At the beginning of the 20th century, the era of great discoveries was drawing to a close. There were fewer and fewer white spots on the maps, and the travelers redoubled their efforts to reach previously unconquered places ahead of others. The last race turned out to be one of the most unusual. Just like the man who won it.
Antarctica is still one of the least known parts of the world today. The fifth largest continent is approximately 98 percent covered with ice almost two kilometers thick. In the great ice deserts there is a gusty wind, and the temperature drops to minus 90 degrees Celsius. Access to the shore is protected by the rough waters of the Southern Ocean.
The exploration of the land, first seen only in 1820, was progressing very slowly. Successive expeditions broke deeper and deeper, but the murderous conditions forced them to resign and retreat. However, there were many daredevils. Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton broke another record between 1907 and 1909 as he approached the South Pole approximately 180 kilometers.
A researcher and explorer who became a legend during his lifetime. Who was Amundsen and how did he manage to reach the South Pole?
The competition to win the heart of Antarctica intensified when two travelers, Frederick Albert Cook and Robert Edwin Perry, returned to civilization in September 1909 announcing the conquest of the North Pole. Its southern counterpart then became, as researcher Roland Huntford wrote, "the last great symbol of earthly discoveries." The world has almost been described in its entirety. So it was the only chance for those who still wanted to be the first to see places untouched by human foot.
Napoleon of the Arctic Zone
One of the daredevils turned out to be Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen. Born in 1872, the Norwegian developed an interest in the Arctic Circle in his youth. He read books about expeditions to the Arctic. He was fascinated by the fate of one of the first explorers of the region, John Franklin. At the same time, he dreamed of becoming an explorer since childhood.
A photo from Cook's 1909 Arctic Expedition that was allegedly taken at or near the North Pole.
As he writes in the book "Amundsen. The Last Viking ” his biographer Stephen R. Bown:
Roald means "gorgeous" in Norwegian. As a young man, Amundsen dreamed of a great future in which he could prove his name right (...). He had visions in which he overcame - in spite of great adversities - geographical chimeras, enduring incredible suffering at the same time. He was a hero in the end.
Admittedly, the future explorer did a lot to achieve his goal. From an early age, he worked on acquiring the necessary qualifications. In doing so, he adopted a unique strategy. In addition to expanding his knowledge, thanks to numerous readings, he also trained skiing, and at the same time ... trained as a sailor. For he decided that he would only be successful if he served as both the commander of the expedition and the captain.
In the meantime, he constantly reported to the organizers of the polar expeditions. He assured that he could participate in them even without remuneration! And finally he succeeded. In the years 1897-1899 he joined as an officer to the Belgian Antarctic Expedition. It was then that he traversed the waters of the Southern Ocean for the first time. He and his companions also survived the polar night.
The article was inspired by the book by Stephen Brown " Amundsen. The Last Viking "(Wydawnictwo Poznańskie 2018), telling the story of a man who became a legend during his lifetime.
Soon Amundsen began to prepare its own expeditions. Often it almost led to bankruptcy in this way. But his efforts paid off. He gained considerable fame even before going to the South Pole. He became the first traveler to cross the Northwest Passage, the route from Europe to East Asia along the northern shores of Canada and the USA. This trip took him three years, but it gave him solid knowledge and developed skills that came in handy in his next escapades.
In 1909, as an experienced polar explorer, the Norwegian was getting ready for a trip to the north. It was only the news that Cook and Perry had exceeded his intentions and reached the outskirts of the Arctic that directed his interest to the south. After all, as he told one of his friends a few years later, "why would anyone want to go to a place where someone else has already been?".
The decision to change plans came easily to the adventurous man. He realized it was only a matter of time before reaching the South Pole. Indeed, a few days after he decided to try his hand at the Antarctic expedition, a similar plan was announced by a British officer, Robert Falcon Scott. And right after it, as Stephen R. Bown writes in his book "Amundsen. The Last Viking ” others wanted to go:
Other Antarctic expeditions were inevitably approaching:Robert Edwin Peary, after reaching the North Pole, mentioned the expedition south, as did Dr. Frederick Cook. French Dr. Jean-Baptiste Charcot had just returned from a second Antarctic expedition and was considering a third. The German expedition led by Wilhelm Filcher was going there soon, and the Japanese, led by Nobu Shirase, were to set off in December 1910. The fight for the Pole seemed inevitable.
Amundsen obtained approval to use Nansen's former ship "Fram" (pictured) as it was officially preparing for an expedition to the North Pole. The news of Cook and Peary reaching him changed his plans.
It was going to be a real race. Scott was the first to start. Amundsen began his journey shortly after. But he had to keep it a secret. All because the ship he was leading, Fram, had been loaned to him so that he could ... sail in the opposite direction. The new route may not have been approved by the Norwegian authorities, which did not want to expose themselves to the British . Therefore, even the crew members were notified of the change of course only during the voyage, in September 1910, when the ship was passing Madeira.
Two strategies
The goal of both rivals was the pole, but each of them chose a completely different strategy of conquering it. Scott followed in the footsteps of his predecessors and decided to set off from the McMurdo Strait. Amundsen, after carefully examining the memories of travelers to Antarctica, chose the area of Whale Bay as his base. The plan was risky, but in the end it gave the Norwegians a big advantage. After landing, they were a full degree of latitude closer to their target than the British!
The expeditions also adopted various methods of travel on land. An officer from the River Thames, who had a grudge against sled dogs after his previous experience, put on a motor sled. He also took with him ... 19 Manchurian ponies as a backup in case of their failure . As this also required the taking of considerable forage supplies - the British ship "Terra Nova" was heavily overloaded.
Meanwhile, the Scandinavian polar explorer decided to rely on the simplest and lightest possible solutions. Its crew consisted of experienced skiers. Their pace, according to Amundsen's calculations, should correspond to the sleds pulled by dogs. Thus, the expedition would move forward consistently.
In order for the expedition to the pole to be successful, it was not only the equipment that counted, but also a properly selected crew. Pictured are members of one of Amundsen's expeditions.
The leader of the Norwegian expedition also took care to reduce the burden on travelers as much as possible. Along the way, they built more bases where they left supplies for the way back. The construction of the camp and preparations for the road took several months. Both teams also had to wait out the winter on the spot. Only after its completion could the leaders give the order to march. There was more than a thousand and a half kilometers of unknown land ahead of them.
Day after day, the conquerors faced changing Antarctic weather. “ Dogs are visibly weakened by the cold. People are stiff with frozen clothes "Wrote Amundsen. Snow storms could stop the expeditions for days. "On September 26 [1911 - ed. A.W.] we only covered 2.5 miles when a heavy snowstorm hit us and we had to set up camp, ”noted Scott. Their notes, however, show determination. “Nobody wants to come back. No - these boys want to go on, whatever the cost, ”he proudly emphasized.
"So we've arrived ..."
Ultimately, it was Amundsen's group that turned out to be more organized. After many weeks of tearing through the snow, its members reached their destination on December 14, 1911. The pole has been conquered. The proud commander wrote:
Naturally we are not exactly on the 90th parallel, but if you believe all our great observations and calculations, we must be very close. We got here with three sleighs and 17 dogs (…). We had a festive meal - a small piece of seal meat for everyone. We leave here the day after tomorrow with two sleighs. We'll leave the third one here. Likewise, we leave a small three-person tent with a Norwegian flag and a pennant with the sign "Fram".
Placement of the Norwegian flag at the South Pole. On one of his later trips, Amundsen no longer survived.
The Norwegians also endured the exhausting return journey. After another 39 days, they reached the ship. And they set off hastily north to notify the world of their achievement. As Stephen R. Bown tells in his book "Amundsen. The Last Viking ” , the explorer prepared his account already on the ship:"Amundsen spent hours in his cabin writing a story for newspapers and preparing correspondence, telegrams, articles and speeches before the media storm he knew was waiting for him."
What about the parallel British expedition? Unfortunately, she was not so lucky. The British, led by Scott, reached the pole a month after their rivals, in January 1912. However, they failed to return to the ship.
Many years later, a similar fate befell Amundsen himself. After reaching the Pole, he organized a number of expeditions, including to the North Pole. He set off for the last one in 1928. He wanted to help another traveler, Umberto Nobli, whose airship "Italia" had crashed in the Arctic ice. The last time he was seen flying with a small group of companions towards Spitsbergen. A few weeks later, the remains of an airplane were discovered in the Barents Sea. The body of the 20th century's greatest explorer has never been found .
Bibliography:
- Stephen R. Bown, Amundsen. The Last Viking , 2018 Poznań Publishing House.
- Roland Huntford, Raca for the South Pole . The Expedition Diaries of Scott and Amundsen , Continuum 2010.
- Obituary:Captain Roald Amundsen , "The Geographical Journal" vol. 72, no. 4 (1928).
- Bert Edward Young, Roald Amundsen and the South Pole , "The Sewanee Review," vol. 21, No. 4 (1913).