December 14, 1911: Roald Amundsen becomes the 1st person to reach the South Pole.
It made sense for a Norwegian to attempt to become the 1st person to reach the North Pole, 90 degrees North latitude: The only countries whose mainlands have points further north than Norway's northernmost point are Canada and Russia. This does not count Denmark, which owns Greenland, which has a more northerly point of land than any country: Kaffeklubben Island, at 83.63 degrees North.
It made sense for Amundsen to be the Norwegian to attempt it. In 1906, aboard the sloop Gjøa, he became the leader of the first expedition to sail the long-sought Northwest Passage. He did make an attempt to reach the North Pole, but in 1909, American expeditioner Robert Peary claimed to have gotten there first. Maybe Peary should have kept trying: It is now believed that he did not, in fact, beat Amundsen and everyone else to it.
It did not make much sense for a Norwegian to be the first person to attempt to reach the South Pole, 90 degrees South latitude. The country with the southernmost land is Chile, Hornos Island, at 55.97 degrees South latitude; followed by Argentina and Australia. (Villa Las Estrellas, on King George Island, is the northernmost point on Antarctica, at 62.11 degrees South.) Since Australia was part of the British Empire, a Royal Navy officer, Captain Robert F. Scott, made the first serious attempt at it.
But since Amundsen did have experience in a polar expedition, he thought he could reach the South Pole first. On June 3, 1910, he sailed his ship Fram out of his national capital of Oslo. Upon reaching the Portuguese colony of Madeira, he sportingly sent Scott a telegram stating his intentions. On January 14, 1911, he reached the continent of Antarctica, on the Ross Ice Shelf, and established base camp there.
An attempt set out on September 8, but had to turn back. A 2nd attempt was made on October 19, with 4 sleds, each pulled by 13 dogs. On December 8, they reached 88 degrees, 23 minutes south, the furthest point anyone had yet reached, in 1909 by Ernest Shackleton. They were 97 miles away. They went on.
On December 14, 1911, Amundsen stopped, took some measurements, and told his crew, "Gentlemen, I am certain we are at the South Pole." He asked crewmates to take their own measurements, and a central point within them was decided as the Pole. They pitched a tent, topped with a Norwegian flag. Amundsen wrote a message for Scott, in case he made it, and left it inside the tent.
On March 7, 1912, the Fram reached Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Amundsen made his claim, and learned that no word had yet been reached from Scott. Scott had reached the Pole on January 17, but found Amundsen's tent and note. Scott never made it back alive: Snowstorms prevented him from getting back to his base camp. A search party found him on November 12, with a last entry in his diary dated March 29. He was 43 years old.
Robert F. Scott
Scott was hailed as a hero in death. Amundsen lived on, and on May 12, 1926, led a team on the airship Norge to become the 1st people to fly over the North Pole. On June 18, 1928, he led a team searching the Arctic for the lost airship Italia. His plane, a Latham 47 "flying boat," also disappeared, and has never been found. He was 56.
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December 14, 1911 was a Thursday. American novelty musician Lindley "Spike" Jones was born on this day. Baseball was out of season. Football season was over. There was no NBA yet. And the professional hockey season was about to start. So there were no scores on this historic day.
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