The South Pole, Volume 1

About this book

In 1910 the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen sailed from Norway in the ship Fram, apparently heading for the North Pole; only at Madeira did he tell his crew that their real goal was the South Pole, which the British expedition under Robert Falcon Scott was also seeking. This first volume tells the history of earlier Antarctic voyages, Amundsen's careful planning, built on skis, sledge dogs and experience learned from Arctic peoples, the voyage south, the building of the base Framheim on the Great Ice Barrier, the laying of supply depots and the long polar winter.

Context and significance

Amundsen's team reached the Pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks before Scott, whose party died on the return; the march to the Pole is told in the second volume. This translation is by A. G. Chater. Compare Shackleton's South, the story of the next great Antarctic expedition.

About the author