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Lieutenant Kristian
Prestrud (1881-1927) - Biographical notes
 
Lieutenant Kristian Prestrud - second officer,
1910-11 Amundsen South Pole Expedition
Navigator, part of his duties were to devise a simple
and accurate means of navigation during the polar journey for the use
of those non-specialists in the South Pole party. A lieutenant in the
army.
The Fram Expedition
Amundsen was secretive about his real attentions with regards of the
Fram expedition to Antarctica in 1910, the only people to know in advance
were his brother, and the ship's commander, Lieutenant Thorvald Nilsen.
Lieutenant Prestrud and one other of the crew, Gjertsen, were trusted
with the information on the eve of the Fram's departure from Norway.
The rest of the crew of 18 were only told at Fram's stop-over at Madeira.
Once in Antarctica, Prestrud was part of a party of
eight on an unsuccessful attempt to reach the South Pole in September
1911. The return to the ships winter quarters (known as Framheim) was
conducted in some disarray, Prestrud and Johansen being the last two
to arrive some six hours after the others. Prestrud may have frozen
to death if Johansen had not taken care of him and brought him back
to the ship safely.
Prestrud was not taken on the next attempt on the
pole, the party was reduced to six men this time. Instead Prestrud was
ordered by Amundsen to take a small party and explore King Edward VII
Land.
Biography
On their return to Norway, all the crew were treated
as heroes. Prestrud was promoted to Captain in the Norwegian navy and
taken into the King's household where he became the companion and tutor
of the Crown Prince. He later was appointed asa Air and Naval Attache
to Britain and France. On his retirement from service he returned to
the family farm called Prestrud Herrgaard.
He was married and fathered a son and daughter (twins).
Sadly he took his own life in 1927.
This last paragraph is based on a phone
conversation with Lars Prestrud is a nephew of Kristian Prestrud. Lars
is puzzled by his uncle's suicide. He reported that "he was not a melancholy
man."
My own excursions into the family's history began with my young
daughters' questions about whether there were any famous people
in our family. I had replied rather casually that we were probably
all farmers (I might have said peasants) and fishermen. As it turns
out, landed `gentry might be a better description since several
farms of good size were acquired by the family and many members
became government officials, military officers, and teachers. Further,
I have become convinced that most of the Prestrud men have been
either smart enough or lucky enough to marry smart and capable women.
The name "Prestrude" in its various spellings is not
common either in Norway or the United States. I have
located Prestrud/es in North and
South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, New
York, North Carolina, California, and West Virginia.
Less than
half have responded to my inquiries. Some I know are deceased. I believe
that we are all related in some fashion. Both my family and that of
Lars Prestrud claim to have come from Prestrud at Hamar and relationship
to Kristian Prestrud. Lars' father, Peter Prestrud, was a brother to
Kristian. He migrated to Colorado where, after several kinds of work,
he became known for his ski jumping and became a contractor building
ski jumps. He is credited with being one of several people who established
ski jumping as a sport in the US and is in the Colorado and US ski jumping
Halls of Fame.
Biographical information courtesy
of Al Prestrude by email
Landmarks named after Kristian Prestrud
Feature Name: Prestrud,
Mount
Feature Type:
Summit
Latitude: 863400S
Longitude:
1650700W
Elevation ( ft/m ): 7874
/ 2400
Description: A peak over 2,400 m
which rises from the south-western part of the massif at the head of
Amundsen Glacier, in the Queen Maud Mountains. In November 1911, a
number of mountain peaks in this general vicinity were observed and
rudely positioned by the South Pole Party under Roald Amundsen.
Amundsen named one of them for Lieutenant K. Prestrud, first officer
of the Fram and leader of the Norwegian expedition's Eastern Sledge
Party to the Scott Nunataks. The peak described was mapped by the
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and U.S. Navy aerial
photography, 1960-64. For the sake of historical continuity, the
Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) has selected this
feature to be designated Mount Prestrud.
Feature Name:
Prestrud Inlet
Feature Type:
Stream
Latitude: 781800S
Longitude:
1560000W
Description: A re-entrant in the S side
of Edward VII Peninsula, at the NE corner of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Named by the U.S. Antarctic Service expedition (1939-41) in honour
of Lieutenant K. Prestrud, leader of Amundsen's Eastern Sledge Party
in 1911 who was first to traverse this region.
Feature Name:
Prestrud Bank
Feature Type: Bar
Latitude:
773000S
Longitude: 1593000W
Description: A bank named in association with Prestrud
Inlet.
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Biographical information
- This is a difficult area to research, I am concentrating on the Polar
experiences of the men involved. Any further information or pictures
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