Roald Amundsen & Gjoa

Roald Amundsen (1872- 1928)

Roald Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer whose accomplishments include:

• the first European explorer to navigate through the Northwest Passage (1903-1906)
• the first man to reach the South Pole (1911)
• flying over the North Pole in the airship Norge in 1926 with Riiser-Larsen, Lincoln Ellsworth and Umberto Noblie
  

On his voyages to find the Northwest Passage Amundsen wintered in the area know known as Gjoa Haven. Amundsen called Gjoa Haven the finest little harbor in the world. The harbour provided refuge from massive pack ice and stormy seas. Amundsen and his crew wintered here in 1903 and learned about the land from the local Inuit the Nattilik. The survival skills he learned here played a large part in the success of his exploration exploits.

While in Gjoa Harbour Amundsen studied the effects of the magnetic north pole. He spent months making magnetic observations here. At that time Magnetic North was about 90 miles from Gjoa Haven. Amundsen was planning a voyage to the geographic North Pole in 1909 when he heard the news that Admiral Robert E. Peary had reached the North Pole first. He immediately changed his plans and charted a course to Antarctica and the South Pole. Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole in 1911.

Always the adventurer, Amundsen became interested in air-flight. He planned to become one of the first men to fly over the North Pole and made the successful journey in 1926 along with Umberto Nobile and crew.

Roald Amundsen disappeared in 1928 while on an effort to rescue his colleague Umberto Nobile who had crashed his dirigible.

The Amunsdsen Hotel in Gjoa Haven is named in memory of this intrepid explorer.

Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen's ship- the Gjoa

Amundsen at the South Pole

The airship The Norge on the journey to the North Pole