Thursday, 7 September 1911

Amundsen

The day being calm and clear, with a temperature of -37 C., Amundsen decided to set out at last. They left Framheim at ten minutes past noon.

"We started against Lindstrøm's energetic protests," Helmer Hanssen later wrote. Lindstrøm held by the old superstition that it was bad luck to begin a journey on a Friday. "[He] begged and pleaded with us to wait until Saturday, otherwise it would never go well." [1]

"The going was glorious," wrote Amundsen. "Rarely have I known the going so good." [2]

They had no need of a forerunner, as the depot-journey track was still there for the dogs to follow. Helmer Hanssen was navigator, with a ship's compass on his sledge, mounted on gimbals in a protective box at the back. The sledge itself was specially constructed to be non-magnetic, with no ferrous material in it or its load, to avoid deflecting the compass.

"Well," wrote Bjaaland, "at last the day arrived when the great sledge journey to the south has its beginning. The weather was fine -37 with NE'ly breeze. The dogs were crazy as coots, and Hanssen's and Wisting's teams bolted over the ice towards the south and a whole hour [was wasted]. It was difficult to get going and W. capsized his sledge. Distance 10.4 nautical miles. Dogs restless. I slept badly." [3]


Notes:

[1] Helmer Hanssen, Gjennem Isbaksen, p.8, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.407. The day was a Friday on "Framheim time", of course. See the entry for 10 January 1911 for the discussion on dates.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 8 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.407.
[3] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 8 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.36.