Karen Lander
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 15/99) - For most of his life, Luke Iquallaq of Gjoa Haven kept the identity of his father a secret.

Iquallaq's daughter, Leonie Aaluk, also of Gjoa Haven, said he was afraid he would be ostracized because his father wasn't Inuit. She said he did not reveal the identity of his father until he lay on his death bed in 1973.

Iquallaq was the son of Roald Amundsen, a well-known Northern explorer. According to a library reference material, he had been dedicated to that way of life since the age of 15, when he read about the adventures of another Northern explorer, Sir John Franklin, who became desperate enough to eat his boots.

In 1897, Amundsen took part in a Belgian Antarctic expedition on a ship called Belgica. The ship was at sea for 13 months when scurvy began affecting the entire crew. According to a reference book, Amundsen took over command of the ship and made the eating of fresh meat mandatory -- which helped turn things around.

After the Antarctic expedition, Amundsen bought a fishing boat, which he named Gjoa. In that boat he would attempt to sail the Northwest Passage. Instead of heading into the Victoria Channel, the explorer went around the sheltered, eastern side of King William Island. This meant he was the first person to go by ship all the way through the Northwest Passage.

Although he has never met Amundsen, Nelson Takkiruq of Gjoa Haven remembers hearing about the man. Speaking through his son Elijah, who translated, Takkiruq recalls hearing several stories from the time Amundsen and his crew spent two winters in Gjoa Haven.

One young couple, Takkiruq remembers, helped Amundsen and his crew get to shore when the ship became icebound. In return, they received some merchandise. He adds when the people of Gjoa Haven took Amundsen out caribou hunting, they would pull the sled by harnessing themselves to it.

Takkiruq says when Amundsen and his crew first arrived in the area, other people started to stay and slowly a small community began to form. Takkiruq says that Amundsen was known as a patient and good man. There was one incident, however, when Amundsen became angry when someone cut the chain of the anchor and it was lost in the ocean.

Takkiruq also remembers that to make some trades, men would offer their wives in order to get something they wanted. Also, there was a cabin containing Amundsen's navigating equipment that he absolutely didn't want anyone going near.

Takkiruq says when Amundsen wanted to familiarize himself with the land, he would walk on the west side of the island because there were very few dogs. He also remembers that the people used to call the explorer "Armonsen."

There was a time, Takkiruq says, when people began to get more and more out of hand. He remembers one instance where a man tried to steal a shovel and it was very obvious because he'd put it in his parka.

By the time Amundsen was set to leave Gjoa Haven, the explorer wanted to take a young man who couldn't walk with him. Takkiruq says Amundsen wanted to take him for medical treatment, but the man's parents, afraid they would never see him again, wouldn't allow him to go.

Amundsen left Gjoa Haven when Luke Iquallaq was a baby. He was raised by his grandmother. No one knows if Amundsen fathered any other children as he travelled on his expedition.

Rick Dwyer, also a resident of Gjoa Haven, remembers when Iquallaq admitted being the son of a white man. Dwyer promptly telephoned some people in Norway who were related to Amundsen. A trip to Gjoa Haven was arranged.

As recently as a year ago, members of Amundsen's family travelled from Norway to visit Gjoa Haven.

"It was good to know that people came all this way, to see us as family," Aaluk says. She adds the Norwegians had sent photographs of Amundsen, one of which featured him in Gjoa Haven during the expedition.

Dwyer also recalls some pictures of the explorer and indicated that Iquallaq and Amundsen had the same "distinguished" nose. He also found a photograph of Amundsen with his handwriting on it. The photo eventually ended up in the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife.

In the 1970s, Iquallaq became paralysed on one side of his body following a stroke. He died in 1973, at the age of 73.