Editing Roald Amundsen (section)

=== The Northwest Passage ===
[[File:Nlc amundsen.jpg|thumb|upright|Amundsen {{circa|1908}}]]
In 1903, Amundsen led the first expedition to traverse Canada's [[Northwest Passage]] between the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] and [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] oceans. He planned a small expedition of six men in a {{nowr|45-ton}} fishing vessel, {{ship||Gjøa||2}}, to have flexibility. His ship had relatively shallow draft. His technique was to use a small ship and hug the coast. Amundsen had the ship outfitted with a small 13&nbsp;horsepower single-screw paraffin (diesel) engine.<ref name="Derry" />

They travelled via [[Baffin Bay]], the [[Parry Channel]] and then south through [[Peel Sound]], [[James Ross Strait]], [[Simpson Strait]] and [[Rae Strait]]. They spent two winters at [[King William Island]], in the harbor of what is today [[Gjoa Haven, Nunavut|Gjoa Haven]].<ref name="Mifflin" /><ref name="Derry" /> During this time, Amundsen and the crew learned from the local [[Netsilik Inuit]] about [[Arctic]] survival skills, which he found invaluable in his later expedition to the South Pole. For example, he learned to use sled dogs for the transport of goods and to wear animal skins in lieu of heavy, woolen parkas, which could not keep out the cold when wet.

Leaving Gjoa Haven, he sailed west and passed [[Cambridge Bay]], which had been reached from the west by [[Richard Collinson]] in 1852. Continuing to the south of [[Victoria Island (Canada)|Victoria Island]], the ship cleared the [[Canadian Arctic Archipelago]] on {{nowr|17 August 1905}}. It had to stop for the winter before going on to [[Nome, Alaska|Nome]] on Alaska's Pacific coast. The nearest telegraph station was {{cvt|500|mi}} away in [[Eagle, Alaska|Eagle]]. Amundsen travelled there overland to wire a success message on 5 December, then returned to Nome in 1906. Later that year he was elected to the [[American Antiquarian Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlista|title=MemberListA &#124; American Antiquarian Society|website=www.americanantiquarian.org|access-date=22 June 2022|archive-date=3 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403174851/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlista|url-status=live}}</ref>

Amundsen learned of the [[dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden]], and that he had a new king. The explorer sent the new king, [[Haakon VII of Norway|Haakon VII]], news that his traversing the Northwest Passage "was a great achievement for Norway".<ref name="explore"/> He said he hoped to do more and signed it "Your loyal subject, Roald Amundsen".<ref name="explore"/> The crew returned to Oslo in November 1906, after almost three and a half years abroad. ''Gjøa'' was returned to Norway in 1972. After a {{nowr|45-day}} trip from San Francisco on a bulk carrier, she was placed on land outside the [[Fram Museum]] in Oslo, where she is now situated inside her own building at the museum.<ref name="explore">{{cite book|title=''Roald Amundsen and the Exploration of the Northwest Passage''|publisher=[[Fram Museum]]|location=Oslo|year=2008|isbn=978-8282350013|pages=63–65}}</ref>