Herbert Schröder-Stranz

Herbert Schröder-Stranz (9 June 1884 – 15 August 1912) was a German officer and explorer of polar regions.

In 1912 a preliminary expedition started aboard of the schooner Herzog Ernst, a ship under the command of Alfred Ritscher and named after Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, the main sponsor of the project.

He changed the initial plans and proposed to cross Spitsbergen's Nordaustlandet from the South to the North, the first expedition to do so.

On 13 August 1912 the Herzog Ernst was halted by pack ice three miles beyond Nordaustlandet's North Cape.

On 15 August 1912 Schröder-Stranz and three crew members disembarked and tried to cross the pack ice, ten miles away from the nearest mainland, with kayaks and sledges.