If Franklin can claim that his voyages proved the existence of the Northwest Passage, it was not until Roald Amundsen that someone actually sailed through it. Here is the story of Norwegian explorer Roald Engelbregt Grauning Amundsen, a man with no shortage of accomplishments.
Roald Amundsen was born in Borge, Norway, in 1872. Polar exploration became a passion at a young age, developed after reading about John Franklin, he decided he'd navigate the Northwest Passage.
He studied in Medecine due to pressure in the family, and had not given up on his dream for polar expeditions, going on long ski trips in the areas surrounding Oslo. After his mother died, he left Medical school and applied for any position going on arctic expeditions. However he received, at this time, no good news. Instead, he had many trips into the Mountains in Norway.
In 1897, he participated in a expedition in the Antarctic, second under Belgian navigator Adrien de Gerlache, giving Roald his first polar experience. This was just the beginning as he bought his own ship, the Gjoa, and left for North America, entering the Lancaster Straight and landing on King William Island where he did scientific experiments and relocated the magnetic pole. After his studies, he continued west, until forced to winter in the ice. When the ice gave way, so did failure in fulfilling the dream called the Northwest Passage.
What can one possibly do after securing his name in history? Do more. His dream, the North Pole. However, that failed when in 1909 he heard news that Robert Peary had reached it. So, not to be discouraged, he decided that he might as well be the first to reach the south pole, a more daring task as the southern temperatures were much colder than the northern ones.Yet, on December 14, 1911, Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole, just about a month before Robert Scott reached it.
The Northwest Passage had been conquered, so had the South Pole, now it was time to conquer the Northeast Passage. In 1918, in a ship called the Maud, Amundsen did so.
But the North Pole still fascinated him and became determined to be the first to fly over the pole. After a failed attempt in 1925, he tried once more and succeeded in a blimp built by Umberto Nobile. It is in a rescue attempt to save Nobile that Amundsen lost his life, in the arctic in 1928.
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