Storker Theodor Storkerson

Storker Theodor Storkerson was born on 26 June 1883 in Norway. At the age of sixteen, he registered as a seaman in the Merchant Navy, later serving as mate on the Anglo-American Polar Expedition, 1906-1908 (leader Ernest de Koven Leffingwell), which charted the continental shelf north of Alaska. He returned north to continue the surveys of the north coast of Alaska on the United States Scientific Expedition, 1909-1912 (leader Ernest de Koven Leffingwell), serving as an assistant from 1909 until 1910. Storkerson then lived with his wife on the Mackenzie River Delta until February 1914 when he joined the Northern Division of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-1918 (leader Vilhjalmur Stefansson), following the loss of the expedition ship Karluk in January 1914. Between 1914 and 1915, Storkerson explored the Beaufort Sea with Stefansson and Ole Andreasen, discovering Bernard Island and Brock Island. When Stefansson fell ill in 1918, Storkerson took over command of the ice-drift party, which camped on the ice and drifted for nine months over a large area of the Beaufort Sea, taking depth soundings and current measurements.

After the expedition, Storkerson joined Stefansson in establishing the Hudson's Bay Reindeer Company to introduce reindeer on a commercial scale to Baffin Island. After this venture proved unsuccessful, Storkerson returned to Norway in 1921 to establish his own private reindeer business. Following the failures of both his private business and his attempt to mount a North Polar expedition, Storkerson suffered a breakdown and was placed in an asylum in Norway. He died on 22 March 1940 at Sørøysund, Norway.