Roald Amundsen

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (UK: /ˈɑːmʊndsən/, US: /-məns-/;[3][4] Norwegian: [ˈrùːɑɫ
ˈɑ̂ mʉnsən] ⓘ ; 16 July 1872 – c. 18 June 1928) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a
key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amundsen began his career as a polar explorer as first mate on Adrien
de Gerlache's Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899. From 1903 to 1906, he led the first expedition
to successfully traverse the Northwest Passage on the sloop Gjøa. In 1909, Amundsen began planning for
a South Pole expedition. He left Norway in June 1910 on the ship Fram and reached Antarctica in
January 1911. His party established a camp at the Bay of Whales and a series of supply depots on the
Barrier (now known as the Ross Ice Shelf) before setting out for the pole in October. The party of five,
led by Amundsen, became the first to reach the South Pole on 14 December 1911.

Following a failed attempt in 1918 to reach the North Pole by traversing the Northeast Passage on the
ship Maud, Amundsen began planning for an aerial expedition instead. On 12 May 1926, Amundsen and
15 other men in the airship Norge became the first explorers verified to have reached the North Pole.[5][6]
Amundsen disappeared in June 1928 while flying on a rescue mission for the airship Italia in the Arctic.
The search for his remains, which have not been found, was called off that September.

Early life
Amundsen was born into a family of Norwegian shipowners and captains in Borge, between the towns
Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg. His parents were Jens Amundsen and Hanna Sahlqvist. Roald was the fourth
son in the family. His mother wanted him to avoid the family maritime trade and encouraged him to
become a doctor, a promise that Amundsen kept until his mother died when he was aged 21. He promptly
quit university for a life at sea.[7]

Amundsen was in the Uranienborg neighbourhood an occasional childhood playmate of the pioneering
Antarctica explorer Carsten Borchgrevink.[8][9]

When he was fifteen years old, Amundsen was enthralled by reading Sir John Franklin's narratives of his
overland Arctic expeditions. Amundsen wrote "I read them with a fervid fascination which has shaped the
whole course of my life".[10]

Polar treks

Belgian Antarctic Expedition

Amundsen joined the Belgian Antarctic Expedition as
first mate at the age of 25 in 1897. This expedition, led Roald Amundsen
by Adrien de Gerlache using the ship the RV Belgica,
became the first expedition to overwinter in
Antarctica.[11] The Belgica, whether by mistake or
design, became locked in the sea ice at 70°30′S off
Alexander Island, west of the Antarctic Peninsula. The
crew endured a winter for which they were poorly
prepared.

By Amundsen's own estimation, the doctor for the

expedition, the American Frederick Cook, probably
saved the crew from scurvy by hunting for animals and
feeding the crew fresh meat. In cases where citrus
fruits are lacking, raw meat – particularly offal – from
animals often contains enough vitamin C to prevent
scurvy.[12] Amundsen c. 1923
Born Roald Engelbregt Gravning
Amundsen
The Northwest Passage
16 July 1872[1]
In 1903, Amundsen led the first expedition to traverse Borge, Østfold, Norway
Canada's Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and
Disappeared 18 June 1928 (aged 55)
Pacific oceans. He planned a small expedition of six
Barents Sea
men in a 45-ton fishing vessel, Gjøa, to have
flexibility. His ship had relatively shallow draft. His Occupation Explorer
technique was to use a small ship and hug the coast. Known for First to reach the South Pole
Amundsen had the ship outfitted with a small and the North Pole
13 horsepower single-screw paraffin (diesel) First to navigate the Northwest
engine.[13] Passage

They travelled via Baffin Bay, the Parry Channel and Awards Order of St. Olav (1906)[2]
then south through Peel Sound, James Ross Strait, Hubbard Medal (1907)
Simpson Strait and Rae Strait. They spent two winters Order of Franz Joseph (1907)
at King William Island, in the harbor of what is today Charles P. Daly Medal (1912)
Gjoa Haven.[11][13] During this time, Amundsen and
Vega Medal (1913)
the crew learned from the local Netsilik Inuit about
Arctic survival skills, which he found invaluable in his Congressional Gold Medal
later expedition to the South Pole. For example, he (1928)
learned to use sled dogs for the transport of goods and Signature
to wear animal skins in lieu of heavy, woolen parkas,
which could not keep out the cold when wet.

Leaving Gjoa Haven, he sailed west and passed

Cambridge Bay, which had been reached from the west by Richard Collinson in 1852. Continuing to the
south of Victoria Island, the ship cleared the Canadian Arctic Archipelago on 17 August 1905. It had to
stop for the winter before going on to Nome on Alaska's Pacific coast. The nearest telegraph station was
500 mi (800 km) away in Eagle. Amundsen travelled there
overland to wire a success message on 5 December, then returned
to Nome in 1906. Later that year he was elected to the American
Antiquarian Society.[14]

Amundsen learned of the dissolution of the union between

Norway and Sweden, and that he had a new king. The explorer
sent the new king, Haakon VII, news that his traversing the
Northwest Passage "was a great achievement for Norway".[15] He
said he hoped to do more and signed it "Your loyal subject, Roald
Amundsen".[15] The crew returned to Oslo in November 1906,
after almost three and a half years abroad. Gjøa was returned to
Norway in 1972. After a 45-day trip from San Francisco on a bulk
carrier, she was placed on land outside the Fram Museum in Oslo,
where she is now situated inside her own building at the
museum.[15]
Roald Amundsen as a young boy in
South Pole Expedition 1875

Amundsen next planned to take an expedition to the North Pole

and explore the Arctic Basin. Finding it difficult to raise funds,
when he heard in 1909 that the Americans Frederick Cook and
Robert Peary had claimed to reach the North Pole as a result of
two different expeditions, he decided to reroute to Antarctica.[16]
He was not clear about his intentions, and Robert F. Scott and the
Norwegian supporters felt misled.[16] Scott was planning his own
expedition to the South Pole that year. Using the ship Fram,
earlier used by Fridtjof Nansen, Amundsen left Oslo for the south
RV Belgica frozen in the ice, 1898
on 3 June 1910.[16][17] At Madeira, Amundsen alerted his men that
they would be heading to Antarctica, and sent a telegram to Scott:
"Beg to inform you Fram proceeding Antarctic – Amundsen."[16]

Nearly six months later, the expedition arrived at the eastern edge of the
Ross Ice Shelf (then known as "the Great Ice Barrier"), at a large inlet
called the Bay of Whales, on 14 January 1911. Amundsen established his
base camp there, calling it Framheim. Amundsen eschewed the heavy
wool clothing worn on earlier Antarctic attempts in favour of adopting
Inuit-style furred skins.[7]

Using skis and dog sleds for transportation, Amundsen and his men
created supply depots at 80°, 81° and 82° South on the Barrier, along a
line directly south to the Pole.[7] Amundsen also planned to kill most of
his dogs on the way and use them as a source for fresh meat. As he went Amundsen c. 1908
he butchered some of the dogs and fed them to the remaining dogs, as well
as eating some himself.[18] A small group, including Hjalmar Johansen,
Kristian Prestrud and Jørgen Stubberud, set out on 8
September, but had to abandon their trek due to extreme
temperatures. The painful retreat caused a quarrel within the
group, and Amundsen sent Johansen and the other two men
to explore King Edward VII Land.

A second attempt, with a team of five made up of Olav

Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, Oscar Wisting
and Amundsen, departed base camp on 19 October. They
took four sledges and 52 dogs. Using a route along the Norwegian flag at the South Pole
previously unknown Axel Heiberg Glacier, they arrived at
the edge of the Polar Plateau on 21 November after a four-
day climb. The team and 16 dogs arrived at the pole on 14
December, a month before Scott's group.[a] Amundsen
named their South Pole camp Polheim. Amundsen renamed
the Antarctic Plateau as King Haakon VII's Plateau. They
left a small tent and letter stating their accomplishment, in
case they did not return safely to Framheim.

The team arrived at Framheim on 25 January 1912, with

11 surviving dogs. They made their way off the continent
and to Hobart, Australia, where Amundsen publicly
announced his success on 7 March 1912. He telegraphed The Three Polar Stars: Amundsen,
news to backers. Shackleton, and Robert Peary, are pictured
in Philadelphia in January 1913
Amundsen's expedition benefited from his careful
preparation, good equipment, appropriate clothing, a simple
primary task, an understanding of dogs and their handling, and the effective use of skis. In contrast to the
misfortunes of Scott's team, Amundsen's trek proved relatively smooth and uneventful.

North Polar Expeditions and the Northeast Passage

The Northeast Passage

In 1918, an expedition Amundsen began with a new ship, Maud,
lasted until 1925. Maud was carefully navigated through the ice
west to east through the Northeast Passage. With him on this
expedition were Oscar Wisting and Helmer Hanssen, both of
whom had been part of the team to reach the South Pole. In
addition, Henrik Lindstrøm was included as a cook. He suffered a
stroke and was so physically reduced that he could not participate.

The goal of the expedition was to explore the unknown areas of

Maud in June 1918
the Arctic Ocean, strongly inspired by Fridtjof Nansen's earlier
expedition with Fram. The plan was to sail along the coast of
Siberia and go into the ice farther to the north and east than Nansen had. In contrast to Amundsen's earlier
expeditions, this was expected to yield more material for academic research, and he carried the
geophysicist Harald Sverdrup on board.

The voyage was to the northeasterly direction over the Kara Sea. Amundsen planned to freeze the Maud
into the polar ice cap and drift towards the North Pole – as Nansen had done with the Fram – and he did
so off Cape Chelyuskin. But, the ice became so thick that the ship was unable to break free, although it
was designed for such a journey in heavy ice. In September 1919, the crew got the ship loose from the
ice, but it froze again after eleven days somewhere between the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island.

During this time, Amundsen suffered a broken arm and was attacked by a polar bear.[20] As a result, he
participated little in the work outdoors, such as sleigh rides and hunting. He, Hanssen, and Wisting, along
with two other men, embarked on an expedition by dog sled to Nome, Alaska, more than 1,000
kilometres (620 mi) away. But they found that the ice was not frozen solid in the Bering Strait, and it
could not be crossed. They sent a telegram from Anadyr to signal their location.

After two winters frozen in the ice, without having achieved the goal of drifting over the North Pole,
Amundsen decided to go to Nome to repair the ship and buy provisions. Several of the crew ashore there,
including Hanssen, did not return on time to the ship. Amundsen considered Hanssen to be in breach of
contract, and dismissed him from the crew.

During the third winter, Maud was frozen in the western Bering Strait. She finally became free and the
expedition sailed south, reaching Seattle, in the American Pacific Northwest in 1921 for repairs.
Amundsen returned to Norway, needing to put his finances in order. He took with him two young
indigenous girls, a four-year-old he adopted, Kakonita, and her companion Camilla. When Amundsen
went bankrupt two years later, however, he sent the girls to be cared for by Camilla's father, who lived in
eastern Russia.[21]

In June 1922, Amundsen returned to Maud, which had been sailed to Nome.[22] He decided to shift from
the planned naval expedition to aerial ones, and arranged to charter a plane. He divided the expedition
team in two: one part, led by him, was to winter over and prepare for an attempt to fly over the pole in
1923. The second team on Maud, under the command of Wisting, was to resume the original plan to drift
over the North Pole in the ice. The ship drifted in the ice for three years east of the New Siberian Islands,
never reaching the North Pole. It was finally seized by Amundsen's creditors as collateral for his
mounting debt.

Although they were unable to reach the North Pole, the scientific results of the expedition, mainly the
work of Sverdrup, have proven to be of considerable value. Much of the carefully collected scientific data
was lost during the ill-fated journey of Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen, two crew members sent on a
mission by Amundsen. The scientific materials were later retrieved in 1922 by Russian scientist Nikolay
Urvantsev from where they had been abandoned on the shores of the Kara Sea.[23]

Aerial expeditions to the North Pole

The 1923 attempt to fly over the Pole failed. Amundsen and Oskar Omdal, of the Royal Norwegian Navy,
tried to fly from Wainwright, Alaska, to Spitsbergen across the North Pole. When their aircraft was
damaged, they abandoned the journey. To raise additional funds, Amundsen travelled around the United
States in 1924 on a lecture tour.
In 1925, accompanied by Lincoln Ellsworth, pilot
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, flight mechanic Karl Feucht
and two other team members, Amundsen took two
Dornier Do J flying boats, the N-24 and N-25, to
87° 44′ north. It was the northernmost latitude
reached by plane up to that time. The aircraft landed
a few miles apart without radio contact, yet the
crews managed to reunite. The N-24 was damaged.
Amundsen and his crew worked for more than three
weeks to clean up an airstrip to take off from ice.[24]
They shovelled 600 tons of ice while consuming Amundsen with his plane in Svalbard (1925)
only one pound (450 g) of daily food rations. In the
end, the six crew members were packed into the N-
25. In a remarkable feat, Riiser-Larsen took off, the flying boat barely becoming airborne over the
cracking ice. They returned triumphant when everyone thought they had been lost forever.

In 1926, Amundsen and 15 other men (including Ellsworth, Riiser-Larsen, Oscar Wisting, and the Italian
air crew led by aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile) made the first crossing of the Arctic in the airship
Norge, designed by Nobile.[25] They left Spitsbergen on 11 May 1926, flew over the North Pole on 12
May,[26] and landed in Alaska the following day.

Controversy over Polar Priority

The three previous claims to have arrived at the North Pole, by the Americans Frederick Cook in 1908;
Robert Peary in 1909; and Richard E. Byrd in 1926 (just a few days before the Norge) are disputed by
some, as being either of dubious accuracy or outright fraudulent.[27][28] If these other claims are false, the
crew of the Norge would be the first explorers verified to have reached the North Pole, when they floated
over it in the Norge in 1926.[5][26] If the Norge expedition was the first to the North Pole, Amundsen and
Oscar Wisting were the first men to have reached both geographical poles, by ground or by air.

Disappearance and death

Amundsen disappeared on 18 June 1928 while flying on a rescue
mission in the Arctic. His team included Norwegian pilot Leif
Dietrichson, French pilot René Guilbaud, and three more
Frenchmen. They were seeking missing members of Nobile's
crew, whose new airship Italia had crashed while returning from
the North Pole. Amundsen's French Latham 47 flying boat never
returned.[29]
Amundsen's Latham 47 flying boat
Later, a wing-float and bottom gasoline tank from the plane, which
had been adapted as a replacement wing-float, were found near the
Tromsø coast. It is assumed that the plane crashed in the Barents Sea,[30] and that Amundsen and his crew
were killed in the wreck, or died shortly afterward. The search for Amundsen and team was called off in
September 1928 by the Norwegian government, and the bodies were never found.[31]
In 2004 and in late August 2009, the Royal Norwegian Navy used the unmanned submarine Hugin 1000
to search for the wreckage of Amundsen's plane. The searches focused on a 40-square-mile (100 km2)
area of the sea floor, and were documented by the German production company ContextTV.[32][33] They
found nothing from the Amundsen flight.

Personal life
Amundsen was a lifelong bachelor, but he had a long-time relationship with the Norwegian-born Kristine
Elisabeth ('Kiss') Bennett, the wife of an Englishman, Charles Peto Bennett.[34] He met her in London in
1907 and they remained close for many years; Amundsen kept the relationship a secret from everyone
outside his intimate circle. Later, he became engaged to Bess Magids, an American divorcée whom he
had met in Alaska.[35] Though there is little evidence, it was said that Amundsen had a brief affair with
his landlady in Antwerp—until he came home and found her dead after an apparent suicide.[36] His
biographer Tor Bomann-Larsen also suggests a romantic relationship between Amundsen and Sigrid
Castberg, wife of the lawyer Leif Castberg from Gjøvik, in the years before the South Pole expedition, a
relationship Amundsen broke off after that expedition in favour of Kiss Bennett.[37]

Author Julian Sancton noted that in his younger years, Amundsen was said to have ignored romantic
relationships in pursuit of his goals. He "found little use in activities that didn't help him fulfill his polar
ambitions".[38]

Orders and decorations

Norway:
Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav, 20 November 1906[2][39]
Commemorative Medal for the 1910–1911 Fram Expedition to the South Pole, 20
August 1912[40]
Medal for Outstanding Civic Service, 1st Class (Gold), 1925
Austria-Hungary: Grand Cross of the Imperial Austrian Order of Franz Joseph, 1907[41]
Belgium: Knight of the Order of Leopold (civil division)[40]
Denmark:
Medal of Merit, in Gold and with Crown, 1907[40]
Hans Egede Medal, 1925[42]
France:
Grand Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour[40]
Grand Gold Medal of Exploration and Journeys of Discovery, 1913[43]
Kingdom of Italy: Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy[40]
Kingdom of Prussia:[b]
Knight of the Royal Order of the Crown, 1st Class[2]
1878 Alexander von Humboldt Medal, 1912[45]
Russian Empire: Knight of the Imperial Order of Saint Anna, 1st Class[40]
 Sweden:[40]
Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the North Star, 1912[46]
Vega Medal, 1913[47]
United Kingdom: Livingstone Medal, 1925[48]
United States:
Hubbard Medal, 1907
Charles P. Daly Medal, 1912[49]
Congressional Gold Medal, 29 May 1928[50]

Legacy
Owing to Amundsen's numerous significant accomplishments in
polar exploration, many places in both the Arctic and Antarctic are
named after him. The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station,
operated by the United States Antarctic Program, was jointly
named in honour of Amundsen and his British rival Robert Falcon
Scott.[51] The Amundsen crater on the Moon was named after him;
the rim of the crater is being considered by NASA as a potential
landing location for their Artemis III lunar lander.[52]
Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station
Built in 1929 and opened in 1930, Amundsen High School opened
its doors in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood.[53]

The 1969 film The Red Tent tells the story of the Nobile expedition and Amundsen's disappearance. Sean
Connery plays Amundsen.[54]

A book Scott and Amundsen, by Roland Huntford, was adapted into the TV serial The Last Place on
Earth. It aired in 1985 and features Sverre Anker Ousdal as Amundsen.[55]

On 15 February 2019, a biographic Norwegian film titled Amundsen, directed by Espen Sandberg, was
released.[56]

European-Inuit descendant claims

At least two Inuit in Gjøa Haven with European ancestry have claimed to be descendants of Amundsen,
from the period of their extended winter stay on King William Island from 1903 to 1905.[57] Accounts by
members of the expedition told of their relations with Inuit women, and historians have speculated that
Amundsen might also have taken a partner,[58] although he wrote a warning against this.[59]

Specifically, half-brothers Bob Konona and Paul Ikuallaq say that their father Luke Ikuallaq told them on
his deathbed that he was the son of Amundsen. Konona said that their father Ikuallaq was left out on the
ice to die after his birth, as his European ancestry made him illegitimate to the Inuit, threatening their
community. His Inuit grandparents saved him.
In 2012, Y-DNA analysis, with the families' permission, showed that Ikuallaq was not a match to the
direct male line of Amundsen.[59] Not all descendants claiming European ancestry have been tested for a
match to Amundsen, nor has there been a comparison of Ikuallaq's DNA to that of other European
members of Amundsen's crew.[59]

Works by Amundsen
The North-West Passage; Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship "Gjöa" (h
ttps://archive.org/details/roaldamundsensth01amun). Vol. 1. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co.
1908. OCLC 971379351 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/971379351).
The North-West Passage; Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship "Gjöa" (h
ttps://archive.org/details/roaldamundsensth002amun). Vol. 2. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co.
1908.
South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the "Fram" (https://archive.
org/details/southpoleaccount01). 1912. OCLC 727260901 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/7
27260901).
Nordost Passagen: Maudfaerden Langs Asiens Kyst 1918–1920. Kristiania: Gyldendal.
1921. OCLC 576654047 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/576654047).
Our Polar Flight: The Amundsen–Ellsworth Polar Flight (https://archive.org/details/ourpolarfli
ghtam00amun). New York: Dodd, Mead. 1926. OCLC 918183295 (https://search.worldcat.or
g/oclc/918183295).
The First Flight Across the Polar Sea. London: Hutchinson. 1927. OCLC 1026703671 (http
s://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1026703671).
My Life as an Explorer (https://archive.org/details/roaldamundsenmyl00amun_0). New York:
Doubleday. 1927. OCLC 3657624 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/3657624).

See also
Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott expeditions
List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea

References

Notes
a. Some sources give the date as 15 December. Fram crossed the International Date Line
shortly before arriving at the Bay of Whales, and thereby "lost" a day. Since the western and
eastern hemispheres are conjoined at the South Pole, either date can be considered as
correct, though Amundsen gives 14 December, both in his first telegraphed report on arrival
in Hobart, and in his fuller account The South Pole.[19]
b. Returned on 24 October 1917 in protest of Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare.[44]

Citations
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 04040371.jpg). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20131006224937/http://www.arkivverk
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Sources
Amundsen, Roald; Nilsen, Thorvald; Prestrud, Kristian; Chater, A.G. (tr.) (1976) [1912]. The
South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian expedition in the Fram, 1910–12 (Volumes I and
II). London: C. Hurst & Company. ISBN 978-0-903983-47-1. First published in 1912 by John
Murray, London.

Further reading
Stephen Bown. The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen: conqueror of the South Pole.
(London, Aurum Press, 2012)
Tor Bomann-Larsen. Roald Amundsen. (Sutton Publishing, 2006)
Garth Cameron. From Pole to Pole: Roald Amundsen's Journey in Flight. (New York,
Skyhorse Publishing, 2014)
Garth Cameron. Umberto Nobile and the Arctic Search for the Airship Italia. (Stroud, Fonthill
Media, 2017)
Hugo Decleir. Roald Amundsen's Belgica Diary: the first Scientific Expedition to the
Antarctic. (Erskine Press, 1999)
Roland Huntford. The Last Place on Earth: Scott and Amundsen's Race to the South Pole.
(1979)
Huntford, Roland (1985). The Last Place on Earth. London and Sydney: Pan Books.
ISBN 978-0-330-28816-3.
Rainer-K. Langner. Scott and Amundsen: Duel in the Ice. (London, Haus Publishing, 2007)
 Julian Sancton. Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark
Antarctic Night. (New York, Crown Publishing, 2021)

External links
Works by Roald Amundsen (https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/creator/2081) at the
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Works by Roald Amundsen (https://librivox.org/author/4663) at LibriVox (public domain
audiobooks)
Works by Roald Amundsen (https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL985808A) at Open Library
Works by Roald Amundsen (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1189) at Project
Gutenberg
Works by or about Roald Amundsen (https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subjec
t%3A%22Amundsen%2C%20Roald%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Roald%20Amundse
n%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Amundsen%2C%20Roald%22%20OR%20creator%3A%
22Roald%20Amundsen%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Amundsen%2C%20R%2E%22%2
0OR%20title%3A%22Roald%20Amundsen%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Amundse
n%2C%20Roald%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Roald%20Amundsen%22%29%20O
R%20%28%221872-1928%22%20AND%20Amundsen%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediaty
pe:software%29) at the Internet Archive
Newspaper clippings about Roald Amundsen (http://purl.org/pressemappe20/folder/pe/0004
75) in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

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