Roald Amundsen
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.
Location
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