Amundsen’s dogs

Uranienborg has been home to several dogs. Some participated in expeditions, while others guarded the house when Amundsen was travelling.

Dog collar found at Uranienborg. To which dog it belonged is unknown. Photo: Follo museum, MiA.

Rex

Saint Bernard. Rex was probably the first dog Amundsen had at Uranienborg. There are photographs of him from 1910 and 1913, but we don’t know how long he lived.

Amundsen and Rex outside Uranienborg. Photo: Follo museum, MiA.

Obersten, Lucie and Storm

Greenland Dogs. These were the three dogs that returned to Norway after the South Pole trip, of whom Obersten (The Colonel) was the only one to have been on the sledge journey all the way to the pole.

When the dogs arrived from Buenos Aires in Kristiania on February 10, 1913, they were met by veterinarian Anker-Nielsen. With two young assistants, he escorted the trio through the city, followed by a crowd who wanted to see the famous South Pole dogs. For a while they were housed at the vet’s but were eventually moved out to Svartskog. Later in 1913, Lucie and Storm went to Svalbard to participate in a several-month-long sledge expedition led by Arve Staxrud. Obersten, on the other hand, became a major attraction at dog shows and received several prizes and diplomas.

The diploma Obersten received after receiving “1st Prize in the Open Class and Honorary Prize” in a 1913 dog show. Photo: Follo museum, MiA.

Obersten photographed by Anders Beer Wilse after the homecoming from Antarctica. Photo: Follo museum, MiA.

At Svartskog, Obersten met Rex, who had guarded the house while Obersten and Amundsen were in Antarctica.

Obersten (left) meets Rex in summer 1913. Photo: Follo museum, MiA.

After her stay in Svalbard, Lucie returned to Svartskog and Uranienborg, while Storm was looked after by South Pole explorer Sverre Hassel. Hassel took Storm around Norway on a lecture tour about the South Pole journey. Storm was one of the lecture’s attractions and appeared with harness and equipment.

Advertisement for Sverre Hassel’s South Pole lecture where Storm was shown in harness.
Source: The newspaper Nordkapp. 30.1.1914 / National Library of Norway.

Since Roald Amundsen travelled a lot, the dog team at Uranienborg was mostly left to his brother Leon and his family and Jørgen Stubberud. In October, Leon Amundsen was taking some fresh air with Obersten and Lucie when they both ran away. Lucie was reported missing in the newspaper and a reward offered for anyone returning her. In the newspaper she was described as “Steel gray, pointed head, wise playful eyes, of size somewhat larger than an Elkhound, responds to her name”. Both were later returned.

In the summer of 1914, Obersten and Lucie left Svartskog. According to the newspapers, it had become too expensive for Amundsen to have them there while they constantly supplied themselves with the local sheep and other animals. Obersten went to the Wistings in Horten and Lucie was sent to an unknown family outside the city. Lucie and Obersten had several puppies. One died of what was described as puppy disease, another was run over by the Holmenkoll tram and a third was adopted by a lawyer named Manskow. In her old age, Lucie was taken in by the Salvation Army as a watchdog for the rest of her life, but we don’t know when she died.

Obersten enjoyed life in Horten and gradually became a familiar sight in the town, especially with the local butcher. Wisting describes Obersten’s latter days in the book “16 years with Roald Amundsen” (1930): “It is an old saying that when a wise man grows old, he goes to a monastery, so also with ‘Obersten’. He went to the Salvation Army. Outside their premises, he sat every night in all kinds of weather, listening devoutly to the speeches, the singing, and the music. Finally, his time was up. It was as if I had lost one of my loved ones, so much did I miss him.” 📜

Obersten probably died around 1919-1920. When the Ski Museum was to be established at Frognerseteren (since moved to Holmenkollen), Obersten’s pelt was retrieved and the dog stuffed. He is on display there today, together with Amundsen’s equipment from the South Pole expedition.

Obersten on display in the Ski Museum at Holmenkollen, together with other equipment from the South Pole expedition. Photo: Skimuseet i Holmenkollen.

Romeo and Julie

The Saint Bernards Romeo and Julie lived at Uranienborg in the 1920s. Journalists visiting the polar hero would report that the dogs seemed intimidating when they came barking, but that Amundsen had good control over them. Julie had several puppies, but we know little about where they ended up.

Romeo and Juliet filmed in the spring of 1922 at home at Uranienborg. Amundsen meets them on the stairs and Nita and Camilla play with them in the garden. Film: National Library of Norway.

Nicodemus

Mixed breed. He was never at Uranienborg, but Nicodemus still features promimently in the house. Nicodemus met Amundsen in Eagle City in 1906 and accompanied him on the sledge journey back to the Gjøa at King Point. A mix between the local sled dogs and a Saint Bernard, he sank through the snow more easily than the others but still followed Amundsen all the way and was taken on board the Gjøa. The newspapers reported that Nicodemus would stay with the expedition all the way to New York, but he disappeared after the Gjøa reached San Francisco. The crew is said to have honoured him with a toast. At home at Uranienborg, Amundsen hung a photograph of Nicodemus in a handmade frame on the wall of the blue living room.

Sources:

Tahan, Mary R. : Roald Amundsen’s Sled Dogs (Springer, 2019) , The Return of the South Pole Sled Dogs (Springer, 2021).