Roald Amundsen: an explorer’s history of Nome
By Dr Nick Carter
We’ve been here in Nome for over a week, making final preparations to leave. It would be fitting, therefore, to say a few words about this delightful town, which has so much history, albeit relatively recent.
Nome was essentially founded in 1898 following a gold strike that sparked a rush. During the early 20th century the town swelled with prospectors flocking from the Yukon and in steamers from San Francisco to dredge for gold in the Snake river that flows past the town. The community grew under less than ideal living conditions, leading to a pressing need for the delivery of medicines and other supplies. Given that there weren’t (and still are not) any roads into Nome, these supplies were delivered by dog-sled relays. The famous Iditarod dog-sled race runs annually from Anchorage to Nome, in memory of this.
Nome,in western Alaska, is just 120 south of The Arctic Circle. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the town has welcomed many Polar explorers. Possibly one it’s most renowned visitors is the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen (1872- 1928). Amundsen is known to many for his race to the South Pole with Captain Robert Scott in 1911. Prior to this, however, he was the first to sail the Northwest Passage from Europe to the Pacific over Arctic Canada. Between 1904 and 1906 he sailed his converted fishing boat, Gjoa, over-wintering twice in a small bay (now called Gjoa Havn) on King William Island. During this time, he integrated with the local Inuit of Nunavut where he honed his polar travelling skills. Remarkably, once they arrived near the border of Alaska and Canada at Herschel Island, Amundsen skied solo the 500 miles to Eagle City to break the news and then skied back again! He re-joined Gjoa to sail around Alaska to Nome.
In 1818, following his return from Antarctica, he embarked on an ambitious attempt to sail a specially designed boat, Maud, through the North-east Passage (over the top of Russia) and into the ice pack. This with the intent of drifting in the ice towards the North Pole. It didn’t go quite according to plan, in that they didn’t make it to the North Pole and he subsequently sailed into Nome. He sold Maud to the Hudson Bay Company…but that’s a whole other story. The following year, in 1926, he flew with a small team in the airship “Norge”. from Spitzbergen to Nome via the North Pole. He may then also have been the first to reach the North Pole.
It’s no surprise that Amundsen’s achievements serve as inspiration to many of us involved with Arctic Mission. His patronage of this friendly town of Nome is all the more poignant.