Why this book: I’m in a SEAL reading group and one of our sessions was a pick-your-own-book in the genre of explorations, discovery, survival.  I had read and been fascinated by Shackleton’s Endurance experience and of two failed American attempts to find the North Pole (Trial By Ice, and Kingdom of Ice) and so this one intrigued me  as well.  I was surprised when I bought it that the book is in two volumes. I bought the first volume, read it, then the read the second. 

Summary in 4 Sentences:  Roald Amundsen is best known for being the first man to the South Pole, but before that, he planned and completed the first transit by ship, from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the northern route – that is the famous “North West Passage.”  They began in Norway, with their crew of six on a Norwegian reinforced fishing boat, transited to Greenland and then north and west,  finding their route through the narrow passages well north of Hudson Bay and the Arctic Circle eventually around Point Barrow to Nome Alaska.  It took them 3 years and three winters in Canada, enabled by extensive interactions with and support from native Eskimos in the area. Their mission included extensive scientific studies and collection of data on everything from magnetic fields, weather patterns, plant and animal life, and of course,  Native American customs, language and culture. 

My impressions:  This book in two volumes is a fascinating and easy read. But it is not well published – it is a rebinding of what appears to be a photo copy of a long out-of-print original edition – to include notes and underlines and there are even sections with the pages out of order. On Amazon, the publishers claimed to have wanted to preserve the original flavor of Amundsen’s work, which sounded like an excuse to not tidy up and improve the layout – the lay reader needs help from the publisher to put together a quality experience.  That said, if one is interested in the heroes of the age of polar exploration, this is a good one to read  – as it is one of the most important experiences that prepared Amundsen to achieve his greatest and most famous success of being the first man to reach the South Pole. And it is written in a very conversational style – Amundsen’s personality,  feelings and perspectives shine through his narrative.

This book is Amundsen’s own account of the expedition, in his words and very much personalized. – clearly written based on diaries that included the immediacy of his feelings as the events happened, or shortly thereafter.  Volume 1 begins with a brief account of his childhood and the origins of his dreams of becoming an explorer, the steps he took to prepare himself, then the building of support, financial and otherwise, purchase of their fishing schooner Gjøa, outfitting it with what he thought they’d need, and assembling his team of six. Quickly the narrative gets into the trip across the North Atlantic, time spent and impressions of Greenland before he and his team crossed over to the North American continent and began their attempt to reach the Pacific via the up-to-then mythical North West Passage.

The book was clearly written not only for the lay person but also as a guide to future explorers and navigators.  Amundsen made extensive use of notes, charts and information he gleaned from the records of the multitude of unsuccessful attempts in the previous century to find the North West Passage, and he wanted to pay it forward to assist future explorers similarly, with maps, data, and lessons learned.  He gives details that were way more than I needed about shoal waters, landmarks, and descriptions of the various inlets and channels on their meandering through the confused, uncharted waters and passages as they found their way from East to West.  A great shortcoming of the books (both Vol 1 and 2) is the lack of maps to show where the various islands and waters were that he described.  I was regularly going to Wikipedia to find what I  could about places he named well north of Hudson Bay and well above the arctic circle where this story takes place.  Gjøahavn where they spent two winters is actually now a small town with a museum dedicated to Amundsen and his team.

I am not a sailor, nor do I have much background in Arctic sea travel.  The two years they wintered in Gjøahavn was to me the most interesting part of the book. Though they were all Norwegians familiar with cold weather, enduring the extremes of this area with no support from civilization were well beyond their experience.  As they were struggling to figure things out, they encountered and befriended the local Eskimos of various tribes, and during these two years, the Norwegians and Eskimos got to know each other quite well.  It is safe to say that Amundsen and his team may not have succeeded, may not even have survived without the help from and collaboration with the Eskimos. 

The Eskimos they encountered, while supportive, were very much interested in profiting from the relationship as well, and they did.  There was a brisk trade between explorers and Eskimos, the two cultures developing a truly symbiotic relationship.  Amundsen and his crew got food, information, guidance and expertise, clothing appropriate to the environment and manpower when they needed it, while the Eskimos attained much needed metal implements, weapons for hunting and other Western tools that helped them in their way of life.  Simple things that we take for granted, such as metal needles, matches, and nails were of enormous value to the Eskimos.  Both Norwegian and Eskimo were eager to learn from and about the other.  Amundsen and most of his crew learned the fundamentals of the Eskimo language, while the Eskimos learned a bit of English and Norwegian, and together they spoke a sort of mixed patois.  With good will and effort on both sides, it didn’t take long for them to be communicating quite well and enjoying each other’s company.  After nearly two years, when it was time for the Gjøa to head west, it was a sad parting for both sides. 

In his  writing, Amundsen clearly took great pleasure in sharing his fascination with the people and culture of those who were living not much differently than had their ancestors had for millennia. Both volumes provide a number of B&W photos, mostly of Eskimos, but also of the crew of the Gjøa and some of the environment.  The quality of photos published in photocopy is poor.  While Amundsen clearly respected Eskimo ingenuity and resilience, he wasn’t shy about sharing his Northern European prejudices against what he viewed as poor hygiene and lack of cleanliness and orderliness.  He noted how different tribes seemed to have different personalities and cultures, but he detected no violence between them in competition for hunting or fishing areas – there seemed to be plenty of land, and surviving the climate and weather was a full time job – leaving little energy or resources for fighting.  

One of the goals of the expedition was to obtain scientific data on this little explored part of the world, and whenever they were on land, they were measuring magnetic variations at various distances from the magnetic North Pole,  sending teams north to measure magnetic  variations as close to the pole as they could get. They were also measuring gravitational impact on magnetism, as well as weather, tides and currents, ice flows, animal migration patterns.  Underway they were mapping and recording their routes, depths, ice flow patterns, landmarks etc for future navigators.  

Volume 2 begins with the Gjøa leaving Gjøahavn in the summer of 1904 and heading west.   After months of fighting their way westward thru ice and narrow passages, it was a noteworthy day when they saw their first ship in the waters on or near the Beaufort sea north of Canada and Alaska – American whalers from the West Coast.  They had progressed far enough to the west to select a winter-over location not far from Hershel Island off the north coast of Canada, just east of the Alaskan border, where several whaling ships were wintering.  During the nine months that they were there entirely blocked in by ice, they were in regular contact with the whalers,  which gave them access to many more resources, as well as the insights experienced whalers could offer them about navigating those waters.  

During that third winter they continued to have interactions with local Eskimos but not to the extent that they had during their first two winters in Gjøahavn. The Eskimos in this region had already been in regular contact with whalers, and by this time, Amundsen and his team were pretty well adapted to living north of the Arctic circle.  Amundsen sadly noted that the happiness of an Eskimo tribe seemed to be in inverse proportion to the amount of contact they’d had with white westerners. 

After leaving their third winter during the very short summer of 1905, heading west to complete their transit to the Pacific along the North Coast of Canada and Alaska on the Arctic Sea, pack ice was their greatest obstacle and concern. They only had a couple of months – after early/mid October there was no more opportunity to sail. 

Within his narrative, Amundsen included (in Vol 1) a brief history of previous unsuccessful efforts to find the North West passage, which provided him with much information and background that helped him succeed.  One of those previous expeditions, the famous and ill-fated Franklin expedition disappeared and no one survived – and though Amundsen and other explorers found remnants and bones of some of those on the expedition, there is only speculation about their fate.   In Vol 2 he provides a brief history of American whaling in the waters off Alaska and Northern Canada as well. 

The degree that this team seemed to work together and support each other, living and working in very close quarters for 3 years was remarkable. Impressive leadership, different from Shackleton, but perhaps steadier.   Before they departed Gjøahavn heading west into unknown waters,  Amundsen wrote, “We all knew we were going to have a rough time of it, but the splendid relations which had always existed between us so strongly united us that although we were only seven, we were not easily discouraged.” p100 Vol 2 (Note – they had taken on an Eskimo to be part of their crew.) Or in another passage he noted that everyone had to be ready to help everyone else and step out of their lane if the expedition needed it. He said that, “In difficult situations we shared trouble and hardships in brotherly unity, and all rejoiced with one heart when difficulties were surmounted.”  p 275 Vol 2

There were two stories I found particularly interesting, having read several accounts (by Michener, Jack London, Robert Service) of travel with dogs over long distances in the Yukon territory during the Klondike gold rush.  There is a whole chapter in Volume 2 in which Amundsen describes his several hundred mile trip by dog sled accompanying a mail run from the whaling ships off Hershel Island south to Fort Yukon Alaska. At the end of Volume 2, there is a supplement written by 1st Lt Godfred Hansen, Amundsen’s 2nd in charge,  describing the nearly two month trip he and his partner made with dogs over snow and ice from Gjøahavn to explore farther north, to do scientific measurements and see what was there.  

There is much in these two volumes to fascinate people of many interests.  The story will capture history, adventure and exploration buffs like myself, while arctic sailors and polar explorers will revel in the detail of how Amundsen and his crew navigated Gjøa thru ice, wind, fog, shoals and currents.  Arctic and winter camping buffs will be fascinated with what Amundsen and his team learned from the Eskimos on building ice shelters and igloos, survival in the arctic, and details on expedition equipment. Hunters will enjoy hearing how they hunted reindeer, deer, polar bears, seals, arctic hares, lemmings – pretty much anything that moved and could live in that environment and could provide nourishment.  Dog lovers will be interested in how they managed and treated the dogs they brought and traded with the Eskimo – the dogs were a key to their success, and later to Amundsen’s success at the South Pole. 

All that said, these two volumes need to be republished for modern readers, with maps, better photos, and footnotes to better help us enjoy and learn from this experience. Amundsen’s writing is easy and enjoyable to read and it adds significantly to my appreciation of the era of arctic and antarctic exploration, a bit over a century ago.