Sea to the mouths of the Ob and Yenisei. The ships reached their destinations and returned safely. This was considered an important step in the development of the Kara Sea sector of the Northern Sea Route. Sverdrup also has an unsuccessful business venture in Cuba, a plantation project in the Oriente Province in 1904. Later life and legacy The last years of his life he lived in Sandvika, at the property Homewood on a hill overlooking the town. He died in November 1930. A statue of Sverdrup was erected in Steinkjer in 1957, and in 1999 a statue of Sverdrup was erected in Sandvika, in the square named after him, Otto Sverdrups plass. In 2008, the Royal Norwegian Navy commissioned the HNoMS Otto Sverdrup, a Nansen class frigate, in honor of the mariner and explorer. He was made a Commander 1st Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1896, and promoted to Grand Cross in 1902. In addition, he was awarded gold medals from the Norwegian Geographical Society in 1889 and the Royal Geographical Society in 1903, and received an honorary degree at the University of St Andrews. Sverdrup had also been made a Knight 1st Class of the Prussian Order of the Crown in 1902, but in an open letter to the German legation in Oslo on 25 October 1917 declared that he was returning the order in protest against the unrestricted warfare then being waged by the German U-boats in the First World War, causing the deaths of hundreds of Norwegian sailors. The day before Sverdrup's return of his order, fellow explorer Roald Amundsen had also returned his German awards. References Further reading Guldborg Søvik og Lars Hole Der isen aldri går. Et år i Otto Sverdrups rike , 2001 William Barr, Otto Sverdrup to the rescue of the Russian Imperial Navy. External links 1854 births 1930 deaths Explorers of the Arctic Explorers of Canada Norwegian expatriates in Cuba Norwegian planters Norwegian polar explorers Norwegian sailors People from Bærum People from Bindal People from Steinkjer