TO THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE AND THROUGH THE 

 NORTHAVEST PASSAGE." 



By Capt. RoALD Amundsen. 



To Sir John Franklin must be given the honor of having discoA^- 

 ored the Northwest Passage, and to Admiral Sir Robert McClure that 

 of being the first to pass through it, partly in his vessel, the Investi- 

 gator^ and partly on foot. On the foundations laid by the splendid 

 work done and the rich fund of experience gained by English navi- 

 gators in these regions I succeeded — in the track of Sir James Ross, 

 Dr. John Rae, Admiral Sir Leopold M'Clintock, Sir Allen Young, 

 and many others — in making my way in the Gjoa to the region 

 around the earth's north magnetic pole, and, furthermore, in sailing 

 through the Northwest Passage in its entirety. If I have thus been 

 the first to sail through the Northwest Passage, it is with pleasure 

 that I share the honor with those brave English seamen — the seamen 

 who here, as in most of the other parts of the world, have taken the 

 lead and shown us the wa5\ 



It was the Norwegian minister to England, Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, 

 wlio, by his great experience and his many good counsels, made the 

 Gjoa expedition what it was — one in all respects well planned and 

 excellently equipped. In order not to tire my hearers I will give in 

 as few words as possible the earlier histor}'' of the expedition. 



The scheme of the Gjoa expedition I had a welcome opportunity of 

 laying before the Norwegian Geographical Society on November 2-5, 

 1001. It was briefl}" as follows: AYith a small vessel and a few com- 

 panions, to penetrate into the regions around the earth's north mag- 

 netic pole, and by a series of accurate observations, extending over a 

 period of two A^ears, to relocate the pole observed by Sir James Ross 

 in 1831 and also to make investigations in its immediate vicinity. 

 This was the chief object of the expedition. 



The condition of the ice still farther west allowing, it was fur- 

 thermore my intention to attempt to sail through the Northwest 

 Passage in its entire extent, this being a problem which for centuries 



a Read at the Royal Geographical Society, February 11, 1007. Reprinted by 

 permission from The Geographical Jovirnal, Loudon, Vol. XXIX, May, 1907. 



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