Title: Amundsen, First to the South Pole
2000 30X40 inches
ROALD AMUNDSEN:
1872-1928, Norwegian explorer.
He was a member of the first party to winter in the
Antarctic on the Belgica
in 1898. He became the first to travel the Northwest passage in his ship
Gjoa , (1903-06).
Amundsen planned to drift across the North Pole in
Nansen's ship the Fram.
News of Peary's conquest of the North Pole caused him to secretly change
his
plans and head south in Nansen's ship without informing anyone, even Nansen.
His expedition to the South Pole was a masterpiece of organization and
concerted purpose. With seemingly no effort on ski, Amundsen and four
companions
arrived at the South Pole on 14 December 1911. Scott's party arrived a
month
after Amundsen's. Exhausted from man hauling sledges, they perished on
the return
journey.
He later met Lincoln Ellsworth a wealthy young
American explorer. With his
backing, they flew with Umberto Noblie over the North Pole in a dirigible.
In
1928 while searching the Arctic for survivors of an airship accident,
Amundsen's plane crashed. He vanished on the ice he loved.
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