 But other diversions were also available. If my brain grew fatigued with unwanted labour, I could set off with Jackson for the top of the moraine to shoot ox which swarmed under the basalt walls. They roosted in hundreds and hundreds on the shelves and ledges above us. At other places the kiddie-wakes brooded on their nests. It was a refreshing scene of life and activity. As we stood up there at a height of five hundred feet and could look far out over the sea, the ox flew in swarms backward and forward over our heads, and every now and then we would knock over one or two as they passed. Every time a gun was fired the report echoed through all the rocky clefts, and thousands of birds flew shrieking down from the ledges. It seemed as though a blast of wind had swept a great dust cloud down from the crest above, but little by little they returned to their nests, many of them meanwhile falling to our guns. Jackson had here a capital larder, and he made ample use of it. Almost every day he was up under the rock shooting ox which formed a daily dish at dinner. In the autumn great stores of them were laid in to last through the winter. At other times Jackson and Bloopquist would go up and gather eggs. They dragged a ladder up with them and by its aid Jackson clambered up the perpendicular cliffs. This egg hunting among the loose basalt cliffs, where the stones were perpetually slipping away from under one, appeared to me such daredevil work that I was cherry in taking part in it. Far be it for me to deny, however, that the eggs made delicious eating, whether we had them soft-boiled for breakfast or made into pancakes for dinner. It was remarkable how entirely I had got out of training for climbing in precipitous places. I well remember that the first time I went up the moraine with Jackson I had to stop and take breath every hundred paces or so. This was no doubt due to our long inactivity. Perhaps too I had become somewhat anemic during the winter in our lair. But there was more than that in it. The very height and steepness made me uneasy. I was inclined to turn dizzy and had great difficulty in coming down again, preferring if possible, simply to sit down and slide. After a while this passed off a little, and I became more accustomed to the heights again. I also became less short-winded, and at last I could climb almost like a normal human being. In the meantime the days wore on, and still we saw nothing of the windward. Johansson and I began to get a little impatient. We discussed the possibility that the ship might not make its way through the ice and that we should have to winter here after all. This idea was not particularly attractive to us, to be so near home and yet not to reach home. We regretted that we had not at once pushed on for Spitzbergen. Perhaps we should by this time have reached the much talked of sloop. When we came to think of it, why on earth had we stopped here? That was easily explained. These people were so kind and hospitable to us that it would have been more than Spartan had we been able to resist their amiability. And then we had gone through a good deal before we arrived, and here was a warm cozy nest where we had nothing to do but to sit down and wait. Waiting, however, is not always the easiest of work, and we began seriously to think of setting off again for Spitzbergen. But had we not delayed too long? It was the middle of July, and although we should probably get on quickly enough, we might meet with unexpected impediments, and it might take us a month or more to reach the waters in which we could hope to find a ship. That would bring us to the middle or perhaps to the end of August, by which time the sloops had begun to make for home. If we did not come across one at once, when we got into September it would be difficult enough to get hold of one, and then we should perhaps be in for another winter of it after all. No, it was best to remain here, for there was every chance that the ship would make its appearance. The best time for navigating these waters is August, and the beginning of September when there is generally the least ice. We must trust to that, and let the time pass as best it might. There were others than we who waited impatiently for the ship. Four members of the English expedition were also to go home in her after two years' absence. Monday, July 20th. We began to get more and more impatient for the arrival of the vessel, but the ice is still tolerably thick here. Jackson says that she shouldn't have been here by the middle of June, and things that there has several times been sufficiently open water for her to have got through, and I have my doubts about that. The only a little scattered ice is to be seen here, even from a height of five hundred feet, that does not mean much. There may be more ice farther south blocking the way. One day Jackson and the doctor were on the top of the mountain here, and from that point too there seemed to be very little ice in the south, but I am not convinced any the more. I think all experience goes to show that there must still be plenty of ice in the sea to the south. But Mr. Jackson says about the windward, having been able to get through as early as July last year, without needing to touch the ice, adding that then too there was no ice to be seen from here, I do not find at all conclusive. During the last few days more ice has again come drifting in from the east. I long to get away. What if we are shut in here all the winter? Then we shall have done wrong in stopping here. Why did we not continue our journey to Spitzbergen? We should have been at home by now. The eye wanders out over the boundless white plain, not one dark streak of water. Ice, ice, shut out from the world, from the throbbing life, the life that we believed to be so near. Low down on the horizon there is a strip of blue-gray cloud. Far far away beyond the ice there is open water. And perhaps there, rocked on long, swelling billows from the great ocean, lies the vessel which is to bear us to the familiar shores, the vessel which brings tidings from home and from those we love. Dream, dream of home and beauty, stray bird here among the ice and snow, you will seek for them all in vain. Dream the golden dream of future reunion. Tuesday, July 21st, have at last got a good wind from the north which is sending the ice out to sea. There is nothing but open sea to be seen this evening. Now perhaps there is hope of soon seeing the vessel. Wednesday, July 22nd, continual changes and continual disappointments. Yesterday hope was strong. Today the wind has changed to the southeast and driven the ice in again. We may still have to wait a long time. Sunday, July 26th. The vessel has come at last. I was awakened this morning by feeling someone pull my legs. It was Jackson who with beaming countenance announced that the windward had come. I jumped up and looked out of the window. There she was, just beyond the edge of the ice, steaming slowly in to find an anchorage. Wonderful to see a ship again. How high the rigging seemed and the hull! It was like an island. There would be tidings on board from the great world far beyond. There was a great stir. Every man was up, arrayed in the most wonderful costumes to gaze out of the window. Jackson and Bloomquist rushed off as soon as they had got on their clothes. As I scarcely had anything to do on board at present I went to bed again, but it was not long before Bloomquist came panting back, sent by the thoughtful Jackson, to say that all was well at home and that nothing had been heard of the from. This was the first thing Jackson had asked about. I felt my heart as light as a feather. He said too that when Jackson had told the men who had come to meet him on the ice about us and our journey they had greeted the intelligence with three hearty cheers. I had hardly slept two hours that night and not much more than night before. I tried to sleep, but there was no rest to be had. I might just as well dress and go on board. As I drew near the vessel I was greeted with ringing cheers by the whole crew gathered on the deck where I was hardly received by the excellent Captain Browne, commander of the windward, by Dr. Bruce and Mr. Wilton, who were both to winter with Jackson and by the ship's company. We went below into the roomy, snug cabin, and all kinds of news were eagerly swallowed by listening ears, while an excellent breakfast with fresh potatoes and other delicacies glided down past a palate which needed less than that to satisfy it. There were remarkable pieces of news indeed. One of the first was that now they could photograph people through doors several inches thick. I confess I pricked up my ears at this information, that they could photograph a bullet buried in a person's body was wonderful too, but nothing to this, and then we heard that the Japanese had thrashed the Chinese and a good deal more. Not least remarkable we thought was the interest which the whole world now seemed to take in the Arctic regions. Spitzbergen had become a tourist country, a Norwegian steamship company, the Vester Allen had started a regular passenger service to it, a hotel had been built up there, and there was a post office and a Spitzbergen stamp. And then we heard that Andre was there waiting for wind to go to the pole in a balloon. If we had pursued our course to Spitzbergen, we should thus have dropped into the very middle of all this. We should have found a hotel and tourists, and should have been brought home in a comfortable modern steamboat very different from the whaling sloop we had been talking of all the winter and indeed all the previous year. People are apt to think that it would be amusing to see themselves, and I form no exception to this rule. I would have given a good deal to see us in our unwashed, unsophisticated condition as we came out of our winter lair, plumping into the middle of a band of English tourists, male and female. I doubt whether there would then have been much embracing or shaking of hands, but I don't doubt that there would have been a great deal of peering through ventilators or any other loophole that could have been found. The windward had left London on June 9th and Vardo on the 25th. They had brought four reindeer with them for Jackson, but no horses as he had expected. One reindeer had died on the voyage. London was now busily employed in unloading the windward and bringing to land the supplies of provisions, coal, reindeer-moss, and other such things which it had brought for the expedition. Both the ship's crew and the members of the English expedition took part in this work, which proceeded rapidly and had soon made a level road over the uneven ice, and now load after load was driven on sledges to land. In less than a week Captain Brown was ready to start for home and only awaited Jackson's letters and telegrams. They took a few more days and then everything was ready. In the meantime, however, a gale had sprung up, blowing on the shore, the windward's moorings at the edge of the ice had given way. She was set adrift and obliged to seek a haven farther in, where, however, it was so shallow that there was only one or two feet of water beneath her keel. Meanwhile the wind drove the ice in, the navigable water closed in, all rounded outside, and the flows were continually drawing nearer. For a time the situation looked anything but pleasant, but fortunately the ice did not reach the vessel, and she thus escaped being screwed out of the water. After a delay of a couple days on this account the vessel got out again. And now we were to bid adieu to this last station on our route, where we had met with such a cordial and hospitable reception. A feverish energy came over the little colony. Those who were going home had to make themselves ready for the voyage, and those who were to remain had to bring their letters and other things on board. This, however, was sufficiently difficult. The vessel lay waiting impatiently and incessantly sounding her steam whistle, and a quantity of loose ice had packed itself together outside the edge of the shore ice so that it was not easy to move. At last, however, those who were to remain had gone on shore, and we who were going home were all on board, that is to say Mr Fisher the botanist, Mr Child the chemist, Mr Burgess and the Finn Blumquist of the English expedition, along with Johansson and myself. As the sun burst through the clouds above Cape Flora we waved our hats and sent our last cheer as a farewell to the six men standing like a little dark spot on the flow in that great icy solitude, and under full sail and steam we set out on August 7th with a fair wind over the undulating surface of the ocean towards the south. Fortune favoured us. On her northward voyage the windward had much and difficult ice to combat with before she at last broke through and came into land. Now too we met a quantity of ice, but it was slack and comparatively easy to get through. We were stopped in a few places and had to break away through with the engine, but the ship was in good hands. From his long experience as a whaler, Captain Brown knew well how to contend with greater odds than the thin ice we met with here, the only ice that is found in this sea. From morning till night he sat up in the crow's nest as long as there was a bit of ice in the water. He gave himself little time for sleep. The point was, as he often said to me, to bring us home before the from arrived, for he understood well what a blow it would give to those near and dear to us if she got home before us. Thanks to him we had a short and pleasant a homeward voyage as few, if any, can have had from these inhospitable regions where we had spent three years. From the moment we set foot on deck he did everything to make us comfortable and at home on board, and we spent many a pleasant hour together which will never be forgotten by either of us. But it was not only the captain who treated us in this way. Every man of the excellent crew showed us kindness and goodwill in every way. I cannot think of them, of the little steward, for instance, when he popped his head into the cabin, to ask what he could get for us, or awakened me in the morning with his cheery voice or sang his songs for us, without a feeling of unspeakable well-being and happiness. And too we were continually drawing nearer home, we could count the days and hours that must pass before we could reach a Norwegian port and be once more in communication with the world. From the experience he had had on the northward voyage Captain Brown had come to the conclusion that he would find his way out of the ice most easily by first steering in a south-easterly direction towards Novia's Emlia, which he thought would be the nearest way to the open sea. This proved also to be exactly the case. After having gone about two hundred twenty knots through the ice we came into the open sea at the end of a long bay which ran northward into the ice. It was just at the right spot had we been a little farther east or a little farther west we might have spent as many weeks drifting about in the ice as we now spent days in it. Once more we saw the blue ocean itself in front of us and we shaped our course straight for Vardo. It was an indescribably delightful feeling once more to gaze over the blue expanse as we paced up and down the deck and were day by day carried nearer home. One morning as we stood looking over the sea our gaze was arrested by something. What could that be on the horizon? We ran on to the bridge and looked through the glass. The first sail. Fancy being once more in waters where other people went to and fro but it was far away we could not go to it. Then we saw more and later in the day four great monsters ahead. They were British men of war probably on their way home after having been at Vardo for the eclipse of the sun which was to have taken place on August 9th. Later in the evening August 12th I saw something dark ahead low down on the horizon. What was it? I saw it on the starbird bow stretching low and even towards the south. I looked again and again. It was land. It was Norway. I stood as if turned to stone and gazed and gazed out into the night at this same dark line and fear began to tremble in my breast. What were the tidings that awaited me there? When I came on deck next morning we were close under the land. It was a bare and naked shore we had come up to scarcely more inviting than the land we had left up in the mist of the Arctic Ocean. But it was Norway. The captain had mistaken the coast in the night and had come in too far north and we were still to have some labour in beating down against wind and sea before we could reach Vardo. We passed several vessels and dipped our flag to them. We passed the revenue-cutter, she came alongside but they had nothing to do there and no one came on board. Then came pilots, father and son. They greeted Brown but were not prepared to meet a countryman on board an English vessel. They were a little surprised to hear me speak Norwegian but did not pay much attention to it. But when Brown asked them if they knew who I was, the old man gazed at me again and a gleam as it were of a possible recognition crept over his face. But when the name Nansen dropped from the lips of the warm-hearted Brown as he took the old man by the shoulders and shook him in his delight at being able to give him such news, an expression came into the old pilot's weather-beaten face, a mixture of joy and petrified astonishment which was indescribable. He seized my hand and wished me welcome back to life. The people here at home had long ago laid me in my grave. And then came questions as to news from the expedition and news from home. Nothing had yet been heard of the from and a load was lifted from my breast when I knew that those at home had been spared that anxiety. Then silently and unobserved the windward glided with colors flying into Vardo Haven. Before the anchor was dropped I was in a boat with Johansson on our way to the telegraph station. We put in at the key, but there was still so much of our former piratical appearance left that no one recognized us. They scarcely looked at us, and the only being that took any notice of the returned wanderers was an intelligent cow which stopped in the middle of a narrow street and stared at us in astonishment as we tried to pass. That cow was so delightfully summery to look at that I felt inclined to go up and pat her. I felt now that I really was in Norway. When I got to the telegraph station I laid a huge bundle down on the counter and said that it consisted of telegrams that I should like to have sent as soon as possible. There were nearly a hundred of them, one or two rather long, of about a thousand words each. The head of the telegraph office looked hard at me and quietly took up the bundle, but as his eye fell upon the signature of the telegram that lay on the top his face suddenly changed. He wheeled sharp round and went over to the lady clerk who was sitting at the table. When he again turned and came towards me his face was radiant and he bade me a hearty welcome. The telegram should be dispatched as quickly as possible, he said, but it would take several days and nights to get them all through. And then the instrument began to tick and tick and to send through the country and the world the news the two members of the Norwegian Polar Expedition had returned safe and sound and that I expected the from home in the course of the autumn. I pitied the four young ladies in the telegraph office at Vardo. They had hard work of it during the following days. Not only had all my telegrams to be dispatched, but hundreds streamed in from the south, both to us and to the people in the town begging them to obtain information about us. Among the first were telegrams to my wife, to the king of Norway, and to the Norwegian government. The last ran as follows. To His Excellency Secretary Hagerup. I have the pleasure of announcing to you and to the Norwegian government that the expedition has carried out its plan, has traversed the unknown polar sea from north of the new Siberian islands, and has explored the region north of Franz Joseph Land as far as 86 degrees, 14 minutes north latitude. No land was seen north of 82 degrees. Lieutenant Johansson and I left the Fram and the other members of the expedition on March 14, 1895, in 84 degrees north latitude, and 102 degrees, 27 minutes east longitude. We went northward to explore the sea north of the Fram's course, and then came south to Franz Joseph Land, whence the windward has now brought us. I expect the Fram to return this year. Freetjof Nansen. As I was leaving the telegraph office, the manager told me that my friend, Professor Moan, was in the town, staying he understood at the hotel. Strange that Moan, a man so intimately connected with the expedition, should be the first friend I was to meet. Even while we were handing in our telegrams, the news of our arrival had begun to filter through the town, and people were gradually flocking together to see the two polar bears who strode through the streets to the hotel. I rushed in and inquired for Moan. He was in his room, number so-and-so they told me, but he was taking his siesta. I had no respect for siestas at that moment. I thundered at the door and tore it open. There lay Moan on the sofa, reading with a long pipe in his mouth. He started up and stared fixedly, like a madman, at the long figure standing on the threshold. His pipe fell to the ground, his face twitched, and then he burst out, Can it be true? Is it Fritoff Nansen? I believe he was alarmed about himself, thinking he had seen an apparition, but when he heard my well-known voice, the tears came to his eyes and crying, Thank God, you're still alive! He rushed into my arms. Then came Johansson's turn. It was a moment of wild rejoicing and numberless were the questions asked and answered on both sides. As one thing after another came into our heads, the questions rained around without coherence and almost without meaning. The whole thing seemed so incredible that a long time passed before we even collected ourselves sufficiently to sit down, and I could tell him in a somewhat more connected fashion what experiences we had gone through during these three years. But where was the from? Had we left her? Where were the others? Was anything amiss? These questions poured forth with breathless anxiety, and it was no doubt the hardest thing of all to understand that there was nothing amiss and yet that we had left our splendid ship. But little by little even that became comprehensible and then always rejoicing and champagne and cigars presently appeared on the scene. Another acquaintance from the south was also in the hotel. He came in to speak to Moan but seeing that he had visitors was on the point of going again. Then he stopped, stared at us, discovered who the visitors were, and stood as though nailed to the spot, and then we all drank to the expedition and to Norway. It was clear that we must stop there that evening and we sat the whole afternoon talking and talking without a pause. But meanwhile the whole town had learnt the names of its newly arrived guests, and when we looked out of the window the street was full of people and from all the flagstaffs over the town and from all the masts in the harbour, the Norwegian flag waved in the evening sunshine. And then came telegrams in torrents, all of them bringing good news. Now all our troubles were over. Only the arrival of the from was wanting to complete things. But we were quite at ease about her, she would soon turn up. The first thing we had to do, now that we were on Norwegian soil and could look about us a little, was to replenish our wardrobe. But it was now no joke to make our way through the streets, and if we went into a shop it was soon overflowing with people. Thus we spent some never to be forgotten days in Vardo and the hospitality which we met was lavish and cordial. After we had said good-bye to our hosts on board the windward and thanked them for all the kindness they had shown us, Captain Brown waved anchor on the morning of Sunday the 16th to go on to Hammerfest. He wanted to pay his respects to my wife who was to meet us there. On August 21st Johansson and I arrived at Hammerfest. There on the way people had greeted us with flowers and flags, and now as we sailed into its harbor the northernmost town in Norway was in festal array from the sea to the highest hill-top and thousands of people were afoot. To my surprise I also met here my old friend Sir George Badden Powell, whose fine yacht the Otaria was in the harbor. He had just returned from a very successful scientific expedition to Novia Zemlia where he had been with several English astronomers to observe the solar eclipse of August 9th. With true English hospitality he placed his yacht entirely at my disposal and I willingly accepted his generous invitation. Sir George Badden Powell was one of the last people I had seen in England. When we parted, it was in the autumn of 1892, he asked me where we ought to be looked for if we were too long away. I answered that it would be of little use to look for us, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. He told me I must not think that people would be content to sit still and do nothing. In England at any rate he was sure that something would be done and where ought they go. Well I replied I can scarcely think of any other place than France-Joseph land, for if the Fram goes to the bottom or we are obliged to abandon her we must come out that way. If the Fram does not go to the bottom and the drift is, as I believe it to be, we shall reach the open sea between Spitzbergen and Greenland. Sir George now thought that the time had come to look for us and since he could not do more for the present it was his intention, after having carried out his expedition to Novia's Emilia, to skirt along the edge of the ice and see if he could not pick up any news of us. Then just at the right moment we made our appearance at Hammerfest. In the evening my wife arrived and my secretary Christopherson, and after having attended a brilliant FET given that night by the town of Hammerfest in our honour, we took up our quarters on board the Autoria where the days now glided past so smoothly that we scarcely noticed the lapse of time. Telegrams of congratulation and testimonies of goodwill and hearty rejoicing arrived in an unbroken stream from all quarters of the world. But the Fram I had telegraphed confidently that I expected her home this year, but why had she not already arrived? I began more and more to think over this and the more I calculated all chances and possibilities the more firmly was I convinced that she ought to be out of the ice by this time if nothing had gone amiss. It was strange that she was not already here and I thought with horror that if the autumn should pass without news of her the coming winter and summer would be anything but pleasant. Just as I turned out on the morning of August 20th Sir George knocked at my door and said there was a man there who insisted on speaking to me. I answered that I wasn't dressed yet but that I would come immediately. Oh, that doesn't matter, said he, come as you are. I was a little surprised at all this urgency and asked what it was all about. He said he did not know but it was evidently something pressing. I nevertheless put on my clothes and then went out into the saloon. There stood a gentleman with a telegram in his hand who introduced himself as the head of the telegraph office and said that he had a telegram to deliver to me which he thought would interest me so he had come with it himself. Something that would interest me? There was only one thing left in the world that could really interest me. With trembling hands I tore open the telegram. From arrived in good condition. All well on board. Shall start at once for Trompsville. Welcome home. Otto's fair-drip. I felt as if I could have choked and all I could say was the from has arrived. Sir George, who was standing by, gave a great leap of joy. Johansson's face was radiant, Christopherson was quite overcome with gladness and there in the midst of us stood the head of the telegraph office enjoying the effect he had produced. In an instant I dashed into my cabin to shout to my wife that the from had arrived. She was dressed and out in double-quick time. But I could scarcely believe it. It seemed like a fairytale. I read the telegram again and again before I could assure myself that it was not all a dream. And then there came a strange, serene happiness over my mind such as I had never known before. There was jubilation on board and over all the harbor and town. From the windward, which was just weighing anchor to precede us to Trompsville, we heard ringing cheers for the from and the Norwegian flag. We had intended to start for Trompsville that afternoon, but now we agreed to get under way as quickly as possible so as to try to overtake the from at Chervo, which lay just on our route. We attempted to stop her by a telegram to Sverdrup, but it arrived too late. It was a lively breakfast we had that morning. Johansson and I spoke of how incredible it seemed that we should soon press our comrades' hands again. Sir George was almost beside himself with joy. Every now and then he would spring up from his chair, thump the table and cry, the from has arrived! The from has really arrived! Lady Bodden Powell was quietly happy. She enjoyed our joy. The next day we entered Trompsville Harbor and there lay the from, strong and broad and weather-beaten. It was strange to see again that high rigging and the haul we knew so well. When last we saw her she was half-buried in the ice. Now she floated freely and proudly on the blue sea in Norwegian waters. We glided alongside of her. The crew of the Otaria greeted the gallant ship with three times three English cheers and the from replied with a nine-fold Norwegian hurrah. We dropped our anchor and the next moment the Otaria was boarded by the from's sturdy crew. The meeting which followed I shall not attempt to describe. I don't think any of us knew anything clearly except that we were altogether again. We were in Norway and the expedition had fulfilled its task. Then we set off together southward along the Norwegian coast. First came the tug Halogaland, chartered by the government, and then the from, heavy and slow, but so much the sureer, and last the elegant Otaria with my wife and me on board, which was to take us to Trondheim. What a blessed sensation it was to sit in peace at last and see others take the lead and pick out the way. Wherever we passed the heart of the Norwegian people went out to us from the steamers crowded with holiday-making townsfolk and from the poorest fishing boat that lay alone among the scaries. It seemed as if Old Mother Norway were proud of us as if she pressed us in a close and warm embrace and thanked us for what we had done. And what was it after all? We had only done our duty. We had simply accomplished the task we had undertaken, and it was we who owed her thanks for the right to sail under her flag. I remember one morning in particular. It was in Brøna Sund, the morning was still grey and chill when I was called up. There were so many people who wanted to greet us. I was half asleep when I came on deck. The whole sound was crowded with boats. We had been going slowly through them, but now the halaga land in front put on more speed and we too went a little quicker. A fisherman in his boat toiled at the oars to keep up with us. It was no easy work. Then he shouted up to me, You don't want to buy any fish, do you? No, I don't think we do. I suppose you can't tell me where Nansen is. Is he on board the from? No, I believe he's on board this ship, was the reply. Oh, I wonder if I couldn't get on board. I'm so desperately anxious to see him. It can hardly be done, I'm afraid. They haven't time to stop now. That's a pity. I want to see the man himself. He went unrowing. It became harder and harder to keep up, but he stared fixedly at me as I leaned on my rails smiling, while Kristofferson stood laughing at my side. Since you're so anxious to see the man himself, I may tell you that you see him now, said I. Is it you? Is it you? Didn't I guess as much welcome home again? And thereupon the fisherman dropped his oars, stood up in his boat, and took off his cap. As we went on through the splendor of the morning, and I sat on the deck of the luxurious English yacht, and saw the beautiful barren coast stretching ahead in the sunshine, I realized to the full, for the first time, how near this land and this people lay to my heart. If we had sent a single gleam of sunlight over their lives these three years had not been wasted. This Norway, this Norway, it is dear to us so dear, and no people has a fairer land than this our homeland here. O, the shepherdinging spring, when the birds begin to sing, when the mountain peak glitters and green grows the lee, and the turbulent river sweeps brown to the sea, who so knows Norway must well understand how her sons can suffer for such a land. One felt all the vitality and vigor throbbing in this people, and saw as in a vision its great and rich future, when all its prisoned forces shall be unfettered and set free. Now one had returned to life, and it stretched before one full of light and hope. Then came the evenings when the sun sank far out behind the blue sea, and the clear melancholy of autumn lay over the face of the waters. It was too beautiful to believe in. A feeling of dread came over one, but the silhouette of a woman's form, standing out against the glow of the evening sky, gave peace and security. So we passed from town to town, from Fett to Fett, along the coast of Norway. It was on September 9th that the Fram steamed up Christiania Fjord, and met with such a reception as a prince might have envied. The stout old men of war, Njord Stjernan and Elida, the new and elegant Valkyrie, and the nimble little torpedo boats led the way for us. Steam boats swarmed around, all black with people. There were flags high and low, salutes, hurrahs, waving of handkerchiefs and hats, radiant faces everywhere. The whole Fjord won multitudinous welcome. There lay home and the well-known strand before it, glittering and smiling in the sunshine. Then steamers on steamers again, shouts after shouts, and we all stood, hat in hand, bowing as they cheered. The whole of Pepervik was one mass of boats and people and flags and waving penance. Then the men of war saluted with thirteen guns apiece, and the old fort of Ockershus followed with its thirteen peels of thunder that echoed from the hills around. In the evening I stood on the strand out by the Fjord. The echoes had died away, and the pinewood stood silent and dark around. On the headland the last embers of a bonfire of welcome still smoldered and smoked, and the sea rippling at my feet seemed to whisper, Now you are at home. The deep heasts of the autumn evening sank beneficently over the weary spirit. I could not but recall that rainy morning in June when I last set foot on this strand. More than three years had passed. We had toiled, and we had sown, and now the harvest had come. In my heart I sobbed and wept for joy and thankfulness. The ice and the long moonlit polar nights with all their yearning seemed like a far-off dream from another world, a dream that had come and passed away. But what would life be worth without its dreams? As far back as February 26, Dr. Nansen had officially informed the crew that after he left the ship I was to be chief officer of the expedition and Lieutenant Scott Hanson, second in command. Before starting he handed me a letter or set of instructions which have been mentioned earlier in the volume. The day after that on which the post-script to my instructions is dated, that is, on Thursday, March 14 at 11.30 a.m., Dr. Nansen and Johansson left the Fram and set forth on their sledge expedition. We gave them a parting salute with flag, pennant, and guns. Scott Hanson, Henrickson, and Pedersen accompanied them as far as the first camping place seven or eight miles from the vessel and returned the next day at 2.30 p.m. In the morning they had helped to harness the dogs and put them to the three sledges. In the team of the last sledge there were Barnett and Pan who all the time had been mortal enemies. They began to fight and Henrickson had to give Barnett a good thrashing in order to part him from the other. In consequence of this fight the last team was somewhat behind in starting. The other dogs were all the while hauling with all their might and when the thrashing scene was over and the disturbors of the peace suddenly commenced to pull, the sledge started off faster than Johansson had calculated and he was left behind and had to strike out well on his snowshoes. Scott Hanson and the others followed the sledging party with their eyes until they looked like little black dots, far, far away on the boundless plain of ice. With the last sad lingering look after the two whom, perhaps, they might never see again, they put on their snowshoes and started on their journey back. At the time when the sledge expedition started the from lay in eighty-four degrees, four minutes north latitude and one hundred two degrees east longitude. The situation was briefly as follows. The vessel was ice bound in about twenty-five feet of ice with a slight list to starboard. She had thus a layer of ice several feet in thickness underneath her keel. Piled high against the vessel side to port along her entire length, there extended from south southeast to north northwest, a pressure ridge reaching up to about the height of the rail on the half-deck aft and a slanting slightly eastward from the ship. At a distance of about one hundred sixty yards to the northwest, there extended in the direction from south to north a long and fairly broad ice mound, the so-called Great Hummock, as much as twenty-two feet high in places. Midway between the Fram and the Great Hummock there was a newly formed open lane about fifty yards wide, while across her bow at a distance of fifty yards there was an old channel that had been closed up by the ice pressure but which opened later on in the spring. From the Great Hummock, which had been formed by the violent ice pressure on January twenty-seven eighteen ninety-four, we had established our depot on the slope looking towards the ship. The depot consisted of piled-up tin boxes containing provisions and other necessaries and formed six or seven small mounds covered with sail-cloth. Moreover our snowshoes and sledges were stored there. Midway between the vessel and the Great Hummock lay the petroleum launch which, when the new channel or rift had opened right under her, had to be drawn a little way farther out onto the ice. Finally there was our forge. This was situated about thirty yards off, a little abaffed, the port quarter, and was hewn out in the slope of the above-mentioned pressure ridge, the roof being made of a quantity of spars over which blocks of ice were piled with a layer of snow on the top, all frozen together so as to form a compact mass, a tarpel and served in place of a door. The first and most pressing work which we had to take in hand was to remove part of the high pressure ridge on the port side. I was afraid that if the ice pressure continued the vessel might be forced down instead of upward while she had so high a ridge of ice resting against the hole of her port side. The work was commenced by all hands on March 19th. We had five sledges and a box on each, and each worked by two men. There were two parties at work simultaneously, with one sledge each forward and two parties aft, working towards each other while the fifth party of two men with one sledge were cutting a passage thirteen feet wide right up to the middle of the vessel. The layer of ice which was in this way removed from all along the vessel side reached to double the height of a man except in the central passage where it had previously been removed to a depth of about three yards, partly in view of possible ice pressure against this, the lowest part of the hull and partly in order to clear the gangway by which the dogs passed to and from the vessel. The carting away of ice commenced on the 19th and concluded on March 27th. The hole of the pressure ridge on the port side was removed down to such a depth that two and a half planks of the ship's ice skin were free. All the time while this work was going on the weather was fairly cold, the temperature down to minus thirty-eight degrees and minus forty degrees centigrade, minus thirty-six point four degrees and minus forty degrees Fahrenheit. However, all passed off well and successfully except that Scott Hanson was unfortunate enough to have one of his big toes frozen. The doctor and I were together at the same sledge. My diary says, He always suspected me of being out of temper and I him. As a matter of fact it is my habit to dislike talking when I am busy with any work, while the reverse is the case with the doctor. As according to my custom I kept silence the doctor believed I was in a bad humor and in the same way I fancied that he was in the sulks because he abstained from chatting. But the misunderstanding was soon cleared up and we laughed heartily at it. As Dr. Nonsense and Johansson's departure afforded an opportunity for a more comfortable redistribution of quarters I moved into Nonsense's cabin after having packed in cases the effects he left behind and stowed them away in the forehold. Jakobson, the mate who was formerly quartered with four of the crew in the large cabin on the port side, had my cabin allotted to him and in the starboard cabin where four men had been quartered there were now only three. The workroom, too, was restored to its former honor and dignity. The lamp-glasses of the oil stove there had got broken in the course of the year. Amundsen now replaced these with chimneys of tin and fitted thin sheets of mica over the peep holes. The stove having thus been repaired, the workroom became the busiest and most comfortable compartment in the whole vessel. After the various operations of shifting and putting in order the things on board and in the depot, our next care was to ensure easy and convenient access to the vessel by constructing a proper gangway aft consisting of two spars with packing-case planks nailed between them and a rope hand-railed attached. When all this was done we set to work at the long and manifold preparations of every kind for a sledge journey southward in the event which, as a matter of fact, none of us considered likely, of our being obliged to abandon the from. We constructed sledges and kayaks, sewed bags for our stores, selected and weighed out provisions and other necessities, etc., etc. This work kept us busy for a long time. In addition to all the other things we had to provide ourselves with more snowshoes as we were scantily supplied with them. Snowshoes we must have, good strong ones, at least one pair to every man. But where were the materials to come from? There was no more wood fit for making snowshoes to be found on board. It is true that we had a large piece of oak timber left available, but we were in need of a suitable instrument to split it with as it could not be cut up with the small saws we had on board. In our dilemma we had recourse to the ice saw. Amundsen converted it by filing it in a different way into a rip saw. Benson made handles for it, and as soon as it was ready, Mogstead and Henrickson commenced to saw the beam of oak to pieces. At first the work went slowly, most of the time being taken up with filing and setting the saw, but gradually it went better, and on April 6 the timber was cut up into six pairs of good boards for making snowshoes, which we temporarily deposited in the saloon for drying. As I consider Canadian snowshoes superior to Norwegian snowshoes, when it is a question of hauling heavily loaded sledges over such a rough and uneven surface, as is presented by Polar Ice, I directed Mogstead to make ten Canadian pairs of maple wood, of which we had a quantity on board. Instead of the netting of reindeer skin, we stretched sailcloth over the frames. This did the same service as network, while it had the advantage of being easier to repair. With the snowshoes which we had, we undertook frequent excursions, more particularly Scott Hanson and myself. While out on one of these trips, on which Amundsen, Nordall and Pedersen also accompanied us, three miles west of the vessel, we came across a large hammock which we named Lovendon on account of its resemblance to the island Lovendon off the coast of Heligoland. This hammock presented very good snowshoeing slopes, and we practiced there to our heart's content. On May 1st, we had finished the snowshoes intended for daily use, and I gave orders that henceforth daily snowshoe trips should be made by all hands from eleven a.m. till one p.m. if the weather was good. These snowshoe runs were to everybody's taste and were necessary, not only in order to afford brisk exercise in the open air, but also in order to impart to those who were less accustomed to snowshoes a sufficient degree of skill in the event of our having to abandon the from. While the removal of the ridge was proceeding, there continued to be a good deal of disturbance in the ice. Twenty yards from the vessel a new lane was formed running parallel to the old one between us from the depot, and in addition to this a number of larger or smaller cracks had opened in all directions. A little later on, during the time from April 11th to May 9th, there was on the whole considerable disturbance in the ice with several violent pressures in the lanes around the vessel. On the first mentioned day in the evening Scott Hanson and I took a snowshoe trip towards the northeast along the new channel between the vessel and the depot. On our way back pressure set in in the channel and we had an opportunity of witnessing a screwing such as I had never seen equalled. First there was quite a narrow channel running parallel to the principal channel which was covered over with young ice about two feet thick. Thereupon a larger channel opened just beyond the first and running alongside it. During the pressure which then followed the edges crashed against each other with such violence as to force the ice down so that we frequently saw it from three to four fathoms deep under water. Newly frozen sea ice is marvelously elastic and will bend to an astonishing degree without breaking. In another place we saw how the new ice had bulged up in large wave-like eminences without breaking. On May 5th the wide-lane aft was jammed up by ice pressure and in its stead a rift was formed in the ice on the port side about one hundred yards from us and approximately parallel to the ship. Thus we now lay in an altered position in as much as the from was no longer connected with and depended on one solid and continuous ice field but separated from it by more or less open channels and attached to a large flow which was daily decreasing in size as new cracks were formed. The principal channel aft of the vessel continued to open out during the latter part of April and on the 29th had become very wide. It extended north as far as the eye could reach and was conspicuous moreover by reason of the dark reflection which seemed to hover above it in the sky. It probably attained its maximum width on May 1st when Scott Hanson and I measured it and found that just a stern of the vessel it was nine hundred seventy-five yards and farther north over fifteen hundred yards, fourteen hundred thirty-two meters in width. Had the from been loose at the time I should have gone north in the channel as far as possible but this was not to be thought of seeing how the ship had been raised up on and walled in by the ice. No later than May 2nd the principal channel closed up again. The mate Nordahl and Domenson who just then happened to be out on a snowshoe trip south along the channel were eyewitnesses of the jamming of the ice which they described as having been a grand sight. The fresh south-easterly wind had imparted a considerable impetus to the ice and when the edges of the ice approached each other with considerable velocity and force Two large projecting tongues first came into collision with a crash-like thunder and in a moment were forced up in a hammock about twenty feet high only to collapse soon after and disappear with equal suddenness under the edge of the ice. Wherever the ice was not forced up into the air the one ice edge would slide over or under the other while all the projecting tongues and blocks of ice were crushed to thousands of fragments which filled up pretty evenly any small crevices still remaining of what had before been such a mighty opening. Our drift towards the north during the first month was almost nil. For instance on April 19th we had not advanced more than four minutes of latitude about four miles to the north nor did we drift much to the west in the same period. Later on we made better headway but not by long way as much as in 1894. On May 23rd I wrote in the journal as follows. We are all very anxious to see what will be the net result of our spring drift. If we could reach sixty degrees east longitude by the summer or autumn I believe we could be certain to get back home about the autumn of 1896. The spring drift this year is considerably less strong than last year but perhaps it may continue longer into the summer. If we were to drift this year as far as last during the time from May 16th to June 16th we should reach sixty-eight degrees east longitude but it will not be possible now to reach that longitude so early. Possibly we may manage this year to escape the strong back drift during the summer make a little headway instead and if so it will be all the better for us. The ice is not so much cut up by channels this year as it was this time last year. It is true there are good many but last year we could scarcely get about it all simply on account of the lanes. This year we have large sheets of ice ahead of us in which scarcely any openings are to be found. In order to observe the drift of the ice we prepared a kind of log line from one hundred to one hundred fifty fathoms in length to the end of which there was attached a conical open bag of loosely woven material in which small animals could be caught up. Immediately above the bag a lead was fitted to the line so that the bag itself might drag freely in the water. The log was lowered through a fairly wide hole in the ice which it was a most difficult task to keep open during the cold season. Several times a day the line was examined and the angle of drift was measured. For this measurement we had constructed a quadrant fitted with a plum line. Now and then we would haul in the log line to see whether it was still in order and to collect whatever the bag might contain in the way of little animals or other objects. As a rule the contents were insignificant consisting only of a few specimens of low organisms. At the end of May the spring drift was over. The wind veered round to the south west, west and north west. The back drift or summer drift then set in. However it was not of long duration as by June 8 we again had an easterly wind with a good drift to the west so that on the twenty second we were at eighty four degrees, thirty one point seven minutes north latitude and eighty degrees, fifty eight minutes east longitude. And during the last days of June and the greater part of July the drift went still better. A circumstance which helped to increase the monotony of our drift in the ice during the winter and spring 1895 was the great scarcity of animal life in that part of the polar sea. For long periods at a stretch we did not see a single living thing, even the polar bears who roam so far were not to be seen. Thus the appearance in the afternoon of May 7 of a small seal in a newly opened lane close by the vessel was hailed with universal delight. It was the first seal that we had set eyes upon since March. Subsequently we often saw seals of the same kind in the open channels but they were very shy so that it was not until well on in the summer that we succeeded in killing one and this was so small that we ate the whole of it at one meal. On May 14th Petterson told us that he had seen a white bird as he thought an ice-gull flying westward. On the 22nd Mogstead saw a snow-bunting which circled round the vessel and after this the harbingers of spring became daily more numerous. Our hunting bags however were very scanty. It was not until June 10 that we secured the first game when the doctor succeeded in shooting a fulmer and a kitty-wake, Laura's Tridactylus. Through he prefaced these exploits by sundry misses but in the end he managed to hit the birds and all's well that ends well. As regards the fulmer it was an exciting chase as it had only been winged and took refuge in the open channel. Petterson was the first to go after it, followed by Amundsen, the doctor, Scott Hanson, and the whole pack of dogs and at last they managed to secure it. After this it was a matter of daily occurrence to see birds quite near and in order to be better able to secure them and seals to boot we moored our sailing boat in the open channel. This was equipped with a sail and with ballast composed of some of the castings from the windmill which we had been obliged to take down and the very first evening after the boat had been put on the water Scott Hanson, Henrickson, and Benson went for a sail in the channel. The dogs seized this occasion to take some capital exercise. They took it into their heads to follow the boat along the edge of the channel backward and forward as the boat tacked. It was stiff work for them to keep always abreast of it as they had to make many detours around small channels and bays in the ice. And when at last they had got near it, panting and with their tongues protruding far from their mouths, the boat would go about and they had to cover the same ground over again. On June 20th the doctor and I shot one black guillumeau each. We also saw some little ox, but the dogs entering too eagerly into the sport as a welcome break in the prolonged oppressive solitude and monotony rushed ahead of us and scared the birds away before we could get a shot at them. As I have already mentioned the mill had to be taken down. The shaft broke one fine day below the upper driving wheel and had to be removed and taken to the fords for repair. Pedersen welded it together again and on May 9th the mill was again in sufficiently good order for use. But it wore out very speedily, more especially in the gearing's, so that after the first week or two in June it was almost useless. We therefore pulled it down and stowed away all wooden parts and castings on the ridge on the port side except portions of hard wood which we kept on board and found very useful for making up into sledge shafts and other things. The weather was good all through March, April and May with mild easterly breezes or calms and as a rule a clear atmosphere. Once or twice the wind veered round to the south or west but these changes were invariably of short duration. This settled calm weather at last became quite a trial to us as it contributed in a great measure to increase the dreariness and monotony of the scene around us and had a depressing effect on our spirits. Matters improved a little towards the end of May when for a time we had a fresh westerly breeze. To be sure this was a contrary wind but it was at any rate a little change. On June 8th the wind veered round to the east again and now increased in strength so that on Sunday the 9th we had half a gale from the east-southeast with a velocity of 33 feet per second being the strongest fair wind we had had for a long time. It was astonishing what a change a single day of fair wind would work in the spirits of all on board. Those who previously moved about dreamily and listlessly now awakened to fresh courage and enterprise, every face beamed with satisfaction. Finally our daily intercourse consisted of the monosyllables yes and no. Now we were brimming over with jokes and fun from morning to night, laughter and song and lively chat was heard all around. And with our spirits rose our hopes for a favourable drift. The chart was brought out again and again and the forecasts were apt to be sanguine enough. If the wind keeps long in this quarter we shall be at such a spot on such and such a day. It is as clear as daylight we shall be home some time in the autumn of 1896. Just see how we have drifted up to now and the farther we get west the faster we shall go and so forth. The cold which in the middle of March did not exceed minus 40 degrees centigrade kept steadily at from minus 30 degrees to minus 25 degrees during April but it decreased at a comparatively rapid rate in May so that by about the middle of the month the thermometer registered minus 14 degrees and in the latter part only minus 6 degrees. On June 3rd so far the warmest day a large pond of water had formed close to the vessel although the highest temperature attained that day was minus 2 degrees and the weather was overcast. On June 5th the thermometer for the first time stood above freezing point that is at plus 0.2 degrees. It then fell again for a few days going down to minus 6 degrees but on the 11th it rose again to about 2 degrees above freezing point and so on. The amount of atmospheric moisture deposited during the above mentioned period was most insignificant only a very slight snowfall now and then. However Thursday June 6th was an exception. The wind which for several days had been blowing from the south and west veered round to the northwest during the night and at 8am next morning it changed to the north blowing a fresh breeze with an exceptionally heavy snowfall. We saw the midnight sun for the first time during the night of April 2nd. One of the scientific tasks of the expedition was to investigate the depth of the polar sea. Our lines which were weak and not very suitable for this purpose were soon so worn by friction, corrosion, oxidation, etc. that we were compelled not only to use them most cautiously but also to limit the number of soundings far more than was desirable. It sometimes happened that the line would break while being hauled in so that a good deal of it was lost. The first sounding after the departure of Dr. Nansen and Johansen was taken on April 23rd. We thought we should be able to lower away down to 3,000 meters, 1,625 fathoms in one run but as the line commenced to slacken at 1,900 meters, 1,029 fathoms we thought we had touched bottom and hauled the line up again. As it appeared that the line had not reached the bottom we now let down 3,000 meters of line, 1,625 fathoms but in doing so we lost about 900 meters of line, 487 fathoms. Accordingly I assumed that we had touched ground at 2,100 meters, 1,138 fathoms and I therefore lowered the line to that depth without touching bottom. The next day we took new soundings at depths of 2,100, 2,300, 2,500 and 3,000 meters respectively. 1,137, 1,245, 1,353 and 1,625 fathoms but all without touching bottom. On the third day April 25th we sounded first at 3,000 meters and at 3,200 meters, 1,625 and 1,733 fathoms without touching bottom. The steel line being too short we had to lengthen it with a hemp line and now went down to 3,400 meters, 1,841 fathoms. While hauling up we perceived that the line broke and found that in addition to the 110 fathoms length of hemp line we had lost about 275 fathoms of steel line. We then stopped taking soundings till July 22nd as the hemp lines were so badly worn that we dared not venture to use them again until milder weather set in. Wind and weather were of course a favorite topic on board the Fromm especially in connection with our drift. As is but right and proper we had a weather prophet on board to wit Pedersen. His specialty was to predict fair wind and in this respect he was untiring although his predictions were by no means invariably fulfilled but he also posed as a prophet in other departments and nothing seemed to delight him more than the offer of a bet with him on his predictions. If he won he was beaming with good humor for days at a stretch and if he lost he often knew how to shroud both his forecast and the result in a regular mystery and darkness so that both parties appeared to be right. At times as already hinted he was unlucky and then he was mercilessly chaffed but at other times he would have a run of astounding luck and then his courage would rise to such an extent that he was ready to prophesy and bet about anything. Among his great misfortunes was a bet made with the mate on May 4th that we should have land in sight by the end of October and on May 24th he made a bet with Nordahl that by Monday night the 27th we should be at 80 degrees east longitude. Needless to say we all wish that his incredible predictions might come true but alas the miracle did not happen for it was not until June 27th that the Fromm passed the 80th degree of longitude. During the latter part of May the sun and the spring weather commenced to disperse the layer of snow around the vessel to such an extent as to make quite a little pond of snow water on the ice forward. As at that part especially but also all along the side of the vessel the snow was full of soot, refuse and the clearings from the kennels. It was greatly to be feared that an injurious or at any rate obnoxious smell might arise and if besides this as was the case last year a pond should form round the vessel the water in it would be too impure to be used in flushing the deck. I therefore set all hands to work to cart away the snow from the starboard side a job which took about two days. The setting in of spring now kept us busy with various things for some time both on board and on the ice. One of the first things to be done was to bring our depot safely on board as lanes and rifts were now forming more frequently in the ice and some of the goods in the depot would not bear exposure to damp. The action of the sun's rays on the awning or tents soon became so strong that the snow underneath the boats and on the davits began to melt. All snow and ice had therefore to be removed or scraped away not only under the awning but also under the boats on the deck house in the passage on the starboard side in the holds and wherever else it was necessary. In the after-hold there was much more ice now than last winter probably owing to the fact that we had kept the saloon much warmer this winter than before. In the saloon, the library and the cabins we had a thorough spring cleaning which was very badly needed as the ceilings, walls and all the furniture and fittings in the course of the long polar night had got covered with a thick, grimy-looking coating composed of soot, grease, smoke, dust and other ingredients. I myself took in hand the painting of the saloon and of my own cabin which little by little had assumed the same dusky ground tint as their surroundings and on the whole looked rather enigmatic. By dint of much labour and the application of a liberal supply of soap and water I succeeded in restoring them to something like their pristine beauty. We finished our general clean-up on Whitsun Eve, June 1st and thus spent a really comfortable Whitsun tide with butter-porridge for supper and a few extra delicacies afterwards. After Whitsun tide we again took in hand various things required in view of the season and of the possibility that the from might get afloat in the course of the summer. On the Great Hummock were many things I thought might be left there for the present for instance the greater part of our dog's food. The cases containing this were piled up to four different heights so as to form a sloping roof off which the water could easily run and I had the hole covered over with a tarpaulin. The long boat on the port side which I proposed to leave on the ice till the winter was deposited in a safe place about fifty yards from the ship and provided with sails, rigging, oars and a full equipment ready for any emergency. The scraping away of the ice in the holes and on the half-deck was finished on June 12th. We tried to cut the steam pipe aft the pipe for rinse water out of the ice but had to abandon the attempt. One end of this pipe had been resting ever since last year on the ice and it was now so deeply frozen in that we could not release it. We cut a hole all around it four feet deep but the hole quickly filled with water so we left it to the summer heat to thaw the pipe loose. So much water commenced to accumulate in the engine room about this time that we had to bail out considerable quantities certainly 130 gallons per day. We had first thought that the water was produced by the thawing of the ice on board but it subsequently appeared that it was mainly due to leakages which probably arose from the fact that ice forming in the different layers of the ship's skin forced the planking somewhat apart. The state of health continued excellent and the doctor had virtually nothing to do in his professional capacity. In the way of casualties there were only a few of the most trifling nature such as a frozen big toe, a little skin chafing here and there, a sore eye or two. That was all. However we led a very regular life with the 24 hours suitably distributed between work, exercise and rest. We slept well and fed well and so we were very little concerned at the fact that when being weighed on May 7th we were found to have lost flesh. However the falling off was not great. The aggregate weight of the whole party was barely eight pounds less than the month before. There was however one complaint that we suffered from, a contagious one though not of a dangerous nature. It became a fashion or if you like a fashionable complaint on board the Fram to shave one's head. It was said that an infallible method of producing a more luxuriant growth of hair was to shave away the little hair that still adorned the head of the patient. You'll first started it and then a regular mania set in the others following his example one by one with the exception of myself and one or two more. Like a cautious general I first waited a while to see whether the expected harvest sprouted on my comrades' shaven poles and as the hair did not seem to grow any stronger than before I preferred a recipe ordered by the doctor, that is to wash the head daily with soft soap and subsequently rub in an ointment. To make this treatment more effectual however and let the ointment get at the scalp I followed the example of the others and shaved my head several times. Personally I do not believe that the process did any good and the person was of a different opinion. The deuce take me said he one day afterwards when cutting my hair if the captain hasn't got some jolly strong bristles on his crown after that treatment. The 17th of May brought the finest weather that could be imagined a clear bright sky dazzling sunshine 10 degrees to 12 degrees of cold and an almost perfect calm. The sun which at this time of the year never sets throughout the 24 hours was already high in the heavens when at 8 a.m. we were awakened by the firing of a gun and by joyous strains of the organ. We jumped into our clothes more speedily than usual, swallowed our breakfast and with the liveliest expectation prepared for what was in store for the festival committee had been very busy the previous day. At 11 o'clock the various corporations assembled under their flags and insignia and were assigned their position in the grand procession. I marched at the head with the Norwegian flag next came Scott Hansen with the Fram's penant and then followed Mogstad with the banner of the meteorological department richly bedecked with cyclonic centers and prospects of fair weather. He was seated on a box covered with bearskin placed on a sledge drawn by seven dogs the banner waving behind him on a pole rigged as a mast. Amundsen was number four bearing a demonstration banner in favor of the pure flag and he was followed by his Esquire, Nordahl on snowshoes with his spear in his hand and a rifle slung on his back. The flag showed on the red ground a picture of an old Norwegian warrior breaking his spear over his knee with the inscription Onward, Onward, From, From Ye Norsemen your own flag in your own land what we do, we do for Norway. Fifth in the procession came the mate with the Norwegian arms on a red background and sixth was Pettersen with the flag of the mechanical department. Last came the band represented by Benson with an accordion the procession was followed by the public dressed in their best that is the doctor, Ewell and Henriksen in picturesque confusion. To the waving of banners and strains of music the procession wended its way past the corner of the university that is the From down Carl Johan Street and Church Street a road laid out by Scott Hansen for the occasion across the rift in front and the Pressure Ridge the depot on the ice and then wheeled round to the fortification parade that is the top of the Great Hummock where it stopped and faced round with flags erect. There I called for cheers in honor of the festive occasion in response to which there rose a nine-fold hurrah from the densely packed multitude. At exactly twelve o'clock the official salute of the 17th May was fired from our big bow guns then came a splendid banquet the doctor had contributed a bottle of aquavit and every man had a bottle of genuine crown malt extract from the Royal Brewery in Copenhagen. When the roast was served Scott Hansen proposed the health of our dear ones at home and of our two absent comrades who he hoped might achieve the task they had set themselves and return home safely this toast was accompanied by a salute of two guns at four p.m. a great popular festival was held on the ice the place was priddly decorated with flags and other emblems and the program offered a rich variety of entertainments there was rope dancing, gymnastics shooting at running hares and many other items the public were in a highly festive mood throughout and vigorously applauded the guests in all their performances after a supper which was not far behind the dinner in excellence we gathered at night in the saloon around a steaming bowl of punch the doctor amid loud applause proposed the health of the organizing committee and I proposed the from after this we kept it up in the merriest and most cordial spirit until far into the night end of file 18 farthest north volume 2 this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Sharon Riscadal farthest north by Fridjof Nansen volume 2 appendix chapter 2 june 22 to august 15 1895 as spring advanced the disturbance in the ice increased and new lanes and pools were formed in every direction at the same time there was a daily increase in the number of aquatic animals and birds around us on the night of june 22 I was awakened by the watch who told me that there were whales in the lane on the starboard side everyone hurried on deck and we now saw that some 7 or 8 female gnarls were gambling in the channel close upon us we fired some shots at them but these did not seem to affect them later in the day we were in the boat but without getting within range in order to be able to give effectual chase should they as we hoped pay us a visit in the future we made ready two harpoon bladders and an oak anchor which we attached to the end of the harpoon line should the whale when harpooned proved too strong for us we would let go the anchor and the bladders and if the fates were not against us we might be successful we were quite anxious to try the new apparatus and therefore kept a sharp lookout for the whales one or two were seen occasionally in the channel but they disappeared again so quickly that we had no time to pursue them on the evening of july 2 we had the prospect of a good hunt the lane swarmed with whales and we quickly started out with a boat in pursuit but this time too they were so shy that we could not get at them one of them remained some time in a small channel which was so narrow that we could throw across it we attempted to steal on him along the edge but as soon as we had got within a short distance of him he took alarm and swam out into the large channel where he remained rolling about turning over on his back for some four or five minutes at a time with his head above water puffing away and positively jeering at us when at length we had wearily worked our way back again to the large channel intending to assist him a little in his performances pop away he went some days later we again received a visit from a troop of these comedians in another channel newly formed in close proximity to the vessel three of them had long heavy tusks which they showed high above the water and then used to scratch three male friends on the back with we immediately prepared ourselves with rifles and harpoons and ran towards the channel as fast as our legs would carry us but before we got there the beasts had fled it was of no use trying to get within range of these shy creatures so after that as a rule we allowed them to remain unmolested once however during the spring of 1896 we were near catching a gnarl I had been outfouling and was just busily taking out of the boat the birds I had shot when suddenly a gnarl appeared in the channel close to our usual landing place where the harpoon with the line attached lay ready for immediate use I quickly seized the harpoon but the coil of line was too short and when I had got this right the whale dived below the water just as I was ready to harpoon him an occasional large seal focabarbata also appeared at this time we chased them sometimes but without success they were too shy with the fouling our luck was better and so early as June 7th we shot so many black guillomots gulls, fulmars and little ox that we partook on that day of our first meal of fresh meat during the year the flesh of these birds is not as a rule valued very much but we ate it with ravenous appetites and found that it had an excellent flavour better than the tenderest young ptarmigan one day three gulls appeared and settled down at some distance from the vessel petterson fired twice at them and missed they meanwhile resting calmly on the snow and regarding him with intense admiration finally they flew away with every blessings from the hunter who was exasperated at his mishap as he called it the eyewitnesses of the bombardment had another idea of the mishap and many were the jokes that rained down upon the fellow when he returned empty handed however petterson soon became an ardent sportsman and declared that one of the first things he would do when he returned home would be to buy a fouling piece to have some talent as a marksman though he hardly ever fired a shot before he came on board the from like all beginners he had to put up with a good many misses before he got so far as to hit his mark but practice makes perfect and one fine day he began to win our respect as a marksman for he actually hit a bird on the wing but then came a succession of mishaps for some time and he lost faith in his power of killing his game on the wing and sought less ambitious outlets for his skill long afterwards the real cause of his many bad shots came to light a wag who thought that petterson was doing too much execution among the game had quietly reloaded his cartridges so that petterson had all the time been shooting with salt instead of lead and that of course would make a little difference besides the animals named it appears that greenland sharks are also found in these latitudes one day hennrickson went to remove the blubber from some bearskins which he had had hanging out in the channel for a week or so he found that the two smallest skins had been nearly devoured so that only a few shreds were left it could hardly have been any other animal than the greenland shark which had played us this trick we put out a big hook with a piece of blubber on it to try if we could catch one of the thieves but it was of no use one day in the beginning of August the mate and mogs did were out upon the ice trying to find the keel of the petroleum launch which had been forgotten they said that they had seen fresh tracks of a bear which had been trotting about the great hummock it was now almost a year since we last had a bear in our neighbourhood and we felt therefore much elated at the prospect of a welcome change in our bill of fare for a long time however we had nothing but the prospect true mogs did saw a bear at the great hummock but as it was far off to begin with and going rapidly farther it was not pursued almost half a year elapsed before another bear paid us a visit it was not till February 28th 1896 as I said before some had ever since the first week in May been fast embedded in a large flow of ice which daily diminished in extent cracks were constantly formed in all directions and new lanes were opened often only to close up again in a few hours when the edges of the ice crashed against each other with their tremendous force all the projecting points were broken off forming smaller flows and pushed over and under each other or piled up into large or small hummocks which would collapse again when the pressure ceased and break off large flows in their fall in consequence of these repeated disturbances the cracks in our flow constantly increased particularly after a very violent pressure on July 14th when rifts and channels were formed right through the old pressure ridge to port and close up to the side of the vessel so that it appeared for a time as if the from would soon slip down into the water for the time being however she remained in her old birth but frequently veered round to different points of the compass during all these disturbances in the ice the great hummock which constantly increased its distance from the vessel also drifted very irregularly so that it was at one time a beam at another right ahead on July 27th there was a disturbance in the ice such as we had not experienced since we got fast wide lanes were formed in every direction and the flow upon which the smith's forge was placed danced round in an incessant whirl making a sphere we might lose the whole apparatus at any moment Scott Hanson and Benson who were just about to have a sale in the fresh breeze transport the forge and all its belongings to the flow on which we were lying they took two men to help them and succeeded with great difficulty in saving the things at the same time there was a violent disturbance in the water around the vessel she turned round with the flow so that she rapidly came to head west one half south instead of northeast all hands were busy getting back into the ship all the things which had been placed upon the flows and this was successfully accomplished although it was no trifling labor and not without danger to the boats owing to the strong breeze and the violent working of the flows and blocks of ice the flow with the ruins of the forge was slowly bearing away in the same direction as the great hummock and served for some time as a kind of beacon for us indeed in the distance it looked like one crowned as it was on its summit with a dark skullcap a huge iron kettle which lay there bottom upward the kettle was originally bought by Trondheim and came on board at Cabarova together with the dogs he had used it on the trip through Siberia for cooking the food for the dogs we used it to keep blubber and other dogs food in it in the course of its long service the rust had eaten holes in the bottom and it was therefore cashiered and thrown away upon the pressure ridge close to the smithy it now served as I have said as a beacon and is perhaps today drifting about in the polar sea in that capacity unless it has been found and taken possession of by some Eskimo Haas wife on the east coast of Greenland as the sun and mild weather brought their influence to bear upon the surface of the ice and the snow the vessel rose daily higher and higher above the ice so that by July 23rd we had three and a half planks of the Greenheart ice hide clear on the port side and ten planks to starboard in the evening of August 8th our flow cracked on the port and the from altered her list from seven degrees to port to 1.5 degrees starboard side with respectively four and two planks of the ice hide clear and eleven bow irons clear forward I feared that the small flow in which we were now embedded might drift off down the channel if the ice slackened anymore and I therefore ordered the mate to moor the vessel to the main flow where many of our things were stored the order however was not quickly enough executed and when I came on deck half an hour later the from was already drifting down through the channel all hands were called up immediately and with our united strength we succeeded in hauling the vessel up to the flow again and mooring her securely as we were desirous of getting the from quite clear of the ice bed in which she had been lying so long I determined to try blasting her loose the next day therefore August 9th at 7.30 p.m. we fired a mine of about seven pounds of gunpowder placed under the flow six feet from the stern of the vessel there was a violent shock in the vessel when the mine exploded but the ice was apparently unbroken a lively discussion arose touching the question of blasting the majority believed that the mine was not powerful enough one even maintained that the quantity of gunpowder used should have been 40 or 50 pounds but just as we were in the heat of the debate the flow suddenly burst big lumps of ice from below the ship came driving up through the openings the from gave a great heave with her stern started forward and began to roll heavily as if to shake off the fetters of ice and then plunged with a great splash out into the water the way on her was so strong that one of the bow-hossers parted but otherwise the launch went so smoothly that no shipbuilder could have wished it better we moored the stern to the solid edge of ice by means of ice anchors which we had recently forged for this purpose Scott Hanson and Pedersen however were very near getting a cold bath having laid the mine under the flow they placed themselves abaffed with the pram in order to haul in the string of the fuse when the flow burst and the from plunged and the remainder of the flow capsized as soon as it became free of 600 tons burden the two men in the boat were in no pleasant predicament right in the midst of the dangerous maelstrom of waves and pieces of ice their faces especially Pedersen's were worth seeing while the boat was dancing about with them in the cauldron the vessel now had a slight list to star-bird 0.75 degrees and floated considerably lighter upon the water than before as three oak planks were clear to star-bird and somewhat more to port with nine bow-irons clear forward so far as we could see her hull had suffered no damage whatever either from the many and occasionally violent pressures to which she had been subjected or from the recent launching the only fault about the vessel was that she still leaked a little rendering it necessary to use the pumps frequently indeed she was nearly tight which made us inclined to believe that the leakage must be above the waterline but we soon found we were in error about this when she began to make more water than ever for the rest she was lying very well now with the port side along an even and rather low edge of ice and with an open channel to star-board the channel soon closed up but still left a small opening about 200 yards long and 120 yards wide I only wished that winter would soon come so that we might free securely into this favourable position but it was too early in the year and there was too much disturbance in the ice to allow of that we had still many a tussle to get through before the from settled in her last winter haven our drift westward in the latter half of June and the greater part of July was on the whole satisfactory I give the following observations date latitude longitude direction of wind June 22nd 84 degrees 32 minutes 80 degrees 58 minutes north June 27th 84 degrees 44 minutes 79 degrees 35 minutes north by east June 29th 84 degrees 33 minutes 79 degrees 50 minutes east northeast July 5th 84 degrees 48 minutes 75 degrees 3 minutes southeast July 7th 84 degrees 48 minutes 74 degrees 7 minutes west southwest July 12th 84 degrees 41 minutes 76 degrees 20 minutes west southwest July 22nd 84 degrees 36 minutes 72 degrees 56 minutes north northwest July 27th 84 degrees 29 minutes 73 degrees 49 minutes southwest by south July 31st 84 degrees 27 minutes 76 degrees 10 minutes south southwest August 8th 84 degrees 38 minutes 77 degrees 36 minutes northwest August 22nd 84 degrees 9 minutes 78 degrees 47 minutes southwest August 25th 84 degrees 17 minutes 79 degrees 2 minutes east by north August 28th August 29th east by north September 2nd 84 degrees 47 minutes 77 degrees 17 minutes southeast September 6th 84 degrees 43 minutes 79 degrees 52 minutes southwest As will be seen from the above there were comparatively small deviations toward the south and the north in line of the drift whereas the deviations to east and west were much greater From June 22nd to the 29th it bore rapidly westward then back some distance in the beginning of July again for a couple of days quickly towards the west and then a rapid return till July 12th From this day until the 22nd we again drifted well to the west to 72 degrees 56 minutes but from that time the backward drift predominated placing us at 79 degrees 52 minutes on September 6th or about the same longitude as we started from on June 29th During this period the weather was on the whole fair and mild Occasionally we had some bad weather with drift snow and sleet compelling us to stay indoors However the bad weather did not worry as much On the contrary we looked rather eagerly for changes especially if they revived our hopes of a good drift westward with a prospect of soon getting out of our prison It must not be understood that we dreaded another winter in the ice before getting home We had provisions enough and everything else needful to get over some two or three polar winters if necessary and we had a ship in which we all placed the fullest confidence in view of the many tests that we had been put to We were all sound and healthy and had learned to stick ever closer to one another for better and for worse With regard to Nansen and Johansen hardly any of us entertained serious fears However dangerous their trip was we were not afraid that they would succumb to their hardships on the way and be prevented from reaching Franz Josefland and then getting back to Norway On the contrary we rejoiced at the thought that they would soon be home telling our friends that we were getting on all right and that there was every prospect of our return in the autumn of 1896 It is no wonder however that we were impatient and that both body and soul suffered when the drift was slow or when a protracted contrary wind and back drift seemed to make it highly improbable that we should be able to reach home by the time we were expected Furthermore the most important part of our mission was in a way accomplished There was hardly any prospect that the drift would carry us much farther northward than we were now and whatever could be done to explore the regions to the north would be done by Nansen and Johansen It was our object therefore in compliance with the instructions from Dr. Nansen to make for open water and home by the shortest way and in the safest manner doing however everything within our power to carry home with us the best possible scientific results These results to judge from our experience up to this point were almost a foregone conclusion to wit that the polar sea retained its character almost unchanged as we drifted westward showing the same depths the same conditions of ice and currents and the same temperatures No islands rocks, shoals and still less no mainland appeared in the neighbourhood of our frequently irregular course Wherever we looked there was the same monotonous and desolate plain of more or less rugged ice holding us firmly and carrying us willy-nilly along with it Our scientific observations were continued uninterruptedly as regularly and accurately as possible and comprised besides the usual meteorological observations soundings, measurement of the thickness of the ice longitude and latitude taking the temperature of the sea at various depths determining its salinity collecting specimens of the fauna of the sea magnetic and electrical observations and so forth End of file 19