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THE ARCTIC
After spending the winter of 1898 to 1899 in the Antarctic on the
Belgica, the first expedition to do so, Amundsen made the Arctic his target.
Finding the Northwest Passage was a childhood ambition. To
gain financial support, Amundsen chose the relocation of the Magnetic
North Pole as his scientific goal.
On 16 June 1903, Amundsen set sail from Christiania (now Oslo) with
six men aboard the Gjøa. They crossed the North Atlantic, navigated through the
islands of northern Canada and eventually found harbor on King William Island.
(The Atlas of North American Exploration: From the Norse Voyages to the Race to the Pole
has clear and attractive maps of Amundsen's travels in the Arctic.)
At Gjøahavn, they spent two winters, after verifying that the Magnetic North Pole had moved
30 miles north of where John Ross first located it on 1 June 1831.
Amundsen also interacted with the Eskimos and voraciously studied
their methods of survival. He adopted their diet, wore reindeer clothing down to the
reindeer underwear and, with the help of an Eskimo man who chose to
live in their camp, he and his men practiced building igloos and driving dog teams.
Amundsen amassed an unprecedented quantity of useful information and techniques.
He not only discovered
that the Eskimo practices were more effective than the Western
methods, he analyzed why they were more effective, noting for
example that the carefully chosen and treated reindeer skins produced
clothing that kept one comfortably dry and warm while allowing
essential freedom of movement.
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THE ANTARCTIC
Amundsen's life and dreams always dwelled in the north, and by 1910, Amundsen's creditors as well
as most of his men expected another journey north to the Arctic.
However, after the news of Peary's accomplishment, Amundsen had surreptitiously abandoned his plans for the North Pole.
And he concealed his new plans with good reason, for Scott's efforts, according to one biographer, to lay claim to the South Pole
would encourage many, even Norwegians, to be unsympathetic with Amundsen as Scott's competitor.
Thus, realizing that he'd have to be beyond his creditors' reach before his true destination
became public, Amundsen was secretive -- even obtaining maps anonymously -- until he made the
announcement to his men in Madeira.
Already weeks into the ocean voyage, they were given only a few minutes to choose to leave the Fram, to abandon what had been
a commitment to several years in the Arctic. They all remained aboard, and Amundsen sent a cable
to Scott "Beg leave to inform you Fram proceeding Antarctic Amundsen."
Early 1911, unbeknownst to Scott, the Fram Party was setting up camp, "Framheim," on the Great Ice Barrier
in the Bay of Whales not far from the British camp (see map). The possibility of encountering the
Englishmen weighed upon the Norwegians. One expedition member wrote that "one of our constant
subjects of discussion was how the Englishmen would take our challenge."
After leaving Scott and his men at Cape Evans and sailing to the western shore of McMurdo Sound
to land the four-man Western Geological Party, Scott's Terra Nova headed to the Bay of Whales to
find a camp for Campbell's six-man Northern Party. Priestley of the Terra Nova was awakened at one o'clock
to the "astounding news that we had sighted a ship at anchor to the sea ice in the Bay. All was
confusion on board for a few minutes, everybody rushing up on deck with cameras and clothes." Bruce
wrote to his sister, Scott's wife, "Curses loud and deep were heard everywhere."
The lone watchman aboard the Fram was alarmed by what he thought was the sound of the Great Ice Barrier
calving, perhaps taking Framheim and its inhabitants into the Bay. It was, in actuality,
the Terra Nova putting out ice anchors. Preparing for the best and the worst, the watchman found an English
grammar book, practiced such phrases as "How are you this morning?" and waited to receive them
with the book and a gun under his coat "so that both could be retrieved in a hurry."
Neither was necessary. Campbell was fluent in Norwegian and invited the Fram Party to a friendly, though
uncomfortable, meal aboard the Terra Nova. The Englishmen were impressed by the civility and apparent hardiness of
the Norwegians. And they had reason to fret. In addition to the Norwegians' expertise, preparation
and focus, Framheim was 60 miles closer to the Pole than Scott's camp,
the movement of ice never cut it off from the route to the Pole, it was always accessible to the
ship and there was an abundance of seals for man and dog. As Bruce observed, "They had 120 dogs
and are going for the Pole! No science, no nothing, just the Pole!"
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
There are many books on the Antarctic I still want to read; in the meantime, these are some that I recommend:
If you want to read and discuss books on the history of Antarctic exploration, please join a community.
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