100 years ago - South Pole ....or as near as makes no odds
On December 14, 1911, Amundsen wrote in his journal, “So, we arrived, and were able to raise our flag at the geographical South Pole…Naturally we are not exactly at the point called 90°, but after all our excellent observations and dead reckonings we must be very close.” For the next three days, Amundsen and his men took regular readings to determine their location. They also skied methodically around the spot to ensure that someone crossed the mythic point of 90 degrees south. Amundsen’s journal for December 18 reads, “It is very difficult to arrive at a definitive result. But we can say with certainty that we are south of 89°59’.”
From an article about attempts to calculate where Amundsen's tent was pitched and where it is today. linky
One of the teams heading for the pole to mark the100 years is using the same type of gear as used by Amundsen except of course the dogs which are now banned & using the same route.
They are the 'To the South Pole - A Hundred Years After' team mentioned in the link above. Not sure if they have made it yet.
I know they planned to use a vintage Primus stove but with a modern Omnifuel as a backup. They weren't planning on taking a Nansen cooker as Amundsen never mentioned it in his logs.
I'd be surprised if he didn't use one though- anyone know?
50 years ago a Royal Navy survey ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean expected a position uncertainty of about one nautical mile. They had no GPS or Radio aids then but did have accurate clocks.
To expect Amundsen to do better than this is unrealistic.
The clocks thing is a matter of longitude, which is irrelevant at the poles but quite tricky in the middle of the Indian Ocean. You only need to know the latitude for this particular job. And a ship in the ocean isn't a stable platform, which the South Pole is.
And he claimed accuracy to a minute, which is 1 nautical mile by definition. Bit more than one mile, but not that much more.
