Old British flag found on remote Arctic island: but who brought it there, and when?

The site on Alger Island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago is a unique historical monument to Arctic explorers of the early 20th century. 

This was the base camp of a failed attempt to reach the North Pole by US meteorologist Evelyn Baldwin with his vessel America.

An extraordinary collection of items from the polar expedition were preserved at the site - numbering some 180 of historic significance .

Yevgeny Yermolov, head of the Russian Arctic National Park's history and cultural heritage department, said: 'These included tools, parts of the America boat, harnesses for dogs and ponies.'

Remains of the Baldwin expedition's camp base in the Arctic. Pictures: Yevgeny Yermolov, Alexey Ananev

There were 'samples of preserved foods that we found very incredibly interesting as they show technologies of product canning at the beginning of the 20th century.

'We found packs of dry eggs powder, grated green peas, paper boxes made of starch, which were used to keep grain, sweets and fried coffee beans.

'There were also - unexpectedly for us - multiple glass bottles with eye balsam. We think it was supposed to help expedition members to fight 'snow blindness'.

'Found, too, were cutlery, metal and ceramic dishes, glasses rims, warm mittens. 

'There were pony harnesses - the expedition discovered a yoke and a part of a saddle which has reins passing through it. 

'Since the expedition aimed to reach the North Pole, on board were 450 dogs and 16 ponies. 

'This was the most ambitious and the best-equipped expedition in the history of developing the archipelago and the Arctic.

'Dog sleds which was a traditional Eskimo way of moving about, proved themselves to be working really well. 

'As for the Siberian ponies, they didn't justify themselves as draft power and were quickly dying from cold air temperatures and strong winds.'

The America yacht, pictured in 1903, and finds from the summer expedition: a wooden box cover, a set of cutlery, grain boxes made of starch, eye balsam and a pony harness. Pictures: Library of Congress, Yevgeny Yermolov

Yevgeny Yermolov said that the biggest surprise of the summer expedition was the discovery of a Union Jack - the British flag. Given that the expedition was American with the US and Norwegian team members, it wasn't supposed to be there. 

Although holed after more than 115 years, he said it had 'preserved well' in the biting Arctic climate.

How did it get there? 

There was no known British encampment on Algen Island, yet there maybe an explanation. 

On the way here, from Norway, the expedition had stopped at Cape Flora to restock supplies. 

The map of the Baldwin-Ziegler expedition, the crew and Evelyn Baldwin, pictured at the end of 19th century. Pictures: Library of Congress 

It was exactly here 20 years earlier that Benjamin 'Ben' Leigh Smith's vessel Eira sank when it became trapped between two giant ice floes. 

The intrepid explorer and his crew of 25 were forced to spend ten months including a bitter winter in the Franz Josef Land archipelago.

Known as Britain's 'forgotten explorer' because he shunned the self-promotion of Victorian rivals, he led his men the following year in four lifeboats with sails made from salvaged tablecloths on a  perilous crossing to Novaya Zemlya where they were rescued.

Intriguingly it was recently reported that the wreck of the Eira was found at Cape Flora, and there are hopes of a dive to the site next year.

There was an urgent need to survey the site on Alger Island because the land is literally being washed away - an example of how the warmer climate is radically changing the Arctic landscape. 

In 1990, the distance between camp's houses and the shore was 39 metres, today the waterline is just 6 metres away from the ruins. 

Ruins of the Baldwin-Ziegler polar expedition base camp on the Alger Island. Pictures: Alexey Ananev