Gjoa

Gjoa is a Norwegian wooden sailing vessel best known for carrying Roald Amundsen on his Northwest Passage expedition. Amundsen acquired the ship in 1903 and refitted it for Arctic conditions, outfitting it with a reinforced hull, stores, and equipment suitable for extended close-quarters travel in ice-filled waters. The vessel’s relatively small size and sturdy construction made it possible to navigate areas that larger ships could not.

The Gjoa expedition began in 1903, with Amundsen and a small, skilled crew. Over the course of the voyage, the ship traveled from Norway through the Atlantic and into the Canadian Arctic, where the crew wintered and learned from Inuit surviving techniques and seamanship. The mission aimed to test polar travel in a small vessel and to chart a viable route through the Arctic seas. The voyage culminated in the successful navigation of the Northwest Passage, a feat widely celebrated as a milestone in the history of exploration and polar navigation.

The journey contributed to Amundsen’s reputation and to Arctic exploration more broadly. The name Gjoa (and the ship itself) entered public memory through associations with the exploration era, and the voyage left a lasting imprint on the geography of the region: for example, the Canadian community of Gjoa Haven in Nunavut derives its name from the ship. Today, Gjoa is recognized as a symbol of early 20th-century polar exploration and is documented in maritime histories and museum collections.