Ny Alesund, Svalbard - 2

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Ny Alesund, Svalbard - 2


Ny Ålesund was the starting point for Roald Amundsen's attempts to fly to the North Pole in 1925 by seaplane and then by airship in 1926.

The airship mooring point can be seen towards the right of this picture. It was from this place that the Norwegian Roald Amundsen, the Italian Umberto Nobile and American Lincoln Ellsworth left in the airship Norge in 1926 successfully reaching the North Pole.

Nobile also left from here in 1928 to repeat his trip to the North Pole, in another airship called Italia. The airship crashed on the way back killing half of the crew though Nobile survived. Amundsen flew from Norway by seaplane to help in the rescue, he was never seen again after taking off from Trømso.

78° 55' N 11° 56' E



Photo; © Paul Ward - These are pictures from a cruise around Svalbard inside the Arctic Circle in high summer.