Born: 1881, Kristiansand, Norway Died: 1940, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Thorvald Nilsen qualified as a deck officer in 1900, at the age of nineteen. He then entered the naval academy at Karljohansvern in Horten and by 1906 was a captain with experience commanding civilian and naval ships sailing to South America. After applying to join Amundsen’s upcoming polar expedition in 1909, Nilsen was engaged as master of the polar ship Fram. When Ole Engelstad died in the summer of 1909, he also took on the role of deputy commander of the whole expedition.
Described in the newspapers as an “uncommonly practical and decent guy” 📜, Nilsen was naturally the first on board Fram to be informed of Amundsen’s changed plans for the expedition. Its goal — initially, at least — would now be the South Pole and not the Arctic Ocean. Amundsen and the rest of the polar land party were duly established at the Bay of Whales in early 1910, after which Nilsen and Fram headed for Buenos Aires.
Since it was expected to be as much as year before the land and sea parties saw see each other again, with potential on both sides for disaster in the interim, Amundsen wrote a letter to Nilsen that laid out instructions should he not survive. Its last paragraph read,
“If on your return to the barrier you should find that I am prevented by illness or death from taking over the leadership of the Expedition, I place this in your hands, and beg you most earnestly to endeavour to carry out the original plan.” 📜
Although it covers the whole of the voyage of Fram, the chapter Nilsen later contributed to Amundsen’s book on the expedition focuses particularly on this period, when Amundsen himself was engaged in the South Pole campaign.
Nilsen with pipe on the bridge on board Fram. The ice front can be seen in the background. Photo: Norwegian Polar Insitute / National Library of Norway.
When Fram dropped anchor in Buenos Aires on Easter Monday, 1911, Nilsen was confronted almost immediately with the expedition’s financial problems. Fortunately, he also met the expedition’s saviour in the form of wealthy Norwegian businessman Peter “Don Pedro” Christophersen. Don Pedro had made a longstanding commitment to help the expedition and was enthusiastic about its change of plan to include the South Pole. He readily assisted with the necessary funds for provisions and fuel, and the Norwegian La Plata Society (Det Norske La Plata Samfund), which Don Pedro had been instrumental in establishing, gave each crew member money for personal expenses and invited them to a dinner to celebrate Norway’s national day on May 17. Fram was thus able to complete the planned oceanographical cruise in the South Atlantic, before returning to Buenos Aries in September 1911 and continuing to the Bay of Whales to pick up the land party in January 1912.
When Nilsen took Fram into Buenos Aires for a third time in May 1912, Amundsen had been dropped off in Hobart, Tasmania, to spread the news that the South Pole had been reached. Amundsen even had time for a short lecture tour to raise much-needed funds for the expedition before sailing on a faster ship to arrive in Argentina a few days before Fram. For various reasons, however, the plan to repair and reprovision the ship and continue, first to San Francisco and then the Arctic Ocean, was postponed. Nilsen eventually followed the others back to Norway, arriving in December 1912.
Nielsen was back in Buenos Aires on board Fram in autumn 1913, but met with no more success this time than before. The ship first sailed north in the hope of being the first to pass through the Panama Canal, but after two months waiting in vain in Colón, Fram was forced to begin the long voyage around South America, behind a tugboat for the sake of speed. By Montevideo, however, it was clear that the warmer climes had left Fram in no condition for an expedition to the polar north. The expedition was abandoned, and by the summer of 1914, both ship and captain were back in Norway.
The voyage home from South America would be Fram‘s last, but Nilsen’s maritime life was far from over. After serving as a torpedo boat commander in Norway’s neutrality protection service during the First World War, he was appointed adjutant at the 2nd Naval District Command in Kristiansand. He married Frida Lem in 1918 and two years later moved with her to Buenos Aires to work as an insurance assessor for Nordic shipping companies. After the generosity shown to him and his crew in 1911, it was fitting that he also became chairman of Det Norske La Plata Samfund for a time.
After Roald Amundsen’s disappearance in 1928, Nilsen actively supported Amundsen’s memorial fund and made several speeches in his memory. Nilsen’s manuscripts are available online at the National Library of Norway, along with his diary from the Fram expedition and several of his letters 📜.
Nilsen, Thorvald: “The voyage of the Fram”. In: Amundsen, Roald: “The South Pole : an account of the Norwegian Antarctic expedition in the Fram 1910-1912”, 1912. 📜
One of the Netsilik Inuit Amundsen met during the expedition through the Northwest Passage, 1903-06. A tinted photograph of him hangs in Amundsen’s home.
The girls Nita and Camilla Carpendale went to Norway and Svartskog together with Amundsen in 1922 where they lived until 1924. The girls called Amundsen “Grandpa”.
Betty was one of the key women in Amundsen’s life. She was the nanny when he grew up, and when Amundsen moved to Svartskog, she joined him and moved into the gatehouse, which became “Betty’s house”.
Eivind Astrup became one of the world’s most experienced polar explorers of his time and a great role model for Roald Amundsen. He chose to end his life when only 24 years old.
Roald Amundsen had strong feelings for Kristine Elisabeth “Kiss” Bennett. She visited Uranienborg several times, but even though Amundsen transferred ownership of it to her, she never moved in.
The girls Nita and Camilla Carpendale went to Norway and Svartskog with Amundsen in 1922 and lived there until 1924. The girls called Amundsen “Grandpa”.
Sigrid Flood Castberg, often called “Sigg”, was one of the women Amundsen had a relationship with. But when Amundsen proposed, she was already married and wanted to wait, and when she was ready he wanted…
Håkon Hammer met Roald Amundsen in Seattle in 1921. He quickly became a collaborator and supporter, but was later named by Amundsen as one of the reasons for his personal bankruptcy.
Participated in the Maud expedition, but left the expedition in 1919, together with Peter Tessem. Both perished. What really happened to them is still unknown.
The Alaska Inupiaq called Elizabeth Magids “Queen of the Arctic”, Amundsen’s crew referred to her as “the mysterious lady”. Amundsen called her “Bess”. She went to live with Amundsen in Norway in 1928….
Participated as a research assistant on the Maud expedition, and as a meteorologist on the Norge expedition. Died on Umberto Nobile’s airship expedition in 1928.
One of the Netsilik Inuit Amundsen met during the expedition through the Northwest Passage 1903-06. A coloured picture of him decorates a window in Amundsen’s home.
Nobile was the airship engineer whom Amundsen criticized after the expedition in 1926. During the search for his wrecked expedition in 1928, Roald Amundsen disappeared.
Joined the Maud expedition after visiting the ship in Khabarovsk. Also participated in the Norge expedition, but was left out from the actual voyage across the Arctic Ocean.
One of the Netsilik Inuit Amundsen met during the expedition through the Northwest Passage 1903-06. A coloured picture of her hangs in Amundsen’s home.
One of the Netsilik Inuit Amundsen met during the expedition through the Northwest Passage 1903-06. A coloured picture of him decorates a door in Amundsen’s home.