Roald Amundsen & the Gjoa
San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Marker Inscription
Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian polar explorer, was the first to locate the magnetic North Pole and to navigate the Northwest Passage, the Arctic water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He left Norway with a crew of six on June 16 of 1903 in a 69-foot long covered herring boat named Gjoa. Amundsen spent three years on the perilous journey. The Gjoa continued on, sailing through the Bering Straits and anchored off Point Bonita, outside the Golden Gate on October 19, 1906. The San Francisco Norwegian community purchased the Gjoa from Amundsen and donated the ship to the people of San Francisco in 1909. In 1911, Amundsen became the first explorer to reach the South Pole. The Gjoa remained at this site at the west end of Golden Gate Park until 1972, when it was returned to Norway. The restored ship is now on display at the Maritime Museum in Oslo.
Erected by Bay Area Norwegians
The Story
This site once displayed the Gjoa, the small 69-foot herring boat in which Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first to navigate the Northwest Passage between 1903 and 1906. San Francisco's Norwegian community bought the ship and gave it to the city in 1909, and it rested here in Golden Gate Park until returning to Oslo in 1972.
Why it matters
It commemorates one of the great feats of polar exploration and the immigrant communities who honored it on American shores.
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Related people
- · Roald Amundsen
Related events
- · Northwest Passage voyage
- · South Pole expedition
Themes & tags
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