Roald Amundsen originally began a
career studying medicine at the University of Christiana (now the University of
Oslo), but dropped out in order to go to sea. His
first Antarctic trip was in 1899 on the Belgica expedition when he was one of the first
party ever to over winter in Antarctica as the ship became trapped in the pack
ice and drifted until it broke out in the following spring. He established his
credentials on this trip as a leader, ice master and as a resourceful
expeditioner.
He led his first polar expedition in
the Arctic from
1903 - 1906 in the Gjoa, successfully traversing the "North West
Passage" a extraordinary achievement in a tiny ship that came after a century of attempts and
the loss of literally hundreds of lives.
The next major expedition was to be
to drift over the North pole with the pack ice in the ship Fram built for
the fellow Norwegian explorer Nansen (regarded
as being the father of polar travel - North and South). The Fram was an
unusual ship, unlike many polar exploratory ships that started life as
merchant-men, coal ships, or the like, the Fram was designed and built
for polar travel. It was a round bottomed ship that was about a third as wide as
it was long. The idea being that it was immune to the perils of being stuck in
pack ice. Other ships stuck in pack would succumb to the immense pressures on
them and be crushed leaving the occupants stranded on floating seasonal ice with
no ship.
The Fram was different in
that she would respond to the sideways pressure by being pushed upwards, rising
out of the pack to sit above the ice in the way that many small and relatively
weak boats had regularly been seen to do when frozen in forming sea ice in the
Norwegian Fjords in winter time. Against many expectations, the Fram performed
perfectly in this manner.
Before the expedition set off to
drift over the North Pole, news reached Amundsen of Peary's attainment of the
their goal. Plans were hastily changed and Amundsen set out to lead the party
that would the first to reach the South Pole instead.
Amundsen
left Christiana, Norway in August 1910 with provisions for 2 years and nearly a
hundred Greenland sled dogs that were to be the key in his team's subsequent
success in reaching the South Pole ahead of Scott and his manhaul party.
Such was the secrecy of Amundsen's
plans, that it was not until a month after leaving Norway, when their ship had
reached Madeira, that Amundsen told his crew of the revised goal of Antarctica
and the South Pole. Until this point, they were all of the impression that they
were then to head north again for the Arctic.
The Fram and Amundsen's party
reached Antarctica and land fall at the Bay of Whales on January 14th 1911 where
a winter base was established. Depots were established between then and April
when the sun set for the long Antarctic winter night, depots of stores that
would be used in the push to reach the South Pole the following spring.
The winter was passed in orderly industriousness
while the party prepared the equipment and stores for the polar journey as well
as settling into winter routines to maintain morale and make sure the men were
kept occupied. Amundsen had endured a difficult enforced winter on the
Belgica over 10 years beforehand and understood the importance of preparation
for the winter and of maintaining
spirits particularly during the dark days of winter.
By late winter / early spring, the
sun had reappeared, sledges were ready for the push to the pole and dogs and men
were prepared. The weather however was a constant source of frustration,
everything would be in place and ready but the weather would turn at the last
moment, so the trip would be cancelled.
When
eventually Amundsen and his team set off, there were 8 men with sledges, pulled
by 86 dogs. The first attempt was halted by the weather that became much colder
than expected forcing the team to return to the winter base.
In the end a team of 5 men set
off each with a sledge pulled by 13 dogs. They made good progress feeding the
dogs on seal meat and blubber that had been brought with them. The men's rations
were meagre in quality, but sufficient in quantity.
Plans were made for the final push
to the pole based on setting out with dogs that would be systematically shot and
fed to the remainder. They struggled on against poor weather, blizzards and bad
snow conditions which took their toll on both dogs and men.
At 3 p.m. on Friday December the
14th 1911 the party arrived at the South Pole. They had been concerned that
Scott may have beaten them to the prize. They erected a small tent and placed
inside it a letter and then set off back to their winter base. They arrived 39
days later with all five men and 11 dogs "hale and hearty". The party
that had reached the South Pole first was:
Roald Amundsen
Olav Olavson Bjaaland
Hilmer Hanssen
Sverre
H. Hassel
Oscar Wisting
Amundsen continued his explorations in the Arctic becoming
more and more interested in flying and airship travel. He disappeared with no
trace in 1928 while searching for the survivors of an airship crash in the
Arctic. He was much troubled in later years by accusations of ungentlemanly
conduct and being unsporting in the manner that he arrived in Antarctica to
"race" Scott to the pole without giving any prior notice of intention.
Accusations made all the more painful because he and his team survived while
Scott and his party all perished.
Crew of the Fram
Historical photographs on this page by
permission of National Library of Australia
