My Life as an Explorer
Cambridge Library Collection - Polar Exploration Series

Prior to his disappearance in the Arctic during an airborne rescue mission, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (1872?1928) had reflected in writing on his extraordinary career. First published in 1927 and reissued here in the English translation of that year, his autobiography discusses in straightforward style the numerous difficulties of his many expeditions, ranging from problems of finance and planning through to dealing with life-threatening danger and inevitable controversy. Generously acknowledging an 'old gentleman in Grimsby' for providing materials that helped him plan the first navigation of the North-West Passage, Amundsen credits painstaking preparation as the cornerstone of his success, especially in the conquest of the South Pole. His fuller accounts of these two expeditions are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. Frank and focused like its author, the present work will reveal to readers the outlook and approach of a remarkable figure in the history of polar exploration.

1. Early memories; 2. Ice-bound in the Antarctic; 3. The conquest of the Northwest passage; 4. The dash to the South pole; 5. In the grip of the northern ice pack; 6. Financial worries; 7. An airplane flight with Lincoln Ellsworth; 8. The transpolar flight of the Norge; 9. Concerning Mr Stefansson and others; 10. The serious business of exploration; 11. Problems of food and equipment; Appendix; Index.