Roald Amundsen, born in 1872 near Oslo, Norway, left his mark on the Heroic Era of great polar exploration as the most successful icecap explorer of the era. He became the first European to travel the Northwest Passage, in his ship Gjoa in 1903-06. During this expedition he made plans to be the first human to actually visit the North Pole. However, during the planning stage, word came that Admiral Perry had actually reached the North Pole.
Amundsen quickly changed his plans to become the first explorer to reach the South Pole. He did this in secret, because he did not want anyone to know about his new adventure.
Despite terrible problems and extremely bad weather, Amundsen became the first explorer to officially reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911.
Recent evidence indicates that Admiral Perry may not have actually reached the North Pole, but that he apparently made a navigational error. Since Amundsen later actually flew over the North Pole in an airship named "Norge", he is being given additional credit.
Ship Gjoa "Nordvest pasagen 1905" and at the bottom the spoon reads "Roald Admunsen 14-12-1911"
spoon marked as 830 silver
AMUNDSEN, ELLSWORTH and NOBILE
1926: First to fly over the North Pole in a dirigible (May 11-13, 1926).
Umberto Nobile was the pilot and designer of the airship/dirigible
Norge (meaning Norway) and along with Roald Amundsen and Lincoln
Ellsworth, the flight departed Kings Bay, Spitsbergen on May 11, 1926
and flew by way of the North Pole to Alaska. This flight established
that there was no additional land in the Arctic Ocean on the Alaska
side. It also gave Amundsen, who had previously led the first
expedition to the South Pole, the distinction of being the first person
to travel to both poles.
If you desire more information on Amundsen's explorations, the WWW has many different websites available.
Another interesting Amundsen spoon was produced and is pictured here courtesy of Arthur Frost.
