Roald Amundsen and the 1925 North Pole Expedition

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Amundsen spotted a distant ice dam that promised a relatively smooth landing, but with the loss of power and the extra weight aboard the machine, he knew it would be impossible to reach. The crew decided on a slush-choked arm of water dotted with icebergs leading toward the dam. The arm was wide enough to accommodate the Dorniers wingspan, but with icebergs flanking the passage there was no room for error.

The Dornier slapped down into the slush and began to zigzag. ‘We were passing a small iceberg on the right,’ recalled Amundsen. ‘The machine turned to the left with the result that the wings stroked the top of the iceberg and loose snow was whirled in the air.’ With thick slush spraying about, N25 eased to a stop at the end of the arm, its nose pushing up against yet another iceberg.

Dietrichson, aboard N24, saw the after engine of N25 quit and watched the plane descend to the slush. He circled as the crew of N25 jumped out of their plane and began kicking and hacking at the ice to keep it from freezing around the hull. Dietrichson realized there was not enough room for both machines in the arm, so he slowly descended to a watery lake that appeared to be near N25. As he throttled back, N24’s aft engine also quit. Fortunately, the landing was smooth, and he taxied across the surface and anchored his plane to a large ice floe.

Ellsworth and Dietrichson searched for N25 while mechanic Omdahl examined the engines. Compression in the aft engine had weakened considerably, and part of the exhaust system had burned out. Repairs, if possible, would take a long time. To make matters worse, sea water was leaking into the hull where the rivets had torn loose during takeoff.

It was noon before Dietrichson and Ellsworth finally spotted N25 from atop a high ice hummock. The plane lay about three-quarters of a mile away with her nose sticking into the air at a 45-degree angle. Ellsworth took meteorological readings and found they were about 150 miles short of the Pole and had drifted off course to 22 degrees west.

The pair unlimbered their canvas boat and had a light lunch before setting out for N25. Three-foot-deep snowdrifts slowed their progress on the ice, as did patches of slushy water that had to be negotiated with the boat. Even worse were the jagged ice ridges that had been thrust upward when shifting sheets of ice collided. Dietrichson and Ellsworth searched for an easier route but only found more ice ridges. After several hours of incredible exertion, they gave up and returned to N24 thoroughly exhausted. They hoisted a Norwegian flag atop the highest hummock, pitched their light tent next to their plane and crawled inside to rest.

Amundsen and his crew, meanwhile, were busy trying to stave off ice closing in around N25’s hull. Extra room in the plane had been devoted to drums of fuel, so ice tools and even radio equipment had had to be left behind. Using knives, an ax and an ice anchor, the trio finally managed to chip enough ice away so their plane could float freely for several hours. Though exhausted, the men fruitlessly scanned their surroundings for N24 before finally taking refuge in the Dorniers compartments.

Snow squalls buffeted the area during the night, and movement of the ice sheets brought the two planes closer together. The morning of May 23 was clear and bright. Amundsen climbed to a wing of the Dornier and scrutinized the monotonous horizon. Suddenly he noticed the flag, tent and N24 itself. He called for Riiser-Larsen to start waving their own Norwegian flag, and within moments contact was established with Ellsworth and crew. It was decided, via Morse code signals with the flags, that each crew would work on their own plane for the rest of the day.

Omdahl poured buckets of warm oil on the valves and placed camp stoves under the engine gondola in a vain attempt to start N-24’s aft Rolls-Royce. Amundsen, Riiser-Larsen and Feucht chopped and slashed at the ice encroaching on N25. Slowly they began to fashion a ramp onto which they hoped to maneuver N25 away from the clutches of the slushy pool. For the next two days, both crews tried to prepare their respective planes for takeoff.

Tags: Adventurers & Trail Blazers, Aircraft, Aviation History, Expeditions, Historical Discoveries, Historical Figures

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