The Gjøa

Amundsen captained a Norwegian wooden sloop called the Gjøa on his expedition to find the Northwest Passage. Used for over 25 years as a herring fishing vessel, the ship was a mere 70 feet long.

For Amundsen's expedition, it was manned by a total crew of seven men and was fitted out with a 13-horsepower paraffin motor. Possessing a square stern and a shallow draught (the vertical distance between the lowest point on a ship's hull and the waterline), the Gjøa was able both to navigate rocky waterways and to have much of her hull free of the tremendous physical pressure that afflicts a ship when it is held fast in the ice.  

The Fram

Launched in 1892, the Fram (Norwegian for "forward") was a 128 foot wooden schooner ruggedly designed for the sole purpose of polar exploration. The ship was well insulated to provide greater warmth to the crew within and was outfitted with retractable rudder and propeller so these crucial parts could be drawn up to avoid being damaged by pack ice. The Fram was also equipped with a 220 horsepower triple expansion steam engine capable of propelling the ship at speeds of up to 7 knots. The boat is still on display at the Fram Museum in Oslo, Norway.

The Crew

To say that Amundsen ran a "tight ship" would be a serious understatement. His vessels were both small and typically manned by remarkably modest crews.

On his trip to reach the South Pole, for example, Amundsen took only 18 crew members who had to share the small confines of  the Fram (a 128-foot long vessel) with 97 Greenland dogs and two years worth of provisions. Given that it took over three months just to sail to Antartica, it is remarkable that debilitating claustrophobia did not overcome the whole crew.