Amundsen is one of Norway's most famous navigators. Since childhood, his hobby was reading books about travel to distant countries. As a child, he read almost every publication about travel to the Arctic Circle that he managed to get his hands on. Secretly from his mother, Amundsen was already in early years began to prepare for the expeditions: he hardened himself, did physical exercises, and also played football, believing that this game helps strengthen his leg muscles.
The youth of the great polar explorer
When Amundsen entered the medical faculty in Oslo, he devoted most of his time to studying foreign languages, being confident that their knowledge is necessary for the journey. What Roald Amundsen discovered in geography was largely due to his long years of preparation throughout his youth.
In 1897-1899, young Amundsen took part in the Antarctic expedition of Belgian polar explorers. On the same team with him was Frederick Cook, who 10 years later would fight Robert Peary for the right to be the discoverer of the North Pole.
Outstanding polar explorers: the fight for championship
The North Pole became the goal that Roald Amundsen set for himself. What did he discover in the future, if other travelers had already fought for the extreme point of the planet before him? Officially, it was believed for a long time that Frederick Cook was the first to reach the North Pole on April 6, 1909, claiming that he had already been here on April 21, 1908. Since the evidence presented by Cook raised doubts, they decided to give the palm to Piri. But his achievements were also questioned.
The fact is that the equipment of that time had not yet reached the level of development at which one could safely assert the truth of the perfect discovery. The next person to try to conquer the unforgiving North Pole was Fridtjof Nansen. But he was unable to achieve his goal, and Roald Amundsen took over the baton from him. What he discovered and when remained forever in the history of geographical research. But Amundsen's main discovery was preceded by many trials. After the death of his mother, Amundsen decided to become a long-distance navigator. However, in order to successfully pass the exams, it was necessary to work for at least three years as a sailor on a schooner.
Roald Amundsen: what he discovered before becoming a great navigator
The future polar explorer sets off for the shores of Spitsbergen on an industrial vessel. He then transfers to another ship and sets off for the Canadian coast. Before that traveler, Amundsen served as a sailor on several ships and visited many countries: Spain, Mexico, England and America.
In 1896, Amundsen passed the exams and received a diploma, which made him a long-distance navigator. After receiving his diploma, Antarctica finally becomes the place where Roald Amundsen goes. What did he discover on his first journey? Just the fact that in Antarctica the main goal is to stay alive. The expedition, which was intended to study terrestrial magnetism, almost became the last for the entire crew. Severe blizzards, scorching frost and a long hungry winter - all this almost destroyed the team. They were saved only thanks to the energy of a brave traveler, who constantly hunted seals to feed the starving crew.
Changing goals
Roald Amundsen: what did he discover and what is his role in modern geographical knowledge? In 1909, when Cook and Peary officially declared their rights to discover the North Pole, Amundsen decided to radically change his task. After all, in this race he could only be second, if not third. Therefore, the polar explorer decided to conquer another goal - the South Pole. However, there were already those here who wanted to achieve this goal faster.
English Scott Expedition
In 1901, Great Britain organized an expedition led by officer Robert Scott. He did not consider geographical discoveries to be his life's work, but he approached preparations for the harsh journey with all responsibility. Roald Amundsen, what did the polar explorers discover on their travels, did they do it together? Rather, it was a desperate competition to be the first to reach the South Pole. In June 1910, Scott began an expedition to Antarctica. He knew that he had a competitor, but did not give of great importance Amundsen's expedition, considering him inexperienced. But the main thing in 1910-1912 belonged to the Norwegian.
Roald Amundsen: what did he discover? Summary of the expedition to the South Pole
Scott made his main bet on the use of equipment - motor sleighs. Amundsen, using the experience of the Norwegians, took with him a large team of dogs for sledding. In addition, Amundsen's team consisted of excellent skiers, and Scott's crew members did not pay enough attention to ski training.
On February 4, Scott's team, having reached Whale Bay, suddenly saw their competitors. The British, although they had lost their fighting spirit, decided to continue the journey. In addition to the fact that the team was shocked by the appearance of Amundsen's expedition, insufficient preparation also played a role. Their horses began to die because they could not acclimatize for a long time. One of the snowmobiles crashed. Scott realized that Amundsen's bet on dogs was the most winning decision. Despite the fact that Amundsen also suffered losses, on December 14, 1911, his team reached the South Pole.
Amundsen, Roald - Norwegian polar traveler and explorer. Born in Borg on July 16, 1872, he has been missing since June 1928. He was the greatest discoverer of modern times. Over the course of almost 30 years, Amundsen achieved all the goals that polar explorers had been striving for for more than 300 years.
In 1897-99. Amundsen participated as a navigator in the Antarctic expedition of A. Gerlache on the Belgica ship. The expedition explored Graham Land.
To prepare his own expedition to determine the exact location of the North Magnetic Pole, he improved his knowledge at a German observatory.
After a test voyage in the Arctic Ocean, Amundsen set off in mid-June 1903 on the ship Gjoa with a displacement of 47 tons with six Norwegian companions and sailed towards the Canadian-Arctic islands through Lancaster and Peel Straits to the southeastern coast of King Island -William. There he spent two polar winters and made valuable geomagnetic observations. In 1904, he explored the Magnetic North Pole on the west coast of the Boothia Felix Peninsula and undertook daring boat and sleigh rides through the ice-covered sea straits between King William Land and Victoria Land. At the same time, he and his companions mapped over 100 islands. On August 13, 1905, the Gjoa finally continued its journey and through the straits between King William and Victoria Islands and the Canadian mainland reached the Beaufort Sea, and then, after a second winter in the ice near the mouth of the Mackenzie on August 31, 1906, the Bering Strait. Thus, for the first time it was possible to navigate the Northwest Passage on one ship, but not through the straits that were explored by the expeditions looking for Franklin.
Another great achievement of Amundsen was the discovery of the South Pole, which he managed to accomplish on his first try. In 1909, Amundsen was preparing for a long drift in the ice of the Polar Basin and exploring the North Pole region on the ship Fram, previously owned by Nansen, but, having learned about the discovery of the North Pole by the American Robert Peary, he changed his plan and set the goal of reaching the South Pole. On January 13, 1911, he disembarked from the Fram at Whale Bay in the eastern part of the Ross Ice Barrier, from where he set out the following summer on October 20, accompanied by four men on a dog-drawn sleigh. After a successful trip across the ice plateau, a tedious climb through mountain glaciers at an altitude of about 3 thousand m (Devil's Glacier, Axel-Heiberg glacier) and further successful advancement along the ice of the inner plateau of Antarctica, Amundsen on December 15, 1911 was the first to reach the South Pole, by four weeks earlier, the less successful expedition of R. F. Scott, which made its way to the Pole west of Amundsen’s path. On the return journey, which began on December 17, Amundsen discovered the Queen Maud Mountains, up to 4,500 m high, and on January 25, 1912, after a 99-day absence, he returned to the landing site.
Upon returning from Antarctica, Amundsen tried to repeat F. Nansen's drift through the Arctic Ocean, but much further north, possibly through the North Pole, having previously passed along the northeastern passage - along the northern shores of Eurasia (but his next northern expeditions were delayed by the First World War). For this expedition, a new ship, the Maud, was built. In the summer of 1918, the expedition left Norway, but was unable to pass around the Taimyr Peninsula and wintered at Cape Chelyuskin. During the navigation of 1919, Amundsen managed to go east to about. Aion, where the Maud vessel stopped for the second winter. In 1920, the expedition entered the Bering Strait. Subsequently, the expedition carried out work in the Arctic Ocean, and Amundsen himself for a number of years was involved in raising funds and preparing flights to the North Pole.
The second attempt was made on the Maud in 1922 from Cape Hope (Alaska), but Amundsen himself did not take part in the voyage of his ship. After a two-year ice drift, the Maud only reached the New Siberian Islands, the starting point of the Fram in 1893. Since the further direction of the drift thanks to the Fram was already known, the Maud freed itself from the ice and returned to Alaska.
Meanwhile, Amundsen tried to pave the way to the North Pole by plane, but during his first test flight in May 1923 from Wainwright (Alaska), his machine broke down. On May 21, 1925, he, along with five companions, incl. Ellsworth took off on two planes from Spitsbergen. And again he did not achieve his goal. At 870 43/s. w. and 10020/z. d., 250 km from the pole, he had to make an emergency landing. Here the expedition members spent over 3 weeks preparing the airfield for takeoff; in June they managed to return to Spitsbergen on the same plane.
(July 16, 1872 – June 18, 1928)
Norwegian traveler, polar explorer
Passed the northwest passage from Greenland to Alaska for the first time on the schooner "Ioa" (1903-06). In 1910-12 made an Antarctic expedition on the ship "Fram"; in December 1911 he was the first to reach the South Pole. In 1918-20 sailed along the northern shores of Eurasia on the ship "Maud". In 1926, he led the first flight over the North Pole on the airship "Norway". Roald Amundsen died in the Barents Sea during the search for the Italian expedition of Umberto Nobile.
Named after him Amundsen Sea(Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Antarctica, between 100 and 123° W), mountain (nunatak in East Antarctica, in the western part of Wilkes Land, near the eastern side of the Denman outlet glacier at 67° 13" S and 100 ° 44"E; height 1445 m.), American Amundsen-Scott Research Station in Antarctica(when opened in 1956, the station was located exactly at the South Pole, but at the beginning of 2006, due to ice movement, the station was located approximately 100 m from the geographic south pole.), as well as a bay and basin in the Arctic Ocean, and a lunar crater (located at the South Pole of the Moon, which is why the crater was named after the traveler Amundsen, who was the first to reach the South Pole of the Earth; the crater has a diameter of 105 km, and its bottom is inaccessible to sun rays, there is ice at the bottom of the crater.).
“There was some kind of explosive force in him. Amundsen was not a scientist, and he did not want to be one. He was attracted by exploits.”
(Fridtjof Nansen)
“What is still unknown to us on our planet puts some kind of pressure on the consciousness of most people. This unknown is something that man has not yet conquered, some constant proof of our powerlessness, some unpleasant challenge to mastery over nature.”
(Roald Amundsen)
Brief chronology
1890-92 studied at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Christiania
1894-99 sailed as a sailor and navigator on different ships. Beginning in 1903, he made a number of expeditions that became widely known.
1903-06 first passed on the small fishing vessel “Ioa” through the Northwest Passage from East to West from Greenland to Alaska
1911 went to Antarctica on the ship Fram; landed in Whale Bay and on December 14 reached the South Pole on dogs, a month ahead of the English expedition of R. Scott
In the summer of 1918, the expedition left Norway on the ship Maud and in 1920 reached the Bering Strait
1926 Rual led the 1st trans-Arctic flight on the airship "Norway" along the route: Spitsbergen - North Pole - Alaska
1928, during an attempt to find the Italian expedition of U. Nobile, which crashed in the Arctic Ocean on the airship "Italy", and to provide assistance to it, Amundsen, who flew on June 18 on the seaplane "Latham", died in the Barents Sea.
Life story
Roald was born in 1872 in southeastern Norway ( Borge, near Sarpsborg) in a family of sailors and shipbuilders.
When he was 14 years old, his father died and the family moved to Christiania(since 1924 - Oslo). Rual entered the medical faculty of the university, but when he was 21 years old, his mother died and Rual left the university. He later wrote: “With inexpressible relief, I left the university to devote myself wholeheartedly to the only dream of my life.”
At the age of 15, Roald decided to become a polar explorer. reading John Franklin's book. This Englishman in 1819-22. tried to find the Northwest Passage - the route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean around the northern shores of North America. The participants of his expedition had to starve, eat lichens and their own leather shoes. “It’s amazing,” Amundsen recalled, “that... what most attracted my attention was the description of these hardships experienced by Franklin and his companions. A strange desire arose in me to someday endure the same suffering.”
So, from the age of 21, Amundsen devoted himself entirely to studying maritime affairs. At 22, Roald first stepped on board a ship. At 22 he was a cabin boy, at 24 he was already a navigator. In 1897 young man goes on his first expedition to the South Pole under the command of the Belgian polar researcher Adrien de Gerlache, into whose team he was accepted under the patronage of Fridtjof Nansen.
The enterprise almost ended in disaster: research ship "Belgica" frozen into the pack ice, and the crew was forced to stay for the winter in the polar night. Scurvy, anemia and depression exhausted the expedition members to the limit. And only one man seemed to have unshakable physical and psychological endurance: navigator Amundsen. The following spring, it was he who, with a firm hand, brought the Belgica out of the ice and returned to Oslo, enriched with new invaluable experience.
Now Amundsen knew what to expect from the polar night, but this only spurred his ambition. He decided to organize the next expedition himself. Amundsen bought a light fishing ship ship "Joa" and began preparations.
“Any person can only do so much,” Amundsen said, “and every new skill can be useful to him.”
Roual studied meteorology and oceanology and learned to conduct magnetic observations. He was an excellent skier and drove a dog sled. Typically, later at 42 years old, he learned to fly - became Norway's first civilian pilot.
Amundsen wanted to accomplish what Franklin had failed, what no one had managed so far - to pass the Northwest Passage, supposedly connecting the Atlantic with Pacific Ocean. And I carefully prepared for this journey for 3 years.
“Nothing justifies itself more than spending time selecting participants for a polar expedition,” Amundsen liked to say. He did not invite people under thirty years of age on his travels, and each of those who went with him knew and was able to do a lot.
June 16, 1903 Amundsen with six companions set off from Norway on board the Ioa to his first arctic expedition. Without any special adventures, the Ioa passed between the Arctic islands of northern Canada to the place where Amundsen set up a winter camp. He had prepared enough provisions, tools, weapons and ammunition and now, together with his people, he learned to survive in the Arctic night.
He made friends with the Eskimos, who had never seen white people before, bought jackets with deer fur and bear mittens from them, learned to build an igloo, prepare pemmican (food made from dried and powdered seal meat), and also how to handle sledding huskies, without which a person cannot do without in the icy desert.
Such a life - extremely remote from civilization, placing the European in the most difficult, unusual conditions - seemed sublime and worthy to Amundsen. He called the Eskimos "courageous children of nature." But some of the customs of his new friends made a repulsive impression on him. “They offered me many women very cheaply,” Amundsen wrote. To prevent such proposals from demoralizing the expedition members, he categorically forbade his comrades to agree to them. “I added,” Amundsen recalls, “that, in all likelihood, syphilis should be very common in this tribe.” This warning had an effect on the team.
Amundsen stayed with the Eskimos for more than two years, and at that time the whole world considered him missing. In August 1905, Ioa set sail further, heading west, through waters and areas that had not yet been plotted on old maps. Soon the wide expanse of the bay formed by the Beaufort Sea (now The bay is named after Amundsen). And on August 26, "Ioa" met a schooner coming from the west, from San Francisco. The American captain was no less surprised than the Norwegian. He boarded the Ioa and asked: “Are you Captain Amundsen? In that case, I congratulate you.” Both shook hands firmly. The Northwest Passage was conquered.
The ship had to winter one more time. During this time, Amundsen, together with the Eskimo whalers, covered 800 km on skis and sleds and reached Eagle City, located in the interior of Alaska, where there was a telegraph. From here Amundsen telegraphed home: " Northwest Passage completed"Unfortunately for the traveler, an efficient telegraph operator conveyed this news to the American press before it was found out in Norway. As a result, Amundsen's partners, with whom a contract was signed for the rights to the first publication of the sensational message, refused to pay the agreed fee. So the discoverer, survived indescribable hardships in the icy desert, faced complete financial ruin, and became a penniless hero.
In November 1906, more than 3 years after sailing, he returned to Oslo, honored in the same way as Fridtjof Nansen once was. Norway, which declared independence from Sweden a year ago, saw Roald Amundsen as a national hero. The government granted him 40 thousand crowns. Thanks to this, he was able to at least pay his debts.
From now on discoverer of the Northwest Passage could bask in the rays of his worldwide fame. His travel notes became a bestseller. He gives lectures in the USA and throughout Europe (even Emperor Wilhelm II was among his listeners in Berlin). But Amundsen cannot rest quietly on his laurels. He's not yet 40, and life purpose draws him further. New goal - North Pole.
He wanted to enter Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait and repeat, only at higher latitudes, the famous drift "Fram". However, Amundsen was in no hurry to openly communicate his intention: the government could refuse him money to implement such a dangerous plan. Amundsen announced that he was planning an expedition to the Arctic, which would be a purely scientific enterprise, and he managed to get state support. King Haakon donated 30,000 crowns from his personal funds, and the government placed at Amundsen's disposal, with Nansen's consent, the ship Fram belonging to him. While preparations for the expedition were underway, the Americans Frederick Cook And Robert Peary announced that the North Pole has already been conquered...
From now on, this goal ceased to exist for Amundsen. He had nothing to do where he could become second, much less third. However, he remained South Pole- and he had to go there without delay.
“To maintain my prestige as a polar explorer,” recalled Roald Amundsen, “I needed to achieve some other sensational success as soon as possible. I decided to take a risky step... Our path from Norway to the Bering Strait passed by Cape Horn, but first we had to go to Madeiro Island. Here I informed my comrades that since the North Pole was open, I decided to go to the South Pole. Everyone agreed with delight..."
All assaults on the South Pole had previously failed. The British advanced further than others Ernest Shackleton and captain royal navy Robert Scott. In January 1909, when Amundsen was preparing his expedition to the North Pole, Shackleton did not reach 155 km to the southernmost point of the earth, and Scott announced a new expedition planned for 1910. If Amundsen wanted to win, he should not waste a minute.
But in order to carry out his plan, he has to again mislead his patrons. Fearing that Nansen and the government would not approve of the plan for a hasty and dangerous expedition to the South Pole, Amundsen left them confident that he was still preparing an Arctic operation. Only Leon, Amundsen's brother and confidant, was privy to the new plan.
August 9, 1910 The Fram went to sea. Official Destination: Arctic, via Cape Horn and the West Coast of America. At Madeira, where the Fram moored for the last time, Amundsen told the crew for the first time that his goal was not the North Pole, but the South Pole. Anyone who wanted could land, but there were no volunteers. Amundsen gave letters to his brother Leon to King Haakon and Nansen, in which he apologized for the change of course. To his rival Scott, who was at anchor in Australia in full readiness, he laconically telegraphed: " "Fram" on the way to Antarctica"This signaled the beginning of the most dramatic rivalry in the history of geographical discoveries.
On January 13, 1911, at the height of the Antarctic summer, the Fram dropped anchor in Whale Bay on the Ross Ice Barrier. At the same time, Scott reached Antarctica and set up camp in McMurdo Sound, 650 km from Amundsen. While the rivals were rebuilding base camps, Scott sent his research ship "Terra Nova" to Amundsen in Whale Bay. The British were warmly received on the Fram. Everyone looked closely at each other, maintaining outward goodwill and correctness, but both of them preferred to remain silent about their immediate plans. Nevertheless, Robert Scott is full of anxious forebodings: “I just can’t bring myself not to think about the Norwegians in that distant bay,” he writes in his diary.
Before storm the pole, both expeditions prepared for the winter. Scott could boast of more expensive equipment (he even had a motor sleigh in his arsenal), but Amundsen tried to take into account every little detail. He ordered warehouses with food supplies to be placed at regular intervals along the route to the Pole. Having tested the dogs, on which people’s lives now largely depended, he was delighted with their endurance. They ran up to 60 km a day.
Amundsen trained his people mercilessly. When one of them, Hjalmar Johansen, began to complain about the harshness of his boss, he was excluded from the group that was supposed to go to the Pole and was left on the ship as punishment. Amundsen wrote in his diary: “The bull must be taken by the horns: his example must certainly serve as a lesson for others.” Perhaps this humiliation was not in vain for Johansen: a few years later he committed suicide.
On a spring day October 19, 1911 with the rising of the Antarctic sun, 5 people led by Amundsen rushed to assault on the pole. They set off on four sleighs pulled by 52 dogs. The team easily found the former warehouses and then left food warehouses at every degree of latitude. Initially, the route passed along the snowy, hilly plain of the Ross Ice Shelf. But even here, travelers often found themselves in a labyrinth of glacial crevasses.
In the south, in clear weather, an unknown mountainous country with dark cone-shaped peaks, with patches of snow on the steep slopes and sparkling glaciers between them. At the 85th parallel the surface went up steeply - the ice shelf ended. The ascent began along steep snow-covered slopes. At the beginning of the ascent, the travelers set up the main food warehouse with a supply of 30 days. For the entire further journey, Amundsen left enough food for 60 days. During this period he planned reach the South Pole and return back to the main warehouse.
In search of passages through the maze of mountain peaks and ridges, travelers had to repeatedly climb and descend back, and then climb again. Finally they found themselves on a large glacier, which, like a frozen icy river, cascaded down from above between the mountains. This The glacier was named after Axel Heiberg- patron of the expedition who donated a large sum. The glacier was riddled with cracks. At the stops, while the dogs were resting, the travelers, tied together with ropes, scouted the path on skis.
At an altitude of about 3,000 m above sea level, 24 dogs were killed. This was not an act of vandalism, for which Amundsen was often reproached, it was a sad necessity, planned in advance. The meat of these dogs was supposed to serve as food for their relatives and people. This place was called "The Slaughterhouse". 16 dog carcasses and one sleigh were left here.
"24 of our worthy companions and faithful assistant were doomed to death! It was cruel, but it had to be so. We all unanimously decided not to be embarrassed by anything in order to achieve our goal."
The higher the travelers climbed, the worse the weather became. Sometimes they climbed in the snowy darkness and fog, distinguishing the path only under their feet. They called the mountain peaks that appeared before their eyes in rare clear hours after Norwegians: friends, relatives, patrons. The tallest the mountain was named after Fridtjof Nansen. And one of the glaciers descending from it received the name of Nansen’s daughter, Liv.
"It was a strange journey. We passed through completely unknown places, new mountains, glaciers and ridges, but saw nothing." But the path was dangerous. It is not for nothing that certain places received such gloomy names: “Gates of Hell”, “Devil’s Glacier”, “Devil’s Dance Hall”. Finally the mountains ended, and the travelers came out onto a high-mountain plateau. Beyond stretched frozen white waves of snowy sastrugi.
December 7, 1911 The weather was sunny. The midday altitude of the sun was determined using two sextants. The definitions showed that the travelers were at 88° 16" south latitude.. It was left to the Pole 193 km. Between astronomical determinations of their place, they kept the direction south on the compass, and the distance was determined by the counter of a bicycle wheel with a circumference of a meter. On the same day, they passed the southernmost point reached before them: 3 years ago, the party of the Englishman Ernest Shackleton reached the latitude of 88° 23", but, facing the threat of starvation, was forced to turn back, only 180 km short of reaching the Pole.
The Norwegians easily skied forward to the pole, and the sledges with food and equipment were carried by quite strong dogs, four per team.
December 16, 1911, taking the midnight altitude of the sun, Amundsen determined that they are located approximately at 89 ° 56 "S, that is 7–10 km from the pole. Then, splitting into two groups, the Norwegians dispersed to all four cardinal directions, within a radius of 10 kilometers, in order to more accurately explore the polar region. December 17 they reached the point where, according to their calculations, there should be South Pole. Here they set up a tent and, dividing into two groups, took turns observing the height of the sun with a sextant every hour around the clock.
The instruments said that they were located directly at the pole point. But so as not to be accused of not reaching the pole itself, Hansen and Bjoland walked another seven km further. At the South Pole they left a small gray-brown tent, above the tent they hung a Norwegian flag on a pole, and under it a pennant with the inscription “Fram”. In the tent, Amundsen left a letter to the Norwegian king with a brief report on the campaign and a laconic message to his rival, Scott.
On December 18, the Norwegians set off on the return journey following the old tracks and after 39 days they safely returned to Framheim. Despite poor visibility, they easily found food warehouses: when arranging them, they prudently laid gurias out of snow bricks perpendicular to the path on both sides of the warehouses and marked them with bamboo poles. All Amundsen's journey and his comrades to the South Pole and it took me back 99 days. (!)
Let's give names of the discoverers of the South Pole: Oscar Wisting, Helmer Hansen, Sverre Hassel, Olaf Bjaland, Roald Amundsen.
A month later, January 18, 1912, a polar explorer approached the Norwegian tent at the South Pole Robert Scott part. On the way back, Scott and four of his comrades died in the icy desert from exhaustion and cold. Subsequently, Amundsen wrote: “I would sacrifice fame, absolutely everything, to bring him back to life. My triumph is overshadowed by the thought of his tragedy, it haunts me!”
When Scott reached the South Pole, Amundsen was already completing the return route. His recording sounds like a sharp contrast; Seems, we're talking about about a picnic, about a Sunday walk: “On January 17 we reached the food warehouse under the 82nd parallel... The chocolate cake served by Wisting is still fresh in our memory... I can give you the recipe...”
Fridtjof Nansen: “When a real person comes, all difficulties disappear, since each one is separately foreseen and mentally experienced in advance. And let no one come talking about happiness, about favorable coincidences of circumstances. Amundsen’s happiness is the happiness of the strong, the happiness of wise foresight.”
Amundsen built his base on the shelf Ross Glacier. The very possibility of wintering on a glacier was considered very dangerous, since every glacier is in constant motion and huge pieces of it break off and float into the ocean. However, the Norwegian, reading the reports of Antarctic sailors, became convinced that in the area Kitova Bay The glacier's configuration has remained virtually unchanged for 70 years. There could be one explanation for this: the glacier rests on the motionless foundation of some “subglacial” island. This means you can spend the winter on a glacier.
In preparation for the polar campaign, Amundsen laid out several food warehouses in the fall. He wrote: “...The success of our entire battle for the Pole depended on this work.” Amundsen threw more than 700 kilograms by the 80th degree, 560 by the 81st, and 620 by the 82nd.
Amundsen used Eskimo dogs. And not only as a draft force. He was devoid of “sentimentality,” and is it even appropriate to talk about it when, in the fight against polar nature, an immeasurably more valuable thing is at stake - human life.
His plan can amaze with both cold cruelty and wise forethought.
“Since the Eskimo dog produces about 25 kg of edible meat, it was easy to calculate that each dog we took to the South meant a decrease of 25 kg of food both on the sleds and in the warehouses. In the calculation compiled before the final departure to the Pole, I set the exact day when every dog should be shot, that is, the moment when it ceased to serve us as a means of transportation and began to serve as food...”
The choice of wintering site, the preliminary loading of warehouses, the use of skis, lighter, more reliable equipment than Scott's - everything played a role in the final success of the Norwegians.
Amundsen himself called his polar travels “work.” But years later, one of the articles dedicated to his memory will be entitled quite unexpectedly: “The Art of Polar Research.”
By the time the Norwegians returned to the coastal base, the Fram had already arrived at Whale Bay and picked up the entire wintering party. On March 7, 1912, from the city of Hobart on the island of Tasmania, Amundsen informed the world of his victory and the safe return of the expedition.
For almost two decades after the expedition of Amundsen and Scott, no one was in the South Pole area.
So, Amundsen won again, and his fame spread throughout the world. But the tragedy of the vanquished left a greater mark on the souls of people than the triumph of the winner. The death of his rival forever darkened Amundsen's life. He was 40 years old and had achieved everything he wanted. What else could he do? But he still raved about the polar regions. Life without ice did not exist for him. In 1918, when it was still raging World War, Amundsen set off on a new ship "Maud" into an expensive expedition to the Arctic Ocean. He intended to explore the northern coast of Siberia to the Bering Strait. The enterprise, which lasted 3 years and more than once threatened people with death, did little to enrich science and did not arouse public interest. The world was busy with other concerns and other sensations: the era of aeronautics was beginning.
In order to keep up with the times, Amundsen had to move from a dog sled to the controls of an airplane. Back in 1914, he, the first in Norway, received a flying license. Then, with financial support from the American millionaire Lincoln Ellsworth buys two large seaplanes: now Roald Amundsen wants be the first to reach the North Pole!
The enterprise ended in 1925 fiasco. One of the planes had to make an emergency landing among drifting ice, where it was left. The second plane soon also developed a problem, and only after 3 weeks the team managed to fix it. With the last drops of fuel, Amundsen reached the saving Svalbard.
But surrender was not for him. Not a plane - that's it airship! Amundsen's patron Ellsworth bought an Italian airship Aeronaut Umberto Nobile, who was hired as chief engineer and captain. The airship was renamed "Norway" and delivered to Spitsbergen. And again, failure: even during preparation for the flight, he took the palm from Amundsen American Richard Byrd: in a twin-engine Fokker he flew, starting from Spitsbergen, over the North Pole and dropped the Stars and Stripes there as proof.
“Norway” now inevitably ended up second. But due to its almost hundred-meter length, it was more impressive and impressive to the public than Byrd’s small plane. When the airship took off from Spitsbergen on May 11, 1926, all of Norway watched the flight. It was an epic flight over the Arctic and across the Pole to Alaska, where the airship landed in a place called Teller. After a 72-hour sleepless flight, in fog, at times almost touching the ground, Umberto Nobile managed to accurately land the giant machine he had designed. It has become huge success in the field of aeronautics. However, for Amundsen the triumph was bittersweet. In the eyes of the whole world, the name of Nobile eclipsed the name of the Norwegian, who, being the organizer and head of the expedition, in essence, flew only as a passenger.
The peak of Amundsen's life was behind him. He no longer saw a single area where he wanted to be first. Returning to his home in Bunnefjord, near Oslo, the great traveler began to live as a gloomy hermit, withdrawing more and more into himself. He was never married and had no long-term relationship with any woman. At first, his old nanny ran the household, and after her death he began to take care of himself. It did not require much effort: he lived like a Spartan, as if he were still on board the Ioa, Fram or Maud.
Amundsen was becoming strange. He sold all orders, honorary awards and openly quarreled with many former comrades. “I get the impression,” Fridtjof Nansen wrote to one of his friends in 1927, “that Amundsen has completely lost his mental balance and is not fully responsible for his actions.” Amundsen's main enemy was Umberto Nobile, whom he called “an arrogant, childish, selfish upstart,” “a ridiculous officer,” “a man of a wild, semi-tropical race.” But it was thanks to Umberto Nobile that Amundsen was destined to emerge from the shadows for the last time.
U. Nobile, who became a general under Mussolini, in 1928 planned to repeat the flight over the Arctic on a new airship "Italy"- this time in the role of expedition leader. On May 23, he took off from Spitsbergen and reached the pole at the planned time. However, on the way back, radio contact with it was interrupted: due to icing of the outer shell, the airship pressed to the ground and crashed in the icy desert.
The international search operation was already in full swing within a few hours. Amundsen left his home in Bunnafjord to take part in the rescue of his rival, the man who had stolen the most valuable thing he had - fame. He hoped to take revenge, to be the first to find Umberto Nobile. The whole world will be able to appreciate this gesture!
With the support of a certain Norwegian philanthropist, Amundsen managed to hire a twin-engine seaplane with a crew in just one night, which he himself joined in the port of Bergen. In the morning June 18 With The plane reached Tromso, and in the afternoon flew towards Spitsbergen. From that moment on, no one ever saw him. A week later, fishermen discovered a float and gas tank from a crashed plane. And in total 5 days after the death of Roald Amundsen, Umberto Nobile was discovered and seven more of his surviving companions.
Life of a Great Adventurer ended where his life's purpose led him. He couldn't find a better grave for himself. To an Italian journalist who asked what fascinated him so much in the polar regions, Amundsen replied: “Oh, if you could ever see with your own eyes how wonderful it is there, I would like to die there.”
(1872-1928) Norwegian polar explorer
Roald Amundsen was born into the family of a captain and shipyard owner, and his favorite pastime since childhood was reading books that described travels to distant countries. He tried to read all the books about polar explorers that he managed to get his hands on. He was attracted to unexplored countries located near the pole of the planet. Secretly from his mother, Roual began to prepare for polar travel: he persistently trained, went in for skiing; played football, believing that this active game strengthens the muscles of the legs; tempered by dousing himself with ice water. Having entered the medical faculty of the University of Christiania (now Oslo), Roald Amundsen intensively studied foreign languages, believing that the future traveler needed to know them.
After mother's death Rual decides to become a long-distance navigator. However, in order to receive a diploma and pass exams, it was necessary to serve as a sailor for at least three years, so he joins a schooner and goes with it to fish for seals off the shores of Spitsbergen. After this, Rual transfers to another ship, departing for the shores of Canada. Amundsen served as a sailor on many ships and visited countries such as Mexico, Spain, and England. He was also in Africa.
In 1896, Roald Amundsen passed the exams and received a diploma as a long-distance navigator. Soon after, he goes on an expedition to Antarctica to study earth magnetism. During the expedition, he piloted a ship independently for the first time. The expedition was very difficult: frequent blizzards, frosts that severely burned the face, long sleigh rides along continental ice, difficult hungry winter. It was only thanks to the energy of Roald Amundsen that people did not die of hunger. He hunted seals, the meat of which restored the strength of the dying crew. The expedition lasted about two years.
In 1903-1908. Roald Amundsen, already an experienced polar traveler, organized an independent expedition. On the sailing yacht Ioa, he decided to sail along the northern coast of America from Greenland to Alaska and open the so-called Northwest Passage. The expedition was difficult and dangerous: gigantic waves crashed onto the deck, threatening to capsize the yacht; the path ran through many islands and rocks; it seemed that the ice and storm would smash the ship against the rocks. During wintering, meteorological and astronomical observations were constantly carried out. Amundsen managed to determine the location of the Earth's magnetic pole, which was a major achievement of the expedition.
In 1910, Roald Amundsen began preparing an expedition to the North Pole. On the ship "Fram" he goes to the Arctic to repeat F. Nansen's drift. His plans included passing close to the North Pole. Before going to sea, the news spread around the world that the North Pole had been discovered by the American polar explorer Robert Peary. This news was a serious blow for Amundsen, but it was too late to retreat. The expedition went to sea, and in the Atlantic Ocean, Amundsen unexpectedly informed the team about his decision to go to Antarctica, to the South Pole. Having landed in Whale Bay, the team began wintering, during which they organized three food warehouses on the way to the Pole. With the onset of spring, travelers began to prepare for a trip to the interior of the mainland.
On October 20, 1911, Roald Amundsen and a team of four people set off on their dogs. At first the journey was not particularly difficult: the weather was favorable and the dog sleds moved quickly. However, at 85" south latitude, the travelers were blocked by mountains, where difficulties began on the way to the glacier. Subsequently, recalling this, Amundsen wrote that they were met by wide and deep cracks that had to be bypassed; they had to climb up a slippery ice crust , move into a severe snowstorm, spend the night at an altitude of 5000 m.
On December 14, 1911, travelers reached the South Pole. Here they stayed for three days, hoisted the Norwegian flag, made various observations, and then safely returned to Whale Bay, where the Fram was waiting for them, and returned to their homeland.
Simultaneously with the expedition of Roald Amundsen, the expedition of the English traveler R. Scott also sought to reach the South Pole, but it reached its goal a month later and died in the ice on the way back. Not only in Great Britain, but also in the homeland of Amundsen himself, they thought that the sudden appearance of his expedition in the ice of Antarctica was a terrible blow for R. Scott and his friends, since the desire to reach the South Pole had been a long-term dream for them, and for many months in a row they, Sparing no effort, they prepared for success that never materialized. Having learned about the death of Scott's expedition, Roald Amundsen wrote in one of his letters: “. . . I would sacrifice a lot, even fame, to bring them back to life. . . "
The traveler did not abandon his old dream and in 1918 set off on a voyage across the Arctic Ocean from west to east. He intended, having frozen the ship into the ice, to repeat the famous drift of F. Nansen. Amundsen hoped that his ship would get to the North Pole with the ice. However heavy ice pressed the ship to the shore, and the crew was forced to winter twice off the coast of Siberia.
Roald Amundsen never gave up on his dream of visiting the North Pole. In Norway, he learned to fly an airplane and received a diploma as a civil pilot. In 1925, with five companions, the traveler set off on a flight on two planes from Spitsbergen to the Pole, but did not reach it. Only by miracle did the people manage to escape and return back on one of the seaplanes. In 1926, Amundsen, together with the American L. Ellsworth and the Italian W. Nobile, flew over the North Pole along the route Spitsbergen - North Pole - Alaska on the airship "Norway". Thus, he became the first person to visit both poles of the Earth.
Later, in 1928, Umberto Nobile organized a new expedition to the Arctic on the airship Italia. However, it was destined to end tragically. The icy airship hit the ice with its gondola. Some of the crew were thrown onto the ice floe, and some flew away with the airship. The fate of those who flew away is unknown, but the expedition members who found themselves on the ice floe were rescued, including U. Nobile. Roald Amundsen wanted to take part in saving the expedition. Having learned about the airship accident, he flew from Norway on a Latham plane, but the plane and its crew went missing. Only a few months later, in the Barents Sea, waves washed the float of the plane on which the traveler was flying to the coast of Norway. Roald Amundsen died in 1928, at the age of 56.
2.3 Conquest of the South Pole
2.4 Northeast sea route
2.5 Transarctic flights
2.6 Last years and death
- Objects named after the traveler.
- List of used literature.
Norwegian polar traveler and explorer. First man to reach the South Pole (December 14, 1911). The first person (together with Oscar Wisting) to visit both geographic poles of the planet. The first explorer to make a sea crossing through both the North-Eastern (along the coast of Siberia) and the North-Western sea route (along the straits of the Canadian archipelago). He died in 1928 during the search for the expedition of Umberto Nobile. He received awards from many countries around the world, including highest award USA - Congressional Gold Medal.
- Brief chronology
In 1890-1892 he studied at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Christiania.
From 1894 to 1899 he sailed as a sailor and navigator on various ships. Beginning in 1903, he made a number of expeditions that became widely known.
First passed (1903-1906) on a small fishing vessel "Gjoa" along the Northwest Passage from East to West from Greenland to Alaska.
On the ship "Fram" went to Antarctica; landed in Whale Bay and on December 14, 1911 reached the South Pole on dogs, a month ahead of the English expedition of R. Scott.
In the summer of 1918, the expedition left Norway on the ship Maud and in 1920 reached the Bering Strait.
In 1926 he led the 1st trans-Arctic flight on the airship "Norway" along the route: Spitsbergen - North Pole - Alaska.
In 1928, during an attempt to find and assist the Italian expedition of Umberto Nobile, which crashed in the Arctic Ocean on the airship Italia, Amundsen, who flew on June 18 on the Latham seaplane, died in the Barents Sea.
- Life
2.1 Youth and first expeditions
Roald was born in 1872 in southeastern Norway (Borge, near Sarpsborg) into a family of sailors and shipbuilders. When he was 14 years old, his father died and the family moved to Christiania (since 1924 - Oslo). Rual entered the medical faculty of the university, but when he was 21 years old, his mother died and Rual left the university. He subsequently wrote:
« With inexpressible relief, I left the university to devote myself wholeheartedly to the only dream of my life. »
In 1897-1899 as a navigator, he took part in the Belgian Antarctic expedition on the ship “Belgica” under the command of the Belgian polar explorer Adrien de Gerlache.
2.2 Northwestern Sea Route
Figure 1. Map of Amundsen's Arctic expeditions
In 1903, he bought a used 47-ton motor-sailing yacht “Gjøa”, “the same age” as Amundsen himself (built in 1872) and set off on an Arctic expedition. The schooner was equipped with a 13 hp diesel engine.
The expedition personnel included:
- Roald Amundsen - head of the expedition, glaciologist, specialist in terrestrial magnetism, ethnographer.
- Godfried Hansen, a Dane by nationality, is a navigator, astronomer, geologist and photographer of the expedition. Senior Lieutenant in the Danish Navy, participated in expeditions to Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
- Anton Lund - skipper and harpooner.
- Peder Ristvedt is a senior machinist and meteorologist.
- Helmer Hansen is the second navigator.
- Gustav Yul Wik - second driver, assistant during magnetic observations. Died of an unexplained illness on March 30, 1906.
- Adolf Henrik Lindström - cook and provisions master. Member of the Sverdrup expedition in 1898-1902.
Amundsen passed through the North Atlantic, Baffin Bay, Lancaster, Barrow, Peel, Franklin, James Ross Straits and in early September stopped for the winter off the southeastern coast of King William Island. In the summer of 1904, the bay was not free of ice, and the Gjoa remained for a second winter.
On August 13, 1905, the ship continued sailing and almost completed Northwestern route, but still freezes into the ice. Amundsen travels by dog sled to Eagle City, Alaska.
He later recalled:
« When I returned, everyone put my age at between 59 and 75, even though I was only 33.”
2.3 Conquest of the South Pole
Figure 2. Map of Amundsen's Antarctic expedition
2.4 Conquest of the South Pole
In 1910, Amundsen planned a transpolar drift through the Arctic, which was to begin off the coast of Chukotka. Amundsen hoped to be the first to reach the North Pole, for which he obtained support from Fridtjof Nansen back in 1907. By an Act of Parliament, the ship "Fram" (Norwegian Fram, "Forward") was provided for the expedition. The budget was very modest, amounting to about 250 thousand crowns (for comparison: Nansen had 450 thousand crowns in 1893). Amundsen's plans were unexpectedly destroyed by Cook's announcement of the conquest of the North Pole in April 1908. Soon Robert Peary also announced the conquest of the pole. There was no longer any need to count on sponsorship support, and then Rual decided to conquer the South Pole, for the achievement of which a race was also beginning to unfold.
By 1909, the Fram (Figure 3) had been completely rebuilt, but was already intended for a new expedition. All preparations were kept secret: except for himself, Amundsen’s brother-lawyer Leon Amundsen and the commander of the Fram, Lieutenant Thorvald Nielsen, knew about Amundsen’s plans. I had to go to non-standard solutions: a significant part of the provisions for the expedition was supplied by the Norwegian army (they had to test a new Arctic diet), ski suits for the expedition members were made from decommissioned army blankets, the army provided tents, etc. The only sponsor was found in Argentina: at the expense of the tycoon of Norwegian origin, Don Pedro Christoffersen, kerosene and many supplies were purchased. His generosity made it possible to make Buenos Aires the main base of Fram. Later, a mountain as part of the Transantarctic Range was named in his honor.
Before sailing, Amundsen sent letters to Nansen and the King of Norway, explaining his motives. According to legend, Nansen, upon receiving the letter, cried out: “Fool! I would provide him with all my calculations” (Nansen was planning to make an expedition to Antarctica in 1905, but his wife’s illness forced him to abandon his plans).
The expedition personnel were divided into two detachments: ship and coastal. The list is as of January 1912.
Figure 3. Fram under sail
Coastal detachment:
- Roald Amundsen - head of the expedition, head of the sleigh party on the trip to the South Pole.
- Olaf Bjoland - participant in the expedition to the Pole.
- Oscar Wisting - participant in the expedition to the Pole.
- Jorgen Stubberud - participant in the campaign to the Land of King Edward VII.
- Christian Prestrud - head of the sleigh party to King Edward VII's Land.
- Frederik Hjalmar Johansen, a member of Nansen's expedition in 1893-1896, did not join the polar detachment due to a conflict with Amundsen.
- Helmer Hansen - participant in the trip to the Pole.
- Sverre Hassel - participant in the expedition to the Pole.
- Adolf Henrik Lindström - cook and provisions master.
Team "Frama" (ship party):
- Thorvald Nielsen - commander of the Fram
- Steller is a sailor, German by nationality.
- Ludwig Hansen - sailor.
- Adolf Ohlsen - sailor.
- Karenius Olsen - cook, cabin boy (the youngest member of the expedition, in 1910 he was 18 years old).
- Martin Richard Rönne - sailmaker.
- Christensen is the navigator.
- Halvorsen.
- Knut Sundbeck is a Swede by nationality, a ship mechanic (the engineer who created the diesel engine for the Fram), an employee of the Rudolf Diesel company.
- Frederik Hjalmar Jertsen - first assistant commander, lieutenant in the Norwegian Navy. He also served as the ship's doctor.
The twentieth member of the expedition was biologist Alexander Stepanovich Kuchin, but at the beginning of 1912 he returned to Russia from Buenos Aires. For some time, Jakob Nödtvedt was the Fram mechanic, but he was replaced by Sundbeck.
In the summer of 1910, the Fram carried out oceanographic surveys in the North Atlantic, and it turned out that the ship's mechanic, Jakob Nödtvedt, was unable to cope with his duties. It was decommissioned and was replaced by marine diesel designer Knut Sundbeck. Amundsen wrote that this Swede had great courage if he decided to go on such a long journey with the Norwegians.
On January 13, 1911, Amundsen sailed to the Ross Ice Barrier in Antarctica. At the same time, Robert Scott's English expedition set up camp in McMurdo Sound, 650 kilometers from Amundsen.
Before going to the South Pole, both expeditions prepared for the winter and placed warehouses along the route. The Norwegians built the Framheim base 4 km from the coast, consisting of wooden house area 32 sq.m. and numerous auxiliary buildings and warehouses, built from snow and ice, and deepened into the Antarctic glacier. The first attempt to go to the Pole was made back in August 1911, but extremely low temperatures prevented this (at −56 C. the skis and runners of the sled did not slide, and the dogs could not sleep).
Amundsen's plan was worked out in detail back in Norway, in particular, a movement schedule was drawn up, which modern researchers compare with a musical score. The pole crew returned to the Fram on the day prescribed by the schedule 2 years earlier.
On October 19, 1911, five people led by Amundsen set off to the South Pole on four dog sleds. On December 14, the expedition reached the South Pole, having traveled 1,500 km, and hoisted the flag of Norway. Expedition members: Oscar Wisting, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, Olav Bjaaland, Roald Amundsen. The entire trip covers a distance of 3000 km at extreme conditions(ascent and descent to a plateau 3000 m high at a constant temperature of over −40° and strong winds) took 99 days.
