Raoul Amundsen. Roald Amundsen - Conquest of the Northwest Passage

Roald Amundsen

Every traveler-researcher deeply believes that there is nothing insurmountable or impossible in the world. He refuses to accept defeat, even if it is already obvious, and relentlessly continues to move towards his goal. Antarctica more than once showed man “his place,” until the fearless Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, appeared in front of it. He discovered that true courage and heroism can conquer ice and severe frosts.

Uncontrollable attraction

The years of Roald Amundsen's life were eventful. He was born in 1872 in the family of a hereditary navigator and merchant. At the age of fifteen, D. Franklin's book about an expedition in the Atlantic Ocean fell into his hands, which determined his entire subsequent life. His parents had their own plans for their youngest child, deciding not to introduce him to the family craft. His mother diligently predicted a place for him in the intellectual elite of society, sending him to the Faculty of Medicine after high school. But the future polar explorer was preparing for something else: he diligently played sports, hardened his body in every possible way, accustoming himself to cold temperatures. He knew that medicine was not his life's work. Therefore, two years later, Roual leaves his studies with relief, returning to his dream of adventure.

In 1893, the future traveler Roald Amundsen met the Norwegian explorer Astrup, and did not even consider any other fate than to be a polar explorer. He literally became obsessed with the idea of ​​conquering the poles. The young man set a goal to be the first to set foot on the South Pole.

Becoming a Leader

In 1894-1896, the life of Roald Amundsen changed dramatically. After completing the navigator's course, he ends up on the Belzhik ship, becoming a member of the Antarctic expedition team. This difficult journey has been deprived of the attention of historians, but it was then that people first wintered near the icy continent.

Huge ice floes of Antarctica squeezed the travelers' ship. With no other choice, they were doomed to long months of darkness and loneliness. Not everyone was able to endure the trials that befell the team; many went crazy from difficulties and constant fear. The most persistent ones gave up. The captain of the ship, unable to cope with the situation, resigned and retired from business. It was during these days that Amundsen became a leader.

Despite his tough character, Roual was a fairly fair person, and first of all, he demanded from himself discipline, accountability and complete dedication to his work. The press often published unflattering reviews about him, portraying the polar explorer as quarrelsome and meticulous. But who can judge the winner, given that it was his team that survived in full force, without deaths?

On the way to a dream

There is an interesting fact in the biography of Roald Amundsen. It turns out that at first he intended to conquer the North Pole, but in the process of preparing for the expedition, news came that Frederick Cook was already ahead of him. A week later, similar news came from the expedition of Robert Peary. Amundsen understands that competition is being created between those who want to conquer the unknown. He quickly changes his plans, choosing the South Pole, and goes ahead of his rivals without telling anyone anything.

The schooner reached the shores of Antarctica in January 1911. In Whale Bay, the Norwegians built a house from brought materials. They began to carefully prepare for the future trip to the Pole: constant training of people and dogs, double-checking equipment, and bases with provisions were prepared up to 82° south latitude.

The first attempt to conquer the South Pole failed. The team of eight set out in early September but were forced to return due to rapidly dropping temperatures. It was such terrible frosts that even vodka got cold, and the skis wouldn’t go on the snow. But failure did not stop Amundsen.

South Pole

On October 20, 1911, a new attempt was made to reach the Pole. The Norwegians, a group of five people, approached the edge of the ice shelf on November 17 and began climbing the Polar Plateau. The most difficult three weeks lay ahead. There were 550 kilometers left.

It should be noted that in harsh conditions of cold and danger, people were constantly in a state of stress, and this could not but affect the relationships in the group. Conflicts occurred on any occasion.

The expedition was able to overcome a steep glacier at an altitude of 3030 meters above sea level. This section of the path was distinguished by deep cracks. Both dogs and people were exhausted, suffering from altitude sickness. And on December 6 they conquered a height of 3260 meters. The expedition reached the South Pole on December 14 at 15:00. The polar explorers made several repeated calculations to dispel the slightest doubt. The target location was marked with flags, and then the tent was erected.

The Pole was conquered by unbending people, their tenacity and desire on the verge of madness. And we must pay tribute to the leadership qualities of Roald Amundsen himself. He discovered that victory at the Pole, in addition to human determination and courage, is also the result of clear planning and calculations.

Traveler's achievements

Roald Amundsen is the greatest Norwegian polar explorer who forever left his name in history. He made many discoveries, and geographical objects were named in his honor. People called him the Last Viking, and he lived up to that nickname.

Not everyone knows, but the South Pole is not the only thing that Roald Amundsen discovered. He was the first to make the passage in 1903-1906 from Greenland to Alaska via the Northwest Passage on the small ship Gjoa. It was a risky undertaking in many ways, but Amundsen did a lot of preparation, which explains his subsequent success. And in 1918-1920, on the ship “Maud”, it passed along the northern shores of Eurasia.

In addition, Roald Amundsen is a recognized pioneer of polar aviation. In 1926, he made the first flight on the airship "Norway" across the North Pole. Subsequently, his passion for aviation cost him his life.

Last trip

The life of the legendary polar explorer was cut short tragically. The irrepressible nature could not help but react when on May 25, 1928, a distress signal was received from the expedition of the Italian Umberto Nobile in the Barents Sea region.

It was not possible to fly out to help right away. Despite all his achievements, Roald Amundsen (we discussed what he discovered above) still needed money. Therefore, only on June 18, from Tromso on a Latham-47 seaplane, thanks to common efforts, the fearless Norwegian and his team flew to the rescue.

The last message received from Amundsen was information that they were over Bear Island. Afterwards the connection was lost. The next day it became obvious that Latham 47 was missing. Long searches yielded no results. A few months later, the seaplane's float and dented gas tank were discovered. The commission found that the plane crashed, resulting in the tragic death of the crew.

Roald Amundsen was a man of great destiny. He will forever remain in people's memory as a true conqueror of Antarctica.

Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) - Norwegian polar traveler and explorer. Born in the province of Estfold (in Borg) into a family of hereditary sailors. After high school, he entered the medical faculty of the University in Christiania, but two years later he left the university and became a sailor on a sailing schooner going seal fishing in the Greenland Sea. After sailing for two years, he passed the exam to become a long-distance navigator. In 1897-1899, he participated as a navigator in the Belgian Antarctic expedition on the Belgica ship. Upon his return, he took the exam again and received a diploma as a sea captain.

Both forethought and caution are equally important: foresight is to notice difficulties in time, and caution is to prepare most thoroughly for the meeting.

Amundsen Roald

In 1900, Amundsen purchased the large sailing schooner Gjoa. With a crew of seven people, for the first time in the history of navigation, he sailed on it in 1903-1906 from Greenland to Alaska through the seas and straits of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, opening the Northwest Passage from east to west, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. During the expedition, he conducted valuable geomagnetic observations in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and mapped more than 100 islands.

In 1910-1912, he led an expedition to Antarctica with the aim of discovering the South Pole on the ship Fram, which belonged to F. Nansen, who was at that time the Ambassador of Norway to Great Britain. The only non-Norwegian in the Fram crew was the Russian sailor and oceanographer Alexander Stepanovich Kuchin. In January, Amundsen and his companions landed on the Ross Glacier in Whale Bay, founded a base and began preparing for a trip to the South Pole. In October of the same year, the group, which, in addition to Amundsen, included O. Wisting, S. Hassell, H. Hansen and U. Bjeland, started on four dog sleds and on December 17, 1911 reached the South Pole a month ahead of the expedition of the Englishman R. Scott. Amundsen discovered the Queen Maud Mountains in Antarctica.

Victory awaits the one who has everything in order, and this is called luck.

Amundsen Roald

In 1918-1921, he built the Maud ship with his own money and sailed on it from west to east along the northern shores of Eurasia, repeating Nansen’s drift on the Fram. With two winterings, it traveled from Norway to the Bering Strait, which it entered in 1920.

In 1923-1925 he tried to reach the North Pole several times. In May 1926, he led the first transatlantic flight over the North Pole on the airship Norway. Two years later, Amundsen flew from Tromsø in a French twin-engine seaplane Latham-47 in search of the expedition of General U. Nobile. This flight was the last in the life of the Norwegian researcher: during a flight from Norway to Spitsbergen, he suffered an accident and died in the Barents Sea. The only thing that was found was a float with the inscription “Latham-47”, caught by fishermen near Bear Island.

Forethought and caution are equally important: foresight - to notice difficulties in time, and caution - to prepare most thoroughly to meet them.

Amundsen Roald

A mountain in the eastern part of Antarctica, a bay in the Arctic Ocean, a sea off the coast of the Southern Continent, and the American polar station Amundsen-Scott are named after Amundsen. His works “Flight across the Arctic Ocean”, “On the ship “Maud””, “Expedition along the northern coast of Asia”, “The South Pole” and a five-volume collection of works have been translated into Russian.

“He will forever occupy a special place in the history of geographical research... Some kind of explosive force lived in him. On the foggy horizon of the Norwegian people, he rose like a shining star. How many times did it light up with bright flashes! And suddenly it immediately went out, and we cannot take our eyes off from the empty place in the sky." F. Nansen.

(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 sunlight; 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 to do, what no one had managed so far - to navigate the Northwest Passage, supposedly connecting the Atlantic with the 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 travelogues 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 is not yet 40, and his life’s destiny takes 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 that would be a purely scientific enterprise, and he succeeded in obtaining government 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, there 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 Royal Navy Captain Robert Scott. In January 1909, when Amundsen was preparing his expedition to the North Pole, Shackleton did not reach the southernmost point of the earth 155 km, 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 as punishment he was left on the ship. 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, began to loom before the eyes of the Norwegians. 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 assistants 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 kilometers further. At the South Pole they left a small grey-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; it seems that we are talking 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, while the World War was still raging, Amundsen set out 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, before anyone else 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 because of 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 or had a 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 could not 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.”

Amundsen Roald (1872-1928), Norwegian polar traveler and explorer.

He was the first to navigate the Northwest Passage on the ship Gjoa from Greenland to Alaska (1903-06). He led the expedition to Antarctica on the ship Fram (1910-12). He was the first to reach the South Pole (12/14/1911). In 1918-20 he 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".

He died in the Barents Sea during the search for the Italian expedition of U. Nobile.

Amundsen Rual. He was the first to navigate the Northwest Passage on the ship Gjoa from Greenland to Alaska (1903-1906). He led the expedition to Antarctica on the ship "Fram" (1910-1912). The first to reach the South Pole (December 14, 1911). In 1918-1920 he sailed along the northern coast of Eurasia on the ship "Maud". In 1926, he led the first flight over the North Pole on the airship "Norway". He died in the Barents Sea during the search for the Italian expedition of U. Nobile.

Fifty years after the so-called discovery of the Northwest Passage by McClure, Amundsen was the first to circumnavigate North America on a yacht. From Western Greenland, he, following the instructions of McClintock's book, first repeated the path of Franklin's unfortunate expedition. From Barrow Strait he headed south through the Peel and Franklin Straits to the northern tip of King William Island. But, taking into account Franklin’s disastrous mistake, Amundsen circled the island not from the western, but from the eastern side - through the James Ross and Ray Straits - and spent two winters in Gjoa harbor, off the south-eastern coast of King William Island. From there, in the fall of 1904, he explored the narrowest part of Simpson Strait by boat, and in the late summer of 1905 he moved due west along the mainland coast, leaving the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to the north. He passed through a series of shallow, island-studded straits and bays and finally encountered whaling ships arriving from the Pacific Ocean to the northwestern shores of Canada.

After wintering here for the third time, Amundsen in the summer of 1906 sailed through the Bering Strait into the Pacific Ocean and ended his voyage in San Francisco.

Amundsen considered his next task to be the conquest of the North Pole. He wanted to enter the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait and repeat, only at higher latitudes, the famous drift of the Fram. Nansen lent him his ship. While preparations were underway for the expedition, Cook and Peary announced that the North Pole had already been conquered...

Finally they found themselves on a large glacier, which, like a frozen icy river, cascaded down from above between the mountains. This glacier was named after Axel Heiberg, the patron of the expedition, who donated a large sum. The higher the travelers climbed, the worse the weather became. They called the mountain peaks that appeared before them in clear hours after the names of Norwegians: friends, relatives, patrons. The highest mountain was named after Fridtjof Nansen. And one of the glaciers descending from it received the name of Nansen’s daughter, Liv.

On December 7, 1911, they passed the southernmost point reached before them: three years ago, the party of the Englishman Shackleton reached the latitude of 88°23", but, facing the threat of starvation, was forced to turn back, only 180 kilometers short of reaching the Pole.

On December 17, they reached the point where, according to their calculations, the South Pole should be located. They left a small grey-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 message to his rival, Scott. Amundsen's entire journey to the South Pole and back took 99 days. Here are the names of the discoverers of the South Pole: Oscar Wisting, Helmer Hansen, Sverre Hassel, Olaf Bjaland, Roald Amundsen.

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.

In 1925, Amundsen decided to make a test flight by plane to the North Pole from Spitsbergen. If the flight was successful, then he planned to organize a trans-Arctic flight.

On May 21, 1925, both planes took off and headed for the North Pole. On one plane were Ellsworth, Dietrichson and Omdahl, on the other were Amundsen, Riiser-Larsen and Voigt. About 1000 kilometers from Spitsbergen, the engine of Amundsen’s plane began to malfunction. Fortunately, in this place there were polynyas among the ice. I had to go to land. They landed relatively safely, but were unable to take off. The situation seemed hopeless. Immediately after the accident, Amundsen carefully counted everything they had and established hard rations.

Finally, on June 15, the 24th day after the accident, it froze, and they decided to take off.

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 had survived, they would have starved to death.

The meeting in Norway was solemn.

They were met by crowds of jubilant people. It was July 5, 1925. It seemed that all Amundsen's troubles were a thing of the past. He was a national hero. In 1925, Ellsworth bought an airship called Norge (Norway). The leaders of the expedition to the North Pole were Amundsen and Ellsworth. The creator of the airship, Italian Umberto Nobile, was invited to the position of captain. The team was formed from Italians and Norwegians. On May 8, 1926, Americans set off to the North Pole. On board the plane, named "Josephine Ford", probably in honor of his wife

Ford

, who financed the expedition, there were only two: Floyd Bennett as the pilot and Richard Byrd as the navigator.

After 15 hours they returned safely, having flown to the Pole and back.

He was the first to reach the South Pole and the first to fly from Europe to America (Spitsbergen - Alaska); He was the first to circumnavigate America from the north on the yacht "Joa" and the first to follow along the entire coast of the Arctic Ocean, after he circumnavigated Europe and Asia from the north on the vessel "Maud" in 1918-1920.