Roald Amundsen made many fantastic journeys in his life and all of them were spectacular

Roald Amundsen was born near Fredrikstad in Norway. He came from a seafaring family of captains and ship-owners. He made a promise to his mother that he would not go to sea and instead study to be a doctor.

When he was 21 years of age, his mother passed away and he decided to drop his studies at the university and up fill his dream of a life at sea. The young Roald Amundsen also had a desire to cross Greenland. It was Fridtjof Nansen who inspired this idea.

So he decided to spend his life exploring the Polar Regions.The first South Pole Antarctic expedition was led by him, and he was also the first to reach the North Pole. Roald Amundsen had the unique distinction of being the fist explorer to cross the Northwest Passage. Their incredible journey took them via Baffin Bay, Lancaster , Peel Sounds, James Ross, Simpson and Rae Straits.

Roald Amundsen was planning a trip to the North Pole to explore the North Polar Basin. Unfortunately he encountered problems when trying to raise funds for the expedition. He decided to reroute to Antarctica after hearing that Frederick Cook claimed North Pole.

The expedition arrived on the east of Ross Ice Shelf at a large inlet called the Bay of Whales on January 14, 1911 where Amundsen made his base camp and named it Framheim.

He was also famous for his part in the Belgian Antarctic Expedition 1897–99 sailing as first mate. This expedition was led by Adrien de Gerlache using the ship the Belgica.They became the first expedition to spend the winter in Antarctica. The ship became locked in the ice west of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The American doctor Frederick Cook contributed much to saving the men from disease, by hunting for animals and feeding the crew fresh meat, this was an important lesson for Amundsen's future expeditions.

He made many fantastic journeys in his life and all of them were spectacular. Not satisfied with sea expeditions, in 1926, Amundsen and fifteen other men, made the first crossing of the Arctic in the airship Norge designed by Nobile.

They left Spitsbergen on 11 May 1926, and landed in Alaska two days later.

There were a few other dubious claims about arriving at the North Pole but the crew of the Norwegian airship were really the first verified explorers to done it. If the Norwegian expedition was the first to the North Pole, Amundsen and Oscar Wisting would therefore be the first persons to claim each geographical pole, by land or by air.

In June 18, 1928 while flying on a rescue mission with Leif Dietrichson, a Norwegian pilot and four Frenchmen, it is believed that the plane crashed into the sea while trying to fly through fog and Amundsen lost his life in the crash. His body was never found.

The Norwegian Navy have since announced that in late August 2009 a search will be made to try and locate wreckage of Amundsen's plane. An unmanned submarine Hugin 1000 will be used and will search 40 square mile area of the seabed.

This is Roald Amundsen docked in Ireland

Roald Amundsen and Home