1925 To 88 degrees north

Provisions

Pemmican
Donated by De danske Vin- & Konservesfabriker (Danish Wine and Preserves Factories). When mixed with hot water, 80 grams was enough to feed a man for a day.

Chocolate
Donated by Freia Chokoladefabrik. During the expedition’s time on the ice, this was made into a drink using one third of a slab to 400 grams of hot water and supplemented with Molico dried milk tablets provided by De Norske Melkefabrikker. “Chocolate then became a drink for the gods,” wrote Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen 📜.

After the expedition’s return, Freia marketed the chocolate they had supplied it with by naming it after the most northerly point reached. Source: Under Dusken, no. 10, 1926, published by Studentersamfundet i Trondhjem (Trondheim Student Society) / National Library of Norway.

Oatmeal biscuits
From Sætre biscuit factory in Oslo and specially made for the expedition. These were supplemented in Kings Bay by two boxfuls made by Esther Klausen.

Malted milk
In tablet form from Horlicks, USA.

Pemmican. Photo from the film “Roald Amundsen – Lincoln Ellsworth’s flyveekspedisjon 1925”, National LIbrary of Norway.
This tin of Horlick’s Malted Milk tablets was found in Amundsen’s home in 2019. Photo: Follo museum, MiA.

The daily ration per man during the expedition was planned to be:
Pemmican 400 grams
Chocolate 2 slabs of 125 grams
Biscuits 125 grams (12 biscuits)
Molico dried milk powder 100 grams
Malted milk 125 grams

During the expedition’s time on the ice, rations had to be reduced. Both breakfast and supper consisted of a cup of chocolate and three oat biscuits. Lunch was soup cooked with 80 grams of pemmican.

Sources:
Amundsen, Roald, and others: Our Polar flight : the Amundsen-Ellsworth Polar flight, 1925 📜.
Roald Amundsen’s equipment list for the polar flight : a note from the expedition diary [In Norwegian] 📜.

1872
Roald Amundsen born July 16
1880
Starts at Otto Andersen’s School
1886
Jens Engebreth Amundsen dies
1887 – 1889
Polar interest aroused
1890
Starting university
1893
Gustava Amundsen (née. Sahlqvist) dies
1893
Mountain ski tour with Urdahl and Holst
1894
Hunting in Arctic waters with the Magdalena
1895
Ship’s Officer’s exam
1896
Hardangervidda with Leon
1897 – 1899
Belgica expedition
1899
Cycling from Christiania to Paris
1900
Studying geomagnetism in Hamburg
1903 – 1906
Gjøa expedition
1907
Polar bears as draft animals
1908
Amundsen buys Uranienborg
1909
The North Pole reached?
1910 – 1912
Fram expedition
1914
Amundsen becomes a pilot
1916 – 1917
The polar ship Maud is being built
1918
Maud expedition
1922
Nita and Camilla move in
1923
Uranienborg for sale
1924
Amundsen goes bankrupt
1925
To 88 degrees north
1925
1925 To 88 degrees north. Provisions
1926
Norge expedition
1927
Lecture tour in Japan
1928
Latham flight
1934 – 1935
Uranienborg becomes a museum
1938
Betty’s house burns down
2015
A chest full of photographs is discovered
2020
Roald Amundsen’s home goes digital