- 1 day ago
Documentary, PBS Nova Arctic Passage, Ice Survivors-10
"Nova" from 2006 (episode S33E7), which focuses on the Greely Expedition, a U.S. Army signal corps expedition in 1881 to the Arctic that ended in a horrific tragedy. The search for survivors was one of the most dramatic rescue missions in Arctic history, and the episode title likely refers to the few who survived the ordeal, as well as the harsh conditions they faced, including starvation, frostbite, and, in some cases, cannibalism, as detailed on PBS.
The Greely Expedition: In 1881, the U.S. Army sent an expedition led by Lieutenant Adolphus Greely to the Arctic to establish a scientific station, hoping to gain data on global climate change and the polar regions.
A Tragic Journey: After a year, the expedition was stranded and unable to be resupplied. The men suffered immense hardship, with many dying from starvation, exposure, and illness.
The Search and Survival: The tragedy became the focus of a massive rescue effort, and ultimately, a handful of survivors were found alive after enduring immense suffering.
The Title "Ice Survivors": The title "Ice Survivors" is a direct reference to the few men who managed to survive the disastrous expedition, despite being left to fend for themselves on the frozen Arctic landscape.
The Episode: IMDb lists the title as "Arctic Passage: Ice Survivors," with a 2006 air date, suggesting it's the name of this particular episode.
"Nova" from 2006 (episode S33E7), which focuses on the Greely Expedition, a U.S. Army signal corps expedition in 1881 to the Arctic that ended in a horrific tragedy. The search for survivors was one of the most dramatic rescue missions in Arctic history, and the episode title likely refers to the few who survived the ordeal, as well as the harsh conditions they faced, including starvation, frostbite, and, in some cases, cannibalism, as detailed on PBS.
The Greely Expedition: In 1881, the U.S. Army sent an expedition led by Lieutenant Adolphus Greely to the Arctic to establish a scientific station, hoping to gain data on global climate change and the polar regions.
A Tragic Journey: After a year, the expedition was stranded and unable to be resupplied. The men suffered immense hardship, with many dying from starvation, exposure, and illness.
The Search and Survival: The tragedy became the focus of a massive rescue effort, and ultimately, a handful of survivors were found alive after enduring immense suffering.
The Title "Ice Survivors": The title "Ice Survivors" is a direct reference to the few men who managed to survive the disastrous expedition, despite being left to fend for themselves on the frozen Arctic landscape.
The Episode: IMDb lists the title as "Arctic Passage: Ice Survivors," with a 2006 air date, suggesting it's the name of this particular episode.
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00:00Roald Amundsen was one of the greatest polar explorers in history.
00:07In 1911, he won the race to the South Pole,
00:12famously beating a much larger expedition led by Britain's Robert Scott.
00:17Amundsen succeeded thanks to vital lessons he'd learned eight years earlier,
00:22during his first great adventure,
00:25a voyage through the Northwest Passage.
00:29This ice-choked waterway across the Canadian Arctic
00:33had defeated every previous attempt to sail through it,
00:37killing many brave explorers over the centuries.
00:41Then in 1903, Amundsen devised a novel approach
00:45and set out to beat the passage once and for all.
00:49He led his men into uncharted waters,
00:53braved the cruel Arctic winter,
00:56and forged a powerful bond with the native Inuit,
00:59who helped him become a master of ice and snow.
01:04Starboard!
01:06How was this maverick explorer,
01:09with only a handful of companions and a modest fishing boat,
01:12able to achieve what so many others had failed to do for 400 years?
01:18What was the secret behind the record-breaking journey that started it all?
01:24Arctic Passage, Ice Survivor.
01:28Right now, on NOVA.
01:30Maybe you should go back,
01:33or you should move on to NOVA leaving a little bit more,
01:34but when you did a little bit more,
01:36after burning the road of the sea of the sea of the world,
01:37you could see Math and Sports and the land.
01:38And there's some of those who may want to be afar,
01:39and there is one of the families that are involved in the real world could see that the amount of sea of form,
01:40and there are some of the families that come in the day.
01:41It's a great pleasure,
01:42and there's really nice desatars that have been made.
01:43The homes that killed the most of the city teams and the most of the cities.
01:45It's a great place to see that it.
01:46On a summer night in 1903, a small fishing boat slipped unnoticed out of Oslo Harbor.
02:08The man at the helm, a 30-year-old Norwegian named Rold Amundsen.
02:16He'd set out in search of the fabled Northwest Passage, a long-sought route to the Pacific
02:23Ocean that winds through the Canadian Arctic.
02:31The passage was infamous as one of the most perilous waterways in the world.
02:36No ship had ever made it all the way through its frozen maze of ice, and many had lost their
02:41lives trying.
02:44This lone pioneer believed that he could succeed where the mightiest navies of the world
02:49had failed, time and again.
02:53To many, the voyage seemed suicidal.
02:58For Amundsen, this was the fulfillment of a dream that had gripped him since childhood.
03:07As a boy, he'd been drawn to stories of fearless men who pitted themselves against the harsh
03:11Arctic wilderness.
03:15The hero he most revered was Sir John Franklin, the 19th century British explorer, famous for
03:21his courage in the face of adversity.
03:26Franklin had made several failed attempts to sail the passage.
03:30Each time he and his men grappled with starvation and other hardships.
03:36In his third attempt, his ships became locked in the ice.
03:40He and 128 crewmen all died.
03:48Franklin's harrowing experiences didn't dissuade Amundsen.
03:52However they inspired in him a desire to test himself in the harsh Arctic.
03:57Strangely, it was the suffering that Sir John and his men experienced that appealed to me
04:02most.
04:07In his day, the Northwest Passage was the great unknown, with its ever-shifting ice pack.
04:19Today it remains treacherous and is kept under constant surveillance, tracked by satellite
04:25and by reconnaissance aircraft.
04:30The data they collect is a vital lifeline for navigators, who must thread their way through
04:35an ice maze that is constantly shifting with the wind and currents.
04:40We provide a daily chart of where the ice is and where we think it's going to go.
04:47Every day a ship will get a warning of what kind of dangerous conditions are there.
04:54We regularly issue ice warnings due to pressure or ice warning due to rapid closing of leads.
05:03Ships get stuck.
05:05Ships get stopped.
05:0675,000 horsepower icebreakers get stuck in the ice .
05:16That's the difficulty of Arctic navigation, it's knowing where the ice, this shifting maze
05:22matrix of ice, is going to be, at the time when I want to get my ship through.
05:29The ice had defeated every previous expedition, but in his tiny ship, Amundsen was determined to conquer it.
05:38He wanted to be a hero, to sacrifice something, to explore these extremely difficult parts of the world.
05:50The youngest of four boys, Amundsen was born in Oslo in 1872. When he was only 14, his father, a ship owner, died suddenly.
06:01As a consequence, Roald became the focus of his mother's ambitions.
06:06She decided he would stay out of the family maritime business and become a doctor instead.
06:13He bowed to her wishes, but in his heart he wanted a different future for himself, a dream he pursued in secret.
06:22Amundsen was a man who very early learned to hide his ambitions.
06:30And I think his own mother was the first one he betrayed.
06:36He spent much of his free time at the city library.
06:41While his mother may well have thought he was studying medicine, he was actually dissecting accounts of failed expeditions to the passage,
06:50preparing for the day when he would become an explorer in his own right.
06:55His studies convinced him that previous expeditions had all suffered from the same flaw.
07:02They'd relied on big ships built to bully their way through the ice.
07:08And the more he read of the disastrous Franklin expedition, the more he became convinced that this brute force method could never succeed.
07:16And he burned for the chance to prove that there was a better way.
07:23Then, in 1888, 27-year-old Fritjof Nansen, a fellow Norwegian, became a national hero when he and a handful of companions crossed Greenland on skis.
07:36Nansen's systematic approach was a radical departure in polar exploration.
07:41With specially designed equipment, he travelled light and relied on skis to move as quickly as possible.
07:48Gone was the old idea of the siege, where you took your world with you and set about defeating the place.
07:56Instead, Nansen had the approach of a modern mountaineer.
08:00You hone your techniques to absolute perfection. You master your environment as well you can.
08:07But above all, you remain flexible, both physically but also mentally.
08:12Amundsen greatly admired Nansen and wanted to follow his example.
08:18Every day my interest grew. Night and day I dreamt of being out in the polar snow and ice.
08:30But his family obligations prevented him from fulfilling his dream, and it seemed that he might never get his chance to prove himself.
08:38Then, when he was 21, Amundsen's mother died, releasing him from the sense of duty that had held him back.
08:50He first began the arduous process of training to become a ship's captain.
08:55He spent three years working as a sailor, followed by two years as a mate to earn the right to command his own vessel.
09:03And he didn't stop there. He also immersed himself in the science of magnetism, hoping to settle a debate about whether the magnetic pole was fixed or shifted over time.
09:17So, sir, for the past centuries, navigators have found their way by using magnetic fields.
09:25Doubting that he would be able to raise money simply for a trip through the passage,
09:30He told backers that his voyage would resolve the controversy once and for all.
09:37Meanwhile, he took many cross-country excursions into the mountains of Norway.
09:42Following in Nansen's footsteps, he was hoping to improve his stamina on skis.
09:47One time on a trip with his brother, he learned firsthand just how unforgiving the icy north can be.
09:55We had a northwest storm upon us. The only correct thing would have been to turn around, but our ski tracks were already drifted over, and the weather surrounded us on all sides.
10:07With blizzard conditions closing in, they became desperate for shelter.
10:12Amundsen and his brother dug snow caves where they spent a cold, uncomfortable night.
10:19When the first daylight came, he discovered I was frozen in.
10:23The snow had been wet when it fell and had frozen into a compact mass around me.
10:29Only after frantic digging was he able to set me free.
10:34While buried in the snow, he nearly suffocated and almost lost several fingers to frostbite.
10:41But he learned how dangerous and unpredictable the icy wilderness could be, and he became more determined than ever to master it.
10:48In the young Amundsen, in a way you see the classic young explorer.
10:55He's pitting himself against the world in this dangerously self-centred way.
11:00He sees almost a romance in the pain he's going to experience.
11:05Amundsen's forays into the mountains strengthened his resolve to challenge the Arctic.
11:11Eventually, he managed to borrow enough money to buy supplies, and to purchase a sturdy, square-stern, 29-year-old herring boat called the Joa.
11:21It was tiny compared to the ships the British had deployed into the passage, but that was all part of Amundsen's plan.
11:28What has not been accomplished with large vessels and brute force, I will attempt with a small vessel and patience.
11:38He knew he was going into uncharted waters, and the smaller the ship, the easier it is to handle.
11:45So when he was searching for a vessel, he wanted something which he knew was strong enough to withstand considerable ice pressure,
11:54but at the same time so small that a small crew would be able to handle this vessel.
12:01To learn how to manage his small boat in the ice, he studied with fishermen and others habituated to Arctic waters.
12:09He was looking for people who had an experience coping with ships and with ice,
12:15to familiarize with the nature, the landscape, the weather, everything up there.
12:21Amundsen recruited a six-man team of Arctic experts to help him sail his converted fishing boat.
12:28But after eight years of preparation, he was deeply in debt.
12:34His creditors threatened to seize the Joa.
12:37At the eleventh hour, his second cousin came through with the money.
12:42And on June 16th, 1903, Amundsen and his men quietly sailed out of Oslo Harbor under the light of the midnight sun.
12:57The smallest and most daring assault on the Northwest Passage was on its way.
13:03That morning in his cabin, he wrote,
13:06It was glorious.
13:09No anxiety, no troublesome creditors, no tedious people with foolish prophecies or snares.
13:15The world seemed again to be full of spirit and delight.
13:20Amundsen's confidence was that of a man used to relying on his own sources.
13:35Entering the Arctic, he had nothing but a compass, a sextant, and a half-map chart.
13:41He had no radio, no means of calling for help.
13:48Only the combined instincts and experience of seven men trying to outwit the ice.
13:55This was a group of people who realized that these environments were too big, too great, too strong, to defeat.
14:03You had to use them. You had to almost do a dance with these elements.
14:09And this new form of exploration is not without risks because you're very vulnerable.
14:19The Joah's journey into the ice maze brought them first to Beachy Island.
14:24This was the site where Amundsen's boyhood hero, Sir John Franklin, and his men spent their first winter back in 1845.
14:36For Amundsen, being there was an extraordinary experience.
14:40A chance to tread in the footsteps of the most famous and catastrophic polar expedition in history.
14:47He always paid his historic debts.
14:52When he came to Beachy Island, he says that he sat out meditating about these people who had paid with their lives.
15:03And that's why he always used to say he was not going to accomplish the Northwest Passage.
15:10He was going to complete the Northwest Passage, which had been pioneered by other people before him.
15:17I had the feeling I was on holy ground.
15:22I pictured the expedition in all its splendor.
15:26The English colors flying.
15:30The officers in dazzling uniforms.
15:32Sir John's clever face full of character and gentleness.
15:361890.
15:37He had a word for everyone and was loved by his men.
15:46But now sadness hangs over the island.
15:53From this point, the expedition passed into darkness and death.
16:04After the famous British expedition disappeared, the Royal Navy dispatched dozens of search parties throughout the 1850s.
16:12Their cartographers filled in many of the blank areas on their maps, giving Amundsen an advantage that Franklin never had.
16:23From Beachy Island, the charts offered Amundsen several possible routes.
16:29But his own research had convinced him that the key to the passage lay to the south through a notoriously icy channel called Peel Sound.
16:39Amundsen knew that Franklin had become locked in the ice at the end of Peel Sound, on the coast of King William Island.
16:46But the Norwegian believed that he could avoid that fate.
16:50He was betting that his fishing boat, so much smaller and lighter than Franklin's massive ships,
16:55would allow him to slip through the ice without getting stuck.
16:59A small ship can not only squeeze between narrower leads between ice flows, but can also go in shallower areas.
17:09Often where the ice recedes away from the coastline because of the heat generated by the shore.
17:14There will be a narrow lead of open water, very shallow, very treacherous.
17:19But a shallow draft ship like Amundsen had is much more likely to get through that kind of an environment than the big ships of Franklin's era.
17:28And another reason to turn into Peel Sound?
17:31His instruments told him the magnetic north pole lay in that direction.
17:36So he steered his ship south into waters where some of the worst pack ice in the passage was known to collect.
17:44For the first 350 miles, the journey passed uneventfully.
17:49But then Amundsen faced a difficult choice.
17:53At the northern tip of King William Island, two routes lay before him.
17:59When Franklin reached this point, he had veered to the west,
18:03blundering right into the path of pack ice flowing down from the north.
18:10Ice that trapped his ships.
18:12But Amundsen knew something that Franklin didn't.
18:17There was another way around the island.
18:20A narrow channel to the east, discovered in the 1850s during the search for Franklin.
18:26Amundsen didn't know if this route was open.
18:31The men who had found it had passed on a warning.
18:35The channel appeared to be very narrow and exceedingly shallow.
18:41The waters that Amundsen was planning to sail into had never been charted, of course.
18:49They knew where the coastlines were.
18:51They knew where the islands were.
18:52But they didn't know where the rocks were, the submerged rocks.
18:54So sailing a ship into that is every mariner's nightmare.
18:58The only thing that's worse than hitting ice in a ship is hitting rocks on the bottom.
19:02And if the ice can drive you against those rocks, that's a nightmare scenario.
19:07Now, as the Joa crept forward through the ice, the ship's compass grew erratic.
19:16It was an encouraging sign that they were closing in on the magnetic pole.
19:20But it also meant that they were now sailing blind.
19:26The compass, which had gradually been losing its capacity for self-adjustment, was now useless.
19:33We were staring by the stars, like the Vikings.
19:41For five weeks, Amundsen and his men had been sailing through this Arctic labyrinth of ice and islands.
19:49Their search for the Northwest Passage was now taking them into uncharted waters.
19:54Then, one night after dinner, an alarming incident occurred.
19:58I was writing in my journal when I heard something that chilled me to the bone.
20:03Fire! Fire! Fire!
20:10In a moment, all hands were on deck.
20:13It's safe. It's safe. It's safe.
20:15I'm sorry, it was my fault.
20:17What about oil?
20:18The fire had broken out in the engine room, right among tanks holding 2,000 gallons of petrol.
20:23We all knew what would happen if the tanks got heated.
20:26The Joa and everything on board would be blown to atoms like an exploded bomb.
20:30I'm sorry.
20:31The fire was out before it caught, but it served to remind the men of how far they were from help of any kind.
20:40It was now September, just three months into the voyage.
20:44The Joa had traveled a remarkable 600 miles, nearly half the length of the passage.
20:54But weather conditions were deteriorating.
20:57The Joa was still within the dangerously narrow channel when three days after the fire, the first winter storm swept in.
21:04Then Amundsen heard the sound he feared most.
21:20The Joa had run aground, and her hull was splintering on the rocks.
21:24In storm force winds, it was safer to ride out the battering with the sails furled.
21:30But Amundsen gave an order that must have seemed foolhardy.
21:36Ready? Up!
21:38Raise the canvas.
21:39Bring up the main!
21:41He risked losing the mast and the rigging in a desperate effort to use the gale winds to blow the Joa off the rocks.
21:51Wind came in gusts howling through the rigging.
21:55Then we started a method of sailing that none of us is ever likely to forget.
22:01The sleet and spray washed over the vessel.
22:05The mast trembled, yet one thump.
22:08Worse than ever, and we slid off.
22:11He had taken an almost suicidal risk with his ship, but he never doubted that it was the only way to save her.
22:22His decisiveness reinforced his authority as the unchallenged captain of the expedition.
22:33He is as stubborn and fanatical as any of his rivals.
22:36You have to be his kind of polar explorer, because he wants to do, in cold, sober fact, what other people are quite content to dream about.
22:47They survived with the Joa intact, but time was running out.
22:55There were signs that within weeks the water would be frozen solid.
22:59It was time to find a winter harbor.
23:01On the south end of King William Island, they found a sheltered bay where the Joa could be safely frozen in.
23:10They christened their new home, Joahhaven.
23:14Today there is a small settlement here, home to more than a thousand Inuit.
23:21They live in modern houses and are linked to Canada by a daily supply plane.
23:26But in some ways, these people continue to live life according to ancient traditions.
23:31For thousands of years we survived here.
23:36We are the Igloo society people.
23:39You have to be able to know how to hunt and survive from the animals that you hunt here.
23:45You have to know the animal movement, the migration route of the caribou.
23:51You have to live with the seasons to know the dangers of the land as an Inuk.
23:56Amundsen made camp with the idea that he would try to learn to live off the land like the locals do.
24:04He had read accounts from Inuit who had tried in vain to help some of Franklin's stranded men some 50 years before.
24:12The Inuit reported that the British sailors lacked basic survival skills.
24:19But even if they had been able to fend for themselves, with 129 men, they were simply too many mouths to feed.
24:29The Inuit rarely traveled in groups of more than 20, because that was all this landscape could support.
24:38Three days after his arrival, Amundsen encountered Inuit hunters for the first time.
24:45They were members of the Netsilik, a people with very little history of contact with European travelers.
24:53Armed with a gun and two words of greeting, he approached.
24:57When they were 200 yards away, they halted.
25:02Then they flashed through my mind, heated with excitement of warfare, the word Tema.
25:09And I shouted it at the top of my voice.
25:12Tema!
25:14Tema!
25:16Tema!
25:18Tema!
25:19Tema!
25:20Tema!
25:21Tema!
25:22Tema!
25:23Tema!
25:24Tema!
25:25Tema!
25:26Tema!
25:27Tema!
25:28Tema!
25:29Tema!
25:30Tema!
25:31Tema!
25:32Tema!
25:33Tema!
25:34Tema!
25:35Tema!
25:36Tema!
25:37Tema!
25:38Tema!
25:39Tema!
25:40Tema!
25:41Tema!
25:42Tema!
25:43Tema!
25:44Tema!
25:45Tema!
25:46Tema!
25:47Tema!
25:48I could catch only one word.
25:52Kabluna.
25:54White man.
25:59It was a strange scene.
26:02I shall never forget it.
26:07Out in the desolate snow landscape,
26:10I was surrounded by a crowd of savages
26:12staring into my face and grabbing at my clothes.
26:18I was suddenly brought face to face
26:24with a people from the Stone Age
26:26who as yet knew no other method of making fire
26:29than rubbing two pieces of wood together.
26:32We came here with all our ingenious inventions and firearms
26:36to people who still used lances and bows and arrows.
26:41But their tools, apparently so primitive,
26:45were as well adapted to their conditions
26:46as experience and the test of many centuries could have made them.
26:53In the Victorian age,
26:56there was no use talking to the Eskimo.
26:59That didn't make you a great explorer.
27:01The Victorians wanted to prove that they were better than everyone else,
27:04that they had values to export.
27:07Perhaps it was a little bit ignoble
27:09to learn from people who ate their meat raw.
27:13In Amundsen, there was a totally different mentality.
27:17He saw the local people as people
27:19who offered the solution to that world.
27:23They belong to that landscape.
27:24There's no point in fighting it.
27:26It provides them with their food,
27:28their shelter, their medicine.
27:29It's all about seeing the place simply as a home,
27:34simply as a place that offers you everything.
27:36That night, Amundsen slept inside an igloo.
27:44The Inuit beside him were naked,
27:47covered only by animal skins.
27:50Outside, it was minus ten,
27:52but inside, they were comfortable.
27:54It was his first lesson in the Inuit art of survival,
28:00but not his last.
28:03After that experience,
28:04he threw himself wholeheartedly into the Inuit lifestyle.
28:09Amundsen began to dress in furs as his hosts did,
28:12and he encouraged his men to do so as well.
28:16And in doing so,
28:17he learned something vitally important.
28:20When he sweated in his old woolen clothes,
28:22they'd freeze as hard as bored.
28:26Warm.
28:27But in loose, light skins with fur,
28:29he found he was warm and hardly sweated at all.
28:34On one of the coldest places on Earth,
28:37he remained warm and dry,
28:39wearing only animal skins and fur undergarments.
28:42It's a feat that no man-made fabric can quite match.
28:47Even today, we still don't have the technology
28:50to simulate the same insulation with the same weight.
28:55This is nature that we are not able to surpass.
29:00Scientists working for the Canadian military
29:02wanted to understand the thermal properties of animal skins.
29:07Experimenting in a climate chamber,
29:09they hoped to understand how the Inuit are able to protect themselves
29:12so effectively against extreme cold.
29:14Researchers discovered that the Inuit's preferred material,
29:19caribou fur,
29:20is anything but an accidental choice.
29:24The secret of the caribou skin,
29:26or any skin clothing,
29:29is trapping air in an effective manner.
29:33Air is nature's best insulator.
29:37The loose fit of animal skins traps air very effectively.
29:40But further examination reveals just why the fur is so effective.
29:47Each strand of hair is hollow, filled with air,
29:51yet remains super resilient
29:52because of its tough, honeycomb-like structure.
29:57The density of the fur is such that it traps air very effectively.
30:03Even if you apply some pressure to it,
30:06it will retain its characteristic and its insulation.
30:13The Inuit prefer caribou fur over seal or bear
30:17because it is lightweight and has excellent thermal properties.
30:21The genius part of it is they were able to find the animal
30:26with the best fur characteristics.
30:28In his quest to adopt the Inuit lifestyle,
30:33Amundsen didn't limit himself to wearing furs.
30:36He yearned to unlock all the Inuit survival secrets.
30:41We set about learning the art of snow hut building.
30:44Taking hold of a monster knife with both hands,
30:47we cut the ice blocks.
30:49The snow must not be too brittle,
30:51as all the blocks will crumble.
30:52The hut is built in a spiral like a beehive
30:59so that one layer rests on the previous one
31:02and extends a little further forward.
31:07Many a snow block did I get on my head when I tried this work.
31:11Snow is full of air.
31:14So if you cut blocks of snow and pile them and make a house,
31:19it provides the best insulation against the environment.
31:21It can be minus 50 degrees Celsius outside,
31:25minus 60 degrees Celsius outside.
31:27Inside it's going to be about minus 5.
31:29Amazing!
31:31As the long months of winter passed,
31:34the Inuit's lessons in Arctic living grew more intricate.
31:38Seal hunting begins sometime in February,
31:41when the snow falls heavily
31:43and the seal cannot hear the steps of the huntsman.
31:46They find the seal's breathing holes out on the ice,
31:49but to detect the seal,
31:51they must use an ingenious device.
31:54They take a bunch of swans down
31:56and attach a single thread to a hook with two claws.
32:02Then they lean forward,
32:03keeping their eyes riveted to the hole.
32:07As soon as the seal comes within yards of the hole,
32:09the movement of the water sets the swans down in motion.
32:13This bit goes up.
32:14That is the signal.
32:15That is the signal.
32:24The Inuit were teaching Amundsen
32:25to respect the Arctic as they did.
32:29Within the frozen landscape
32:30that had destroyed the Franklin expedition,
32:33Amundsen now saw a hidden world,
32:35sometimes teeming with life.
32:37In the spring there are fat salmon and reindeer.
32:43In the autumn, unlimited cod.
32:47And yet in this Arctic Eden,
32:48those brave travellers died of hunger.
32:52They must have stopped here
32:54and seen for miles before them
32:56the snow-covered land and no sign of life.
32:59There is not another place in the world
33:01so abandoned and bare as this in winter.
33:03As fruitful as Amundsen's studies
33:22with the Inuit were proving,
33:24his crew began to feel
33:25that he was taking things too far.
33:29That his fascination
33:30with these indigenous people
33:31was distracting him
33:32from the true purpose of the voyage.
33:36The ice is clearing.
33:38So in the spring of 1904,
33:40when the first signs of a thaw
33:41appeared in the bay,
33:43the men were anxious to be on their way.
33:46But Amundsen had other plans.
33:50Should be able to move on
33:51in a couple of weeks.
33:52Maybe a week if we're lucky.
33:53We're not finished here.
33:56He realized the skills he was learning
33:58would give him an expertise
33:59in polar survival unmatched
34:01by other explorers.
34:04Need to stay home.
34:05Becoming a master of ice and snow
34:08had turned into an obsession.
34:11The crew didn't really understand
34:14what was going on with Amundsen.
34:17He likes more to go with the Eskimos.
34:19And then he's forgetting his crew
34:23and have no interest in his work.
34:28He wanted to fight
34:30against hunger,
34:32coldness,
34:33to show his greatness as a man.
34:37It's a landscape of death in a way.
34:41And he wanted to win over the death.
34:43One reason Amundsen wanted to stay
34:47for another year among the Inuit
34:49was to master a skill
34:50that had so far eluded him.
34:53How to use Inuit sled dogs,
34:55the only efficient way
34:56for hunters to cover long distances
34:58on the ice.
35:01He realizes what the key
35:03to exploration for him
35:05is going to be.
35:06And it's all going to be
35:07to do with energy.
35:08With these dogs,
35:09he could now pass quickly
35:11through the landscape.
35:13He could get away with so much more.
35:16He could choose his time,
35:17choose his moment,
35:18and pass through the landscape
35:20that much more effectively.
35:22During the bitterly cold weeks
35:24of the previous March,
35:25Amundsen had set out
35:26on a 90-mile trip
35:27to reach the magnetic north pole.
35:30He intended to use sled dogs
35:32as his means of transport.
35:34But he quickly learned
35:35that mastering the dogs and sled
35:37was far from easy,
35:38especially in temperatures
35:40that plunged to minus 60.
35:42The experiment soon came to grief.
35:46The first hour,
35:47when we were all fresh,
35:48things went very well.
35:50But then the difficulties began.
35:53It seems as though
35:54we were driving the sledge
35:55through the sand of the desert.
35:57Every little snowdrift
35:59meant we had to stop.
36:01The poor dogs suffered greatly.
36:06For three days,
36:07Amundsen pressed on,
36:09locked in a battle
36:10with the terrain.
36:12Only when the dogs
36:13could go no further
36:14did he finally admit defeat,
36:16dumping half his supplies
36:18in the snow
36:18and turning for home.
36:20I now saw there was little
36:23to be gained
36:24by going on in this way
36:25and decided to turn back.
36:28The dogs soon saw
36:29which way we were going
36:30and we men
36:31were all glad
36:32we had given up
36:32our hopeless task.
36:34With the sledge lighter,
36:36we did the journey
36:37that had taken us
36:38two and a half days
36:39in just four hours.
36:41The Inuit elders,
36:45amused at Amundsen's
36:46disastrous journey,
36:48let him in on the secret
36:49of the Inuit's ability
36:50to glide over snow
36:51in all conditions.
36:54Coat the runners
36:55of the sled
36:55with frozen moss and water.
36:59Then with water
36:59warmed in the mouth,
37:01apply fine new layers
37:02of ice
37:03using a bearskin mitt,
37:06creating a surface
37:07that could run across
37:07any snow in the world.
37:13As their second winter
37:14wore on,
37:15it became clear
37:15that Amundsen's time
37:17in the Arctic
37:17was not only changing
37:18his life in profound ways,
37:20but the lives
37:21of the Inuit as well.
37:24He learned that some
37:25of his men
37:25had bartered
37:26with the Inuit
37:26for their wives.
37:28He reacted by banning
37:30the relationships.
37:32Gustav Wick wrote
37:34in his journal,
37:35The boss's mood
37:36is as sharp as a razor
37:37these days.
37:38He walks about
37:39sulking like a little child
37:40and meddles in things
37:42he preferably
37:42should stay away from.
37:44And from now on,
37:44we can expect
37:45the most peculiar plans
37:46and heaven knows what else.
37:51Amundsen discovered
37:53that there was
37:55congenital syphilis
37:57amongst some of the Inuit,
38:00which showed, of course,
38:01that they must have been
38:02in contact with Europeans.
38:04And there were other tensions.
38:07He believed
38:09that a polar expedition
38:12should be absolutely sexless.
38:14The whole concept of women
38:16ought to be banished.
38:22Amundsen was an increasingly
38:23isolated figure.
38:25But while he may not have
38:26inspired much affection
38:28from his men,
38:29he had kept them alive
38:30and they were succeeding
38:31in their quest.
38:32In the beginning,
38:36he needs people.
38:38He needs support.
38:42But later on,
38:45he's more and more selfish.
38:48He don't need them anymore.
38:51So he becomes more and more lonely.
38:55Amundsen's relationship
38:56with the Inuit
38:56was also growing more complicated.
38:58By now,
39:00more than 60 families
39:01had joined the camp
39:02beside the Joah.
39:04It was more than
39:04the land could support.
39:07There were so many mouths
39:08to feed
39:09that Amundsen feared
39:10a raid on the ship's stores
39:11if Inuit hunters
39:12ever returned empty-handed.
39:14There was a great number
39:18of them collected about us.
39:19We had to teach them
39:20to regard us
39:21with the greatest respect.
39:23I spoke to them
39:24about the white man's power,
39:26that we could spread
39:28destruction around us
39:29and even at a great distance
39:32accomplish the most
39:34extraordinary things.
39:37It was for them
39:38to behave properly
39:39and not to expose themselves
39:41to our terrible anger.
39:42He became a kind of a king
39:48in his crew, of course,
39:50but also with the Inuits.
39:53He made the laws.
39:54He could kill a man
39:56if necessary.
39:58He was a master,
40:00the big chief,
40:01the king.
40:03Amundsen had come in search
40:05of the Northwest Passage,
40:07but in delaying
40:08to learn the secrets
40:08of the Inuit,
40:09he'd brought his 20th century world
40:11to the Arctic
40:12and set in motion changes
40:14that could never be reversed.
40:16They changed him.
40:18But in the same way,
40:20he understood
40:20that he was destroying
40:22their life,
40:24that he was beginning
40:25a process
40:26which was going to lead
40:27to the destruction
40:28of their culture.
40:29Amundsen had stayed long enough
40:49to learn the vital
40:50survival skills
40:51he'd craved.
40:52Now all that remained
40:56was to complete
40:57the final stretch
40:58of the passage.
41:00The shoals run across here.
41:03How far?
41:05Five miles to the east
41:06and the west.
41:08As the pack ice
41:09began to break up
41:10with the spring thaw,
41:11Amundsen sent several men
41:12overland
41:13to scout the route ahead.
41:14They reported
41:17a dangerous channel
41:18of shoals
41:19and drifting ice
41:20to the south
41:20of the island.
41:22But they also said
41:25that just 90 miles away
41:27lay a well-charted
41:28waterway
41:28that led
41:29to the open sea.
41:34If this route
41:35remained navigable,
41:36the passage
41:37was as good as one.
41:39On August 13, 1905,
41:42the men set sail
41:43from Joahavn
41:44and headed down
41:45the strait
41:45that at one point
41:46narrowed to just
41:47nine miles.
41:51We call it
41:52Simpson Strait now
41:53and it's a very,
41:54very narrow channel
41:55and it's very,
41:55very shallow
41:56and there's rocks
41:57sticking up
41:57all over the place.
41:59It's an area
41:59that modern ships
42:00just totally avoid.
42:02Starboard!
42:04For Amundsen
42:05to navigate
42:05through this channel,
42:07it was going
42:07one way,
42:08another,
42:08round rocks,
42:09round shallow areas
42:10with very,
42:11very little room
42:12to maneuver.
42:13This is dangerous.
42:14This is dangerous work.
42:17Hold course!
42:19The thought
42:20that here,
42:21in these troublesome waters,
42:23we risked spoiling everything
42:25was anything but pleasant.
42:28I couldn't get rid
42:29of the thought
42:29of returning home
42:30having failed.
42:32I couldn't sleep.
42:34I couldn't eat.
42:35Vessel in sight!
42:45Vessel in sight!
42:45Vessel in sight!
42:46On the morning of the 26th of August,
42:541905,
42:56Amundsen had finally
42:57gone below to sleep
42:58when the crew
42:59sighted a vessel ahead
43:00and summoned him.
43:03It was a whaler
43:04and she was flying
43:05the stars and stripes.
43:08On her hull
43:09were painted the words
43:10San Francisco.
43:14The Northwest Passage
43:16was done.
43:19My boyhood dream
43:20was accomplished.
43:23The American commander's greeting
43:25was simple.
43:28You must be Captain Amundsen.
43:29Congratulations.
43:34Roald Amundsen,
43:35that's a young boy,
43:36is reading about Franklin
43:38and he is saying to himself,
43:43I'm going to do this
43:45where he failed,
43:46where his men died
43:47and I'm going to make it.
43:52For 400 years,
43:54the search for a Northwest Passage
43:56destroyed ships
43:57and claimed the lives
43:58of hundreds of men.
43:59Amundsen at last
44:02had found a route
44:03through the Arctic ice pack.
44:06But nothing is permanent
44:08in the polar region.
44:10Today, a century later,
44:12a new force of change
44:13is at work in the passage,
44:15one that neither Amundsen
44:16nor Franklin
44:17could have foreseen.
44:20In the last 30 years,
44:21global warming
44:22has dramatically thinned
44:23the Arctic ice
44:24by as much as 30%.
44:26This is what rising temperatures
44:31did to one Canadian glacier
44:33in less than a decade.
44:36Many scientists consider
44:37such evidence
44:38a stark warning
44:39of great changes
44:40that will take place globally
44:41if temperatures continue
44:43to increase.
44:45Researchers now predict
44:46that in 50 years' time,
44:48the Arctic will be completely
44:49clear of ice in the summer.
44:50If that happens,
44:53the Northwest Passage
44:54could become passable.
44:57But nevertheless,
44:58there is a stark warning
44:59for any sailors
45:00contemplating a journey
45:01into the heart
45:02of the ice maze.
45:03There's no infrastructure
45:06available to support
45:07those ships yet.
45:09No aids to navigation,
45:11no search and rescue capability.
45:14And the gradually reducing ice
45:17that we talked about
45:18is not a nice, smooth thing.
45:20It's very dynamic,
45:21but there's still going to be
45:22those difficult ice years,
45:24and there's going to be
45:25lots of them.
45:26It's just that more and more
45:27frequently will be the years
45:29when there is less and less ice.
45:32And that's the real danger
45:33for Arctic shipping,
45:35is that this illusion
45:37of an open Arctic channel
45:39will attract people,
45:41people who are unprepared,
45:42perhaps, to go into the Arctic
45:44with ships that are not capable
45:46at times of the year
45:47when it can be dangerous
45:48to do so.
45:54For the Inuits,
45:55increased shipping
45:56through their territory
45:57will bring even more change
45:58to their culture,
45:59a process that Amundsen
46:02helped set in motion
46:03and which accelerated
46:04during the century
46:05that followed his triumph.
46:09You know, education system came,
46:11the Hudson's Bay Company came
46:13to trade with the Inuit,
46:15no matter who they were.
46:16They all changed
46:17the Inuit way of life.
46:18The Canadian government
46:24claimed sovereignty
46:25over King William Island
46:26and eventually built
46:27a settlement for the Inuit
46:28at Joahavan,
46:31ending thousands of years
46:32of a nomadic lifestyle.
46:40As for the man
46:42who proved the passage
46:43was passable,
46:44Amundsen went on
46:45to become an even more
46:46renowned explorer.
46:48In 1908,
46:49he set his sights
46:50on the last great prize
46:51of polar exploration,
46:53the South Pole.
46:57The British had taken
46:59the lead in the race
47:00to be the first,
47:01but once again,
47:02their approach was flawed.
47:06Explorers Robert Scott
47:07and Ernest Shackleton
47:08had each gotten close,
47:10in Shackleton's case,
47:11to within 100 miles
47:12of the gold.
47:15But both had been defeated,
47:17partly because they'd relied
47:18on ill-suited techniques.
47:21Above all,
47:22hauling sledges
47:23laden with thousands
47:24of pounds of gear.
47:27Amundsen,
47:28on the other hand,
47:28applied the lessons
47:29he'd learned
47:30from Nansen
47:30and the Inuit.
47:32On October 21, 1911,
47:35with a small contingent
47:36of men
47:37using skis and dogs
47:38to haul a minimum
47:39of equipment,
47:40he set out.
47:41and 55 days later,
47:43on the 14th of December,
47:45he became the first
47:46human being
47:46to reach the South Pole.
47:50Five weeks later,
47:51Robert Scott
47:52matched Amundsen's feet,
47:54but he and four others
47:55died of exhaustion
47:56and hunger
47:56on the way back.
48:03Beyond Amundsen's
48:04unrivaled success
48:05as a polar explorer,
48:06he led a quiet life.
48:08He never married.
48:12He lived alone
48:12in Norway
48:13in a house
48:13filled with Arctic mementos.
48:17He's the biggest man
48:18in the world.
48:20A kind of an emperor
48:21of the Arctic
48:22and the Antarctic.
48:25Totally famous,
48:27but also totally alone.
48:29feeling the coldness,
48:33the hunger,
48:35always the same man
48:36around you
48:36make a strong impression.
48:46The ice had its price.
48:48Man is going to win
48:53over nature,
48:55but nature
48:55is also going
48:57to win
48:58over man.
49:00The ice
49:00and the snow
49:01are going
49:03inside.
49:06Nearly 20 years
49:08after sailing
49:08the passage,
49:09at age 55,
49:10Amundsen set out
49:11to help
49:12in the rescue
49:12of an airship
49:13missing in the Arctic.
49:14his plane vanished
49:17without a trace.
49:20He spent
49:21his final hours
49:22in the place
49:23his heart
49:23had called home
49:24since boyhood.
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