Explorer Amundsen’s ship returns after 100 years

The ship used by Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen finally returned home Monday, completing its journey around the North Pole 100 years after her chaotic expedition started. A precious relic of Norwegian polar expeditions, the Maud was recovered in 2016 after spending 85 years in Canadian Arctic waters where it sank in 1930.

The shipwreck was towed across the North Atlantic on a barge after it left Greenland at the end of June and arrived at the port of Bergen in western Norway on Monday morning. “The trip was long, but it went well,” Jan Wanggaard, manager of the effort to bring the Maud back to Norway, told AFP.

Thanks to funding by three Norwegian brothers and entrepreneurs, the ship will be exhibited in the southeastern municipality of Asker, near Oslo, where it was launched in 1917. “Roald Amundsen is an important historical figure in Norway,” Wanggaard said.

The first person to reach the South Pole, Amundsen wanted to use the Maud to study the Arctic Ocean by letting her get caught on the ice and drift around the North Pole. “We want to tell the story of this expedition to the Norwegian people,” Wanggaard added.