Amundsen's South Pole expedition

Roald Amundsen, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel and Oscar Wisting (l–r) at "Polheim", the tent erected at the South Pole on 16 December 1911. The top flag is the Flag of Norway; the bottom is marked "Fram". Photograph by Olav Bjaaland.

Gjøa, the small sloop in which Amundsen and his crew conquered the Northwest Passage, 1903–06

Fridtjof Nansen, whose Arctic drift of 1893–96 inspired Amundsen

Olav Bjaaland dressed for winter travel: "Not an outfit that cut a dash by its appearance, but it was warm and strong"

One of the men with a dog team and sledge on the Barrier in early 1911

Sverre Hassel in the oil store at Framheim during the winter of 1911

Amundsen's route to the pole, Oct–Dec 1911. The depots marked at 80, 81 and 82° were laid in the first season, Feb–March 1911. Shackleton's 1908–09 route, as followed by Scott, is to the right.

Men and dogs at the 85° South depot, on the way to the pole, 15 November 1911

The Japanese Antarctic Expedition's ship Kainan Maru in the Bay of Whales, January 1912

Clements Markham, the distinguished British geographer, was a harsh critic of Amundsen's change of plan and expressed private doubts about his success.

Map showing the polar journeys of the Scott's Terra Nova expedition (green) and Amundsen's expedition (red) to reach the South Pole

Remains of Amundsen's last ship, Maud, in Cambridge Bay

Led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.

- Amundsen's South Pole expedition

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South Pole

[[Image:Pole-south.gif|thumb|upright=1.4|1. South Geographic Pole

NASA image showing Antarctica and the South Pole in 2005

The Ceremonial South Pole as of February 2008.

Garmin GPS receiver showing 90 Deg South – the South Pole

Argentinian soldiers saluting the flag after erecting the pole in 1965

Amundsen's party at the South Pole, December 1911. From left to right: Amundsen, Hanssen, Hassel and Wisting (photo by fifth member Bjaaland).

The first men to reach the Geographic South Pole were the Norwegian Roald Amundsen and his party on 14 December 1911.

Terra Nova Expedition

Expedition to Antarctica which took place between 1910 and 1913.

Edward Adrian Wilson, Robert Falcon Scott, Lawrence Oates, Henry Robertson Bowers and Edgar Evans at the South Pole

Tabloid medical chest for Scott's Antarctic Expedition, 1910

The Oxo food company was one of many commercial sponsors of the expedition.

Grotto in an iceberg, 5 January 1911, photographed by Herbert Ponting

Scott's Discovery hut at Hut Point, used as a shelter and stores depot

Borchgrevink's 1899 hut at Cape Adare photographed in 1992. Campbell's Northern Party camped nearby in 1911–1912.

Robert Forde cooking seal fry on the blubber stove at Cape Roberts

Route taken to the South Pole showing supply stops and significant events. Scott was found frozen to death with Wilson and Bowers, south of the One Ton Supply depot

Scott, Bowers, Wilson, and PO Evans at Polheim, Amundsen's base at the South Pole

Observation Hill, overlooking Hut Point, where the Terra Nova memorial cross was erected in January 1913

He and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, where they found that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had preceded them by 34 days.

Roald Amundsen

Norwegian explorer of polar regions.

In 1909, Amundsen began planning for a South Pole expedition.

Robert Falcon Scott

Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition of 1910–1913.

Shackleton, Scott, and Wilson before their march south during the Discovery expedition, 2 November 1902

Scott pictured by Daniel A. Wehrschmidt, 1905

Scott's and Amundsen's routes to the South Pole

Scott writing his journal in Scott's Hut at Cape Evans, winter 1911

Terra Nova held up in pack ice, 13 December 1910

Scott's party at the South Pole: Oates, Bowers, Scott, Wilson and Evans

Cairn over the tent containing the bodies of Edward Adrian Wilson, Henry Robertson Bowers and Robert Falcon Scott.

Observation Hill memorial cross, erected in 1913

Scott statue at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, sculpted by Kathleen Scott

Robert Scott Statue in Christchurch, New Zealand, sculpted by his widow Kathleen Scott

Memorial window in Binton Church, Warwickshire, one of four panels. This one depicts the cairn erected over the site of Scott's last tent

On the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, less than five weeks after Amundsen's South Pole expedition.

Antarctic Plateau

Large area of East Antarctica which extends over a diameter of about 1000 km, and includes the region of the geographic South Pole and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station.

Surface of Antarctic Plateau, at 150E, 77S

In December 1911, while returning from the first journey to the South Pole, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen decided to name this plateau the King Haakon VII Plateau in honour of the newly elected King Haakon VII of Norway.

Bay of Whales

Natural ice harbour, or iceport, indenting the front of the Ross Ice Shelf just north of Roosevelt Island, Antarctica.

During his quest for the South Pole, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen established a temporary base, which he named Framheim, at the Bay of Whales.

Robert Peary

American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

At Cape Sheridan on Ellesmere Island, 1909

Matthew Henson, Peary's assistant, in 1910

Peary was one of the first Arctic explorers to study Inuit survival techniques.

Peary used abandoned Fort Conger on Ellesmere Island during his 1898–1902 expedition

Roosevelt in the Hudson–Fulton parade in 1909

The party at what was assumed to be the North Pole

Amundsen, Shackleton, and Peary, in January 1913

Edwin Denby and Peary's daughter at grave, Arlington National Cemetery, April 6, 1922

Peary's daughter, Marie Ahnighito Peary (born 1893)

Aleqasina as Sedna. Photo by Robert Peary

A Narwhal tusk lance with an iron head made from the Cape York meteorite.

Minik, one of the Inuit whom Peary took back to America for study.

Commander Robert E. Peary speaks at the Appalachian Mountain Club in February 1910

Peary and Robert Bartlett at Battle Harbour in 1909

Peary's diary entry for arrival at the North Pole

Peary monument at Cape York, northwest Greenland

The conflicting and unverified claims of Cook and Peary prompted Roald Amundsen to take extensive precautions in navigation during Amundsen's South Pole expedition so as to leave no room for doubt concerning his 1911 attainment of the South Pole, which—like Robert Falcon Scott's a month later in 1912—was supported by the sextant, theodolite, and compass observations of several other navigators.

Fridtjof Nansen

Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Nansen as a student in Christiania (1880, age 19)

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, whose 1883 expedition had penetrated 160 km into the Greenland icecap

Boats and supplies were stored on Greenland's east coast

Fridtjof Nansen and Eva Nansen in autumn 1889

Expedition routes, July 1893 – August 1896:

Preparations for Nansen and Johansen's polar trek, 14 March 1895

Nansen and Johansen's winter hut of 1895 on Franz Josef Land

Staged photo of the Nansen–Jackson meeting near Cape Flora, 17 June 1896

King Oscar II, last king of the union of Sweden and Norway. He remained Sweden's king after Norway's independence in 1905.

The Nansen bottle was used to sample seawater temperature at specific depths

Nansen advocated for Norway to become a full member of the League of Nations, himself becoming a delegate

Nansen's photos on postcards were meant to raise awareness about the famine

The Nansen passport allowed stateless persons to legally cross borders

Nansen in front of an Armenian orphanage, 25 June 1925

Nansen, photographed toward the end of his life (1930)

Mount Fridtjof Nansen in Antarctica, named and photographed by Roald Amundsen

When Amundsen made his controversial change of plan and set out for the South Pole, Nansen stood by him.

Beardmore Glacier

One of the largest valley glaciers in the world, being 125 mi long and having a width of 25 mi. It descends about 7,200 ft from the Antarctic Plateau to the Ross Ice Shelf and is bordered by the Commonwealth Range of the Queen Maud Mountains on the eastern side and the Queen Alexandra Range of the Central Transantarctic Mountains on the western.

However, they reached the pole a month after Roald Amundsen and his team, who had chosen a route up the previously unknown Axel Heiberg Glacier.

Colin Archer

Norwegian naval architect and shipbuilder known for his seaworthy pilot and rescue boats and the larger sailing and polar ships.

Seal and whale hunting bark CASTOR. 135 feet built in Arendal 1886. Fitted with 75 hp steam engine. Lost off Greenland 1896.

Model ship LEON at Swedish museum, Söhistoriska museet

Fram heavily loaded at the start on her first voyage 1893

Pilot cutter Pitkäpaasi built 1898 as one of eight for the Finnish pilot department 1898-1903. Here pictured in Finland in 2011.

Model of RS 1 Colin Archer in the Fram Museum, Oslo, Norway

RS 1 COLIN ARCHER as new in 1893. Later the boat was painted white.

RS 1 COLIN ARCHER built 1893 – shown in Horten 2014

RS 6 built 1894, identical to RS1 COLIN ARCHER

NANNA built 1898 by Colin Archer. The cutter rig is typical for his yachts.

Asgard, Archer's only 2-masted yacht. Half of Archer's 50 yachts had counter sterns similar to Asgard 's.

The most notable single ship built by Colin Archer was the Fram, used by Fridtjof Nansen in his expedition attempt to the North Pole 1893-96 and by Roald Amundsen's 1911 historic expedition as the first to the South Pole.