Friday, 8 March 1912

Scott

"Worse and worse in morning," Scott wrote, "poor Oates' left foot can never last out, and time over foot gear something awful.... We did 4 1/2 miles this morning and are now 8 1/2 miles from the depot -- a ridiculously small distance to feel in difficulties, yet on this surface we know we cannot equal half our old marches, and that for that effort we expend nearly double the energy. The great question is, What shall we find at the depot? If the dogs have visited it we may get along a good distance, but if there is another short allowance of fuel, God help us indeed. We are in a very bad way, I fear, in any case." [1]

The weather at One Ton remained bad, with a "good day" at -10° F (-23 C), and blowing most of the time. Cherry wrote in his diary, "-28 when we turned in & must have been -40 at least last night. This morning -28 & wind 4. It is a very cold wait -- waiting & thinking. I was so sure I saw them coming last night I nearly started to walk to them." [2]


Amundsen

Fram's crew upon arrival in Hobart. From left, in the back row, Hassel, Ludwig Hansen, Steller, Bjaaland, Kristensen, Rønne, Beck, Wisting, Halvorsen, Sundbeck; seated, Johansen, Prestrud, Amundsen, Nilsen, Gjertsen, Helmer Hanssen; in front, Lindstrøm, Stubberud, Karenius Olsen, A. Olsen. "Beattie's studios Hobart Tas." [3]

Helmer Hanssen, Amundsen, and Lindstrøm.

Hassel, Wisting, Amundsen, Bjaaland, and Helmer Hanssen. [4]

"Pole Attained Fourteenth-Seventeenth December 1911. All Well" ran headlines everywhere. "The whole world," said the New York Times, "has now been discovered." [5]

"On a day like this," exulted Aftenposten, a leading Christiania newspaper, "everything is changed.... It is more warmth and pride that we feel that we are all children of the same, happy country. Smiles are more frequent -- in bold mens' deeds we are richer and more united and happier. Ah yes -- at one blow, we are far forwards!" [6]

Helland-Hansen, though, wrote to Nansen that he could not understand "why people don't show more pleasure than they do." [7] Many Norwegians, it seemed, felt that Amundsen's accomplishment was a political mistake; one paper wrote, "We are glad that Roald Amundsen chose a new route to the South Pole, so that he avoided going directly in Scott's path. The English had the exclusive right to the route from McMurdo Sound. That was their opinion at any rate." [8] The Times, indeed, wrote a day later that the Norwegian expedition was "a mere dash for the Pole, designed to forestall the British expedition in the most spectacular, though not the most valuable part of the work." [9]


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 8 March, 1912, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[2] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, diary, 8 March, 1912, Scott Polar Research Institute.
[3] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[4] "Tasmanian views, Edward Searle's album of photographs of Australia, Antarctica and the Pacific, 1911-1915", National Library of Australia.
[5] New York Times, 8 March, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.546.
[6] Aftenposten, 9 March, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.547.
[7] Bjørn Helland-Hansen, letter to Fridtjof Nansen, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.547.
[8] Norges Handels- og Sjøfartstidende, 9 March, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.547.
[9] The Times, 9 March, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.547.

Monday, 29 January 1912

Scott

After a march of nearly twenty miles, Wilson found that his leg was overstrained, and for several days he could only hobble alongside the sledge without pulling. "400 miles about to go," he wrote, "before meeting the dogs with ship's news." [1]


Amundsen

In the evening, Amundsen closed the door of the hut behind him and went down to the ship. "It was a heavy moment to leave Framheim," he wrote in his diary. "A more splendid or cosy winter quarters no one has had. When we departed, Lindstrøm had scoured it from top to bottom and it was shining like a new pin. We don't want to be accused of untidiness or dirt if anyone should happen to go there and look." [2]

"It was quite curious," he wrote later, "to see how several of the old veterans seemed at home again on the Fram’s deck. Wisting’s brave dog, the old Colonel, with his two adjutants, Suggen and Arne, at once took possession of the places where they had stood for so many a long day on the voyage south -- on the starboard side of the mainmast; the two twins, Mylius and Ring, Helmer Hanssen’s special favourites, began their games away in the corner of the fore-deck to port, as though nothing had happened. To look at those two merry rascals no one would have thought they had trotted at the head of the whole caravan both to and from the Pole. One solitary dog could be seen stalking about, lonely and reserved, in a continual uneasy search. This was the boss of Bjaaland’s team. He was unaffected by any advances; no one could take the place of his fallen comrade and friend, Frithjof, who had long ago found a grave in the stomachs of his companions many hundreds of miles across the Barrier." [3]

Fram cast off in a fog, leaving, as Bjaaland put it, "these regions and Framheim with all their splendour to anyone who wants them.... Farewell then, Framheim, your ice and snow and seal and crows and everything. You were temperamental and unpleasant and cold now and then but better than I expected." [4]

"The place that had been our residence for a year we left without a backwards glance," wrote Hassel. "The fog was too dense. But I doubt if any of us regretted that." [5]


Notes:

[1] E.A. Wilson, diary, 29 January, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.521.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 30 January, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.267.
[3] Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, ch.14.
[4] Olav Bjaaland, diary, [30 January, 1912?], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.529.
[5] Sverre Hassel, diary, 31 January, 1912, quoted by Tor Bomann-Larsen in Roald Amundsen (Stroud, Gloucestershire : Sutton, c2006, c1995), p.110.

Saturday, 27 January 1912

Scott

A patch of hard sastrugi on the forenoon march slowed their progress, Wilson and Scott pulling on ski and the others on foot. Temperatures were relatively warm at -16 to -14.3° F (-26.7 to -25.7 C) with a dry southerly breeze.

"Our sleeping-bags are slowly but surely getting wetter," wrote Scott, "and I'm afraid it will take a lot of this weather to put them right. However, we all sleep well enough in them, the hours allowed being now on the short side. We are slowly getting more hungry, and it would be an advantage to have a little more food, especially for lunch. If we get to the next depôt in a few marches (it is now less than 60 miles and we have a full week's food) we ought to be able to open out a little, but we can't look for a real feed till we get to the pony food depot. A long way to go, and, by Jove, this is tremendous labour." [1]

"Silas" Wright upon his return to Cape Evans, photographed by Herbert Ponting. [2]

"We reached Hut Point without any further difficulties on January 26, 1912," remembered Wright in his memoirs, "chalking up an average for the return of about 16 statute miles a day. How we looked forward to a bath at Cape Evans! But it was not to be until the following day since Ponting made a claim on our bodies to take part in a cinema record of our arrival up the icefoot at Cape Evans, filthy as we were, unshaven and with our hair uncut and with sledge firmly attached behind us. Art not for art sake, but for publicitys! [sic]" [3]

"Overate," he wrote in his diary a few days later. "Unhappy." [4]

Camped near the glacier that would later be named after Priestley, Campbell wrote in his diary, "After supper I went out with Priestley to collect, and the sun being hot I took off my vest and turning it inside out, put it on over my sweater, where it dried beautifully. I remarked to Priestley at the time that this ought to bring me luck, and sure enough, immediately afterwards I found a sandstone rock containing fossil wood, the best specimen as yet secured by the party." [5]


Amundsen

The Norwegians made time for a farewell dinner at Framheim. Lindstrøm produced champagne -- he had brought it from home, and slept with the bottles in his bed the whole winter to keep them from getting too cold. Amundsen gave another short speech, thanking everyone for work well done.

Because of the ice, the Fram was moored further out than she had been the year before, and it took hard shuttling with the dog teams for the next two days to load. They took only the 39 remaining dogs and the more valuable equipment.


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 27 January, 1912, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[2] Source unknown.
[3] Quoted by Adrian Raeside in Return to Antarctica: the Amazing Adventure of Sir Charles Wright on Robert Scott's Journey to the South Pole (Mississauga, Ont.: John Wiley, c2009), p.225.
[4] Charles S. Wright, diary, 29 January, 1912, quoted by Adrian Raeside in Return to Antarctica: the Amazing Adventure of Sir Charles Wright on Robert Scott's Journey to the South Pole (Mississauga, Ont.: John Wiley, c2009), p.225.
[5] Victor Campbell, diary, 27 January, 1912, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.2.

Thursday, 25 January 1912

Scott

"Thank God we found our Half Degree Depôt," Scott wrote with obvious relief. [1]

"Oates suffers from a very cold foot; Evans' fingers and nose are in a bad state, and to-night Wilson is suffering tortures from his eyes. Bowers and I are the only members of the party without troubles just at present. The weather still looks unsettled, and I fear a succession of blizzards at this time of year; the wind is strong from the south, and this afternoon has been very helpful with the full sail. Needless to say I shall sleep much better with our provision bag full again. The only real anxiety now is the finding of the Three Degree Depot. The tracks seem as good as ever so far, sometimes for 30 or 40 yards we lose them under drifts, but then they reappear quite clearly raised above the surface. If the light is good there is not the least difficulty in following. Blizzards are our bugbear, not only stopping our marches, but the cold damp air takes it out of us. Bowers got another rating sight to-night—it was wonderful how he managed to observe in such a horribly cold wind. He has been on ski to-day whilst Wilson walked by the sledge or pulled ahead of it."


Amundsen

Framheim, in an undated photograph. [2]

When they had set off at ten in the evening the night before, the weather, Amundsen wrote, was still "of the most unpleasant kind. Calm with thick snowfall and drift so that one could not see more than the tips of one's skis." [3] They lost the marked track, and when the weather cleared after an hour or so, there was not a flag in sight. Amundsen ordered a compass course.

"After 8 miles march, a large, dark object hove into sight -- 2 points off our course -- to the west. We struck out for it. It turned out to be one of our sledges, which we had left at the start on the 20th October 1911. Before we knew it, we had reached our point of departure. We saw nothing of Fram, but that was hardly to be wondered at because the whole inner part of the bay was covered with ice. Framheim, on the other hand, lay, as we had left it, bathed in the morning sun."

It was four o'clock in the morning, and the five men unhitched the dogs as quietly as they could and crept into the hut. "Good morning, my dear Lindstrøm," Amundsen said. "Have you any coffee for us?"

Wisting, who described this scene years later, said "It would be very difficult for me to describe the various phizzes that emerged from their respective bunks and stared at us -- they had to be seen." [4]

"Good God, is it you?" was all that Lindstrøm could say at first, for the polar party had not been expected for another ten days. "Get up boys," he called out to the others, "it's the first cuckoo of spring."

"Roald came up to me, and shook my hand," Stubberud recalled, "I didn't ask about anything." [5] Somebody, Wisting wrote, finally put the question: "'Have you been there?' 'Yes, we've been there,' answered Roald Amundsen, and then there was a hullabaloo. Soon after, we were all seated round the table and savoured Lindstrøm's hot cakes and heavenly coffee. How good a cup of coffee can really taste one only realises when, like us, one has had to go without so long." [6] (For three months, the polar party had had nothing but hot chocolate.)

Hanssen wrote later, "The gathering round the breakfast table at Framheim after the end of the trip belongs to the moments in one's life one never forgets." [7]

After a short speech from Amundsen -- "We haven't got much to tell in the way of privation. The whole thing went like a dream" -- they finished off, Bjaaland said, "[with] a really good schnapps." [8]


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 25 January, 1912, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1. This was the depot made at 88° 29' on 10th January.
[2] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[3] Roald Amundsen, diary, 26 January 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.261.
[4] Oscar Wisting, 16 År med Roald Amundsen, p.38, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.526.
[5] Jørgen Stubberud, interview with Roland Huntford, quoted by Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.526.
[6] Oscar Wisting, 16 År med Roald Amundsen, p.29, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.526.
[7] Helmer Hanssen, Gjennem Isbaksen, p.101, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.526.
[8] Olav Bjaaland, source not given, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.527.

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.

Wednesday, 21 June 1911

Amundsen

Bjaaland, Hassel, Wisting, Helmer Hanssen, Amundsen, Johansen, Prestrud, and Stubberud around the table at Framheim, probably on Midwinter's Day. [1]

At Framheim, Amundsen wrote later, "preparations for a feast were going on, and now one could really appreciate a good house. The change from the howling wind, the driving snow, the intense cold, and the absolute darkness, was great indeed when one came in. Everything was newly washed, and the table was gaily decorated. Small Norwegian flags were everywhere, on the table and walls. The festival began at six, and all the 'vikings' came merrily in. Lindström had done his best, and that is not saying a little. I specially admired his powers and his liberality -- and I think, even in the short time I have observed him, he has shown no sign of being stingy -- when he appeared with the "Napoleon" cakes. Now I must tell you that these cakes were served after every man had put away a quarter of a plum-pudding. The cakes were delightful to look at -- the finest puff-pastry, with layers of vanilla custard and cream. They made my mouth water. But the size of them! -- there could not be one of those mountains of cake to every man? One among them all, perhaps -- if they could be expected to eat Napoleon cakes at all after plum-pudding. But why had he brought in eight -- two enormous dishes with four on each? Good heavens! -- one of the vikings had just started, and was making short work of his mountain. And one after another they all walked into them, until the whole eight had disappeared. I should have nothing to say about hunger, misery, and cold, when I came home. My head was going round; the temperature must have been as many degrees above zero in here as it was below zero outside. I looked up at Wisting’s bunk, where a thermometer was hanging: +95° F. The vikings did not seem to take the slightest notice of this trifle; their work with the 'Napoleons' continued undisturbed." [2]

Cigars, coffee, and Benedictine came after that, and then the gramophone was brought out.

The concert, Amundsen related, "began with 'Tarara-boom-de-ay,' followed by the 'Apache' waltz.... Certain numbers were kept to the last; I could see that they were to the taste of all. First came an air from 'The Huguenots,' sung by Michalowa; this showed the vikings to be musical. It was beautifully sung. 'But look here,' cried an impatient voice: 'aren’t we going to have Borghild Bryhn to-night?' 'Yes,' was the answer; 'here she comes.' And Solveig’s Song followed. It was a pity Borghild Bryhn was not there; I believe the most rapturous applause would not have moved her so much as the way her song was received here that evening."


Notes:

[1] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[2] Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, ch.8.

June 1911

Around the table at Framheim, date unknown. From left, Lindstrøm, Hassel, Wisting, Hanssen, Amundsen, Stubberud, and Prestrud. [1]

Amundsen worked hard to keep the strains of being in close quarters at a minimum. With all of the preparations to be made, there was not much free time, but Prestrud gave English lessons to some of the men -- in the kitchen, so as not to disturb the others -- and there was a small but comprehensive library available to everyone, mostly Polar literature, as well as card games, and darts sent by Amundsen's sister-in-law. One of the competitions Amundsen organised was a temperature-guessing contest, with prizes every month and a telescope at the end of the season for the overall winner -- ostensibly, this was to develop the men's ability to gauge temperature, should all of the thermometers break on the Polar journey, but it had the more immediate effect of keeping spirits up.

"Because of the prizes, everybody insists on going out [every morning] to look at the weather. And that's why the prizes have been put up. But nobody knew it. I find this little morning visit out in the open is so beneficial. Even if it is but for a minute or two, it is unbelievable how that short time helps to wake a sleepy man and bring feelings into equilibrium before [the day's first] cup of nice, warm coffee."

"Even the best-humoured person in the world has a touch of morning peevishness, and that has to be removed as unnoticeably as possible. If a morning peevish person notices that you are putting yourself out to remove his burden, he becomes doubly peevish." [2]


Notes:

[1] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.385.

Tuesday, 6 June 1911

Scott

Scott's birthday lunch, 6th June. From left, Bowers, Atkinson, Wright, Nelson, Lt. Evans, Scott, Wilson, Simpson, Taylor, Gran, unknown (possibly Oates?).

"It is my birthday, a fact I might easily have forgotten, but my kind people did not," wrote Scott in his diary. "At lunch an immense birthday cake made its appearance and we were photographed assembled about it. Clissold had decorated its sugared top with various devices in chocolate and crystallised fruit, flags and photographs of myself."

"Captain Robert Falcon Scott's last birthday dinner, 6th June, 1911, photographed by Herbert George Ponting during the British Antarctic ('Terra Nova') Expedition (1910-1913). From left to right: Atkinson, Meares, Cherry-Garrard, Taylor, Nelson, Evans, Scott (centre), Wilson, Simpson, Bowers, Wright, Debenham, and Day. Standing are Oates (left) and Gran." [1]

"After my walk I discovered that great preparations were in progress for a special dinner, and when the hour for that meal arrived we sat down to a sumptuous spread with our sledge banners hung about us. Clissold's especially excellent seal soup, roast mutton and red currant jelly, fruit salad, asparagus and chocolate -- such was our menu. For drink we had cider cup, a mystery not yet fathomed, some sherry and a liqueur.

"After this luxurious meal everyone was very festive and amiably argumentative. As I write there is a group in the dark room discussing political progress with discussions -- another at one corner of the dinner table airing its views on the origin of matter and the probability of its ultimate discovery, and yet another debating military problems. The scraps that reach me from the various groups sometimes piece together in ludicrous fashion. Perhaps these arguments are practically unprofitable, but they give a great deal of pleasure to the participants. It's delightful to hear the ring of triumph in some voice when the owner imagines he has delivered himself of a well-rounded period or a clinching statement concerning the point under discussion. They are boys, all of them, but such excellent good-natured ones; there has been no sign of sharpness or anger, no jarring note, in all these wordy contests! all end with a laugh." [2]


Amundsen

Bjaaland, Hassel, Wisting, Helmer Hanssen, Amundsen, Johansen, Prestrud, and Stubberud around the table at Framheim, in an undated but obviously celebratory photo. [3]

Johansen, on this Norwegian Independence Day, "proposed the Chief's skål, and said that working together was easy on the present expedition, because we had such a straightforward, understanding and pleasant chief." [4]


Notes:

[1] Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 6 June, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[4] Hjalmar Johansen, diary, 7 June, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.384.

Saturday, 4 February 1911

The Fram, from the Terra Nova. [1]

Fram with the Terra Nova in the distance. [2]

A few hours before midnight, the Terra Nova put into the Bay of Whales.

Scott had always doubted the existence of this Bay, and Priestley was cheered to find that they had now "wonderfully upheld" Shackleton's observations. [3]

"[It was] satisfactory to find ... everybody backing up the Shackleton expedition," Priestley went on, "and I turned in ... feeling quite cheerful and believing that there would be a good chance of ... finding a home on the Barrier here -- our last hope of surveying King Edward's Land. However, Man proposes but God disposes and I was waked at one o'clock by Lillie with the astounding news that we had sighted a ship at anchor to the sea ice in the Bay. All was confusion on board for a few minutes, everybody rushing up on deck with cameras and clothes. It was no false alarm, there she was within a few hundred yards of us and what is more, those of us who had read Nansen's books recognized the Fram."

"An eruption of Erebus would fall flat after that," Bruce remarked. [4] "Curses loud & deep were heard everywhere, and we ran close by her & made fast to the floe ahead without them knowing." [5]

This astonishment is not particularly surprising, for although the British knew that Amundsen was in the Antarctic, they had no idea where, indeed, had assumed either Graham Land or the Weddell Sea.

The Norwegians were perhaps rather more alarmed than astonished.

"We had long expected her [the Terra Nova]," Gjertsen wrote in his diary, "to come into the bay when she went Eastwards with the party [for] King Edward's Land. Our watchman ... saw two men go ashore, put on skis, and, with reasonably good speed for foreigners, rush off up towards the barrier, following the dogs' tracks. 'Well,' thought the watchman, 'if they have any nefarious intentions, (one of our constant subjects of discussion was how the Englishmen would take our challenge) the dogs will manage that job, and get them to turn round all right. It'll be worse if they sneak up to Fram, where I'm alone on watch. Best to be ready for all eventualities.' After this profound monologue, he dashed into the charthouse, carefully loaded 9 bullets into our old Farman gun (which when at peace we used for hunting seals), dug out an old English grammar, and looked up, on page 11, 'How are you this morning' and similar expressions. Thus armed to the teeth, both physically and mentally, he crept out on watch again. He might have been waiting 1/2 an hour, partly occupied in checking sight and trigger, partly swotting items of grammar, when suddenly a shock went through him. The Englishmen were coming down again, with a course straight for Fram.... He looked carefully: No, they had no weapons; if so, it must be a revolver in a pocket -- Suddenly he remembered a verse from his childhood, 'Be brave when danger threatens, etc.' and immediately became very brave. He put down the gun and the grammar just under his coat, so that both could be retrieved in a hurry, raised himself and calmly awaited the Englishmen's movements." [6]

Terra Nova to the left, and Fram. [7]

At six in the morning, Gjertsen continued, Amundsen and the others "came galloping down. Never before had it gone so swimmingly, and once down on the flat ice, they formed a line and there was a veritable race to reach the ship. The Englishmen [were] absolutely flabbergasted. No, they had never dreamt that dogs could run in that way before a sledge, and already they felt contempt for their dear ponies. Suddenly they were gripped by wild excitement, cheered, and waved their caps. Our drivers returned their greetings and cracked their whips." [8]

Campbell and his party at Framheim. At center, without a hat, is Amundsen, with Johansen at his right. Hassel is fourth from the left, with a fair beard. The man in the white jumper is probably Campbell. [9]

Campbell (who spoke Norwegian), Pennell, and Levick, the eastern party's surgeon, were invited to breakfast in the new hut, where Lindstrøm served them all hotcakes, and then they were given a tour of the Fram. "[Everyone] broke out in eulogies over how nice and comfortably we lived," Gjertsen said. "When they saw that every man had his own cabin, and everyone had a large common saloon, their eyes grew wide with astonishment. No, they had seen nothing like this before." Upon hearing how the officers' mess on the Terra Nova lay directly underneath the ponies, "one of Fram's crew was immediately seized by the deepest sympathy, and gave his melancholy informant ... a tot of aquavit to strengthen himself. The Englishman was wild with enthusiasm. Yes, it was 'a wonderful ship'."

Nilsen, after being shown over the Terra Nova in return, noted laconically, "I must confess it did not look very inviting." [10]

Johansen was not impressed either. "They should go to New Zealand immediately," he wrote in his diary. "They had a hard journey. Had been leaking and the bulwark was knocked in. But they were in good spirits and extremely courteous to us, though they nevertheless had not expected to meet us here. Something they repeatedly assured us." [11]

Amundsen told the British to land and make their base wherever they wanted, but, as Priestley put it, "we cannot according to etiquette trench on their country for winter quarters." [12] Campbell was deeply disappointed, having regarded the exploration of King Edward Land as "the thing of the whole expedition, " its only truly original work. [13] When Amundsen asked casually about the motor sledges, Campbell told him that one was "already on terra firma." He was referring, of course, to the one at the bottom of McMurdo Sound, but further information was neither asked for nor given. [14]

"It appears that ... Capt. Amundsen ... is going to have a run for the Pole so it will prove a very exciting affair," Dickason, one of the British seamen, wrote in his diary. "He has dogs for sledge work and all his men are good on ski." [15]


Notes:

[1] Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand. The catalogue record of this photograph identifies it as "The ship Terra Nova arriving at the Bay of Whales in 1910, to find the Norwegian expedition.... Photographed from 'Fram', the ship of Amundsen, by an unidentified photographer". It is clearly, however, the smoke-stackless, not to mention stocky and straight-sided, Fram.
[2] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[3] Raymond Priestley, diary, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.342.
[4] Wilfred Bruce, letter to Kathleen Scott, 27 February, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.342.
[5] Wilfred Bruce, letter to Kathleen Scott, 27 February, 1911, quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.424.
[6] Lt. H.F. Gjertsen, diary, 4 February, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.341. The watchman was Beck, according to Gjertsen's account in ch.16 of The South Pole.
[7] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[8] Lt. H.F. Gjertsen, diary, 4 February, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.341.
[9] Scott Polar Research Institute. The SPRI labels this photograph as being taken by Debenham, but he was in Victoria Land with Taylor, Wright, and P.O. Evans from January to March 1911; Levick probably took it, as he was quite interested in photography and had had lessons from Ponting.
[10] Thorvald Nilsen, diary, 4 February, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.344.
[11] Hjalmar Johansen, diary, 4 February 1911, published as Dagbok fra Sydpolen (Skien : Vågemot Miniforlag, 2007), p.6.
[12] Raymond Priestley, diary, 4 February, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.344.
[13] Victor Campbell [?], 27 February, 1911, quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.424.
[14] Katherine Lambert, in The Longest Winter (Washington DC : Smithsonian, 2004, originally Hell with a Capital H, Pimlico, 2002) is the only writer yet found to state that the Norwegians did in fact find out that one of Scott's sledges had been lost: "Unfortunately, a member of the Eastern Party had let slip the fact that one of these machines was even then reposing on the floor of McMurdo Sound, a fact noted by Nilsen in his diary -- 'at 200 fathoms on the ice they had lost their best automobile.' Amundsen must have been profoundly relieved to hear this snippet of news" (p.53). Lambert does not give a citation for this or any of the diary quotes in this chapter.
[15] Harry Dickason, diary, 4 February 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.18.

Thursday, 1 December 1910

Scott

Oates with some of the ponies on the Terra Nova, photographed by Herbert Ponting. (Note the damage that the ponies have done to the edge of their stalls by windsucking.) [1]

Even in calm weather, life aboard ship for the ponies must have been a trial. Scott described their situation in his diary: "Under the forecastle fifteen ponies close side by side, seven one side, eight the other, heads together and groom between -- swaying, swaying continually to the plunging, irregular motion. One takes a look through a hole in the bulkhead and sees a row of heads with sad, patient eyes come swinging up together from the starboard side, whilst those on the port swing back; then up come the port heads, whilst the starboard recede. It seems a terrible ordeal for these poor beasts to stand this day after day for weeks together...." [2]

The rest of the scientific staff had joined the ship in New Zealand -- Taylor, Raymond Priestley, and Frank Debenham.

Australian Frank Debenham received a BA in English and philosophy from the University of Sydney, and after a few years teaching in New South Wales returned to university to study geology under Sir Edgeworth David, who, on Shackleton's expedition had led the first ascent of Mt Erebus as well as the first party to reach the South Magnetic Pole (although there is now some doubt about its then-location).

Raymond Priestley, recruited by Scott in Sydney, had just completed his second year reading geology at University College, Bristol, when he joined Shackleton's Nimrod expedition as geologist, working with Edgeworth David and Douglas (later Sir Douglas) Mawson.


Amundsen

Amundsen announced the landing party: Prestrud, Johansen, Hassel, Lindstrøm, Helmer Hanssen, Wisting, Bjaaland, Stubberud, and himself.

Gjertsen wanted so badly to go ashore that he asked Amundsen if he could change places with Prestrud. Amundsen agreed if Prestrud did, but Prestrud did not want to change.

Amundsen increased the wages of those sailing back by half again, partly in consolation for the disappointment. He had, however, chosen his men, with a few exceptions, from those who had originally signed on for the whole Arctic drift.


Notes:

[1] Wikipedia.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 1 December, 1910, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.

Friday, 29 July 1910

Amundsen

Sverre Hassel. Each of the Fram's crew was photographed just before departure in 1910. [1]

Daugaard-Jensen had collected dogs from a number of Greenland trading stations, and selected them personally in the spring, offering twice the usual price; the Danish authorities showed their high opinion of Amundsen by offering to ship all 101 dogs without charge. Ninety-nine were delivered alive to a small island off Kristiansand, to be looked after there by Lindstrøm and Sverre Hassel, a customs official and dog-driver who had been with Sverdrup on the second voyage of the Fram. Amundsen, knowing of Hassel's expertise with dogs, had been trying for some time to persuade Hassel to come with him, and finally Hassel agreed to come as far as San Francisco.

The dogs, wrote Gjertsen, "had the time of their lives with lovely horsemeat, lying and lazing in the sun, swimming expeditions to the mainland, and fighting to the death." [2]


Notes:

[1] Galleri NOR, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[2] Lt. H.F. Gjertsen, diary, 29 July 1910, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.292.

Tuesday, 7 June 1910

Amundsen

Fram on her way to the Antarctic, 10 June 1910. Photograph by Anders Beer Wiltse. [1]

"Sailed at midnight," Amundsen wrote in his diary. "Quietly and calmly we stand out of the Christiania Fjord. Soon the land will have disappeared from view and Fram will have begun her third voyage. God grant it will be to our credit." [2]

Most of he crew of the Fram, 1910. Back, from left: sailmaker Martin Rønne, engineer Knut Sundbeck, seaman and ice pilot Andreas Beck, carpenter Jørgen Stubberud. Middle row, from left: seaman and ice pilot Ludwig Hansen, ship's cook Karenius Olsen, second officer Lt. Kristian Prestrud, first mate Lt. Frederick Gjertsen, deck-hand and later third engineer H. Kristensen, cook Adolf Lindstrøm. Front, from left: dog-driver Sverre Hassel, Oskar Wisting, carpenter Olav Bjaaland, ice pilot and dog-driver Helmer Hanssen. [3]

They would spend a month on a preliminary cruise in the North Atlantic, taking oceanographical readings for Nansen. They would also, of course, be testing the Fram's new diesel motor and the men.

The 7th of June was, significantly, Norwegian Independence Day, marking the peaceful separation of the country from Swedish rule in 1905, the first time that Norway had been fully independent in over five hundred years.

The night before, Amundsen had revealed to Gjertsen and Prestrud that they were going south. "When asked whether they wished to take part in the new plan," he wrote laconically, "they both answered at once in the affirmative, and that settled it." [4]


Notes:

[1] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 8 June 1910, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.287-288.
[3] Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[4] Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, ch.3.

Summer 1909

Amundsen

Adolf Lindstrøm [1]

Helmer Hanssen [2]

Oscar Wisting. [3]

Kristian Prestrud [4]. All of these photographs are part of the series of the Fram's crew taken by Anders Beer Wilse shortly before departure in 1910.

Adolf Lindstrøm and Helmer Hanssen, both of whom had been with Amundsen on the Gjøa, signed on for the Arctic drift, Lindstrøm as cook and Helmer Hanssen as dog driver. Hanssen, with his mate's certificate, could also navigate.

Oscar Wisting, a naval gunner, was working on the Fram at Horten when Amundsen came up to him and said, "as he patted me amiably on the shoulder," Wisting later wrote, "'You can come North with me.' To put it mildly, I was surprised." [5] Like Helmer Hanssen, Wisting had his mate's certificate, and he also had considerable experience whaling around Iceland and in handling small ships; Kristian Prestrud, already signed on as one of Amundsen's officers, had recommended Wisting to Amundsen for the expedition.


Notes:

[1] GalleriNOR, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[2] GalleriNOR, Nasjonalbiblioteket. Helmer Hanssen spelled his name with a double "s" only later in his life. To avoid confusion with Godfred Hansen, he is here referred to by his full name.
[3] GalleriNOR, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[4] GalleriNOR, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[4] Oscar Wisting, 16 År med Roald Amundsen (Gyldendal, 1930), p.10, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.260.

Monday, 11 February 1907

Amundsen

Roald Amundsen and his crew aboard the Gjøa, upon arrival at Nome in 1906. In the back, from left, Godfred Hansen, Anton Lund, unknown, unknown; in front, Amundsen, Peder Ristvedt, Adolf Henrik Lindstrøm, Helmer Hanssen. Lindstrøm and Helmer Hanssen would later accompany Amundsen to the Antarctic. [1]

Amundsen lectured at the Royal Geographical Society in London, on his attainment of the Northwest Passage the year before. Admiral Sir Richard Vesey Hamilton said afterwards, "I do not think an Arctic expedition ever did so much with such small means.... I have had the experience of three Arctic winters and five Arctic summers, and I can say that nothing I have heard of surpasses the work of Captain Amundsen." [2]

Ernest Shackleton was also present at the lecture, having come to ask the support of the RGS for his planned expedition in the Nimrod to the Antarctic. [3]

At this time, and with a view towards achieving the North Pole, Amundsen asked Fridtjof Nansen if he could have the Fram, the ship that Nansen had commissioned for his exploration of the Arctic. Amundsen's plan was to repeat Nansen's 1893-1896 drift but to enter the Arctic ice pack further to the east, using wind and currents to reach a higher latitude than Nansen had, and thereby coming within range of a dash to the Pole with skis and dogs. Nansen, however, having long held a dream of being first at the South Pole, told Amundsen of his own plans for the Fram. [4]

The Fram was in fact State property, but such was Nansen's stature in Norway as not only an explorer but by now as a statesman and public figure that there was little question in Amundsen's mind who had the disposal of her.


Notes:

[1] Britannica.com. The two unidentified men are probably Ole Foss and an American called Beauvais, picked up late in the expedition as extra hands; see Amundsen's The North West Passage, v.2, ch.11.
[2] Geographical Journal, vol.XXIX, no.5, p.485, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.199.
[3] "Ernest H. Shackleton".
[4] In Roald Amundsen (Stroud, Gloucestershire : Sutton, c2006, c1995), Tor Bomann-Larsen says that in March of 1906, the men on the Gjøa, in the accumulation of newspapers they received in Alaska after the Northwest Passage, first read of Nansen's tentative plans for the South Pole.