Alexander Kuchin

Who was Alexander Kuchin?

Alexander Stepanovich Kuchin was a young Russian oceanographer and Arctic explorer.

Hailing from a humble background, Alexander Kuchin became a seaman in a Norwegian ship already when he was seventeen. The young man loved the Norwegian language, which he mastered in one year.

In 1907 Alexander Kuchin worked in Bergen, at a Norwegian Biological Station, becoming a student of oceanography expert Professor Bjorn Helland-Hansen. Meanwhile his enthusiasm for the Norwegian language was such that he wrote a “Small Russian-Norwegian dictionary” in order to share his knowledge with his compatriots.

In 1910–1911 Alexander Kuchin was the only foreigner on Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole on the Fram. He made numerous observations in the Southern Atlantic as an oceanographer and navigator. After his return to Norway, in December 1911, Alexander Kuchin married 18-year-old Aslaug Poulson, the daughter of a prominent Norwegian journalist.

In 1912 Kuchin returned to Russia, where he joined Vladimir Rusanov’s expedition as captain of the ship Gerkules to Svalbard. This expedition’s goal was to investigate the coal potential of the Archipelago.