The first Italian expedition to the North Pole was organized in 1899-1900 by Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, with the support of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. On board the Stella Polare – formerly called Jason, a Norwegian whaler which was suitably adapted for the expedition – Prince Luigi Amedeo reached Teplitz bay, on the west coast of the Rudolph Island, in the Franz Joseph archipelago, where the ship was iced up. It was the fourth ship ever to have reached 82° 4 North. The hull, although reinforced, was partially damaged by the pressure of the ice. Therefore, Prince Luigi Amedeo decided to download all the material and spend the winter in a large tent as a base camp. The idea was to wait until the following spring to try to reach the Polo with dog sleds. In the meantime, the staff devoted themselves to scientific observations and to the study of the local fauna and flora.
On February 19, 1900, three teams were formed and left for the North Pole.
Prince Luigi Amedeo had lost two fingers because of the cold and could not join any of them. He had to rely on three officers, a non-commissioned officer and an able seaman from the Regia Marina (to which he belonged himself), and a number of Norwegian sailors and mountain guides from Courmayeur.
The first team was lost on the pack, never to be found. The second team, exhausted, barely managed to return to the base. On April 25, 1900 the third team, led by Umberto Cagni, reached the highest latitude ever reached before, 86°
34′ 49” North, surpassing Fridtjof Nansen
‘s record, only 381 km short of the North Pole. In view of the extreme weather, Cagni
The Stella Polare general staff, Milano, Hoepli, 1903, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina Unloading provisions from the Stella Polare in Teplitz Bay, Milano, Hoepli, 1903, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
Tents, dogs, sleds and provisions unloaded from the Stella Polare, Milano, Hoepli, 1903,
Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
Italian expeditions to the North Pole
The pioneersThe first Italian expedition to the North Pole was organized in 1899-1900 by Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, with the support of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. On board the Stella Polare – formerly called Jason, a Norwegian whaler which was suitably adapted for the expedition – Prince Luigi Amedeo reached Teplitz bay, on the west coast of the Rudolph Island, in the Franz Joseph archipelago, where the ship was iced up. It was the fourth ship ever to have reached 82° 4 North. The hull, although reinforced, was partially damaged by the pressure of the ice. Therefore, Prince Luigi Amedeo decided to download all the material and spend the winter in a large tent as a base camp. The idea was to wait until the following spring to try to reach the Polo with dog sleds. In the meantime, the staff devoted themselves to scientific observations and to the study of the local fauna and flora.
On February 19, 1900, three teams were formed and left for the North Pole.
Prince Luigi Amedeo had lost two fingers because of the cold and could not join any of them. He had to rely on three officers, a non-commissioned officer and an able seaman from the Regia Marina (to which he belonged himself), and a number of Norwegian sailors and mountain guides from Courmayeur.
The first team was lost on the pack, never to be found. The second team, exhausted, barely managed to return to the base. On April 25, 1900 the third team, led by Umberto Cagni, reached the highest latitude ever reached before, 86°
34′ 49” North, surpassing Fridtjof Nansen
‘s record, only 381 km short of the North Pole. In view of the extreme weather, Cagni
The Stella Polare general staff, Milano, Hoepli, 1903, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina Unloading provisions from the Stella Polare in Teplitz Bay, Milano, Hoepli, 1903, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
Tents, dogs, sleds and provisions unloaded from the Stella Polare, Milano, Hoepli, 1903,
Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
preferred not to venture further towards the Pole and turned back. After ten days of march, during which they were forced to abandon almost all the equipment, the team finally managed to reach the base on June 23, 1900. They had covered 1,400 kilometers in 104 days.
On 15 August the Stella Polare, freed from the ice by means of explosive charges, started her return journey and reached Christiania (now Oslo) on September 11. The expedition was a success not only in setting a new record, but also because precious magnetic, geodetic and topographical data were collected.
Upon his return, the Duke was promoted Lieutenant Commander and continued his explorations, to the Rwenzori Mountains in 1906, and to the Karakoram in 1909.
The first undisputed sighting of the North Pole occurred when the crew of the Norge airship, designed by Italian aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile, flew over it on May 12 1926. The expedition was sponsored by the Italian government (25%), by American businessman Lincoln Ellsworth – who was part of the crew - and by the Norwegian Aero Club, which had purchased the airship. After some test flights, on March 29 1926 the N-1, renamed Norge, had been officially delivered in the presence of various authorities, including Mussolini, Roald Amundsen, the leader of the expedition, and Lincoln Ellsworth.
After flying over the geographical North Pole, the Norge could not go back as planned because of the bad weather, and landed in Teller, Alaska.
The expedition was widely acclaimed and Nobile was promoted general of the Air Force. Despite the success, rivalries soon emerged between Amundsen and Nobile, and Umberto Nobile decided to organize a second expedition to the North Pole.
The Norge expedition had proved the effectiveness of airships in aerial
Airship Norge at the North Pole, Milano, Mondadori, 1959, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
Cagni, Petigax, Fenoillet and Canepa on June 23 1900 in the farthest north latitude ever reached at the time,
Milano, Hoepli, 1903, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
Airship Italia returning from the first mission, 1928, Roma, Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare
exploration of remote areas, but had not produced many results from a scientific and cartographic point of view: four millions of square kilometres of icepack were still to be explored and the possible presence of land was to be verified.
Nobile would have liked to use the N-5, a new type of airship with a gas capacity three times higher than the Norge’s, but could not obtain the necessary funds.
He was therefore forced to use the N-4, its twin, which he managed to complete thanks to the generosity of a number of businessmen and citizens from Milan: Italy welcomed a new expedition to the North Pole and support was offered even from the Vatican. Actually, the Pope blessed the crew before the departure. The Italia was 105 m long and 23.5 m tall, had a 19.4 m diameter and contained 18,500 cubic meters of hydrogen. Equipped with three 250 bhp Maybach engines, it weighed 10.5 tons, could reach a 117 km/hour speed and had the necessary equipment to land on ice, which the Norge could not do. Support ship Città di Milano was set up with private funds. A former German merchant ship used for laying cables, she was suitably equipped to cope with the polar environment. The commanding officer was commander Giuseppe Romagna Manoja, future director of the Istituto Idrografico.
Nobile obtained the collaboration of a number of Italian and foreign research centres, who provided the necessary equipment – a total of about 300 kgs.
Among the scientists and researchers who took part in the expedition: physicist Frantisek Behounek, director of the State Radiological Institute in Prague; Finn Malgrem, meteorologist, geophysicist and professor at the University of Uppsala, who had already been part in the Norge expedition; Aldo Pontremoli, founder of the Physics Department of the University of Milan; Alfredo Viglieri, hydrographer of the Italian Royal Navy, who was later
Airship Norge’s route from the North Pole to Alaska, Milano, Mondadori, 1959, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
The Città di Milano general staff,
1928, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
The Città di Milano commanding officer, commander Giuseppe Romagna Manoja, and general Umberto Nobile,
1928, Roma, Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare
exploration of remote areas, but had not produced many results from a scientific and cartographic point of view: four millions of square kilometres of icepack were still to be explored and the possible presence of land was to be verified.
Nobile would have liked to use the N-5, a new type of airship with a gas capacity three times higher than the Norge’s, but could not obtain the necessary funds.
He was therefore forced to use the N-4, its twin, which he managed to complete thanks to the generosity of a number of businessmen and citizens from Milan: Italy welcomed a new expedition to the North Pole and support was offered even from the Vatican. Actually, the Pope blessed the crew before the departure. The Italia was 105 m long and 23.5 m tall, had a 19.4 m diameter and contained 18,500 cubic meters of hydrogen. Equipped with three 250 bhp Maybach engines, it weighed 10.5 tons, could reach a 117 km/hour speed and had the necessary equipment to land on ice, which the Norge could not do. Support ship Città di Milano was set up with private funds. A former German merchant ship used for laying cables, she was suitably equipped to cope with the polar environment. The commanding officer was commander Giuseppe Romagna Manoja, future director of the Istituto Idrografico.
Nobile obtained the collaboration of a number of Italian and foreign research centres, who provided the necessary equipment – a total of about 300 kgs.
Among the scientists and researchers who took part in the expedition: physicist Frantisek Behounek, director of the State Radiological Institute in Prague; Finn Malgrem, meteorologist, geophysicist and professor at the University of Uppsala, who had already been part in the Norge expedition; Aldo Pontremoli, founder of the Physics Department of the University of Milan; Alfredo Viglieri, hydrographer of the Italian Royal Navy, who was later
Airship Norge’s route from the North Pole to Alaska, Milano, Mondadori, 1959, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
The Città di Milano general staff,
1928, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
The Città di Milano commanding officer, commander Giuseppe Romagna Manoja, and general Umberto Nobile,
1928, Roma, Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare
to become the director of the Istituto Idrografico. The all-Italian crew consisted of 13 members.
The research program included a variety of disciplines: geography, geophysics, gravimetry, meteorology, oceanography and the study of terrestrial magnetism and of the propagation of electromagnetic waves. Unfortunately Malmgren and Pontremoli died and much of their recordings were lost. The Behm sounder proved valuable in measuring depths; the location of Grosse Isle was corrected, and the absence of glaciers on the North East Land was observed; values of air ionization were found to be lower at higher latitudes; bacteriological research led to the verification of air sterility in polar regions; weeks on the ice pack in the famous
“red tent” were an opportunity to study ice drift; and radiotelegraphist Giuseppe Biagi, with shortwave radio Ondina 33, managed to reach considerable distances both in transmission and in reception.
Nobile’s plan was to carry out five exploratory flights, departing and returning from the base of Ny Alesund (Kings Bay), in the Svalbard Islands, to cover different areas. The first two flights went well, and 48,000 square kilometers of unknown regions were explored. The third flight (23-25 May 1928) was supposed to reach the North Pole and land some explorers equipped with a tent and food rations.
Sixteen researchers and crew, plus Nobile’s dog, Titina, left at 4:28 on May 23.
On May 24 they flew over the North Pole as scheduled, but the team could not land because of the bad weather.
During the return journey to Kings Bay - based on Malmgren’s “optimistic”
forecasts, they had decided not to fly on to Alaska - the airship crashed: the gondola and the tail broke in the impact, while the shell flew away with six men on board, never to be found again. The accident
Icebreaker Krassin from the Città di Milano, 1928, Roma, Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare
Chart of the Arctic Ocean - Spitsbergen.
Anchorages in King’s Bay. Surveys by the Città di Milano, 1928, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
aroused interest worldwide, and caused the first international rescue expedition in the North Pole. The survivors were stranded on the pack for 47 days before being spotted, on June 20, by a seaplane piloted by Umberto Maddalena and then rescued by Russian icebreaker Krassin on July 13. Nine people, including Roald Amundsen, died trying to save the men adrift in the the red tent.
The Istituto Idrografico della Regia Marina made a significant contribution to both expeditions, designing and building specifically – or else purchasing and calibrating – the astronomical, topographical, hydrographic and geodetic equipment.
The Istituto Idrografico was involved in the preparation of Prince Luigi Amedeo’s expedition, drafting the scientific program and supplying the necessary equipment, and then in processing the data collected.
Nobile’s expedition was the first Arctic hydrographic campaign in which surveys were carried out to produce nautical documents. Staff from the Istituto Idrografico were present on board the Città di Milano, and carried out surveys which resulted in two nautical charts, of the Kongsfjorden (Kings Bay, Svalbard islands), regularly updated until 1968:
Ancoraggio di Ny Ålesund (Chart No. 872, 1:7500 scale) and Ancoraggi nella Baia del Re (Chart No. 873, 1: 15000 scale).
From Nobile to the Arctic Council Nobile’s expeditions were not followed by further Italian projects in the Arctic Ocean. The outbreak of the Second World War and the political, social and economic problems that ensued prevented this kind of research. After the war, only private initiatives were carried out: Prof. Silvio Zavatti led several expeditions to Canada and Greenland, and founded the Istituto e Museo Geografico Polare in Civitanova Marche (now in Fermo), and Dr. Guido Monzino, who first reached the North Pole with dog sleds and original equipment packaged by the Eskimos (Inuit).
Only in the 1990s did a renewed sensitivity to explorations in extreme regions spread again across the country, as part of a larger program aimed at bringing Italy back to the forefront in the leading sectors of technical and scientific research, including exploitation of Arctic routes and natural resources. Italian research in the Arctic Ocean has steadily increased over the last twenty years, in particular in the area of the Svalbard Islands, where the
The “Dirigibile Italia” CNR arctic base in Ny-Ålesund, 2003, ARPA Veneto
Linnea Nordström, Arctic Council meeting for Senior Arctic Offi-cials at Centennial Hall, Juneau, Alaska, March 2017, Arctic Council Segretariat
aroused interest worldwide, and caused the first international rescue expedition in the North Pole. The survivors were stranded on the pack for 47 days before being spotted, on June 20, by a seaplane piloted by Umberto Maddalena and then rescued by Russian icebreaker Krassin on July 13. Nine people, including Roald Amundsen, died trying to save the men adrift in the the red tent.
The Istituto Idrografico della Regia Marina made a significant contribution to both expeditions, designing and building specifically – or else purchasing and calibrating – the astronomical, topographical, hydrographic and geodetic equipment.
The Istituto Idrografico was involved in the preparation of Prince Luigi Amedeo’s expedition, drafting the scientific program and supplying the necessary equipment, and then in processing the data collected.
Nobile’s expedition was the first Arctic hydrographic campaign in which surveys were carried out to produce nautical documents. Staff from the Istituto Idrografico were present on board the Città di Milano, and carried out surveys which resulted in two nautical charts, of the Kongsfjorden (Kings Bay, Svalbard islands), regularly updated until 1968:
Ancoraggio di Ny Ålesund (Chart No. 872, 1:7500 scale) and Ancoraggi nella Baia del Re (Chart No. 873, 1: 15000 scale).
From Nobile to the Arctic Council Nobile’s expeditions were not followed by further Italian projects in the Arctic Ocean. The outbreak of the Second World War and the political, social and economic problems that ensued prevented this kind of research. After the war, only private initiatives were carried out: Prof. Silvio Zavatti led several expeditions to Canada and Greenland, and founded the Istituto e Museo Geografico Polare in Civitanova Marche (now in Fermo), and Dr. Guido Monzino, who first reached the North Pole with dog sleds and original equipment packaged by the Eskimos (Inuit).
Only in the 1990s did a renewed sensitivity to explorations in extreme regions spread again across the country, as part of a larger program aimed at bringing Italy back to the forefront in the leading sectors of technical and scientific research, including exploitation of Arctic routes and natural resources. Italian research in the Arctic Ocean has steadily increased over the last twenty years, in particular in the area of the Svalbard Islands, where the
The “Dirigibile Italia” CNR arctic base in Ny-Ålesund, 2003, ARPA Veneto
Linnea Nordström, Arctic Council meeting for Senior Arctic Offi-cials at Centennial Hall, Juneau, Alaska, March 2017, Arctic Council Segretariat
CNR (National Research Council) opened a base on May 15, 1997, called “Dirigibile Italia” after Nobile’s airship. Located in Ny Alesund, where both Nobile’s expeditions started, the base includes about 330 square meters of laboratories and offices and can accommodate up to seven people.
Research focuses on marine biology, Arctic technology, oceanography, limnology, environmental studies, human biology and medicine. The base also manages the Amundsen-Nobile Climate Change Tower, installed by Kings Bay S.A. in April, 2009.
In view of the Italian efforts in the Arctic regions – from the explorations by Prince Luigi Amedeo and Umberto Nobile to the CNR base and the research carried out by OGS on board the Explora research vessel, and the presence of Italian companies, such as Leonardo-Finmeccanica and ENI - exploring for oil and natural gas in both Russian and Norwegian waters since the 1960s - Italy was admitted to the Arctic Council in 2013.
The High North program
The significant shrinking of the polar icecap, due to the progressive melting caused by global warming, has made the Arctic Ocean more accessible. Previously unreachable areas have started to be navigated as an alternative to the route around the Cape of Good Hope between
Bottom sampling from the Alliance, 2017, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
The Alliance from a launch off the Svalbard archipelago, 2017, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
The Alliance in the Bay of Biscaille,
2017, Genova, Istituto Idrografico della Marina
Europe and China. Exploitation of fossil fuel and other valuable materials, intensive fishing and mass tourism are expected to increase, with consequent uncontrollable changes in a region of the planet characterized by an extremely fragile and delicate ecosystem, which plays a fundamental role as “global climate regulator”. It is in this rapidly evolving context that the High North Research Program was developed.
The object is to contribute to the improvement of the knowledge of the Arctic environment above and below the surface of the ocean, monitoring its evolution over
The object is to contribute to the improvement of the knowledge of the Arctic environment above and below the surface of the ocean, monitoring its evolution over