Edouard Alfred Martel

*1859-✝1938


A rope dedicated to the Speological Institute in Cluj by Martel.
E. A. Martel on one of his most famous expeditions into Gaping Gill, Yorkshire, Great Britain.
photography
Edouard Alfred Martel. Public Domain.

Edouard Alfred Martel is the father of modern speleology, and famous until today in France. In other countries he is not known, probably because his books were never translated in other languages. He was the first one, who explored caves with a scientific interest. Speleology didn’t exist at this time, and he had no geological background. He felt more like a Geographer, discovering new territory underground.

Martel was a lawyer, but he didn’t like his profession very much. So he used the first possibility to become the first full time caver of history. He bought the ShowcaveGouffre de Padirac and made it a show cave.

Martel organized his cave tours in campaigns that looked like Himalaya expeditions. Many locals were paid to haul heavy equipment. The tours were made by Martel, his friend Lucien Rudaux who made paintings of the expedition, and the blacksmith Louis Armand who was responsible for most of the equipment.


Between 1888 and 1914, Martel organized annual campaigns all over Europe. Some highlights were:


27-JUN-1888 Exploration of the underground river of the ShowcaveAbîme de Bramabiau. Martel made the first through-crossing of the plateau de Camprieu in Southern France. This is often called the birthday of Speleology.
1889 He descended 100 meters into the ShowcaveGouffre de Padirac. Martel and his cousin Gaupillat discovered an underground stream and followed it for 2 km in a dingi.
1895 He travelled to Ireland and England, exploring ShowcaveMarble Arch Cave in Northern Ireland and CaveGaping Ghyll in Yorkshire.
1896 Martel and Louis Armand explored caves on Mallorca, e.g. ShowcaveCuevas del Drach. They were invited by the Archduke Ludwig Salvator, who lived in Miramar.
1897 At the end of an unsuccessful campaign into Les Causses, Louis Armand persuaded Martel to visit a last aven. He discovered a huge chamber with huge Stalagmites. The cave was named ShowcaveAven Armand after its discoverer. It was later developed as a show cave by an association, but Armand was already 5 years dead, when the cave was finally opened to the public in 1927.
1902 The Loi Martel is the first nature protection law which includes the protection of groundwater and caves.
1905 Martel makes the first through trip through the GorgeGorges du Verdon. Although this is not a cave, the tour was very similar to exploring a water cave. Today a trail through the canyon is named after Martel.

Martell is also famous for a nature protection law which is thus called Loi Martel. When he explored the Laberrie chasm in 1891 he drank water from the Graudenc spring, in the 19th century it was still common to do so. But he fell very ill from this water and took many weeks to recover. He again went to the cave, explored upstream and found a sinkhole which was used as a capping facility. The rotting animal corpses were responsible for his sickness. He was very ambitious and soon succeeded in having karst areas included in French legislation as water protection areas. Article 28 was introduced into the law relating to public health on 15-FEB-1902, prohibited the throwing of animal carcasses and putrescible waste into caves. The Loi Martel (Martel Law) was the first nature protection law when it was issued in 1902.

Bibiography

Literature