Roald Amundsen Polar explorer, traveler and discoverer Date of Birth: 16.07.1872 Country: Norway

1. Biography of Roald Amundsen
2. Early Expeditions
3. Conquest of the South Pole
4. Attempt to Fly over the North Pole
5. The Airship Expedition

Biography of Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen was a polar explorer, traveler, and discoverer. He was one of the pioneers in using aviation, such as seaplanes and airships, in Arctic expeditions. Amundsen died in 1928 during the search for the missing Umberto Nobile expedition. He received numerous awards from countries around the world, including the highest honor from the United States - the Congressional Gold Medal. Many geographic and other objects have been named after him.

Early Expeditions

In the years 1903-1906, Roald Amundsen became the first person to circumnavigate North America on a yacht. Starting from Western Greenland, he followed the path of the ill-fated Franklin expedition as described in McClintock's book. From Barrow Strait, he headed south through the Peel and Franklin Straits to the northern tip of King William Island. However, learning from Franklin's fatal mistake, Amundsen circumnavigated the island from the east, through the James Ross and Rae Straits, and spent two winters in the harbor of Yoh on the southeast coast of King William Island. From there, in the autumn of 1904, he explored the narrowest part of Simpson Strait by boat, and at the end of the summer of 1905, he headed directly west along the mainland coast, leaving the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to the north. He passed through a series of shallow straits and bays scattered with islands, finally meeting whaling vessels that had arrived from the Pacific to the northwest coasts of Canada. After spending a third winter here, Amundsen crossed the Bering Strait into the Pacific Ocean and ended his voyage in San Francisco, bringing valuable materials on geography, meteorology, and ethnography from the explored coasts.

Conquest of the South Pole

On October 19, 1911, a polar party consisting of five people on four sledges, pulled by 52 dogs, set off to conquer the South Pole. They wanted to enter the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait and repeat, but at higher latitudes, the famous drift of the "Fram." On December 17, 1911, they reached the point where, according to their calculations, the South Pole should be. They set up a tent and, splitting into two groups, took turns using a sextant to measure the sun's altitude every hour around the clock. On December 18, the Norwegians retraced their steps and returned to Framheim after 39 days. Despite poor visibility, they easily found the food depots they had set up, cleverly building them with snow bricks perpendicular to the path on both sides of the depots and marking them with bamboo poles. The entire journey of Amundsen and his companions to the South Pole and back took 99 days. The first explorers of the South Pole were Oscar Wisting, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, Olav Bjaaland, and Roald Amundsen. By the time the Norwegians returned to the coastal base "Fram," the ship had already arrived in the Whaling Bay and picked up the entire wintering party. On March 7, 1912, Amundsen announced to the world from the city of Hobart on the island of Tasmania about his victory and the successful return of the expedition.

Attempt to Fly over the North Pole

On May 21, 1925, two airplanes took off and headed for the North Pole. One plane carried Amundsen, Riiser-Larsen, and Foycht, while the other carried Ellsworth, Dietrichson, and Omdal. Approximately 1000 kilometers from Spitsbergen, Amundsen's plane started experiencing engine trouble. Luckily, they found leads among the ice. They were forced to make a landing, which went relatively well, except for the fact that the seaplane's nose hit the ice at the end of the lead. Fortunately, the lead was covered with a thin layer of ice, which slowed down the plane's speed upon landing. The second seaplane also landed nearby but suffered serious damage and became inoperable. Finally, on June 15, on the 24th day after the accident, the weather froze and they decided to take off. They needed at least 1500 meters of open water for takeoff. However, they managed to clear a runway on the ice that was just over 500 meters long. Beyond this runway, there was a lead about 5 meters wide, followed by a flat 150-meter ice floe that ended with a high pressure ridge. Therefore, the runway for takeoff was only about 700 meters long. "We threw everything out of the plane except the essentials. Riiser-Larsen took the pilot's seat, and the other five of us barely fit in the cabin. The engine was started, and the plane began to move. The next few seconds were the most thrilling of my life. Riiser-Larsen immediately gave full throttle. As the speed increased, the unevenness of the ice became more pronounced, and the whole seaplane tilted so dangerously from side to side that I feared it would tip over and break its wing. We were quickly approaching the end of the runway, but the bumps and jolts showed that we were still not free from the ice. With increasing speed but still not separating from the ice, we approached a small slope leading to the lead. We passed over the lead, landed on the flat ice on the other side, and suddenly took off into the air..." The return flight began. They flew, as Amundsen put it, "with death as their nearest neighbor." In the event of a forced landing on the ice, even if they survived, they faced a death by starvation. After 8 hours and 35 minutes of flight, the control cables for the rudders jammed. However, fortunately, the plane was already flying over open water near the northern coast of Spitsbergen, and the pilot successfully landed the aircraft on the water and steered it like a motorboat. The travelers continued to be lucky: soon, a small fishing boat approached them, whose captain agreed to tow the seaplane to Kings Bay... The expedition was over. From Spitsbergen, the participants, along with the seaplane, sailed on a steamship. They were greeted with flowers by crowds of people at the stations. In Norway, the reception was triumphant. In Oslofjord, at the port of Horten, Amundsen's plane was launched into the water, and the participants of the air expedition boarded it, took off, and landed in the port of Oslo. They were greeted by thousands of cheering people. It was July 5, 1925. It seemed that all of Amundsen's hardships were in the past. He became a national hero once again.

The Airship Expedition

In 1925, Ellsworth purchased a dirigible named "Norge" ("Norway") after lengthy negotiations. The expedition was led by Amundsen and Ellsworth. Italian aviator Umberto Nobile, the creator of the airship, was invited to be the captain. The team was made up of Italians and Norwegians. On May 11, 1926, at 9:55 am, in calm and clear weather, the "Norge" set course for the North Pole. There were 16 people on board, each assigned to their respective tasks. The engines ran smoothly, and Amundsen observed the ice conditions below. He saw endless ice fields with ridges of ice floes and remembered his flight of the previous year, which ended with a landing at 88° north latitude.

After 15 hours and 30 minutes of flight, at 1:20 am on May 12, 1926, the airship was over the North Pole.

At 8:30 am, the airship entered thick fog. The outer metal parts began to ice up. Ice plates, torn off by the airflow from the propellers, penetrated the airship's envelope. The holes had to be patched up immediately while in flight. On May 13, they saw land to the left of their course. It was the Alaska coastline, approximately in the area of Cape Barrow.

The return of the explorers was triumphant. They crossed the United States from west to east on the transcontinental express train. Crowds of people welcomed them at the stations with flowers. In New York, the triumphant reception was led by Richard Byrd, who had just returned from Spitsbergen to his homeland.

On July 12, 1926, Amundsen and his friends arrived in Norway by ship, in Bergen. They were greeted with a salute from the fortress cannons. They paraded through the streets of Bergen amidst a shower of flowers and enthusiastic cheers from the townspeople. From Bergen to Oslo, the entire coastline was lined with flotillas of decorated boats. Upon arrival in Oslo, they traveled through the crowded streets on the ship on which they had sailed, and were met with a jubilant reception at the royal palace.

On May 24, 1928, Nobile, on board the airship "Italia," reached the North Pole and hovered over it for two hours. On the return journey, the airship crashed. On June 18, Amundsen flew from Bergen to the rescue of the "Italia" crew. After June 20, his plane vanished without a trace. Thus, Roald Amundsen, the greatest polar explorer in terms of scope of exploration, perished while trying to save the polar explorers.