Abstract
Year-end activities of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition, en route to Antarctica on board the Fram, are documented in this chapter, including the following: The overwintering party is selected by Roald Amundsen; dog harnesses and harnessing methods are prepared; Nilsen looks after the nursery of newborn puppies; Christmas is celebrated in grand and nostalgic style by the men, while the dogs remain in their own company; penguins and whales are sighted; and puppies are nurtured as well as lost, with their loss being felt strongly by the men, who express extreme sadness in their diaries. An analysis of the men’s writings also shows that the dogs by now have become less like “equipment” and more like companions. At the end of this chapter, the author presents the total number of dogs who were born on the ship, who were killed at sea, who died from illness or accident, and who survived the journey, as well as the total number of dogs who were involved in the expedition.
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Tahan, M.R. (2019). Christmas Among the Ice Floes. In: Roald Amundsen’s Sled Dogs. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02692-9_14
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