Leffingwell, Ernest De Koven

He was interested in Arctic exploration.

He led the science staff in the 1901 Baldwin-Ziegler Polar Expedition, which failed in its attempt to reach the North Pole from Franz Josef Land. On this expedition, he became friends with Danish explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen.

He participated in the Anglo-American Polar Expedition of 1906-08 which was funded by his wealthy father and by friends of Mikkelsen in the UK and New York.

He was a doctoral candidate when he left for Alaska in 1906, but apparently did not complete the degree. Their ship, the Dutchess of Bedford, was locked in pack ice and destroyed, but they salvaged the wood to build a cabin which Leffingwell used intermittently through 1914. Mikkelson returned to the US in 1907, but Leffingwell remained on the arctic coast for another year.

In 1909-1910 he served as Master of the gasoline yawl Argo on a voyage to Flaxman Island Alaska.

He returned to the North Slope 1909-1912 and 1913-1914, working with one assistant to map 250 km of the arctic coast, and the Canning River valley .

During the Spanish-American War he served as a Seaman on the US battleship Oregon on its voyage around Cape Horn and in the Battle of Santiago.

Leffingwell Glacier (AK); Leffingwell Creek (AK); Leffingwell Crags (NT);