The First Man to Reach the North and South Poles Mysteriously Disappeared

Amundsen & the South Pole

Initially, Amundsen planned to journey to the North Pole, but when he heard that Frederick Cook and Robert E. Peary had supposedly reached it in different missions; he set his sights on the South Pole.

At this stage, the South Pole was considered the last undiscovered land mass on Earth and the race to the Pole was an unforgettable battle between Amundsen and British explorer Captain Robert F. Scott. The British explorer knew time was of the essence as Ernest Shackleton had just fallen short in his recent attempt.

Scott was forced to press on with his plans after learning that Peary was planning an attempt on the South Pole in 1912. However, his biggest threat was unquestionably the well-prepared Norwegian team. Amundsen left Norway on the ship Fram on June 3, 1910, and, after a quick stop at Madeira, the crew landed at the Great Ice Barrier at the Bay of Whales on January 14, 1911.

Amundsen established the expedition’s base camp ‘Framheim’ there. He used the knowledge gleaned from the Inuits he met on the previous mission by wearing furred skins and using sled dogs and skis for transport. He also planned to kill some of the dogs and eat their fresh meat at the appropriate time.

This careful preparation was in stark contrast to his British rivals who used ponies for transportation, did not bring a wireless and were plagued with low morale for the duration of their ill-fated quest. Even their landing spot, at Cape Evans, was up to 60 miles further away from the South Pole than Amundsen’s.

Of course, not everything went smoothly for the Norwegians either. Their first attempt to reach the pole was a failure in September 1911, but they regrouped and tried again on October 19, 1911.

Amundsen and four team members made the journey with four sleds and over 50 dogs. They made their way to the South Pole via the previously unknown Axel Heiberg Glacier. By November 21, victory was almost in sight as the group reached the Polar Plateau.

Finally, on December 14, 1911, the five men reached 90 degrees South, Amundsen had achieved his goal. They left a letter in a tent near the Pole outlining their achievements in case they didn’t make it home. However, their journey back to camp was relatively uneventful, and they reached Framheim on January 25, 1912.

The Fram reached Hobart in Tasmania, Australia on March 7, 1912, where Amundsen announced his success to the world. While the Norwegians returned home as conquering heroes, their British counterparts found only desolation and death.

After arriving at the South Pole some 33 days after Amundsen, Scott surveyed the barren landscape and declared that it was “an awful place.” Scott never made it home as he died on the way back to base camp along with several other men.

The Northeast Passage & North Pole

While lesser men may have been content with achieving history once, Amundsen had an insatiable appetite for exploration. He began a seven-year expedition on the ship Maud in 1918. The first mission was to sail west to east via the Northeast Passage. Amundsen was joined by a couple of his South Pole team members, and he planned to explore the unknown parts of the Arctic Ocean.

The ship became frozen in ice, and Amundsen suffered injuries so he could not get involved in much of the outdoor work. As well as sustaining a broken arm, he had been attacked by polar bears. After a couple of winters frozen on the ice, Amundsen elected to sail to Nome for provisions; the mission was a failure.

After further failed attempts. Amundsen had his ship seized as collateral for his enormous debts. As well as being unable to drift the Maud over the North Pole on ice as intended, Amundsen failed in an attempt to fly over the Pole.

However, Amundsen was a stubborn and remarkably resilient and determined individual, so he did not rest until he reached the North Pole. He took two flying boats toward the North Pole along with five crew members in 1925. At the time, it was the furthest that any plane had flown in a northernmost latitude.

When one of the planes became irreplaceably damaged, it appeared as if the crew was doomed. However, they somehow managed to cram into the other plane and safely made it home.

Along with a crew of 15, Amundsen crossed the Arctic in the airship Norge in 1926. They left Svalbard on May 11, 1926, and landed in Alaska on May 13. There are suggestions that none of the three previous expeditions to the North Pole actually occurred.

However, historians are satisfied that Robert E. Peary’s expedition in 1909 was legitimate although Frederick Cook’s 1908 mission probably wasn’t.

The Death of an Explorer

In 1928, the airship Italia crashed while returning from the North Pole. The same person who created the Norge designed it and Amundsen was part of a rescue mission. The 6-man team was looking for members of the Italia, but they also disappeared on June 18, 1928. Although Amundsen’s body and the remains of the others were never found, it is certain that they all died in a crash.

Parts of Amundsen’s flying boat were found off the coast of Tromso soon after the disappearance. The Norwegian Government eventually gave up and officially declared an end to the search in September 1928. In 2004 and again in 2009, the Norwegian Navy used a submarine to try and find further evidence from the 1928 crash but found nothing. There is a dispute over the probable location of the crash.

Some believe the plane crashed in the Barents Sea in fog while others are more specific and suggest it went down northwest of Bear Island. Regardless of where the plane ultimately landed, Amundsen and the others unquestionably died on their rescue mission; a sad end to the life of a great explorer.