Returning to Europe, the ship stopped in Grimsby in northern England, where Amundsen spent all his money on a secondhand copy of a book of memoirs by Arctic voyagers.
In 1897 Amundsen was chosen first mate on the Belgica, the ship carrying the first Belgian expedition under the command of Adrien de Gerlache. The Belgica, caught in the ice off Graham Land, was the first ship to winter in the Antarctic. Amundsen showed his ingenuity when the crew came down with scurvy, a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C. He dug in the snow around the ship for seal carcasses and then forced the men to eat the meat.
Amundsen secured his skipper’s license when he returned to Norway in 1899. He immediately began making plans for his own expedition, and the famous Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen (see entry) agreed to assist him. Amundsen’s aim was to go to the North Magnetic Pole, which had first been located by James Clark Ross, and then to try to sail through the Northwest Passage. The North Magnetic Pole, different from the North Pole, is the place on Earth toward which a compass points.
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