In 1856 he joined the Austro-Hungarian Navy (Kriegsmarine) as a provisional sea cadet. He served in the 1859 war. From 1860 to 1862 he served on the frigate Radetzky under the command of Admiral Tagetthoff. From 1863-65 he was instructional officer on the training ship Hussar.
On July 23, 1865 he became known to the German geographer August Petermann at a meeting of the "Geographic Society" in Frankfurt.
He served in the July 20 1866 sea battle at Lissa aboard the battleship Drache.
In 1868 he had to hand over the leadership of the first German polar expedition to Karl Holdeway due to ill-health. He met Julius von Payr in 1870. He made a preliminary expedition with Julius von Payer to Novaya Zemlya in 1871.
On February 18, 1872 he gained citizenship in Austro-Hungary.
He co-led with Julius von Payer the 1872-74 Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition on the ship Admiral Tegetthoff which discovered Franz Josef Land in the arctic. It was abandoned in the pack ice. The expedition moved on sledges to go further north, then to open water, and used boats to reach the Black Cape of Novaya Zemlya, where they were able to eventually contact a Russian schooner "Nikolaj" under Captain Feodor Veronin, and get to Vardř Norway, where they took the mail boat south and eventually returned to Vienna.
On September 18, 1875 he addressed the 48th Meeting of German Scientists and Physicians in Graz, Austria. He reported the "basic principles of arctic research" and suggested that fixed arctic observation stations should be established.
In 1879 he presented these ideas, along with George Neumayer's to the 2nd International Congress of Meteorologists in Rome.
In 1881 he died of tuberculosis.
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