Norway secures return of polar explorer’s boat

A Norwegian group has been given the green light to salvage explorer Roald Amundsen’s sunken ship from Canadian waters.

The Maud, which was used in two attempts to cross the North Pole, sank in shallow water near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, in 1930 after it was eventually sold to the Hudson’s Bay company.

The ‘Maud Returns Home’ group was last year denied the right to bring the wreck back to Norway. The decision was however reversed on Friday 16th March by the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board. In a letter to the Norwegian ambassador, the board said the group would be given an export permit for the wreck as, although the Maud is valuable to Canada, the loss of it would not hugely diminish national heritage.

Amundsen became famous in 1903 when he navigated the Northwest Passage in a fishing boat. He subsequently led the first South Pole expedition in 1911 and various other adventures before dying in a plane crash in 1928.

Jan Wanggaard, project leader of The Maud Returns Home, said the wreck will probably be moved next year.

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