Roald Amundsen publicly prepares an Arctic expedition aboard Fram. Only after the ship has sailed does most of the crew learn that its immediate destination is Antarctica.
The expedition was going north. The expedition leader had privately reconsidered the compass.
On Friday, 9 September 1910, the crew of the Norwegian polar ship Fram assembled at Funchal in Madeira to hear an announcement from Roald Amundsen.
They had joined an expedition intended to reach the Arctic Ocean and attempt a drift across the North Pole region.
That was still the public plan.
It was no longer Amundsen's immediate plan.
After Frederick Cook and Robert Peary both claimed to have reached the North Pole in 1909, Amundsen decided that his best chance of achieving a historic first lay at the opposite end of the Earth.
He began preparing for the South Pole in secret.
Only a few trusted associates knew. The secrecy extended to the people financing the expedition and, for most of the voyage from Norway, to most of the crew aboard Fram.
There were clues.
A large prefabricated hut was loaded for a voyage supposedly centred on drifting sea ice. Greenland dogs came aboard in Norway even though the published Arctic route would eventually pass Alaska. Neither detail made perfect sense to everyone watching the preparations.
Fram left Kristiansand on 10 August 1910 and sailed south.
That direction alone did not expose the change: the announced Arctic plan also involved travelling around Cape Horn and north through the Pacific toward the Bering Strait.
During the voyage Amundsen privately informed experienced dog driver Sverre Hassel, whose skills would be essential in Antarctica.
The rest learned at Madeira.
Just before Fram departed Funchal on 9 September, Amundsen presented the revised destination.
The ship was not continuing toward the Arctic first.
It was going to the Bay of Whales in Antarctica, from which Amundsen would attempt to reach the South Pole before Robert Falcon Scott.
The crew accepted the change enthusiastically, according to their surviving diaries. They were given the choice to leave; none did.
Amundsen's brother carried letters back to Norway explaining the decision to families, supporters, King Haakon VII and the press. Scott received a famously terse telegram announcing that Fram was proceeding to Antarctica.
On 14 December 1911, Amundsen and four companions became the first people known to reach the South Pole.
The expedition succeeded through meticulous planning.
It began with most of the crew learning the destination after they had already left Norway.
A publicly announced North Pole expedition sailed with most of its crew unaware that their leader had secretly redirected its immediate objective to the South Pole.
Amundsen planned the expedition carefully. Informing the expedition was one of the later steps.
Evidence status
Sources
Norwegian polar museum
Original language: EnglishNorwegian collection history
National Library of Norway — Slik ble kappløpet om Sydpolen en viral nyhet
Original language: NorwegianBritish maritime museum history
Royal Museums Greenwich — The race to the South Pole: Scott and Amundsen
Original language: English