1872
Roald Amundsen born July 16
1926 Norge-expedition. Norge
Norge
The airship Norge, originally named N-1, was constructed by the italian airship designer Umberto Nobile at the Stabilimento di Construzioni Aeronautiche di Roma (SCA), the italian state airship factory outside Rome, in 1924.
The airship was a semi-rigid type, a type between the one without inner framework underneath the balloon envelope, and the fully rigid airship with a complete metal skeleton. The semi-rigid airships had a keel-formed frame under the gas ballon. Along the keel the crew could move from the gondola and back to the engines during flight. The keel was built with strengthened aluminum and covered with rubberized fabric.
N-1 was originally built for passangers. It had a large gondola, placed in the front part of the airship, that included both the pilot`s seat and the passanger area. Here it was placed 20 armchairs on the floor, flowers on the walls, “and also a small well-equipped bedroom reserved for Italys king Vittorio Emanuele III”, Nobile wrote.
It had its first flight on the first of March 1924, but just a month later on April 4th, Roald Amundsen was given the opportunity to join the airship on one of the test flights.
Before the flight across the Arctic Ocean, Nobile and his men did several adjustments on the ship. One of the changes was done ot the gondola, which was completely rebuilt. They also had to brace some parts to make it possible to make use of the mooring mast that were built on Ekeberg, Vadsø and Ny-Ålesund.
Built: 1924
Airship type: semi-rigid
Full lenght: 106 meter ( ca. 347 ft)
Width: 19 meter (ca. 62 ft)
Height: 24 meter (ca. 78 ft)
Main machine: Three Mayback IV-1-engines, 245 hp (ca. 180 kW).
Related resources
The Polar Flight 1925
Roald Amundsen’s 1925 attempt to fly to the North Pole was full of big dreams, money trouble, international politics, and plenty of drama.
The online exhibition The Polar Flight 1925 takes you through the whole story leading up to the expedition’s takeoff.
The Polar Flight 1925
The Polar Legion
On December 17, 1926, “The Polar Legion” was founded at the Metropolitan Club in New York. The organization was described as one of “the most exclusive in the world,” with membership limited to those who had led an expedition to either the geographic North Pole or South Pole.
The Legion had only five members:
- Roald Amundsen
- Lincoln Ellsworth
- Richard Byrd
- Robert Peary
- Robert Falcon Scott
Of these, only Amundsen, Ellsworth, and Byrd were alive when the organization was established.
Each member received a diploma and a badge featuring an oxidized polar bear reaching for a diamond. In “My Life as an Explorer”, Amundsen wrote about the membership:
“Not least among the pleasant distinctions that have fallen to me do I count my membership in what is probably the most exclusive club in the world. This is the Polar Legion, originated on December 17, 1926, by Mr. Lincoln Ellsworth, Commander Richard E. Byrd, and myself.” 📜
Although more individuals today would qualify for membership, the Legion’s roster was never expanded.
Related resources
Esther Klausen’s oatmeal biscuits
Esther was married to Trygve Klausen, one of the owners and founders of Kings Bay Kull Compani AS (Kings Bay Coal Company Ltd). The couple lived in Kings Bay (Ny-Ålesund) in Svalbard. Trygve Klausen died in 1924, but Esther stayed in Kings Bay.
Before heading north in flying boats N 24 and N 25, Amundsen and the crew were given a box of Klausen biscuits. According to Amundsen, they were “a delicious product” and came in handy when the expedition was marooned in the ice near 88 degrees north.
Recipe:
500 g oatmeal
500 g butter
100 g sugar
6 heaped large teaspoons of baking powder
5 dl cold milk
500 g wheat flour
Melt the butter and sugar, mix in the milk, pour over the oatmeal and leave overnight. Mix in baking powder and flour. Roll out and shape the biscuits, but make sure they are not too thin. Fry on low heat.
In the years that followed, Esther Klausen held several lectures and demonstrations on food and nutrition, at which “Roald Amundsen’s Pole biscuits” would be served.📜
1925 To 88 degrees north
Personnel
The expedition to 88 degrees north involved the efforts of a range of people: the crews on board Hobby and Farm 📜 and were essential to carrying the expedition safely from Tromsø to Svalbard; the inhabitants of Kings Bay (Ny-Alesund) assisted the expedition in the days before it headed north; and several personnel from the Dornier factory in Italy worked on the flying boats. The meteorologists, Jakob Bjerknes and Ernst Calwagen, were central to determining the optimum moment of departure, and through it all the journalists James W. Wharton and Fredrik Ramm, together with the photographer and film-maker Paul Berge, worked to convey news of the expedition to the outside world.
The crews of flying boats N 24 and N 25 themselves were:
N 24
N 25
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 📜.
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.
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] 📜.
1925 To 88 degrees north
Expedition equipment for each flying boat
- 1 canvas boat
- 1 sledge
- 1 medicine case
- 1 tent
- Spare ski bindings
- Spare pigskin reins for sledge
- 1 primus with aluminium pan (large)
- 1 box of spare parts and prickers for primus
- 30 litres of petrol
- “Meta” stove and one box of fuel tablets
- 1 kg boot dubbin
- Sailmaker’s palm, sewing rings, large needles and sail twine
- 1 bubble sextant (for air navigation)
- 1 pocket sextant (for sledge travel)
- 1 artificial horizon
- Chart, chart plate, dividers, 2 protractors, pencils and navigation tables
- 1 logbook
- 1 pair binoculars
- 6 small and 4 large smoke bombs
- 1 smoke bomb pistol
- 1 current meter
- 1 solar compass
- 1 shotgun with 200 cartridges
- 1 rifle with 200 rounds
- 1 Colt pistol with 50 rounds
- 1 electric flashlight
- Spare parts and specialist tools for the engine
- 1 axe
- 1 snow shovel
- 1 saw
- Rope
- Ice anchor
- 1 spare ski pole
- 1 petrol bucket and funnel
- 1 oil funnel
- 1 kg of aniline dye
- ½ sack of sedge grass
- Ski wax
- 3 filled pilot balloons (for measuring wind speed/direction)
- 3 pairs of snowshoes
Also, between the two aircraft:
- 1 large and 1 small film camera
- 600 meters of film
- 2 still cameras with film and plates
- 1 fuel pump with hose
- Behm depth-sounding equipment with cartridges
- Polar postcards
Source:
Amundsen, Roald, and others: Our Polar flight : the Amundsen-Ellsworth Polar flight, 1925 📜.
1925 To 88 degrees north
Clothing
Workwear
- The expedition members had two layers of woollen underwear that were provided by the Norske Trikotagefabrikanters Forening (Norwegian Knitwear Manufacturers Association). The base-layer consisted of a thin woollen shirt and long pants of the same material. Outside of this was a thicker layer of wool on the legs and an Icelandic wool sweater.
- An outer clothing layer combined long trousers with a hooded windproof smock, sewn by Martin Rønne from fabric provided donated by A/S William Schmidt, Oslo.
Flying gear
- Jacket and trousers made of thin leather and lined with camel hair, provided by sports company S. Adam of Berlin.
- Sealskin anorak as an outer layer.
- Fur-lined leather flying hat.
- Large woollen scarf.
- Mittens of double sheepskin with wool facing both inside and out, and over these a pair of windproof mittens that went up to the elbow.
- One pair of glasses with clear lenses, one pair of goggles, plus sunglasses and a face mask.
Footwear:
Several options were offered. Amundsen, Omdal and Feucht preferred felt boots with a pair of thin socks, outside of which they wore canvas boots filled with sedge grass (an idea borrowed from the Sami people). Ellsworth and Dietrichson took short kamiks. Riiser-Larsen took thigh-length rubber boots. Everyone also took ski boots for a possible journey across the ice.
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] 📜.
1925 To 88 degrees north
N 24 and N 25
- Aircraft type: Dornier Do J Wal (“Whale”)
- Registrations: N 24 and N 25
- Length: 17.25 m
- Wingspan: 22.5 m
- Height: 5.2 m
- Weight: 3630 kg
- Maximum take-off load: 2600 kg (specific recommendation)
- Top speed: 185 km/h
- Range: 800 km
- Engines: Rolls-Royce Eagle (two in tandem facing fore and aft)
- Manufacturer: Dornier Flugzeugwerke
Roald Amundsen records that N 24 and N 25 eventually took off from Kings Bay with loads of 3100 kg, thus exceeding the maximum recommend by the Dornier technical director on the ground by some 500 kg.
The duralumin fuselage had a flat and strengthened underside. From either side projected Claude Dornier’s patented large sponsons, which served both to stabilise the aircraft on the water and to support the single wing by means of strong struts. As a monoplane, the flying boat was well suited for landing on sea and ice.
Neither N 24 nor N 25 has survived to the present day. N 24, of course, was abandoned on the ice. N 25 was later used for various flights, including one in 1930 from Germany to New York via Iceland, Greenland and Labrador. It was transferred to the Deutsches Museum in Munich in 1932 but destroyed during a bombing raid on the city in 1944. The Dornier museum in Friedrichshafen now has a full size replica of N 25 on display.
Fortunately, the model Amundsen received from the Dornier factory before the flight in 1925 has survived and still hangs from the ceiling of the Uranienborg living room.
Sources:
Amundsen, Roald, and others: Our Polar flight : the Amundsen-Ellsworth Polar flight, 1925 📜
1903-06 Gjøa expedition
Crew
The crew of Gjøa originally consisted of eight individuals, many of whom were skilled sailors with Arctic Ocean experience.
Andreas Pedersen was initially hired as steward but dismissed just before departure. Second engineer Gustav Juel Wiik fell ill during the expedition and died in 1906. Along with the original crew, several local Inuit and visiting hunters and traders played crucial roles in the expedition’s journey through the Northwest Passage.
Roald Amundsen. Captain and expedition leader
Andreas Pedersen. Steward (dismissed before departure)
