GJOA meets CHARLES HANSSON in Northwest Passage.
Aug. 26,1905

Watercolor 14" x 21"


Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen was born into a family of sea captains and merchants in 1872, and right from a very early age he was consumed with the ambition to be a polar explorer. He devoured all the literature on polar exploration and dedicated himself to rigorous physical training in preparation for severe polar conditions. To gain experience he went to sea on a Norwegian polar sealer, where he earned the rank of mate, then joined Gomery’s expedition to Antarctica on the BELGICA. His ambition was to be first to conquer the Northwest Passage, and to go from that triumph to be first to reach both the North and South Poles.

Amundsen acquired the seventy-two foot fishing smack GJØA. He installed a thirteen horsepower diesel, loaded enough stores for five years, and with a crew of six, sailed from Kristiana ( now Oslo ) on June 16th, 1903. GJØA entered the Arctic archipelago through Lancaster Sound, then sailed south through Franklin and Ross Straits, arriving at the southern end of King William Island Island on September 12th, 1903. They anchored in a bay they named Gjøa Havn, that Amundsen called “the finest little harbour in the world”. They spent the next two winters there, observing variations of the magnetic pole and exploring to the west with the dogs.

In August 1905 they continued west towards Victoria Strait and out through Dease and Dolphin Straits into Amundsen Gulf. They were now essentially out of the shallow, reef infested waters and in full confidence of their success.

A momentous event occurred on August 27th,1905. Just after turning in at eight in the morning, Amundsen was awakened by a commotion on deck. Lieutenant Hansen rushed into the cabin and called out: “Vessel in sight, sir !” “The words were magical... It was a wonderfully fine day.....with the wind abaft, and all sails set, we made excellent headway. It seamed as if the GJØA had understood that the hardest part of the struggle was over, she seemed wonderfully light in her movements.” They had encountered the CHARLES HANSSON, a whaler out of San Francisco, that had entered the strait from the west. The meeting of the two vessels, each coming from the opposite direction, celebrated the conquering of the Northwest Passage.