From Pole to Pole: Roald Amundsen's Journey in Flight

by Garth James Cameron

Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) was the most successful polar explorer of his era using sledges, dogs, ski and ships. He is mainly remembered for being the first man to reach the South Pole on 14 December 1911. What is less often remembered is that he was also the first man to reach the North Pole on 12 May 1926 as the leader of the Amundsen- Ellsworth-Nobile expedition in the airship Norge. His involvement in aviation from 1909 to his death in 1928, has not been the subject of a detailed study until now.This book explores Amundsen's enthusiasm for flight from the moment he read about Bleriot's flight across the English Channel in an aeroplane on 25 July 1909. From that moment onwards he saw the potential of aircraft as vehicles to explore portions of the globe that remained unexplored in the first quarter of the 20th century. The man-lifting kites built by Einar Sem-Jacobsen took the life of his second in command, Ole Engelstad and were carried, but not used, during his 1910-1912 expedition to the South Pole. He saw aeroplanes flying in America and Germany in 1913 and in 1914 he was taught to fly by Sem-Jacobsen. He passed his flight test on a Farman Longhorn biplane on 1 June 1914 and in mid-1915 was issued with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (Norge) aeroplane pilot's certificate number one. He bought a Farman biplane to take with him on an expedition to the North Polar Sea but the outbreak of the Great War stopped the Expedition and Amundsen gave his Farman to the Norwegian government. After the war he acquired a Curtiss Oriole biplane and two Junkers F13's then in 1925 he embarked on a flight, which he barely survived, to the North Pole in two Dornier Wal flying boats. 1926 brought long delayed success when the Norge flew to the Pole and on to Alaska. On 18 June 1928 he and five companions took off from Tromso on a search and rescue flight for the missing airship Italia and were never seen again.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography

Hardcover

First published October 17, 2013

Reviews

[Dee Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audible.com 7 hours 15 min. Narrated by Stephen Hoye (A)

Incredibly well-researched and detailed accounts the great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundson. I'm sure I gained more the recorded book because the narrator's easy pronunciation of the foreign places characters names. Very objective. Includes a downloadable pdf.

[Ben Denison · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was a topic I know very little about (Polar exploration) but am somewhat interested.

I didn’t realize how little we knew about the polar caps at the turn of the century (even whether there was land up there or not. Some areas just totally unknown.)

This particular book was fascinating following Admundson and the race for the poles. Also crazy that there was little way to even verify whether guys made it to where they claimed to go. (Double checking their logs to see if the info turned out correct directionally)

The book really focused onthe exploration methods of that time with a main focus on ships, that were measured by “years” of a trip (because they’d get ice-locked through winters, and for maybe longer), and/or the new fangled air balloon/airship/planes that were measured in “hours”. Hours because at the time none of them could stay in the air very long.

This book really focused on the air exploration to me more than polar exploration. It was absolute madness how these guys got in unreliable airships/balloons/early planes with little range, due to small engines and little fuel, and no assurance of a landing spot, no assurance of returning. I get risk. But these guys were nuts.

Overall a decent book. But I wanted more polar/arctic/Antarctic but it was more about flying. Probably should be a 4 star, but I’d say a solid 3.5

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always been impressed with Roald Amundsen. He has been discussed in many of the other books I have read regarding polar exploration. I finally got around to reading a biography on him.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story of an adventurer that was on the cutting edge of the technology of his time, doing what no one had done before. Amundsen seemed like quite a patient and inspirational leader and the few conflicts that he had with a couple of the other players seemed very out of Character for him.

The book did tend to follow his technical writings and journals quite a bit so it was inundated with fairly mundane facts and figures at times and while listening to the audiobook it was easy to lose focus in parts.

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but very very detailed book about attempts to reach the North Pole by various types of air platforms in the early 20th century. I wasn't aware of early arctic exploration by air before reading this..

For my interest, less on the technical parameters of the various airships, planes, etc would have made for a faster read though I'm sure there is an audience of aviation enthusiasts that will be really engaged by that.

[Scott C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like reading a history book without any interesting stories :(. It is a shame that Amundsen's feats after his trek to the south pole are not better documented. Even Amundsen himself was not a great writer, everything is dates, times, names but no real stories about what is going on around him. The same can be said of this book, well documented history but lacking on the personal front.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 2 out of 5]

A description of an explorer's aeronautical adventures.

The topic of this book was totally new to me and the subject was interesting, but the formatting and writing let it down.

Reading time around two hours.

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting subject, but poorly written. I'm not sure who the editor was but the book has the feel of something self-published.

[Spen Cer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like it dragged on a little bit with some technical details but overall an interesting story about someone who is like to know more about.