1872
Roald Amundsen born July 16
1910–1912 Fram expedition
Equipment
Equipment used during the sledge journey to the South Pole and back to Framheim, 1911–12.
- 6 three-person tents from the Navy stores in Horten. Sewn from dense cotton canvas with full floor. Over the course of the winter in Framheim, these tents were sewn together and modified. Read more about the South Pole tent.
- 1 “Pole tent”, three-person tent sewn by Martin Rønne during the passage to Antarctica. The tent was left at the South Pole.
- Provision boxes. Originally 30 cm wide and 40 cm high. Made of ash and supplied from Minister Wedel Jarslberg’s property in Jutland, Denmark. The boxes were equipped with a small round lid in the top which made them easy to open during the sledge journey. Jørgen Stubberud modified these boxes during the winter in Framheim; he reduced the weight and reinforced them with aluminum corner fittings.
- 10 sledges from L.H. Hagen & Co, Kristiania (Oslo). Built of American hickory, with steel fittings and elements of Norwegian ash.
This sledge is part of the collection of the Ski Museum in Holmenkollen. Photo: Axelsen, Silja / Ski Museum in Holmenkollen.
Detail photo of the sledge. Photo: Axelsen, Silja / Ski Museum in Holmenkollen.
The ski bindings were modified during the winter in Framheim. Photo: Axelsen, Silja / Ski Museum in Holmenkollen.
This is how the bindings looked after modification. Photo: Follo museum / MiA.
Olav Bjaaland later donated his poles to the Ski Museum in Holmenkollen. Photo: Axelsen, Silja / Ski Museum in Holmenkollen.
Bjaaland scratched on the basket the date they reached the South Pole. Photo: Axelsen, Silja / Ski Museum in Holmenkollen.
The shaft was also engraved with the date they reached the Pole. Photo: Axelsen, Silja / Ski Museum in Holmenkollen.
Roald Amundsen gave several dog harnesses to the Ski Museum after the expedition. Photo: Axelsen, Silja / Ski Museum in Holmenkollen.
Amundsen’s dog harnesses were originally sewn according to the pattern of those used in Alaska, but had to be re-sewn to fit the way the Greenland dogs wanted to run. Photo: Axelsen, Silja / Ski Museum in Holmenkollen.
- 20 pairs of skis from L.H. Hagen & Co, Kristiania (Oslo). The skis were made of hickory and were 8 feet (2.5 metres) long. The ski bindings were a combination of Huitfeldt and Høyer-Ellefsen bindings. The dogs thought the bindings were a delicacy, so they were modified during the winter in Framheim to be easily detached from the skis and taken in every night.
- 40 bamboo ski poles with ebonite baskets.
- 10 pairs of snowshoes.
- 100 dog harnesses. Sewn at the Navy’s workshop in Horten according to a model inspired by harnesses used in Alaska. Amundsen thought that it was best to travel with the dogs in tandem front of the sledge, and the harnesses were sewn to lie over each dog’s shoulder area, which suited such driving. But when the dogs could not be made to run in a line, but rather ran in fan form as they were used to from Greenland, the harnesses had to be re-sewn so that they pressed more on the chest.
- 14 dog whips. Made by Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel and Jørgen Stubberud during the winter in Framheim.
- 1 set of thin one-person sleeping bags made of reindeer calfskin or doeskin, for use as an inner bag. The Pole Party left its inner bags at the South Pole.
- 1 set of thick individual sleeping bags made of reindeer skin. Each sleeping bag weighed 6 kilos. For these bags, they also had a cover of dense canvas to protect the sleeping bags during the day’s sledging and against moisture at night. The sleeping bags had thin hide at the top, so that the lacing could be tightened, and thicker hide at the bottom. Several of the crew tried to modify the sleeping bags. Kristian Prestrud and Hjalmar Johansen sewed their bags together into a double bag. Bjaaland re-sewed his sleeping bag so that the opening came in the middle and it could be opened and closed with flaps and loops.
- Primus stove.
- Paraffin from Vestlandske Petroleumskompagni. When leaving for the South Pole, they took with them 102 litres in addition to what had already been placed in the depots. The paraffin containers were permanently soldered together so that they would not leak during the sledge journey.
- 5 Nansen cookers. Not used on the sledge journey to the South Pole, as they took up too much space.
- 2 sextants.
- 3 artificial horizons. 2 glass horizons with dark glass and 1 mercury horizon.
- 4 spirit compasses. The alcohol in the compasses froze when the temperature was below -40 °C.
- 1 pocket compass.
- 2 pairs of binoculars (brand: Zeiss and Goertz).
- 2 cameras.
- Air thermometer.
- 2 aneroid barometers.
- 2 hypsometers.
- Medical equipment (supplied by Svaneapoteket and Burroughs Wellcome and Co, London).
- Snow goggles with lenses in different colours. Supplied by Dr. Schanz, Berlin. Over the winter, the crew developed several different models of snow goggles.
Sources:
Amundsen, Roald: “Sydpolen: den norske sydpolsfærd med Fram 1910-1912”, 1912. 📜
Amundsen, Roald: “The South Pole : an account of the Norwegian Antarctic expedition in the Fram 1910-1912”, 1912. 📜
Skimuseet in Holmenkollen: “Roald Amundsens Sydpolekspedisjon 1910-1912” at Digitaltmuseum.no
