The Greatest Wanderer

He was a nice guy named Roald Amundsen.

And so he wandered around the world, what we would call him today, he was an adrenaline junkie. He didn't really like talking to people, he was more understood by albatrosses and penguins. And just as his mother had given birth to him, unscathed, he set out across the seven seas to find work, and not like all male housewives, to get to work, to have nine children, to pay his bills on time, to plant something in the garden - as is proper, because tomorrow's house is not built, no man is made by wandering, he should have come to his senses, to work, to organize a family celebration and invite relatives and friends to prove his house holdership, and even to wait for a wedding from his sons, as the head of the family.

Otherwise a seriously elusive phenomenon, Roald managed to be the first to sail the Northwest Passage in 1906, a route that for 400 years sent all those who dared to try to conquer it - to their death.

After that, he headed south, where he was the first to set foot on the South Pole in 1911, and later returned north again, where he became the first to reach the North Pole in 1925, although this was later confirmed. What has never been determined is - where did the last great hero of planetary exploration disappear to?

In order to help and save a fellow wanderer and explorer from Italy who was trying to fly over the North Pole with a Zeppelin and experienced a disaster on the way - he organized a rescue expedition with another Norwegian and three Frenchmen. The group was supposed to search for survivors through the vast Arctic expanse with the help of a Latham L-47 seaplane, equipped to withstand flying through the harsh conditions of the far north.

Amundsen and company took off in June 1928...and no one ever heard or saw anything from them again. To this day, the cause and manner of Roald's death are unknown. Rescue and research expeditions later tried to find some trace, but in vain. Amundsen went into the dimension of the missing pioneers who were breaking the path for the rest of humanity.

The Italian Nobile, who was the target of the rescue expedition that led to Amundsen's disappearance, was found alive (although not very healthy) by another rescue team. Half of the members of the Italian expedition died. Amundsen was never found physically, just as he was never found psychologically - no one can say where the need for a lifetime of wandering in areas where no human foot has ever set foot comes from. And perhaps it is for the best that it is so.

In honor of Roald Amundsen, the patron saint of dreamers and wanderers.

(By Roger Mortis, 040)