Alexander Francis Henry von Tunzelmann | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1877-06-15)15 June 1877 Nelson, New Zealand |
| Died | 19 September 1957(1957-09-19) (aged 80) Invercargill, New Zealand |
| Occupation | Crew member of whaling ship |
| Children | 5 |
Alexander Francis Henry von Tunzelmann (15 June 1877 – 19 September 1957), aNew Zealand crew member of the Norwegian whaling shipAntarctic was part of the first group known with certainty to have set foot on the mainland[1] ofAntarctica—atCape Adare on 24 January 1895. It is possible that the Anglo-American sealerJohn Davis achieved this feat 74 years earlier, on 7 February 1821, but his journal entry is open to interpretation.
Alexander's ancestors were the von Tunzelmann family who migrated fromPrussia toEstonia where they were members of the BalticGerman Ritterschaft or nobility. Two brothers and a sister from the family settled in New Zealand.
He was born inNelson and died inInvercargill. He had five children.
The voyage of the whaling shipAntarctic, captained byLeonard Kristensen and financed byHenrik Johan Bull, put a boat ashore on 24 January 1895 in the vicinity ofCape Adare, at the northern extremity of theVictoria Land. The boat held six men, including Kristensen, Bull,Carsten Borchgrevink, and the 17-year-old von Tunzelmann. All of them set foot on land within moments of each other, so credit is sometimes given, or claimed for each.[1][2][3][4]
In 1984, the place von Tunzelmann landed was officially named Von Tunzelmann Point by the New Zealand Antarctic Place Names Committee.[5]