Aleingan (Kagoptinner)
Netsilik Inuit
Johan Koren
Polar explorer and zoologist
Born: 1879, Fredrikstad, Norway
Died: 1919, Vladivostok, Russia
Sailor with the Belgica expedition, 1897–99.
The son of a ship’s captain and banker, Johan Koren was also a cousin to Roald Amundsen’s good friend Laurentius Urdahl. He was orphaned at the age of eleven and grew up in the homes of two priests: one in Hvaler, and the other that of his uncle in Frederikstad. A wildlife enthusiast from a young age, he was already in contact with Robert Collett, one of Norway’s leading zoologists, when he heard news of Adrien de Gerlache’s plans for an expedition to Antarctica. Along with a few of his friends, the seventeen-year-old Koren applied to join.
Although recruited as a sailor, Koren’s interest in wildlife also made him a natural assistant to the expedition’s biologist, Émile G. Racovitza, from whom he would learn much that would later be useful.
Koren’s talent as a draughtsman had been obvious since his youth, and during the Belgica expedition he sketched many animals, landscapes and people. One sketchbook given to Roald Amundsen is still at Uranienborg today. His expedition diary is also richly illustrated, and available online via Norway’s National Archive 📜.
Penguin. 2.5.98. RA.0683.d. Photo: Follo museum, MiA
Penguin. 2.5.98. RA.0683.c. Photo: Follo museum, MiA
Belgica. RA.0684. Photo: Follo museum, MiA
Landscape. RA.0685. Photo: Follo museum, MiA
Landscape and wildlife. RA.0686_01. Photo: Follo museum, MiA
Seal 5.5.98 RA.0683.a. Photo: Follo museum, MiA
Captioned, “Unge av krabbeetersel” (young of crabeater seal). 1.11.98. RA.0683.b. Photo: Follo museum, MiA
Sadly, another of Koren’s contributions to life on board Belgica would not survive the expedition. As autumn had turned to winter, “Nansen”, the previously genial ship’s cat and mascot, had become withdrawn and sullen. His death in June 1898 only added to the increasingly gloomy mood.
As the daylight hours lengthened and the condition of those on board began to reflect their improved diet, there were more excursions onto the ice. One such was on August 25, 1898, when Koren and van Mirlo created drama on board by getting lost on a ski trip. Dense fog had made navigation difficult, and even though they had noted the ship’s position in relation to the wind direction, they lost their way.
Through the evening, flares were sent up and people went out to look for them, but without success. Amundsen and Lecointe even reported tracks that led straight into a rift in the ice, prompting serious suspicions that Koren and van Mirlo had perished. So, there was great delight on board when both appeared next morning outside the ship. They received a reprimand from de Gerlache, but he was quick to forgive them — their decision to stop and build a shelter for the night had been wise in the circumstances, after all 📜.
After returning from Antarctica, Koren worked for a time as an illustrator at the Zoological Museum in Oslo. Then began a series of travels that took him to South America, Finnmark (with ornithologist friend Hans Schaanning), and also further north to Novaya Zemlya, where he spent the winter of 1902-03 with the Northern Lights expedition led by Kristian Birkeland. Three years later, Koren was on Henrik Johan Bull’s sealing expedition to the Southern Ocean, which was shipwrecked near the uninhabited Crozet Islands. The crew made it ashore, but had to survive three months before being rescued and taken to Australia. It took Koren a year to raise funds for his next expedition, this time to Siberia.
Over the next few years, Koren would in fact make several trips to Siberia, Alaska and the islands in between, mainly to collect birds and their eggs for museums and private collectors. He was establishing an impressive reputation as a hardy and able field zoologist, but was also in the process: rescued by Chukchi locals when his boat capsized (his companion drowned); forced to spend winter on the Diomede Islands after his ship was trapped in ice and sank, and then to walk across the frozen Bering Strait to Alaska (earning him the title of “The Norwegian Robinson Crusoe”); and deprived of several fingers by frostbite during his own expedition to Chukotka.
During one expedition, he had taken the schooner Kittiwake up the Kolyma river and spent the winter of 1911-12 in Nizhnekolymsk, learning Russian there from an exiled revolutionary. In 1914, he returned with another expedition, but when this fell apart, he stayed, settling and having a child with his Russian partner, and supplementing his income from zoological collecting by trading in furs.
A few years later, in the turmoil of world war, revolution and civil war, Koren was involved in organizing humanitarian food supplies in north-eastern Siberia. On one such trip in early 1919, he became ill with Spanish flu on the train to Vladivostok; aged only 39, he died shortly afterwards in the American Red Cross hospital on Russkiy Island 📜.
Amundsen and the rest of the Maud expedition spent the winter of 1919-20 on Ayon Island not far, in Siberian terms, from where Koren had been living. On learning that Koren had died, and that his partner, Yefim’ya Nikolayevna Rebrova, had survived him, Amundsen sent Gennadiy Nikitich Olonkin to Nizhnekolymsk to buy Koren’s collection of birds and other animals. Some of the 150 mammal skins, 500 bird skins, 150 egg clutches and a number of bird nests were lost on the journey to Norway, but what survived is now kept at Natural History Museum in Oslo.
Despite a lack formal training as a zoologist and also dying young, Koren made important contributions to science: first on the Belgica expedition, and then in supplying biological, paleontological and ethnological material to collections across Europe and America, and describing in the process several previously unknown species and subspecies of birds and small mammals.
For this and his humanitarian work, the Kolyma-Koren nature reserve in Yakutiya and a museum in Nizhnekolymsk both bear his name.
Sources:
Norsk polarhistorie
Sancton, Julian: Madhouse at the end of the earth (2021)
Wikan, Steinar: Johan Koren: feltzoolog og polar-pioner (2000)
Schuyesmans, Willy: De Winter Van De Belgica (1993)
Aleingan (Kagoptinner)
Netsilik Inuit
One of the Netsilik Inuit Amundsen met during the expedition through the Northwest Passage, 1903-06. A tinted photograph of him hangs in Amundsen’s home.
Gustav “Busken” Amundsen
Brother
Gustav “Busken” Amundsen
Brother
Gustav was nicknamed “Busken” at a young age. He was the second oldest of the four Amundsen brothers.
Gustav “Goggen” Amundsen
Nephew, contributor to the establishment of a museum at Amundsen’s home
Gustav “Goggen” Amundsen
Nephew, contributor to the establishment of a museum at Amundsen’s home
“Goggen” was the nephew of Roald Amundsen and played a key role in the opening of Amundsen’s home as a museum
Hanne Henrikke Gustava Amundsen (née Sahlqvist)
Mother
Hanne Henrikke Gustava Amundsen (née Sahlqvist)
Mother
Gustava was the mother of Roald Amundsen and his three brothers.
Jens Engebreth Amundsen
Father
Jens Engebreth Amundsen
Father
Roald Amundsen’s father spent many years at sea. He died on a journey home from England in 1886, when Roald Amundsen was 14 years old.
Jens Ole Antonius “Tonni” Amundsen
Brother
Jens Ole Antonius “Tonni” Amundsen
Brother
Eldest brother, nicknamed “Tonni”, was born in China and was one of the brothers least involved in Roald Amundsen’s expeditions.
Leon Henry Benham Amundsen
Brother
Leon Henry Benham Amundsen
Brother
Leon was two years older than Roald, and played a key role in several of Roald’s expeditions until the brothers split in 1924.
Malfred Fritzner Amundsen
Sister-in-law
Malfred Fritzner Amundsen
Sister-in-law
Malfred was the sister-in-law of Roald Amundsen, and in his will he made her his sole heir.
Nita Kakot Amundsen
Foster daughter
Nita Kakot Amundsen
Foster daughter
The girls Nita and Camilla Carpendale went to Norway and Svartskog together with Amundsen in 1922 where they lived until 1924. The girls called Amundsen “Grandpa”.
Ole Amundsen
Grandfather
Ole Amundsen
Grandfather
Ole Amundsen was the father of Jens Engebreth Amundsen (Roald Amundsen’s father) and his eleven siblings.
Betty Anderson
Nanny
Betty Anderson
Nanny
Betty was one of the key women in Amundsen’s life. She was the nanny when he grew up, and when Amundsen moved to Svartskog, she joined him and moved into the gatehouse, which became “Betty’s house”.
Henryk Arctowski
Polar explorer
Henryk Arctowski
Polar explorer
Geologist, oceanographer and meteorologist, Belgica expedition 1897-99
Eivind Astrup
Polar explorer and role model
Eivind Astrup
Polar explorer and role model
Eivind Astrup became one of the world’s most experienced polar explorers of his time and a great role model for Roald Amundsen. He chose to end his life when only 24 years old.
Andreas Beck
Polar explorer
Alfred Edwin Peto Bennett
Elder son of Kristine Elisabeth Bennett
Alfred Edwin Peto Bennett
Elder son of Kristine Elisabeth Bennett
Elder son of Kristine Elisabeth “Kiss” Bennett and Charles Peto Bennett. Visited Amundsen at Uranienborg for a few days in the spring of 1925.
Charles Peto Bennett
Younger son of Kristine Elisabeth Bennett
Charles Peto Bennett
Younger son of Kristine Elisabeth Bennett
Younger son of Kristine Elisabeth “Kiss” Bennett and Charles Peto Bennett. Visited Amundsen at Uranienborg for a few days in the spring of 1925.
Kristine Elisabeth “Kiss” Bennett
Girlfriend
Kristine Elisabeth “Kiss” Bennett
Girlfriend
Roald Amundsen had strong feelings for Kristine Elisabeth “Kiss” Bennett. She visited Uranienborg several times, but even though Amundsen transferred ownership of it to her, she never moved in.
Paul Berge
Photographer and filmmaker
Paul Berge
Photographer and filmmaker
Photographer with Amundsen’s expeditions of 1925 and 1926.
Bernt Johannes Birkeland
Meteorologist
Bernt Johannes Birkeland
Meteorologist
Intended to be meteorologist on the Fram expedition, but withdrew before departure.
Olav Olavsen Bjaaland
Polar explorer
Olav Olavsen Bjaaland
Polar explorer
Took part in the Fram expedition and the sledge journey to the South Pole.
Gilbert Georges Paul Brazy
Mechanic
Gilbert Georges Paul Brazy
Mechanic
French mechanic. Disappeared with Amundsen during the flight with Latham 47.02 in 1928.
Camilla Carpendale
Foster daughter
Camilla Carpendale
Foster daughter
The girls Nita and Camilla Carpendale went to Norway and Svartskog with Amundsen in 1922 and lived there until 1924. The girls called Amundsen “Grandpa”.
Sigrid Flood “Sigg” Castberg
Girlfriend
Sigrid Flood “Sigg” Castberg
Girlfriend
Sigrid Flood Castberg, often called “Sigg”, was one of the women Amundsen had a relationship with. But when Amundsen proposed, she was already married and wanted to wait, and when she was ready he wanted…
Albert Cavelier de Cuverville
Pilot
Albert Cavelier de Cuverville
Pilot
French military pilot. Disappeared with Amundsen during the flight with Latham 47.02 in 1928.
Silas Christofferson
Aviation pioneer
Silas Christofferson
Aviation pioneer
Silas Christofferson was an American aviation pioneer. He took Amundsen into the air with an aeroplane for the first time.
Peter “Don Pedro” Christophersen
Financial supporter and friend
Peter “Don Pedro” Christophersen
Financial supporter and friend
Peter “Don Pedro” Christophersen was a friend and financial supporter of Roald Amundsen. He was part owner of Amundsen’s home from 1924.
Frederick Albert Cook
Polar explorer and close friend
Frederick Albert Cook
Polar explorer and close friend
Cook was a friend and mentor to Amundsen. Best known for claiming to be the first man to the North Pole.
Odd Dahl
Polar explorer and scientist
Émile Danco
Polar explorer
Leif Ragnar Dietrichson
Polar explorer and pilot
Leif Ragnar Dietrichson
Polar explorer and pilot
Participated in the aircraft expedition to 88 degrees north in 1925. Disappeared with Amundsen during the flight with Latham 47 in 1928.
Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski
Polar explorer and scientist
Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski
Polar explorer and scientist
Assistant meteorologist, Belgica expedition 1897-99
Christian Doxrud
Sea captain and aviator
Christian Doxrud
Sea captain and aviator
Captain of Fram from Buenos Aires to Colon 1912–13 and first mate on the voyage home to Norway.
Gustave-Gaston Dufour
Polar explorer
Oscar Eliassen
Engineer
Oscar Eliassen
Engineer
An engineer on board Fram, but disembarked before departure from Kristiansand in August 1910.
Lincoln Ellsworth
Close friend and polar explorer
Lincoln Ellsworth
Close friend and polar explorer
Lincoln Ellsworth participated in and financed Amundsen’s expeditions in 1925 and 1926. He later led several of his own polar expeditions.
Ole Engelstad
Navy captain selected as deputy leader of the Fram expedition
Ole Engelstad
Navy captain selected as deputy leader of the Fram expedition
Selected as deputy leader of the Fram expedition, but died during the testing of man-lifting kites in 1909.
Karl Feucht
Mechanic and polar explorer
Karl Feucht
Mechanic and polar explorer
Participated as mechanic during the flight to 88 degrees north in 1925. Worked at the Dornier factory.
Herman Gade
Closest friend
Herman Gade
Closest friend
Amundsen considered Gade his best friend. He was also an important contributor to Amundsen’s home becoming a museum in 1935.
Adrien de Gerlache
Polar explorer
Hjalmar Fredrik Gjertsen
Polar explorer
Hjalmar Fredrik Gjertsen
Polar explorer
Second officer and scientific assistant on the Fram expedition
René Cyprien Guilbaud
Pilot
René Cyprien Guilbaud
Pilot
French military pilot. Disappeared with Amundsen during the flight with Latham 47.02 in 1928.
Haakon VII
King of Norway
Carl Hagenbeck
Animal trainer
Carl Hagenbeck
Animal trainer
Animal trainer. Tried to turn polar bears into draft animals for Amundsen’s coming expedition in 1907.
Håkon Hedemann Hammer
Collaborator
Håkon Hedemann Hammer
Collaborator
Håkon Hammer met Roald Amundsen in Seattle in 1921. He quickly became a collaborator and supporter, but was later named by Amundsen as one of the reasons for his personal bankruptcy.
Carl Martin Hansen
Polar explorer
Carl Martin Hansen
Polar explorer
Participated as an all-rounder on the Maud expedition in the years 1922-1925.
Godfred Hansen
Polar explorer
Ludvig Anton Hansen
Polar explorer
Helmer Julius Hanssen
Polar explorer
Helmer Julius Hanssen
Polar explorer
Participated in the Gjøa, Fram and Maud expeditions. Was among the chosen ones who reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911.
Sverre Helge Hassel
Polar explorer
Sverre Helge Hassel
Polar explorer
Took part in the Fram expedition and the sledge journey to the South Pole. Died in Amundsen’s garden at Svartskog in 1928.
Hjalmar Johansen
Polar explorer
Hjalmar Johansen
Polar explorer
Participant in the Fram expedition and the sledge journey to King Edward VII Land. Was expelled from the polar party after a conflict with Amundsen.
Kakot
Chukchi member of Maud crew
Kakot
Chukchi member of Maud crew
Kakot was a Chukchi and the father of Nita Kakot Amundsen.
Ludvig Hjalmar Johansen Kallevig
Polar explorer
Engebret Knudsen
Polar explorer
Paul Knutsen
Polar explorer
Paul Knutsen
Polar explorer
Participated in the Maud expedition, but left the expedition in 1919, together with Peter Tessem. Both perished. What really happened to them is still unknown.
Johan Koren
Polar explorer and zoologist
Halvardus Kristensen
Polar explorer
Halvardus Kristensen
Polar explorer
Participant in the Fram expedition and part of the sea party.
Aleksandr Kuchin (Alexander Kutchin)
Polar explorer, seafarer and scientist
Aleksandr Kuchin (Alexander Kutchin)
Polar explorer, seafarer and scientist
Oceanographer on the Fram expedition. Disappeared with a Russian expedition in the Kara Sea.
Georges Lecointe
Polar explorer
Adolf Henrik Lindstrøm
Ship’s cook
Adolf Henrik Lindstrøm
Ship’s cook
Participated as expedition cook on the Gjøa expedition 1903-06 and the Fram expedition 1910-12.
Anton Lund
Polar explorer
Reidar Lund
Filmmaker
Elisabeth “Bess” Magids
Girlfriend
Elisabeth “Bess” Magids
Girlfriend
The Alaska Inupiaq called Elizabeth Magids “Queen of the Arctic”, Amundsen’s crew referred to her as “the mysterious lady”. Amundsen called her “Bess”. She went to live with Amundsen in Norway in 1928….
Finn Malmgren
Polar explorer, scientist and meteorologist
Finn Malmgren
Polar explorer, scientist and meteorologist
Participated as a research assistant on the Maud expedition, and as a meteorologist on the Norge expedition. Died on Umberto Nobile’s airship expedition in 1928.
Maniratcha (Manni)
Netsilik Inuit
Maniratcha (Manni)
Netsilik Inuit
One of the Netsilik Inuit Amundsen met during the expedition through the Northwest Passage 1903-06. A coloured picture of him decorates a window in Amundsen’s home.
Queen Maud
Queen of Norway
Jules Melaerts
Polar explorer
Louis Michotte
Polar explorer
Alexander Nansen
Lawyer
Alexander Nansen
Lawyer
Amundsen’s legal advisor and involved in both Amundsen’s expeditions and his private life.
Fridtjof Nansen
Polar hero, scientist and role model
Fridtjof Nansen
Polar hero, scientist and role model
Polar explorer, international humanist, pioneering naturalist, Nobel Peace Prize winner and one of Amundsen’s first great role models.
Georg von Neumayer
Scientist
Georg von Neumayer
Scientist
German scientist who taught Amundsen about geomagnetism before the Gjøa expedition.
Thorvald Nilsen
Polar explorer and captain
Thorvald Nilsen
Polar explorer and captain
Captain and deputy leader of the Fram expedition
Umberto Nobile
Airship engineer and polar explorer
Umberto Nobile
Airship engineer and polar explorer
Nobile was the airship engineer whom Amundsen criticized after the expedition in 1926. During the search for his wrecked expedition in 1928, Roald Amundsen disappeared.
Jacob Nødtvedt
Polar explorer
Jacob Nødtvedt
Polar explorer
Blacksmith and second engineer on the Fram expedition, signed off the expedition due to illness in September 1911.
Olav V
Norwegian Crown Prince and King
Olav V
Norwegian Crown Prince and King
Crown Prince of Norway from 1905-1957 and Norway’s King until his death in 1991.
Gennadiy Nikitich Olonkin
Polar explorer
Gennadiy Nikitich Olonkin
Polar explorer
Joined the Maud expedition after visiting the ship in Khabarovsk. Also participated in the Norge expedition, but was left out from the actual voyage across the Arctic Ocean.
Karenius Olsen
Polar explorer and cook
Karenius Olsen
Polar explorer and cook
Cook on the Fram expedition and youngest man on board.
Oskar Omdal
Polar explorer and pilot
Oskar Omdal
Polar explorer and pilot
Participated as a pilot on the Maud expedition, on the N24 and on the airship Norge. Disappeared in a plane crash in 1927.
Onaller
Netsilik Inuit
Onaller
Netsilik Inuit
One of the Netsilik Inuit Amundsen met during the expedition through the Northwest Passage 1903-06. A coloured picture of her hangs in Amundsen’s home.
Christian Theodore Pedersen
Captain, hunter and trader
Christian Theodore Pedersen
Captain, hunter and trader
Experienced trader who lived along the north coast of Alaska. Assisted Amundsen during the Maud expedition.
Fredrik Peterson
Merchant and influential Norwegian in Paris
Fredrik Peterson
Merchant and influential Norwegian in Paris
Norwegian merchant in Paris who arranged for Amundsen to use the French flying boat Latham 47.02 in 1928.
Kristian Prestrud
Polar explorer
Kristian Prestrud
Polar explorer
Participated in the Fram expedition. Led the sledge expedition to King Edward VII Land.
Michael Puntervold
Lawyer
Michael Puntervold
Lawyer
Lawyer for Amundsen and a key figure in the inheritance settlement following his disappearance in 1928. Photo: Oslo museum.
Emil Gheorghe Racoviță (Émile G. Racovitza)
Polar explorer and biologist
Emil Gheorghe Racoviță (Émile G. Racovitza)
Polar explorer and biologist
Biologist, Belgica expedition 1897-99
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
Pilot and polar explorer
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
Pilot and polar explorer
Participated in the aircraft expedition to 88 degrees north in 1925 and the airship expedition in 1926.
Peder Ristvedt
Polar explorer
Martin Rønne
Polar explorer and sailmaker
Martin Rønne
Polar explorer and sailmaker
Sailmaker who participated in four of Amundsen’s expeditions. Among other things, he sewed the tent that was left at the South Pole in 1911.
Max van Rysselberghe
Polar explorer
Anders T. Sandvig
Steward
Anders T. Sandvig
Steward
Originally steward on the Fram expedition, but left the expedition in Funchal, Madeira in September 1910.
Kamilla Schiørn
Girlfriend
Kamilla Schiørn
Girlfriend
At Amundsen’s home, there is a pile of love letters from Kamilla Schiørn, written when they were both teenagers.
Adolf Hermann Schröer
Oceanographer
Adolf Hermann Schröer
Oceanographer
Oceanographer aboard the Fram during the North Atlantic cruise in the summer of 1910.
Robert Falcon Scott
Polar explorer
Robert Falcon Scott
Polar explorer
Robert Falcon Scott was a British naval officer and polar explorer. He died on his way home from the South Pole in 1912.
Einar Sem-Jacobsen
Aviator
Henri Somers
Polar explorer
Albert Søiland
Cancer specialist
Albert Søiland
Cancer specialist
Søiland was one of the world’s leading specialists in cancer treatment in the 1920s. Roald Amundsen was one of his patients.
Jørgen Stubberud
Polar explorer and carpenter
Jørgen Stubberud
Polar explorer and carpenter
Took part in Fram expedition. Worked on modernization of Amundsen’s home and on construction of polar ship Maud.
Knut Sundbeck
Polar explorer
Knut Sundbeck
Polar explorer
Sundbeck was an engineer on both the Fram and Maud expeditions.
Harald Ulrik Sverdrup
Polar explorer and scientist
Harald Ulrik Sverdrup
Polar explorer and scientist
Scientific leader of the Maud expedition and later a leading oceanographer.
Søren Marentius Syvertsen
Polar explorer and engineer
Søren Marentius Syvertsen
Polar explorer and engineer
Engineer on Maud from 1922. Died on board of illness in 1923.
Peter Tessem
Polar explorer
Peter Tessem
Polar explorer
Participated in the Maud expedition, but left the expedition in 1919 with Paul Knutsen. Both perished. What really happened to them is still unknown.
Adam Tollefsen
Polar explorer
Emanuel Tønnesen
Polar explorer
Emanuel Tønnesen
Polar explorer
Participated in the Maud expedition, left the expedition in 1920.
Ugpi (Uglen)
Netsilik Inuit
Ugpi (Uglen)
Netsilik Inuit
One of the Netsilik Inuit Amundsen met during the expedition through the Northwest Passage 1903-06. A coloured picture of him decorates a door in Amundsen’s home.
Emile Valette
Radio telegraphist
Emile Valette
Radio telegraphist
French telegraph operator. Disappeared with Amundsen during the flight with Latham 47.02 in 1928.
Jean (Jan) van Mirlo
Polar explorer
Carl-August Wiencke
Polar explorer
Gustav Juel Wiik
Polar explorer
Gustav Juel Wiik
Polar explorer
Second engineer on Gjøa 1903-06. Died during the expedition.
Oscar Wisting
Friend and polar explorer
Oscar Wisting
Friend and polar explorer
Oscar Wisting was one of Amundsen’s most loyal friends and expedition staff.
Fritz Gottlieb Zapffe
Friend and materials manager
Fritz Gottlieb Zapffe
Friend and materials manager
One of Amundsen’s closest friends and supporters. Visited Svartskog several times.
