His body lies in a black marble sarcophagus in the "Navy Church" at
Copenhagen. The Danish and Norwegian peoples have never ceased to
mourn their idol. He was a sailor with a sailor's faults. But he
loved truth, honor, and courage in foe and friend alike. Like many
seafaring men, he was deeply religious, with the unquestioning faith
of a child. There is a letter in existence written by him to his
father when the latter was on his death-bed that bears witness to
this. He thanks him with filial affection for all his care, and says
naïvely that he would rather have his prayers than fall heir to
twenty thousand daler. His pictures show a stocky, broad-shouldered
youth with frank blue eyes, full lips, and an eagle nose. His deep,
sonorous voice used to be heard, in his midshipman days, above the
whole congregation in the Navy Church. In after years it called
louder still to Denmark's foes. When things were at their worst in
storm or battle, he was wont to shout to his men, "Hi, _now_ we are
having a fine time!" and his battle-cry has passed into the
language. By it, in desperate straits demanding stout hearts, one
may know the Dane after his own heart, the real Dane, the world
over. Among his own Tordenskjold is still and always will be "the
Admiral of Norway's fleet."





HANS EGEDE, THE APOSTLE TO GREENLAND


When in the fall of 1909 the statement was flashed around the world
that the North Pole had at last been reached, a name long unfamiliar