An Astounding Discovery
The 115 sled dogs slept in their tents on the Great Ice Barrier, the 9 men of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition land party dozed in their new house, and the 10 crewmen of the Fram took turns on watch duty aboard the ship. It was just after midnight in the land of the midnight sun.
The midnight hour brought with it an unusual apparition that was very real: the Terra Nova – Robert Falcon Scott’s British National Antarctic Expedition ship – with several of its expedition members on board had cruised along the barrier and, spying the Fram, had stopped to visit with Amundsen’s Norwegian expedition. The chance meeting at the Bay of Whales on the morning of February 4, 1911 was quite remarkable (Amundsen Expedition Diary).
As Lieutenant Thorvald Nilsen told the story in his chapter of Roald Amundsen’s book The South Pole, at “… about 1 a.m., the watchman, [Andreas] Beck, came and called me with the news that a vessel was coming in. I guessed at once, of course, that it was the Terra Nova; but I must confess that I did not feel inclined to turn out and look at her. We hoisted the colours, however” (Amundsen 1912, vol. 2: 293). Having been in on the secret from the start, Nilsen must have harbored a special dread of finally being revealed, while the rest of the crew was most likely a bit surprised and reluctant to face their competitors. Hjalmar Fredrik Gjertsen confesses in his diary that, initially, he was a bit apprehensive about encountering the Englishmen, as he wondered what type of reaction they would have to the Norwegians’ rival stance and to Amundsen’s unexpectedly entering the race for the South Pole (Gjertsen 2011).
The British contingent had been greatly surprised to see the Fram anchored in the Bay of Whales, more so than the Norwegians had been to see the Terra Nova drop anchor nearby. The British had assumed that Amundsen would approach Antarctica from the South American side, around Cape Horn, at Graham Land – near the Peninsula – where Amundsen had overwintered with the Belgica (Gjertsen 2011).
On the British ship were Lieutenant Victor Campbell, who led the Eastern Party for Scott’s expedition, and Lieutenant Harry Pennell, who commanded the ship (Amundsen Expedition Diary). Captain Scott himself was not with them, having already begun his depot-laying work, with his ponies, south of his base near McMurdo Sound. At the time of Amundsen’s arrival at the Bay of Whales with his dogs, Scott had been at Cape Evans, with his ponies, preparing his own ascension to the Pole. After dropping him off, the Terra Nova had continued eastward to reconnaissance the area, reaching King Edward VII Land and then returning westward again, at which time they had seen the Fram.
A few hours after anchoring, the two British lieutenants disembarked from their ship and began a ski-climb on the ice up toward the barrier, following the dog tracks that they found there – tracks made by sled dogs. Gjertsen watched them from his ship, apprehensive of their intent. If they intended to cause any trouble, he thought to himself, the dogs would deter them – they would take care of their men. And just to be on the safe side, Gjertsen armed himself with gun and grammar – a rifle used for shooting seals and an English dictionary to brush up on the niceties of greeting visitors. Of course, he only needed the latter, not the former (Gjertsen 2011).
Lieutenant Campbell and Lieutenant Pennell, having inspected the dog-trodden area, turned back from the ice and headed toward the Fram, where they respectfully and peacefully visited the Norwegian ship and its crew and where Nilsen graciously hosted them on board (Amundsen Expedition Diary; Amundsen 1912, vol. 2: 293–294).
The Englishmen were congenial and told the Norwegians that the Terra Nova had first been to King Edward VII Land – further east of the Bay of Whales. They had searched in vain there for a landing place for the Eastern Party, which was to conduct their geological scientific studies on this land that had been originally discovered by Scott. Alas, that was not to be, as no good landing place was found, and they were now returning to McMurdo Sound, which was Scott’s base – 400 miles away to the west (and 60 miles further north of the Bay of Whales). After returning to their main base, they would later proceed to Cape North to search for other land to explore for the winter. This chance meeting with the Fram had happened on their way back from nearby King Edward VII Land (Gjertsen 2011; Amundsen Expedition Diary; Amundsen [1927] 2008).
According to Gjertsen (2011), their crew later also confided that Scott’s expedition had arrived with 14 ponies, 30 dogs, and 4 motor sledges – one of which had already been lost, falling through the ice.
In turn, the British lieutenants made inquiries of the Norwegians and inquired where the expedition leader was. “They naturally asked a number of questions, and evidently had some difficulty in believing that it was actually the Fram that was lying here,” wrote Nilsen (Amundsen 1912, vol. 2: 294).
Indeed, it was the Fram, and its expedition leader would soon make a grand entrance that the Englishmen would not soon forget. For at 6:00 in the morning, Amundsen, his men, and his sled dogs made their, by now, routine quick and skilled drive from the house to the ship – but perhaps with a bit more gusto and showmanship this morning – and the British gentlemen who were watching this dramatic scene nearly could not believe their eyes. Eight powerful sledges, each led by at least six equally powerful and magnificent Arctic dogs, raced down the snowy hill from the camp house to the anchored ship, one by one in formation, speeding down the ice like fast and furry racing machines, and skid-stopping with a flourish 1 (Amundsen Film 2010). “As we drove down from the house … and came over the ice barrier that we have between us and Fram, we were not a little surprised at seeing a foreign vessel adjacent to the ice edge lying next to Fram,” reported Hjalmar Johansen in his diary (Johansen Expedition Diary). “… We drove up with our 8 sleds, team by team in perfect order and at high speed.” And it was not only the visitors at the Fram who were closely watching the Norwegians and their dogs race down the barrier. “Later we heard that we were being observed very carefully through binoculars from the Terra Nova,” said Johansen. 2
According to Gjertsen, who was on watch on the Fram when Lieutenant Campbell and Lieutenant Pennell appeared at the ship, the sight of Amundsen and the land party coming down the barrier, being pulled swiftly and effortlessly by the dogs, was awe-inspiring. And its effect on the British expedition members was equally impressive. The dogs pulled the men and the sleds at a phenomenal speed, sliding over the ice and snow smoothly and gracefully. Once the sleds reached the ice below, they spread out in a horizontal formation as though they had choreographed this move in advance, and they proceeded to race each other to the ship. The Englishmen’s jaws dropped at the sight of this sheer power, speed, and mobility. It was not something they had ever seen before, said Gjertsen, and they had never imagined that dogs were capable of running in this manner in front of a sled – certainly their poor ponies could not provide such a performance. In an instant, Campbell and Pennell were swept up in the excitement and exhilaration, and they cheered the men and the dogs, shouting good naturedly and waving their hats at them. Amundsen and the dog drivers returned the greetings, waving in turn with their dog whips (Gjertsen 2011).
For his part, Roald Amundsen was surprised to spy the English ship next to his own out in the sea below the barrier, as he came racing down the hill that morning (Amundsen Expedition Diary). His diary entry on that day begins with an exclamation to the effect of “Great ruckus!”. 3 But he certainly made the most of this encounter. Amundsen entered the scene like a superhero, aided by his super sled dogs, and proceeded to have a pleasant – and revealing – visit with the Englishmen.
Lt. Campbell spoke perfect Norwegian, having lived and skied in Norway, and Lt. Thorvald Nilsen and Lt. Kristian Prestrud knew enough English to carry on a brief conversation. And so, the two parties had been communicating amiably when Amundsen appeared. Amundsen, too, spoke English well enough, and so the conversation between the two expedition members continued fairly comfortably. Amundsen invited the English party to his Norwegian house, and so the two lieutenants, this time with their expedition doctor, George Murray Levick, broke bread with Amundsen and his men at a breakfast cooked up by Adolf Lindstrøm (Amundsen Expedition Diary; Amundsen 1912, vol. 2: 294).
Amundsen personally drove the three British expedition members to his house (Rønne 2011). On their way up to the house, Oscar Wisting drove what – to him and the six dogs pulling his sled – was a modest load, of seal carcass, coal, petrol, and stove. This, of course, had to be pulled by the dogs up the steep climb from the lower ice to the barrier above. The Englishmen, he said, unbelieving at first that he would be able to accomplish this, watched in astonishment as the dogs, putting their all into it, took the incline and the weight handily and sped past them. It was as though the dogs understood that this was a time to demonstrate their skill – a chance to shine, said Wisting (1930).
“They were amazed at what they saw of Fram, the house, the [dog-sled] driving and everything,” wrote Hjalmar Johansen in his diary, adding that they were also very “gracious” especially as they had not been expecting to see them there. 4
Of everything that they saw at the Norwegian camp, Campbell and Pennell were most impressed by the performance of the sled dogs, who astounded them with their quick speed, pulling power, and athletic agility (Hanssen 1936; Hansen 2011).
Amundsen, Nilsen, and Prestrud later repaid the visit by going on board the Terra Nova and partaking in a friendly lunch there with its officers and crew. Amundsen professed to find them very friendly. The British lieutenants even offered to post the Norwegians’ mail for them; neither Amundsen nor his crew, however, was able to take them up on their courteous offer (Amundsen Expedition Diary; Amundsen 1912, vol. 2: 294).
It was at this luncheon on board the British ship that Amundsen, as he later recalled, had a conversation with the Englishmen specifically about the dogs. He relayed this discussion in his memoir, insisting that, in addition to demonstrating his sledding equipment to them, he had also offered to them to remain and utilize his dogs – an offer which they politely declined (Amundsen [1927] 2008). To Amundsen, this sharing of his dogs would have been the ultimate in self-sacrifice and in a sharing of success, as the dogs, he knew, were the key to success, the key for this race, and the key to reaching the South Pole. In his biography, Amundsen lamented Scott’s preference for motor sledges, which broke down, and especially his preference for Shetland ponies, as this choice of transportation, he said, was, sadly, his fatal undoing.
And, so ended the momentous meeting between the English and the Norwegians – with warm friendliness and mutual respect, but without resulting cooperation.
Wisting (1930) and Hanssen (1936) would later write that, having seen the outstanding performance of the sled dogs, the British gentleman were certain that Amundsen and his expedition had all the capability and advantage to reach the South Pole.
Thus, with visions of sled dogs racing in Lieutenant Campbell’s head, and visions of motor-sledges dancing in Captain Amundsen’s head, the two leaders took leave of each other, and the Terra Nova departed at 2:00 p.m. that day, leaving the Bay of Whales to the Fram, and the South Pole, ultimately, to Amundsen.
The Terra Nova meets the Fram in the Bay of Whales on February 4, 1911. Standing in front of the Norwegian ship are the sled dogs who made such a lasting impression on the visiting British Antarctic Expedition members, who promptly wrote to Robert Falcon Scott about Roald Amundsen and his impressive sledging dogs (Photographer, unidentified; Owner, National Library of Norway)
Notes on Original Material and Unpublished Sources
- 1.
A viewing of Amundsen’s film footage shows that the dogs were quite fast, and the sleds would skid to a dramatic stop, as the drivers athletically jump off of them. Author’s viewing of original film footage taken by R. Amundsen and K. Prestrud during the Antarctic expedition of 1910–1912 restored by the Norwegian Film Institute and released on DVD, 2010, as Roald Amundsen’s South Pole Expedition (1910–1912)
- 2.
F.H. Johansen Antarctic expedition diary, 4 February 1911, NB Ms.4° 2775:C:2
- 3.
R. Amundsen Antarctic expedition diary, 4 February 1911, NB Ms.8° 1196
- 4.
F.H. Johansen Antarctic expedition diary, 4 February 1911, NB Ms.4° 2775:C:2