The First Person to set Foot on the South Pole
On the 16th of July, 1872, in the small town of Borge, Norway, a baby was born by the name of Roald Amundsen — a baby who would go on to be one of, if not the most important polar explorers in human history.
As a child, Amundsen was fascinated by stories about polar explorers, in particular, the ones of Fridtjof Nansen, and his heart was set upon becoming one himself.
He reportedly exercised to prepare himself for his future explorations by leaving his window open at night during the unforgiving Norwegian winters.
At the young age of 14, Amundsen’s father, a shipowner, died. He was left only with his mother, whose dream was for him to become a physician. So, when the time came, he set aside his dreams of polar exploration and promptly started studying medicine at the University of Christiana (now the University of Oslo).
Two years after his enrollment, however, his mother passed away. At this, Amundsen quit his studies and went after his lifelong dream of becoming an explorer.
At the age of 25, Amundsen became the first mate of the ship RV Belgica. He went on to sail with the crew of the Belgica and became part of the first expedition to overwinter Antarctica. Whether by accident or on purpose, however, the Belgica became stuck in the ice just west of the Antarctic Peninsula, forcing Amundsen and the rest of the Belgica’s crew, who were ill-prepared at best, to endure the harsh Antarctic winter.
When Amundsen returned home after this rough winter, he was set upon leading his next expedition. And so, in 1903, he set sail aboard the Gjøa, a fishing vessel carrying six men, to reach the North Pole. His studies indicated that the magnetic North Pole was not stationary but instead was in constant movement.
Although Amundsen did not reach the North Pole in this expedition, he successfully traversed the Northwest Passage for the first time in human history — something explorers had been dreaming about for 300 years.
Unfortunately for Amundsen, the American Robert E. Peary successfully reached the North Pole in 1909. This prompted Amundsen to set his sights on the South Pole instead.
Amundsen took to the ship Frem, previously used by his personal hero, Fridtjof Nansen, and, on June 3, 1910, sailed southward. Six months later, on January 14, 1909, he had set foot in Antarctica for the second time in his life.
They started trekking towards the South Pole, and six months, one failure, and one small skirmish between Amundsen’s group later, on December 14, 1911, Amundsen became the first person ever to set foot on the South Pole.
In the unfortunate case that Amundsen failed to return home safely, he and his group left a tent with a letter on the South Pole, stating their success.
Fortunately, Amundsen was able to return to his ship. They sailed to Australia, where he announced his victory.
His next goal would be to explore the Arctic further. And so, in 1918, he set sail abroad the newly built ship, Maud, toward the Arctic. This was a very long expedition, lasting from 1918 to 1925, and many things would go on to happen.
Aboard the Maud, Amundsen crossed the Northwest Passage a second time. During this expedition, he suffered from a broken arm and survived a polar bear attack. Yes. A polar bear attack.
A lot of important scientific data was also collected on this expedition.
After Amundsen’s farewell to the Maud in 1925, he aspired to fly over the North Pole on a dirigible — a goal he accomplished aboard the Norge in May of 1926.
In June 1928, Amundsen took to his final adventure — but this time, he was aiming to aid in the search and rescue of the Italia, an Italian Air Force airship that had crashed.
Although the Italia was later found, and some of its crew rescued successfully, Amundsen’s plane disappeared never to be seen again.
In both 2004 and 2009, the Royal Norwegian Navy attempted to find the remains of Amundsen’s plane. Neither attempt was successful.
Amundsen is among the 17 deaths that resulted from the crash of the Italia. Both the unfortunate members of the Italia’s crew and the brave rescuers that failed in their efforts are included in that death toll.
