Roald Amundsen

Race to the End of the Earth

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Scott’s party at the South Pole, 17 January 1912.
(Wikimedia Commons)

From 17 May to 24 October 2013, the Royal BC Museum is presenting the special exhibition Race to the End of the Earth, which “recounts one of the most stirring tales of Antarctic exploration, the contest to reach the South Pole.” In conjunction with the exhibition, the museum is also presenting the giant-screen film Shackleton‘s Antarctic Adventure, about the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. (Shackleton’s later efforts to raise money for another expedition brought him into the story told in Acts of Occupation. In Chapter 4 of the book, we talk about the plans for a proposed arctic expedition by Shackleton, to be sponsored in part by the Eaton family.)

Tugging a long-lost ship back to its Norwegian homeland

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Amundsen's Maud near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut

Amundsen’s Maud near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Today’s Globe and Mail has an update on the long-running story of Norwegian efforts to salvage Roald Amundsen’s ship Maud and return it to Norway:

At long last, the Maud will float home.

After years of trying to persuade Ottawa to allow Norway to reclaim the famed schooner sailed by legendary polar explorer Roald Amundsen – and which is currently resting partially submerged in Nunavut’s Cambridge Bay – Norwegians have set their plans to retrieve the ship from its resting place of 82 years.

With a price tag of $5-million to $6-million – or more if necessary – the raising of the 300-tonne vessel that is now scheduled for next summer will be a challenging technical feat, relying on simple physics.

(Read the rest of Tamara Baluja’s story on the Globe and Mail‘s website. There’s also a small gallery of photographs. The “Maud Returns Home” project also has its own website for those in search of updates.)