Johan Alfred Björling

Johan Alfred Björling (19 October 1871 – 1892/1893) was a Swedish botanist and Arctic explorer.

In the summer of 1889 as a 17‑year‑old, he led an expedition along with two companions to become the first to climb Kebnekaise, the highest mountain in Sweden.

His planned to survey the largely unexplored polar basin at the northern tip of North America.

His route passed through Newfoundland, where he bought a schooner called Ripple for the trip north.

The next time people heard about the company was through a telegram, sent in November 1893 by the whaler Aurora, which stated that the ship had passed the wrecks of Ripple on June 17 of that year at the mouth of Smith Sound.