First Crossing of the Polar Sea

On May 11, 1926, the Amundsen-Ellsworth expedition aboard the airship Norge sailed due north from Kings Bay in Spitzbergen. Three days later, without change of course, the great dirigible was seen by Eskimos in Alaska gliding southward from Arctic wastes. For the first time men had crossed from Europe to America via the North Pole. Newspaper reports were voluminous and in the main accurate, but the record as given here by the leaders themselves should be considered the final authority on a transit which ushered in the epoch of polar flying. This is a well-documented book with many illustrations, simply written, without any attempt to achieve effects. The participants are their own historians. Five other members contributed each a chapter on his specialty, notably Lieutenant Riiser-Larsen, who describes the problems of navigation involved in extended air voyages, and Finn Malmgren, who kept the meteorological records. One omission is not surprizing--the absence of a chapter by General (erstwhile Colonel) Nobile, builder of the Norge and its commander. Nevertheless his part is not minimized, though the authors are careful to specify his relative position in the general scheme of things. To Amundsen, whose leadership meant everything, to Ellsworth, who unselfishly seconded him and contributed a very large share of the cost ($125,000), and to the Norwegian Aero Club are attributed first honors. In the bibliography of early polar exploration, this book falls easily in the front rank.