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Duke of the Abruzzi

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"DUKE OF THE ABRUZZI [Luici AMEDE0] (1873-), Italian vice-admiral and explorer, son of Amedeo, late Duke of Aosta and sometime King of Spain, was born at Madrid Jan. 29 1873. He entered the navy as a cadet and followed a regular naval career in which he achieved great distinction; but he also became well known as an eminent traveller and mountaineer. He was the first to ascend Mt. St. Elias in Alaska (1897), and in 1899 he organized an expedition with the object of reaching the North Pole; although he himself was disabled by frostbite early in 1900 and forced to remain on his ship, the " Stella Polare," Comm. Cagni pushed on with a part of the expedition and reached the lat. of 86° 34', at that time the record of northern exploration. I.n 1906 he was the first to ascend Mt. Ruwenzori in East Africa, reaching the twin summits (16,800 ft.), which he named Margherita and Alexandra, and also the other chief peaks of the range; he made the first detailed map of the Ruwenzori and collected much scientific information about it. In 1909 he explored the Central Karakoram in the Himalayas and by ascending peak K2 achieved the record for height; among other scientific work the expedition completed the map of the great Baltoro glacier. During the Libyan War he commanded a naval squadron in the Adriatic and had various successful engagements with Turkish warships. During the World War he was commander-in-chief of the Italian naval forces, and showed very high qualities of seamanship, strategy and organization in the extremely difficult operations in the Adriatic. He had British and French warships under his orders. He relinquished his command in 1917 owing to disagreements with Adml. Thaon di Revel, chief of the Naval Staff, and retired from the service. Afterwards he undertook an important colonization and agricultural development scheme in Italian Somaliland. He was made a Knight of the Order of the Annunziata.