Search for Amundsen’s plane ended

Photo: searchforamundsen.com

Although the search for Latham 47 produced no tangible results, the mission has been completed.

Commander second grade, Frode Løseth, put the two-week voyage in greater perspective as he opened the press conference on board the Coast Guard ship (CG) Harstad on Saturday the 5th of September 2009. The expedition members hailed the trip as a great adventure and were especially impressed with the efficiency of the crew aboard the ships HNoMS Tyr and CG Harstad.

“It was an awe-inspiring display of both prowess and the will to continue”, said Naval Priest, Turid Astrid Reksten at the press conference. Amundsens great-grandnephew, Nicolay Jacobsen, found the expedition to be a journey not only physically, but also spiritually. “For me it is a good way to see things from a wider angle and to get to know my great uncle in a special kind of way.”

Rob McCallum, the expedition leader, explains the results in his blog as follows: “We have searched using all of the clues gathered over the last 10 years, including a public ‘open commission’ into the Latham’s disappearance. We have deployed some of the most advanced equipment in the world in our efforts to find the Latham. We can say definitively that the aircraft is not within these 35 sq miles of ocean, but we cannot say where it is.” McCallum is disappointed with the results, but he is thrilled to have been a part of an unforgettable experience. He also points out that even if they did not find anything of interest; they had at least done their part in checking out the information available.

So the disappearance of the legendary polar explorer Roald Amundsen, his flying vessel the Latham 47 and his crew is still a mystery.

McCallum’s last blog post offers a few apt closing remarks: “It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work with the people involved in Operation Latham.  Amundsen’s last days are an interesting story indeed and I am hoping that our research and our efforts can now provide a documentary that will tell this story of this iconic man and his brave crew that has waited far too long to be told.”

Source: Searchforamundsen.com