50 Fun Facts About Roald Amundsen

On what date did Amundsen's party become the first people to reach the South Pole?

Scott's British party arrived 34 days later to find the Norwegian tent already there.

Which ship carried Amundsen's expedition to Antarctica in 1910?

It had been built for Fridtjof Nansen's Arctic drift and later served Otto Sverdrup for four years.

Where was Amundsen born in 1872?

He came from a family of shipowners and captains, and lived near Fredrikstad.

What career did Amundsen's mother want for him, a promise he kept only until she died?

He quit university for a life at sea as soon as she died, when he was 21.

Whose narratives of overland Arctic expeditions enthralled the 15-year-old Amundsen?

He said he read them with a fervid fascination which shaped the whole course of his life.

On which 1897-99 venture, the first to overwinter in Antarctica, did Amundsen serve as first mate?

Adrien de Gerlache's ship Belgica was locked in the sea ice for a winter the crew was badly prepared for.

Which American physician on the Belgica did Amundsen credit with saving the crew from scurvy?

The same Cook later made a disputed claim to have reached the North Pole in 1908.

Amundsen led the first traverse of which sea route in 1903-06?

He did it with a crew of six in a small, shallow-draught boat, hugging the coast.

What was the name of the 45-ton sloop Amundsen used for his 1903-06 Arctic voyage?

Built in 1872, the year of his birth, she had spent 28 years as a herring boat.

How did Amundsen's little Arctic sloop get her name?

He bought her in 1901 from Asbjørn Sexe of Ullensvang, largely with his inheritance.

From which Inuit people did Amundsen learn Arctic survival skills at King William Island?

He learned to use sled dogs and to wear animal skins instead of wool, lessons he took to the South Pole.

How far did Amundsen travel overland from Alaska to reach a telegraph and wire news of his 1905 success?

The nearest station was at Eagle; he sent the message on 5 December 1905 and returned to Nome.

What news about his own country reached Amundsen while he was in Alaska in 1905?

Norway had dissolved its union with Sweden; he wrote to Haakon VII as your loyal subject.

In which US city was Amundsen's Arctic sloop displayed for decades before her return to Norway in 1972?

The local Norwegian-American community persuaded him to sell her; she sat in Golden Gate Park.

What made Amundsen switch his 1910 expedition from the Arctic to Antarctica?

He kept the change secret from his backers and from Scott until the ship's only port of call.

From which island did Amundsen telegraph Scott to say his ship was 'proceeding Antarctic'?

He told his own crew of the detour there too; the wire reached Scott in Melbourne.

Who designed and built the ship Amundsen borrowed from Nansen, in 1891-93?

Norway's leading naval architect made a hull that would rise up under ice pressure rather than be crushed.

At which inlet on the Ross Ice Shelf did Amundsen set up his base camp?

Scott's ship Terra Nova called there unexpectedly in February 1911 and found the Norwegians.

What did Amundsen call his Antarctic base hut?

The name means home of the ship; carpenter Jørgen Stubberud had built it in Norway and shipped it in sections.

At which three latitudes did Amundsen's men lay supply depots along the Barrier?

They marked the line south with cairns of snow blocks every three miles.

Why was Amundsen's first start for the pole, on 8 September 1911, abandoned?

The retreat caused a bitter quarrel, and Hjalmar Johansen was dropped from the polar party.

How many men were in the party that finally reached the South Pole?

Bjaaland, Hanssen, Hassel, Wisting and Amundsen left base on 19 October with four sledges and 52 dogs.

Which previously unknown ice route did the Norwegians climb to reach the Polar Plateau?

The four-day climb brought them to the plateau edge on 21 November.

What grim name did the party give the glacier-top camp where most dogs were killed for food?

Of the 45 dogs that made the climb only 18 went on; Wisting proved a skilful cook of the meat.

What was the alarming black object the party spotted on the horizon two days before the pole?

They had passed Shackleton's farthest south of 88° 23′ four days earlier.

What did Amundsen name the tent his party left at the South Pole?

Inside he left a letter to King Haakon and asked Scott to deliver it.

What name did Amundsen give the high ground around the South Pole?

He later mused on the irony of reaching a goal so diametrically opposed to his lifelong Arctic wishes.

How many of the 52 dogs that set out for the pole returned to base?

The round trip took 99 days, ten fewer than scheduled, covering about 3,440 km.

Which Norwegian in the polar party was a champion skier and ski-maker from Morgedal in Telemark?

He also served as the expedition's carpenter and shaved the sledges down to 60% of their weight.

In which city did Amundsen publicly announce his South Pole success on 7 March 1912?

King George V wired his pleasure that the first port of call was on British Empire soil.

By how many days did Amundsen beat Scott to the South Pole?

Scott's whole party died on the return journey.

Which ship did Amundsen have built for his 1918-25 attempt on the Northeast Passage and Arctic drift?

He christened her by crushing a chunk of ice on her bow instead of champagne.

Which geophysicist sailed on Amundsen's 1918 Northeast Passage voyage to ensure serious science?

His work proved to be of considerable value even though the ship never drifted over the pole.

What two misfortunes befell Amundsen while his ship was frozen in off Siberia?

He took little part in outdoor work afterwards and later sledged 1,000 km toward Nome.

What became of Amundsen's Northeast Passage vessel after his creditors seized her?

Renamed by her new owners, she sank at Cambridge Bay in 1930 and was raised in 2016 to be towed home to Norway.

Whom did Amundsen adopt and bring to Norway from Siberia in 1921?

When he went bankrupt two years later he sent Kakonita and Camilla back to Camilla's father in eastern Russia.

Which American financed and flew with Amundsen on his 1925 and 1926 Arctic flights?

In 1925 their two Dornier flying boats reached 87° 44′ north, a record for aircraft.

How did the six men of the 1925 flight escape the ice after one flying boat was damaged?

They lived on a pound of food a day for three weeks; Riiser-Larsen barely got the overloaded N-25 airborne.

In what type of craft did Amundsen cross the Arctic Ocean over the North Pole in May 1926?

The Norge, designed by Umberto Nobile, flew from Spitsbergen to Alaska in about three days.

Where in Alaska did the Norge land after its transpolar flight?

Worsening weather stopped it going on to Nome, 110 km away.

Which American aviator claimed to have flown to the North Pole days before the Norge?

If Cook, Peary and Byrd are all discounted, the Norge crew were the first people verified at the pole.

Which airship's crash prompted the 1928 rescue flight on which Amundsen vanished?

Nobile's new airship had come down returning from the North Pole; Nobile himself survived.

What type of aircraft was Amundsen aboard when he disappeared on 18 June 1928?

A wing-float and fuel tank were later found off Tromsø; the plane presumably crashed in the Barents Sea.

Which two men who led parties to the South Pole are jointly honoured in the US station's name?

Navy Seabees built the original station in November 1956 for the International Geophysical Year.

Which actor played Amundsen in the 1969 film The Red Tent about the 1928 airship disaster?

A 2019 Norwegian biopic simply titled Amundsen was directed by Espen Sandberg.

Roland Huntford's book Scott and Amundsen was adapted into which 1985 TV serial?

Sverre Anker Ousdal played Amundsen.

Which childhood playmate of Amundsen's became a pioneering Antarctic explorer himself?

They knew each other in Oslo's Uranienborg neighbourhood.

What was Amundsen's relationship status throughout his life?

He did keep a long secret relationship with Kiss Bennett, the Norwegian-born wife of an Englishman.

Which feature named after Amundsen was a candidate Artemis III landing site until 2024?

Fittingly, it sits at the lunar south pole.

What did Amundsen wear on the polar journey instead of the heavy wool of earlier expeditions?

Wet wool could not keep out the cold, a lesson from his Northwest Passage winters.