Glói´s destiny in Greenland

I came across a picture the other day with information about an expedition to Greenland that I had actually heard about before, but mainly in connection with the use of Icelandic horses in that context. What caught my attention was an Icelandic dog in the picture, and I decided to learn more about this story.

After a short search, I found a narrative by Vigfús Sigurðsson of his journey with Capt. J. P. Koch, Dr. Alfred Wegener, and Lars Larsen in one of the world's harshest environments during the Danish expedition of 1912–1913, to Dronning Louise Land in northeast Greenland and across the Greenland ice sheet to Kangersuatsiaq on the west coast, which was then called Pröven.

I acquired the ebook "Across Greenland: Struggle for Survival and Exploration with J.P. Koch & Alfred Wegener" but also found an original edition in an antique bookstore, which I bought.

This expedition is unusual because the expedition members used Icelandic horses to pull sleds with equipment and supplies from the coast to the glacier and across the Greenland ice cap to the west coast. They also conducted scientific measurements. Dr. Alfred Wegener had already published scientific papers on his theory of continental drift, which would later revolutionize the understanding of the movement of the earth's crust.

Accompanying the expedition was the Icelandic dog Glói: "On the evening of July 6th (1912), everything was ready. The horses were on board and secured on the deck. We had gained a new travel companion, a small yellow dog with a white chest, who went by the name Glói. He didn't seem to be much of a model dog in terms of intelligence, but that mattered little; he was only there to add to the companionship..."

In Vigfús's book, Glói is often mentioned, and various incidents are described, such as when a musk was killed to provide meat for Glói, when Glói warned of a polar bear, when he got lost after a glacier flood, how his bed was made, and how Glói saved the four men from starvation when he was slaughtered.

I will definitely compile some stories about Glói and more pictures I found to create a special story about him in the story section of this website. I am so fascinated by the story of this dog, and I feel it needs to be made more visible.

You can also read Alfred Wegener's diaries and his account of Glói.

Picture: Alfred Wegener

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