Hansen was a Norwegian sailor and came to Seattle in 1922 for a polar exploration voyage that he had applied for in 1921. The ship "Maud" left Seattle on June 10, 1922. She traveled through Nome and Point Hope, Alaska to the arctic ice packs where they stayed for 13 months taking temperature measurements, measurements of ice depths, etc. They tried to get out of the ice packs in autumn 1923 but had to winter along the Siberian Islands until July, 1924, when they sailed along the Siberian coast and out of the ice.
From the guide to the A. K. Larssen papers, 1957-1980, (University of Washington Libraries Special Collections)