A strangely colorless, almost vacuous account of a long expedition, at least in this translated prose. Volume I has only a few bookish references, a picture on p. 119 of a shelf of scientific books in the Villa ‘Magnet”, the small base building for magnetic observations. And a description of an Eskimo visit to the ship:
“The North West Passage” Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship “Gjoa” 1903-1907 by Roald Amundsen with a Supplement by First Lieutenant Hansen Vice-Commander of the Expedition.
- 1903-07 Norwegian Northwest Passage Expedition (Roald Amundsen aboard Gjoa).
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
My Life as an Explorer
- Antarctic Reading: General
Roald Amundsen (1872-1928), Norwegian Explorer. It is appropriate for Amundsen to take pride of place in this compilation since he can easily lay claim to being the world’s most successful Polar explorer. His experience was broad and his successful explorations included priority conquests of the South Pole, the North Pole by air, the Northwest Passage, and a third transit of the Northeast Passage. Pride of place goes to his Norwegian team’s “discovery” of the South Pole on December 14, 1911, thereby winning the so-called “race to the Pole” over Robert Falcon Scott and his British companions.
My Life as an Explorer.
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
A fairly straightforward autobiography of his life, from childhood adventures on the ice, the Belgica expedition and its problems with scurvy, his secret departure for the NW Passage to avoid his creditors, the two years on King William Island, another year near Herschel Island, and completion in 1906. Next he planned a North Pole expedition, but Peary’s claim there clandestinely shifted his focus to the South Pole. He passes over the SP trip quickly, before moving on to his attempt to drift across the North Pole, his interest in aerial exploration (1922), his business difficulties with H.J. Hammer as well as his brother Leon, his dirigible work with Lincoln Ellsworth, and the flight of the Norge in 1926. Throughout he claims he has been misrepresented and sometimes his apologia is convincing, sometimes not; either way it is a lengthy (over 100 pages) exercise in self-justification. He is particularly incensed at Nobile for claiming the Norge expedition was his idea (later attributed to Mussolini), and for any number of contractual difficulties. The work concludes with miscellaneous chapters on Stefansson, on Amundsen’s views on the business of exploration, on food and equipment, and finally an appendix of notes by Riiser-Larsen further refuting Nobile’s claims; these are more dispassionate than Amundsen and therefore more convincing.
Roald Amundsen’s Belgica Diary: The first Scientific Expedition to the Antarctic.
- 1897-99 Belgian Antarctic Expedition (Gerlache de Gomery aboard Belgica).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
This first English publication of Amundsen’s daybook from the Belgica trip, together with connective commentary by the editor about each segment of the trip, is a surprising volume for a number of reasons. It presents a rather different picture of Amundsen than the more affectless hero of his later works. Here is the second mate, concerned about the welfare of ship and crew, even-headed except when learning of Gerlache’s deceit excluding him of the potential captaincy of the expedition. Much of the book goes along monotonously with routine weather reports that are interspersed with moments of real excitement and danger. His friendship with Doctor Cook comes across very clearly, but his rather frequent acknowledgment of God and his benign guidance is unexpected. There appears to be nothing about any reading he may have done during the trip, but he does describe briefly the pinup contest that Gerlache makes much of. The book gives some excerpts from diaries of other officers, including this from Henryk Arctowski:
The South Pole Expedition 1910-1912.
- 1910-12 Norwegian National Antarctic Expedition (Amundsen on Fram).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
A heavily illustrated English translation of Amundsen’s diaries from his South Pole expedition. The overwhelming impression of the first 100 pages is Amundsen’s love affair with the dogs, even when he is killing them or sacrificing them for food for the others.
The South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the ‘Fram,’ 1910-1912.
- 1910-12 Norwegian National Antarctic Expedition (Amundsen on Fram).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Volume I, p. 68: aboard the Fram: We carried an extraordinarily copious library; presents of books were showered upon us in great quantities. I suppose the Fram’s library at the present moment contains at least 3,000 volumes.