Roald Amundsen 1872-1928 Roald Amundsen, born in 1872 near Oslo, Norway, left his mark on the Heroic Era as one of the most successful polar explorers ever born. His career of adventure began at the age of 15, originally studying medicine, but dropping out to go to sea where he soon moved his way up to the rank of mate. His first experience in the Antarctic was with Adrien de Gerlache's 1899 BELGICA EXPEDITION. He became the first to travel the Northwest Passage, in his ship Gjoa in 1903-06. After this expedition, plans were assembled to drift across the North Pole in Nansen's famous FRAM, but news arrived of Peary's successful attainment of the pole which caused Amundsen to make new plans--covert plans--for an expedition to the Antarctic and the subsequent capture of the South Pole. On December 14, 1911, Amundsen and four others stood at the South Pole, a month before Robert Scott. This expedition was an incredible masterpiece of organization. Here is the story... "The North Pole is reached!" was the news that flashed all over the world...it was September 1909 when the news reached Amundsen. The original plan of the FRAM'S third voyage--the exploration of the North Polar basin--was quickly called off. In order to save the expedition, Amundsen immediately turned his attention to the South simultaneously emphasizing to his financial contributors that the FRAM'S Arctic voyage would be, in every way, a scientific expedition and would have nothing to do with record-breaking. Therefore, as far as the supporters were aware, Amundsen's Arctic voyage would not be influenced one way or another by Peary's accomplishment. Since he was so heavily in debt, Amundsen felt his change in plans to head south and capture the South Pole should be kept a secret. In his own words, Amundsen wrote, "I know that I have been reproached for not having at once made the extended plan public, so that not only my supporters, but the explorers who were preparing to visit the same regions might have knowledge of it. I was well aware that these reproaches would come, and had therefore carefully weighed this side of the matter". As hinted at, he also felt it important to keep his intentions secret from his peers. "Nor did I feel any great scruples with regard to the other Antarctic expeditions that were being planned at the time. I knew I should be able to inform Captain Scott of the extension of my plans before he left civilization, and therefore a few months sooner or later could be of no great importance. Scott's plan and equipment were so widely different from my own that I regarded the telegram that I sent him later, with the information that we were bound for the Antarctic regions, rather as a mark of courtesy than as a communication which might cause him to alter his programme in the slightest degree. The British expedition was designed entirely for scientific research. The Pole was only a side-issue, whereas in my extended plan it was the main object". Amundsen must have been in a dream world as this simply was not true. Scott's intention to try for the Pole had been widely publicized and was certainly not a side issue...one only need turn to Scott's Antarctic Expedition announcement in the September 13, 1909, issue of The Times of London. Amundsen admitted that he was heavily in debt and knew that his best chance of raising money was to bring off a spectacular triumph. Amundsen wrote, "If at that juncture I had made my intention public, it would only have given occasion for a lot of newspaper discussion, and possibly have ended in the project being stifled at its birth. Everything had to be got ready quietly and calmly. My brother, upon whose absolute silence I could blindly rely, was the only person I let into the secret of my change of plan, and he did me many important services during the time when we alone shared the knowledge". The only other man to know of the change in plans was the ship's commander, Lieutenant Thorvald Nilsen. Amundsen kept his plans so secret that only these two men, along with Lieutenants Prestrud and Gjertsen (told on the eve of the FRAM'S departure), knew of them before the FRAM reached Madeira, ostensibly on the way to Buenos Aires and then northwards to the Arctic; the Madeira trip was supposed to be mainly for the purpose of oceanographical research. The Norwegians left Christiania on August 9, 1910, eight weeks after Scott's TERRA NOVA EXPEDITION had departed Cardiff. On board were 97 Greenland dogs, the key to Amundsen's success, along with a hut and provisions for two years in the Antarctic. A month later, on September 6, the FRAM arrived at Madeira where fresh water and other provisions were taken on board. A few minor repairs were made to the ship as the crew enjoyed some free time ashore. On the evening of the 9th, some three hours before departing for Antarctica, Amundsen called the crew to his attention. Many of the men were quite puzzled and unhappy to be interrupted as they were quickly writ...