Because of their unique geographic location, the Norwegians and Russians were the first people in Europe to begin exploring the Arctic region. Norwegians eagerly headed out to conquer the South Pole, which is on the other half of the earth, when it was their turn.
After Fridtjof Nansen and Karsten Borchgrevink's failed attempts, Roald Amundsen, another proud son of this northern nation, was blessed with good fortune. He was the first person to reach the South Pole in 1911 and set numerous other milestones for travellers and explorers.
Content
Family and childhood
The formation of personality
The beginning of a career as a researcher
Boss
South Pole
Triumph and new challenges
Family and childhood
Roald Amundsen was born on the family estate in Borg (Fredrikstad municipality) in 1872. At the disposal of his family was his own shipyard, a steamer and two dozen sailboats. Roald's father made a fortune supplying Britain and France with grain and straw during the Crimean War (1853-1856), when the two countries fought against the Russian Empire as part of a coalition.
Young Amundsen grew up in the company of three brothers and several dozen neighborhood children. The games were held mainly in the forest next to the estate. Roald was the youngest son, but because of his arrogance and temper, he constantly participated in fights. The boy has been skiing since he started walking, and spent a lot of time on the gymnastic bars in the yard.
Amundsen studied poorly, he was characterized as a stubborn and implacable fighter for justice. He had to take final exams separately, the director of the school did not want to take them, because he was afraid of the failure of the worst pupil, threatening the school with disgrace.
Young Roald Amundsen - Stone Forest Stone Forest
The formation of personality
At the age of 14, Roald was left without a father, and around the same time he got acquainted with a description of how Arctic explorers conquered the Northwest Passage (the sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through the Arctic Ocean). He admired the fortitude of the leader of the expedition, John Franklin, despite the tragic end of his enterprise. Amundsen wanted to do something similar - to become a pioneer, not afraid of the terrible hardships that threaten the icy desert.
The 15-year-old young man began to prepare for future achievements. He exhausted himself with training, strictly adhered to a diet, slept outside even in winter, and went skiing from November to April.
Rual's mother had other plans - she wanted to introduce her son to the elite circles of Norway. To this end, the family settled in the capital near the Royal Palace, and the future traveler was sent to the University of Christiania to study dawai. However, in 1893, his mother died, and Roald, as he wrote in his autobiography, "with great relief" dropped out of school. The path to the dream was open.
The beginning of a career as a researcher
As a student, Amundsen came to a lecture by Eivin Astrup, the famous traveler who established that Greenland is an island. This acquaintance also largely determined the future of Rual. In 1895, he was trained as a navigator, practiced on a fishing ship, and the following year, he was sent on the Belgian ship Belgica to the shores of Antarctica under the command of Adrien de Gerlache.
In the Bellingshausen Sea, the ship was shackled in ice, which forced her to drift for 13 months. Scurvy began in the team, people were dying and going crazy. Amundsen at this time hunted seals and penguins, experimented with sleeping bags and other equipment. In the harsh conditions of survival, he quickly became a senior assistant and did not take over the leadership of the expedition only for formal reasons.
Belgica Ship - Stone Forest Stone Forest
"Belgica"
Boss
Swimming on the Belgica was the only one in which Amundsen was in a subordinate position. After his return, in 1901, he purchased the sloop Joa, refitted it and began to prepare for the conquest of the Northwest Passage. It took more than two years to prepare and raise funds, and in the summer of 1903 the ship set sail.
The sloop "Yoa" was the first ship in history to cross the Northwest Passage. The expedition took more than three years, and the team spent two years wintering off King William Island. During this time, Amundsen visited the North Magnetic Pole and managed to study the ethnography of the Eskimos.
After the completion of the expedition, Roald immediately sold the sloop, as he was in dire need of money. The event brought him worldwide fame and increased the prestige of Norway. At the same time, it was hard for Amundsen himself - the 33-year-old traveler upon his return looked like he was given from 59 to 75 years.
They say that purposeful work is the best prayer for achieving the goal.
Sloop Gyoa - Stone Forest
Sloop Gyoa
South Pole
The researcher accepted the due portion of fame, consisting of state awards, a lecture tour and the release of a book. Amundsen's next goal was to conquer the North Pole, but not magnetic, but geographical. To do this, it was necessary to drift through the Arctic Ocean along the polar currents.
In the world then there was only one ship capable of such an adventure - the Fram, which was at the disposal of Nansen. Amundsen began to persuade his senior comrade to organize a joint expedition. Nansen at that moment was going through a family crisis and establishing relations with his wife, so in 1907 he ceded the ship to the Royal.
Long preparations began again, during which Amundsen's old comrade Frederick Cook managed to conquer the North Pole in 1908. The expedition lost its meaning, and the opposite point of the globe was immediately chosen as its goal. Amundsen was spurred on by rumors that other researchers were going to the South Pole in the near future.
The Fram sailed on June 7, 1910. Amundsen was afraid that they would get ahead of him - everyone who was preparing to conquer the South Pole at that time did not notify anyone of their plans. Roald announced the change of route to the team only three months later during a stay in Madeira. At the same time, letters of the corresponding content were sent to the King of Norway, Nansen and the Norwegian people.
The landing on the ice shelf of Antarctica took place on January 15, 1911. The Norwegians built a wintering house on the site, followed in their footsteps by the expedition of Robert Scott, who set off from Cardiff on July 15, 1910. The British were largely pursuing political goals - they wanted to make the South Pole the trophy of their crown.
The polar winter passed in active preparation for the upcoming campaign. The Antarctic spring made it possible to set out only on October 20, 1911. Amundsen was in a hurry, because he was afraid that Scott would get ahead of him - the British took horses and motor sledges with him as a draft force, while the Norwegians performed this function with dogs. Five people went out to the Pole on four sleds, they had 52 dogs. At that time, they did not stand on ceremony with animals - most of them were assigned the role of a food reserve.
The desired point was reached on December 14th. At the South Pole, the Norwegians smoked a cigar, took measurements, set up a tent with a flag, and left a message for Scott, who was catching up with them. The British expedition will arrive here in 34 days and will be completely lost on the way back to their ship.
Never before has anyone stood at a point diametrically opposed to the goal of his aspirations in such a full sense of the word as I am in this case. The North Pole region - what is there! - The North Pole itself has been beckoning me since childhood, and here I am at the South Pole. Truly everything inside out!
Expedition to the South Pole
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Traveler Roald Amundsen - Stone Forest Stone Forest
Discoverer Roald Amundsen - Stone Forest Stone Forest
Norwegian Roald Amundsen - Stone Forest Stone Forest
Triumph and new challenges
After conquering the South Pole, Amundsen went about his usual business - published reports, traveled around with speeches and dined with heads of state. The tragedy of Captain Scott became known only in February 1913, and this news only spurred interest in the lectures of the Norwegian.
In 1918, Amundsen set off on the ship Maud to explore the Northeast Sea Route. The ship was built taking into account the experience of previous expeditions and equipped with a seaplane. The first wintering place was Cape Chelyuskin (Taimyr), the second - Aion Island (Chukotka), the third - Cape Heart-Stone in the Chukchi Sea.
In the third year of the voyage, the ship's propeller broke, and Amundsen handed over command to his assistant. He himself adopted two Chukchi girls, whom he took to Norway and gave them his last name. “Maud” drifted in the East Siberian Sea until 1925, collecting data useful for science.
Amundsen's passion changed again - he decided to take up air polar expeditions. In 1925, his mission crossed the Arctic in seaplanes, followed by a similar flight in the airship Norge.
The winner is the one who is all right; some call it luck. Defeat certainly awaits the one who did not take the necessary measures in advance; it's called bad luck.
Airship Norway - Stone Forest Stone Forest
Airship “Norway”
Amundsen died in June 1928 during an attempt to rescue the Italian expedition, trying to repeat his transarctic flight in an airship. For Norway, he became a national hero with a huge number of achievements. In particular, Roald Amundsen was the first person (together with Oscar Wisting) to conquer both geographic poles. Most of the researcher's life was spent in travel and long tours with lectures. He had no wife and children. Very little is known about private life. Until 1925, the elderly nanny Betty, who served with his parents, was engaged in the arrangement of Amundsen's house until 1925.
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