ROALD AMUNDSEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19500, 8 June 1925, Page 8

ROALD AMUNDSEN.

A LIFE AMONG THE lOE. NOTHING LIKE ADVERSITY. When the March sun was sending its rays over the snow spots between the fir trees surrounding a homestead named Uranieuburg, at Svartskog, Captain Roald Amundsen gave his last interview before leaving on his present expedition to a reporter from Oslo. The reporter had hesitated, a little doubtful; but soon heard a jolly voice call out “Hello,” and welcome. Roald Amundson was coming along, with a big tub in his hand, bareheaded and in knickers. If it had not been for his white hair and the weather-beaten, strong expression of his face, he might easily have passed for a youth in his twenties Twenty years before, when the Gjoea was lying at the quay at Christiania (Oslo), the same reporter had his first interview with Amundsen. A stalwart young man, with light moustache and a more decided nose than any the pressman had ever seen, was walking on board. He was the owner of the ship. “When I shoook hands with him,” refects the reporter, “ I was thinking; ‘God knows if I ever again shall shako hands with Roald Amundsen.’ ” TRACKING DOWN AMUNDSEN. A long interval passed in which no one saw or heard anything of the explorer. Then the reporter heard that he was in the town again, and tracked him down.. He had returned incognito and his secret was closely preserved, for in the interval he had become white haired and was clean shaven. Thirteen years later Amundsen wa s still going strong, and the picture ot him which the reporter had kept in hia mind answered exactly to the man then before him Questioned regarding his flight to the Pole, the explorer said:— ‘ I hope to b© at Spitzbergen. shortly to wait for an opportunity to start. I nave seen the flying boats and have become acquainted with the flyers. That gives me confidence. The motors are wonderful, the safest obtainable. When everything was ready five men came from the Rolls-Royce factory with some cases. They had found out a new -invention, and we had to include it. Both the flying machine manufacturers and the motor manufacturers have shown a great interest in the flight and have always been ready to help. We are getting first-class men from the factories, who know the motors perfectly. I think both Nansen and Sverdrup, who are better acquainted with the ice than I am, will agree that there are many great flat stretches which we can use for landing places.” ' - “ I understand you intend to land at the Pole?” “Yes. Wo will try that, and when we have taken out observations we shall fly straight back. There will be three men each machine, and provisions enough for a month, also skis, snow sledges, and Eskimo kajaks. We are taking parachutes to Spitzbergen in case wo might want to ship them with us. Each of the machines can lift three tons.” “How much are you taking as provisions?” “Thirty kilograms for each man, ope kilo a day. We shall include cream chocolates, oat biscuits, milk powder, and coffee.” “Could you imagine a pilot going asleep through being tired ?” “Then he will get a good belt on the back to keep him awake for a while afterwards. We have thermos flasks, with hot coffee, which is good for keeping you awake; but personally I would rather take hot chocolate.” “If you happen to pass over land?” “That is not probable, but if it' happens we shall fly as low as possible, without risking anything. We have splendid flyers, the best this expedition could have found, and I know that none of them will run into danger. Anyhow, I think one can be safer in the air over the polar regions than in the streets in Oslo. “The other day I was nearly run over by a motor car,” lie said, with the assurance that he. thought everything would come out all right. “How many years have you been in the ice?” “In 1894 I started to develop myself for these expeditions. I went on seal shooting excursions, and in 1897 I did my first voyage. It is 31 years since I went north the first time.” “I suppose many people were' doubtful how the Gjoea would get along, when the little craft lay ready to sail in Oslo for the far.north ?”. * “i remember very well,” Amundsen assented, “two young sailors, who were ahead of me on my way down to the Gjoea. started laughing and turned round with scorn on their faces. Oh, yes, 31 years is a long time.” “It doesn’t look as though your adversities have affected you. Captain,” said the reporter. “No, they havn’t affected me a bit. The more adversity the better; nothing is stimulating like that. No, they shall never overwhelm me. I am now in my fifties. 1 did my best voyage two years ago, after I had my fiftieth birthday.” Captain Amundsen then told how, in the month of November, he Journeyed from Wainwright to Kotzebue, in Alaska, a stretch of about 450 sea miles, in the company of an Eskimo mail carrier. The pair did the run in 10 days, averaging 45 miles a day. The sledges were so loaded that the men could ride only over short stretches. As the road went over rough ice Aniendsen and the Eskimo were walking or running, every day, from three in the morning until 10 in the evening, and most of the time in the dark. It was a record for them both. “Oh, yes, the will is there,” he said, with a touch of pride, “and my legs are as good as ever.” “I suppose it was a very cold trip?” “Aye, 40 or 00 degrees below zejo.” “Did you meet any wild animals?” “No, there are none in that part of Alaska; but, still, it is only fools who go unarmed in the ice, because bears will ofter attack in the summer; and it is reckless to go unprepared.” “How is it. about that fantastic story of an inhabited land and warm geysers in the unknown ?” “It is good that you mentioned that. An American naval officer, Fitzhou Green, who had been along with Peary, circulated the mad idea. Hammer mentioned it in an article referring to FitzHou Green and, after that, this confounded nonsense was sheeted home to me.”