BAT: 150th anniversary of the birth of Roald Amundsen 50 pence 2022

Started by eurocoin, January 23, 2022, 05:36:22 PM

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eurocoin

To commemorate the 150 years since the birth of Roald Amundsen, the Pobjoy Mint will issue a commemorative 50p coin on behalf og the British Antactic Territory. The coin will depict the ship Fram.



Offa

Member British numismatic society

Deeman

The Norwegian polar research ship Fram ('Forward') was the strongest wooden ship ever built.

The Fram was the first ship specially built in Norway for polar research. She was used on three important expeditions: with Fridtjof Nansen on a drift over the Arctic Ocean 1893-96, with Otto Sverdrup to the Arctic Archipelago west of Greenland (now the Nunavut region of Canada) in 1898-1902, and with Roald Amundsen to Antarctica for his South Pole expedition 1910-12.

The Fram was designed as a three-masted schooner, with the standing rigging of steel wire and the running rigging of hemp. A windmill was included on board, which ran a generator to provide electric power for lighting by electric arc lamps. A triple expansion 220 hp steam engine gave a speed of 6-7 nm/hour in calm seas. For the South Pole expedition, the old steam engine was replaced with a modern Swedish 180 hp diesel engine, a first for polar exploration vessels.

In 1911, Britain's Robert Falcon Scott and Norway's Roald Amundsen both launched expeditions to reach the South Pole. It would end in victory for Amundsen and tragedy for Scott. Amundsen's ship the Fram reached the Ross Ice Shelf on 14 Jan 1911, Amundsen having chosen to land at the Bay of Whales. This gained the Norwegians a 60-mile advantage over Scott, who chose to land at McMurdo Sound.

On 18 Oct 1911, after the Antarctic winter, Amundsen's team set out on its drive toward the Pole. Captain Scott began his trek three weeks later. At around 3pm on 14 Dec 1911, Amundsen raised the flag of Norway at the South Pole. He had reached the Pole a full 33 days before Captain Scott arrived. Scott left his base camp with his team to the Pole on 1 Nov 1911. He finally reached the South Pole on 17 Jan 1912, disappointed to learn that Amundsen had beaten him to it. On the tortuous return journey, weak from exhaustion, hunger and extreme cold, his last diary entry is dated 29 Mar 1912. He died in his tent alongside two of his men.

Amundsen's success was celebrated worldwide, and he received personal telegrams of congratulations from US President Theodore Roosevelt and King George V.

Escudos

Fram can be seen at the Fram-museum in Oslo, close to the Kon-Tiki museum, and not far away from the Wiking-ship museum. The latter closed at the moment while they are building a new museum. I recommend all three museum.