It’s official: Norway can bring home the 'Maud', although some people in Cambridge Bay may miss the familiar sight of a famous tourist attraction in Canada..
Canada’s cultural property export review board, which met March 15 in Ottawa, has directed the Border Services Agency to issue an export permit to the Norwegian group that’s eager to bring the ship once sailed by polar explorer Roald Amundsen back to Norway.
Roald Amundsen, who was born 16 July 1872 and died 18 June 1928, was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. Amundsen, the fourth son in the Jens 
Amundsen family, was born to a family of Norwegian shipowners and captains in Borge, located between the towns Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg, Norway. His mother urged him to stay out of the maritime industry and strongly urged him to become a doctor, a promise that Roald kept until his mother died when he was 21 years old, whereupon he left his university studies for a life at sea.
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He led the Antarctic expedition in 1910 to discover the South Pole and became the first expedition leader to reach the South Pole.
Amundsen had been inspired by Fridtjof Nansen's crossing of Greenland in 1888 and the doomed Franklin expedition. As a result, he decided on a life of intense exploration. Nansen had sailed as far into the Arctic ice flow as possible before becoming ice-bound. At that time, it was believed that the ice drift would carry them very close to their polar destination, where they would finish their journey by dog-sled and skis.
In 1918, Amundsen began an expedition with his new ship Maud, sailing west to east through the northeast passage, now called the Northern Route.
The Norwegian investors want to raise the Maud with balloons, drag the hulk over to a barge and then tow it from Nunavut back to Norway — a 7,000-kilometre journey.There, the Maud would be exhibited at a futuristic museum in Asker, a suburb of Oslo — where anything to do with Amundsen remains a huge draw.
Roald Amundsen, who was born 16 July 1872 and died 18 June 1928, was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. Amundsen, the fourth son in the Jens 
Amundsen family, was born to a family of Norwegian shipowners and captains in Borge, located between the towns Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg, Norway. His mother urged him to stay out of the maritime industry and strongly urged him to become a doctor, a promise that Roald kept until his mother died when he was 21 years old, whereupon he left his university studies for a life at sea.
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He led the Antarctic expedition in 1910 to discover the South Pole and became the first expedition leader to reach the South Pole.
Amundsen had been inspired by Fridtjof Nansen's crossing of Greenland in 1888 and the doomed Franklin expedition. As a result, he decided on a life of intense exploration. Nansen had sailed as far into the Arctic ice flow as possible before becoming ice-bound. At that time, it was believed that the ice drift would carry them very close to their polar destination, where they would finish their journey by dog-sled and skis.
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Amundsen would become famous for his polar expeditions. Roald’s new ship, called Maud, was built for Amundsen in Asker, Norway. He had the ship named after Norway’s Queen Maud, who was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and reigned in 1906. During this era, a northwest passage was desired as a shorter sailing voyage instead of sailing through the Suez Canal, and Amundsen wished to explore the route.
In 1918, Amundsen began an expedition with his new ship Maud, sailing west to east through the northeast passage, now called the Northern Route.-----------------------------
However, the expedition did not go as planned and this journey took six years from 1918 to 1924. The Maud ended up in Nome, Alaska, and was later sold in 1925 by Amundsen’s creditors. The Hudson Bay Company purchased the ship to be used as a supply vessel for the company’s outpost in Canada’s western Arctic, and renamed it the Baymaud. The ship became later anchored near the shore and used for various purposes including the first ever radio weather reports from the Arctic coast.
The ship was frozen in the ice ending up in Cambridge Bay in Nunavut, the least populous and the largest in geography of the provinces and territories of Northern Canada.
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In 1930 the ship sank and, although some material was removed at the time, the ship is still visible. A great tourist attraction as being skippered by Roald Amundsen in his explorations.
The Norwegians wanted to have the ship returned to Norway, but Canada enjoyed the tourist attraction and refused to sell.---------------------
Finally, Canadian officials granted the Norwegian delegation the rights to remove the ship to Norway.The ship, now little more than timbers, is reported to be in “in good shape” for having spent the past 80 years half-immersed in water and ice.
The Norwegian investors want to raise the Maud with balloons, drag the hulk over to a barge and then tow it from Nunavut back to Norway — a 7,000-kilometre journey.There, the Maud would be exhibited at a futuristic museum in Asker, a suburb of Oslo — where anything to do with Amundsen remains a huge draw.
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Amundsen disappeared in June, 1928 while taking part in a rescue mission involving an air-ship returning from a voyage. Neither ship returned.
That looks like a big project to get that back out of the water. Neat story though. You'll have to keep us posted if that happens and get some shots in the museum.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about this. Interesting.
ReplyDelete