Professor of Astronomy,

The Observatory of the University,

Christiania.




Mr. Alexander's Report.

Captain Roald Amundsen,

At your request I shall here give briefly the result of my examination
of the observations from your South Pole Expedition. My calculations
are based on the longitude for Framheim given to me by Lieutenant
Prestrud, 163deg. 37' W. of Greenwich. He describes this longitude
as provisional, but only to such an extent that the final result
cannot differ appreciably from it. My own results may also be somewhat
modified on a final treatment of the material. But these modifications,
again, will only be immaterial, and, in any case, will not affect
the result of the investigations given below as to the position of
the two Polar stations.

At the first Polar station, on December 15, 1911, eighteen altitudes of
the sun were taken in all with each of the expedition's sextants. The
latitude calculated from these altitudes is, on an average of both
sextants, very near 89deg. 54', with a mean error of +-2'. The
longitude calculated from the altitudes is about