Roald Amundsen , A Norwegian explorer Quiz

Answer: South Pole

On the 7th December 1911, Amundsen and his team travelled to a point further south than had ever been reached before (88 degrees 23 minutes S). By doing this, he broke a record previously set in 1909 by Ernest Shackleton. One week later on 14th December, they reached the South Pole. Amundsen named his base there "Polheim", meaning "Pole Home". Unsure whether they would return, Amundsen left a letter at this base to King Haakon VII of Norway telling of his achievement.

Answer: Medicine

Many of Amundsen's family were seafarers, but his mother did not want him to pursue this career. Instead, she wanted him to study medicine. Reluctantly, he honoured her wish until she died when he was 21. He then dropped out of university and went to sea.

Answer: Antarctica with "Belgica "

Amundsen secured a place as second mate on an Antarctic expedition led by Adrien de Gerlache on the vessel "Belgica". During this voyage, the vessel became trapped in the ice. This resulted in Amundsen inadvertantly being one of the first men to spend an entire winter in the Antarctic. During the enforced stay, the ship's surgeon hunted animals and fed the meat to the crew to help prevent scurvy.

Answer: Led the first expedition to sail through the North West Passage

In 1903, Amundsen was the first person to successfully sail through the North West Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. He did this on the 57 ton fishing boat "Gjøa". This feat was not to be repeated until 1940. During the expedition, Amundsen spent two winters on King William Island learning travel and survival skills from the Eskimo.

These skills were to prove vital for his later expeditions.

Answer: the North Pole

Amundsen intended to be the first one to reach the North Pole and he had acquired Fridtjof Nansen's old ship, the "Fram" for this purpose. However, upon hearing that he had been beaten by Robert Peary and Frederick Cook, he secretly changed his plans and headed south. Amundsen waited until they were at sea off the coast of Madeira to inform his men.

He also sent a telegram to Scott with the words: "Beg to inform you, Fram proceeding Antarctic".

Answer: Dog meat

Having climbed to the edge of the Polar Plateau en route to the South Pole, Amundsen slaughtered 24 of his dogs. Some of the meat was fed to the remaining dogs, the men ate some and the remainder was cached for the return journey. This earned him the nickname "The Butcher", but as he had learned from the American Frederick Cook on the "Belgica" expedition, eating fresh meat was important to avoid scurvy. Polar bears are, of course, not found in the Antarctic.

Answer: Robert Falcon Scott

Robert Falcon Scott, a British Royal Naval officer, led the ill fated
"Terra Nova" expedition to the South Pole. Scott, plagued by poor weather and bad luck, reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912 to find that Amundsen had been and gone 34 days earlier on 11th December (by 17th January Admunsen and his men where within a week of reaching safety on the Fram).

Scott, Evans, Wilson, Oates and Bowers now had to face the return trip of over 800 miles and sadly they did not survive the journey. It started well but once again Scott was plagued by bad weather, an unusual north west wind, and also a lack of food. By March the temperature had dropped to -43°F, making it the coldest March ever recorded. Blizzards raged throughout and although Scott was only eleven miles from the 'one ton depot' it was impossible to carry on.
Scott's last diary entry was dated 29th March.

Answer: To carry out extensive Polar geophysical exploration

Amundsen had designed "Maud", himself, and she was christened with a block of ice, instead of the usual champagne. This expedition was intended to be the largest, and best equipped expedition of its time; it was equipped for oceanographic, metrological, and magnetic field measuring. Unfortunately "Maud" was trapped in the icepack, and was stuck there for two winters.

After repairs Amundsen tried again, this time to get stuck for three years in the ice of the north east coast of Siberia. Still this expedition earned the reputation of being one of the most important Arctic research projects of the time, because the oceanographer and meteorologist Harald Ulvik managed to collect an immense amount of geophysical data.

Answer: The airship "Norge"

In 1926, Amundsen flew over the North Pole in the airship "Norge". He was accompanied by a crew of 15, including Umberto Nobile who had built the ship. They left Spitsbergen on 11th May 1926 and reached the pole 16 hours later, where they dropped Norwegian, American and Italian flags. They then continued to land at Teller, Alaska.

Answer: On a rescue mission in the Arctic

In May 1928, the news broke that Umberto Nobile's new airship "Italia" had crashed in the Arctic. Amundsen and five others left on a rescue mission in the French aircraft "The Latham" to try and locate missing members of Nobile's crew. Three hours into the flight, contact was lost with Amundsen's aircraft. No trace of him or the crew was ever found. Ironically, a few days later, Nobile and his crew were rescued.