Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-05-16
.AMUNDSEN WINS
LASTING LAURELS
IN EXPLORATIONS
Flight of Norge Adds to His
Discovery of South Pole
and Other Successes.


NEW YORK. May 15.-Roald
Amundsen's transpolar flight places
him in the front rank of the worlds
great explorers. Already noted for his
discovery of the South Pole, his eX-
ploration Of the North Magnetic Pole
and circumnavigation of the Arctic
archipelago through both the North
east and Northwest passages. the
hardy Norsemans latest exploit will
add much to the geographical knowl-
edge he already has contributed to
the world.
At the highest moment of Amund-
sens adventurous career, 1t is recalled
with interest that his father. a Nor
wegian sea captain and shipbuilder.
sent the boy Road to the University
of Christiania to be trained for the
comparatively prosaic existence of u
physician.
His wanderers blood. the heritage
of a long line of Viking ancestors. as
serted itself after a years study, how
ever and Amundsen ran away to sea,
shipping on Norwegian whaler.
For six years he chased Mobey Dick.
read and studied about that friend Of
all seamen, PolariS, and naturally
came to wonder about the lands or
waters beneath the North Star. In
1897 he had his first experience as an
explorer when he shipped as first
officer in Gerlach's Antarctic eXpedi-
ton. That trip raised his ambitions
gions. particularly the long sought
Northwest passage.
Sailed North of America.
Raising 10000. to which he con
tributed practically all Of his own
slender savings. Amundsen In 1901
purchased the Gjoa, a small whaling
ship, and started out to navigate the
Northwest passage. BY 1903 he had
reached King William Land after
having sailed around the north end of
North America from east to west.
The Gjoa was then frozen in for two
years during which time the young
explorer made a sledging trip to the
Magnetic North Pole and charted the
coast of Victoria Land as far as ~
degrees north. 1t was not until July,
1906, that the Gjoa broke from the
grip of the ice and q month later
sailed into the Pacific Ocean by way
of Bering Strait, the first vessel in
the history of the world to accomplish
the passage.
He Immediately planned a conquest
of the North Pole. The ship Fran
was fitted out and had gone as far
as the Madeira Islands when he sud
denly changed plans and made a
dash for the South Pole, finding it In
the midst of n great ice plateau 10000
feet above sea level. "a days before
the arrival of the British Antarctic
party. headed by Capt. r. F. Scott.
He left the Norwegian flag at the
bottom of the earth on December IA,
nvnodifinnS IF fhroa ut hnr
nations, Germany, Australia and
Japan, were also in that race but
failed.
Spent Days There.
Amundsen spent three days at the
South Pole taking hundreds Of OBJ
servations and charting the territory.
With him we're five men, four sledges
and 81 dogs. He named the South
Pole Plateau King HaakOn Plateau"
in honor Of his sovereign.
Fired with enthusiasm after his
South Polar discoveries, Amundsen
planned several expeditions in the
polar regions. His first serious at
tempt to achieve the North Pole, how
ever, was not until 1918, nine years
after Admiral Robert E. Peary had
planted the Stars and Stripes there.
He left Oslo in the steamship Maud,
intending to steam as far as the ice
would permit him and then to drift
past the North Pole, hoping to obtain
valuable knowledge of the polar cur
rent.
Two years later he established Win
ter quarters far up on the coast of
Asia, but an accident to the Maud the
next year caused him to abandon the
quest and go to Seattle, Wash. He
spent the next four years in an I'M
successful effort to reach the North
Pole by airplane. In 1922 he sailed
again from Seattle, but an impene
trable ice pack prevented the Maud
from getting through far enough for
airplanes to be of any use.
Ellsworth Lends Aid.
In 1924 he ordered three airplares
in Italy, but his various expeditions
had so drained his resources that he
was unable to pay for them and went
into bankruptcy. He was assisted
financially by Lincoln Ellsworth, an
American, who agreed to join him
in an airplane dash to the pole
Last year their party left Spitz-
bergen in two flying boats for the
North Pole. They were gone 20
days before the party returned in one
airplane, after having landed 80 odd
miles from the North Pole and losing
one machine. Only through extraor-
binary efforts were they able to re-
turn to civilization with the other
airplane. Amundsen then planned
the trans-polar fight of the Norge.
Amundsen Is a big, blond Norseman
with piercing eyes. He is only 81
years old, having been born at
Sarpsburgh, Norway, July Is, 1872
He has been face to face with death
many times, but his indomitab!e cour-
age has always pulled him through to
safety.