Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

men, black slaves among them. 134 By comparison, the best ships available to the Copenhagen-
financed expeditions were rather modest vessels. 135
Kratzenstein carried out his plan of going to Trondheim on his private mission to observe the
transit, although Hell had written him a letter from Trondheim in August 1768 trying to
persuade him to go further north. Hell argued that the Sun would – if above the horizon at all
– in any case be extremely low during egress, so from the astronomer‟s point of view it would
be a much better idea for Kratzenstein to station himself further north, for example around the
68 th latitude. 136 Despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that Kratzenstein had personally
experienced the waters north of Trondheim before, 137 he either chose not, or did not manage
to, follow Hell‟s advice. On his way to Trondheim, Kratzenstein fell victim to a shipwreck
134 Apart from the letter of Hagerup to Thott (see preceding footnote), an interesting account of childhood
memories from a merchant who grew up in Hammerfest in the 1760s and 1770s is extant (published in
Finmarksposten. Et Blad for Finmarken og dem, der interessere sig for denne Landsdel 12te Aarg. Nr. 49.
Lørdag den 8de December 1877; cf. Anonymous 1990).
135 Bishop Gunnerus in a letter to Thott, dated Trondheim 16 January 1768 (RA Oslo, “Danske Kancelli […]
Saker vedr. prof. Maximilian Hells reise til Vardøhus for å iaktta Venus […] Pakke DK E36. Hyllenr. 4A 115
62”), speaks of his own ship – with eights pairs of oars and a cabin for eight persons – as “probably the largest
and best” in his entire diocese (“saavidt jeg veed, den störste og beste her i stiftet”). It would require a crew of
sixteen sailors plus two matroser („able seamen‟) and a los („pilot‟). Another option for Maximilianus Hell‟s
expedition would be to hire a vengebåt (a kind of house boat used for transporting civil servants) with six pairs
of oars and room for eight persons in the cabin, Gunnerus argued. In the final event, it was a hired jekt (a singlesailed
vessel commonly used for merchant voyages along the coasts of North Norway) that carried Hell and
Sajnovics on their northbound voyage from Trondheim in the autumn of 1768. This ship had a “rather big cabin”
and a crew of five sailors. In addition to Father Hell and his servant Sebastian Kohl it carried Sajnovics,
Borchgrevink, the cook Caspar Müller, and amtmann Hagerup with his servant, the surgeon Johannes Ripps
(Sajn.s diary, 22 August 1768). In the spring of 1769, on the other hand, the bishop‟s ship was used for
Horrebow/Bützow‟s expedition. After the Danish observers had disembarked at Dønnes, the ship continued to
Hamningberg in Finnmark, where it picked up Hell and his company to bring them back to Trondheim (Sajn.s
diary, 30 June 1769).
136 Hell to Kratzenstein, incomplete draft [Trondheim, August 1768] (facsimile in Hansen & Aspaas 2005,
pp. 112-113): “habebitur contactus internus apparens circiter h. 14. 22′. oritur vero sol die [scripsi; die bis MS]
3 Junij Dronheimij hora 14. m. 23[.] inde colligis dubium valde esse, num contactus internus in egressu
Drontheimij observari poterit, maxime si animadvertas urbem Drontheimiensem montibus sat altis
cir[c]umseptam qui ortum solis integro horæ quadrante retardare possunt. sapienter igitur et provide feceris, si
locum observationis Tibi eligas 30 aut 40 milliaribus Drontheimio septentionem versus distantem, circa gradum
latitudinis 68º, in mappa Wangensteeniana plura reperiuntur loca, in quibus habentur Ecclesiæ Prædicatorum, è
quibus unum Tuæ stationi commodissimum facile reperies” = “The interior contact of Venus with the limb of the
Sun will take place approximately 2.22 am. The Sun rises, however, at 2:23 am in Trondheim on 3 June. Thus,
You see that it is highly uncertain, whether the interior contact of egress will be feasible to observe in
Trondheim, especially if You take into account that the city of Trondheim is surrounded by rather high
mountains which may delay sunrise by an entire quarter of an hour. You will therefore act wisely if You choose
a site some 30 or 40 miles further north, around the latitude of 68 degrees; on the map of Wangenstein several
places are found where churches of priests are at hand. You will easily find among these places the one which is
most suitable for Your station”. Hell‟s prediction for the sunrise fits rather well with a table in the Trondheim
newspaper K. alleene privileg. Trondhiems Adresse-Cont. Efterretning., 1768. No. 10. Fredagen d. 11 Mart.,
where it is stated that sunrise will take place in Trondheim at 2.18 am on 3 June 1768.
137 In 1752, Kratzenstein embarked upon a sea voyage from Arkhangelsk, along the coasts of Norway and
Denmark and through the Baltic to St. Petersburg on behalf of Russia (at the time, he was employed as an
professor at the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg), see Snorrason 1974, pp. 84-85.
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