Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (1872 - 1928) Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was born in 1872 in Borge, a village in southeast Norway as one of four brothers. His father and uncles bought some neighboring farms along the river Glomma. From here they ran an international shipping business, managing everything from coal freight to China to timber export to England and Central Europe. When Roald was two years old, his parents moved to Christiania (now Oslo) and settled in Uranienborgveien – a street just behind the Norwegian royal palace. His mother wanted him to become a doctor and when ...

First voyage through the Northwest Passage After having crossed the North Atlantic, via Greenland, and navigated the narrow Lancaster Sound, northeast of Canada, the expedition arrived at King William Island where they named the harbour Gjøahavn (Gjøa Harbor). One might say that this was the winter that Roald Amundsen received his first real lessons in polar survival. He took the time to get to know a group of Inuit’s living by "Gjøa Harbor". They taught him how to drive dog sledges, about their equipment, tools and clothing, how to hunt for seal and walrus, what to eat and how to prepare foo ...

Developments at the South Pole Roald Amundsen once again set his sights on one of his main goals in life. It was also the dream of the Norwegian polar scientist, Fridtjof Nansen: to conquer the North Pole. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the earth, around the South Pole, there had been many developments. Although the first expedition to spend the winter on the Antarctic mainland was British, an expatriate Norwegian, Carsten Borchgrevink, a childhood friend of Amundsen, led it. His vessel, the Southern Cross, returned in 1900. He had also attempted to travel further south on the mainland, b ...

And then there was only one Pole left Roald Amundsen did not rest on his laurels: he had more goals in life. Firstly he had promised the Norwegian Government and Fridtjof Nansen that he would explore the North Pole. Accordingly he ordered the construction of the sailing vessel, Maud, named after the queen of Norway. The Maud was built at Vollen in Asker, just outside Oslo, and was designed by Amundsen himself. She was not a large vessel, but she was very well equipped. This was the first step in his plan to honour his promise to Nansen to reach the North Pole – despite the claims made by both ...

With seaplanes to the North Pole In 1925 Amundsen bought two seaplanes: Dornier-Val machines, with the official names N24 and N25. Hjalmar Riiser Larsen was to be second in command on the expedition. He was to fly one of the planes, Omdahl the other. At 3pm on the 21st of May, large Rolls-Royce engines started up with a roar. Amundsen was in the observer seat of N25. They all wore traditional polar explorer clothes to protect them from the cold. The planes were open to the air and the resulting low temperatures could quickly result in frostbite; heated cabins were still unheard of. The expedi ...

Airship over the Pole: the first trans-Atlantic flight The very next year, in 1926, Amundsen was ready to attempt a new expedition by air over the North Pole. Experience had shown him that the ideal aircraft for such an expedition would be one with good lifting power, which could stay in the air for a long time without using too much fuel. An airship would meet these specifications, but they were difficult to come by – and expensive. Italy was now one of the leading nations in the field of aeronautical research, and the aeronautic engineer, Colonel Umberto Nobile, had an airship on hand by t ...

Nobile disappears, Amundsen disappears- and Nobile turns up again Despite all their earlier controversies, Amundsen volunteered immediately when it was discovered that Umberto Nobile had disappeared during his latest expedition with the airship, Italia, in 1928. Many vessels were already on their way to the area where they thought the Italian had gone down. The French government donated a seaplane, Latham, to the rescue mission and Amundsen was elected leader of the air search. Consequently, Amundsen returned once again to Tromsø, where he had started his career as a trainee on board a seali ...