank, so the prospect of overwintering was not as bleak as it could have been. A stone hut, “Flora Cottage,” was constructed in a fortnight, and further supplies were fetched from Eira Lodge in September. The following June, Leigh Smith and his men in four boats set off through gaps in the pack ice. After a difficult voyage, they gained the beach at Matockkin Shar at Novaya Zemlya, on 2 August. The next day, dressed for the occasion in their best yachting clothes, they sighted and were rescued by relief ships sent from England to search for them. His active exploration career at an end, Leigh Smith continued to take an interest in the exploration of polar regions. He supported whaling expeditions to the Antarctic, and promoted Eira Harbour as the ideal staging area for a British attempt on the North Pole. The latter challenge was taken up, albeit unsuccessfully, by Frederick G. Jackson and the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition of 1894-97.

References

* P.J. Capelotti. 2008. “Benjamin Leigh Smith’s second Arctic expedition: Svalbard and Jan Mayen, 1872,” "Polar Record" 44 (3): 255-264.
* P.J. Capelotti. 2006. “Benjamin Leigh Smith’s first Arctic expedition, Svalbard, 1871,” "Polar Record" 42 (220): 1-14.
* Markham C.R., "The Voyage of the Eira and Mr. Leigh-Smith's Arctic Discoveries in 1880". Proceed. of the Royal Geographical Society. 1881
*Markham C.R., "Second Voyage of the Eira to Franz Joseph Land", Proceed. of the Royal Geographical Society. 1883