 Chapter 15. Of Stories of North Pole Adventure by Frank Mundell. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Still Farther North Dr Fridjof Nansen, the famous Norwegian explorer, is the hero of what is perhaps the crowning feet of arctic exploration. He believed there was a current which flowed from the coast of Siberia towards Greenland, across the polar basin, and that a ship could be carried thither by this current if it were once safely embedded in the moving ice and allowed to drift. He therefore had a small wooden ship built, pointed at both ends, and with the hull shaped like a shallow wide U, so that all ice which came in contact with it would be forced under the vessel, thus preventing nipping, and as the bottom was practically flat she would be able to rest on the ice without toppling over like a vessel of ordinary build. On 26 October 1892 the Fram, meaning Onward, as Nansen called his polar ship, was launched at Christiania. It was rigged as a three-mastered schooner and fitted with a steam engine. Several months were spent in final preparations, and then early in the morning of the 21st of June, 1893, Nansen sailed from Vardo with a crew of twelve picked men. The ship was equipped for an absence of five years. Proceeding eastward along the northern coasts of Europe and Asia, the Fram entered the ice of the mouth of the River Lena on the 22nd of September, and was soon afterwards fast in the pack. Artic authorities in England and America regarded Nansen's project with but little favour. It was spoken of in some quarters as unwise, impracticable, and little short of suicidal. But even the most adverse critic could not but be impressed with the explorer's enthusiasm and his sublime faith in his theory. His undeltered qualifications as an Arctic traveller made it just possible that he might get through, though nearly everyone was doubtful of his success. One of the last messages which Nansen sent to Europe shows the spirit in which he approached his great undertaking. He says, There will probably be a long period of lapse before we are drifted across the unknown polar region and into open water again, or to some coast from which we can return home. In this time there will be nothing heard of us, but when years have passed I hope that you will someday get the news that we are all safely returned and that the knowledge of man has advanced another step northward. These are the words of a brave and resolute man, marred neither by gloomy forebodings nor boastful utterances, but illumined by a spirit of quiet confidence and hope, but to return to the Fram. So far Nansen's theory was right. Day after day she drifted northward in the ice just as he had expected. During the autumn and winter the cold was very intense and so keen was the frost that for weeks at a time the mercury in the thermometers was frozen. The health of all on board was excellent and the time passed pleasantly. The sailors had plenty of amusement, the only disagreeable thing being the crashing and creaking as the ice closed round the ship. This, says Nansen, disturbed the men at their games now and again, but ordinarily they were too much given up to their play to let any arctic influence trouble them much. Better men for such an expedition it would be difficult to find. Winter passed away and the brief arctic summer found the explorers in 81 degrees 52 minutes north latitude. After this the current carried them southward for a time, but at the end of 1894 they had penetrated to 83 degrees 24 minutes the most northerly point reached up to this time. Early in the following January the ice resisting qualities of the Fram were put severely to the test. She was frozen up in ice 30 feet thick, piled up on the port side in great masses, which towered over the bulwarks and threatened to bury if not to crush her. In eager haste boats, sledgers, provisions and other necessaries were placed on the ice and every man stood ready to abandon the ship and continue their journey living on the flow. But when the pressure was at its highest the Fram was forced gently upwards into safety without a single plank being damaged. Well might, Nansen Wright. After this experience I consider the Fram as good as impregnable. North and north westward the explorers drifted rapidly. On the 3rd of March 1895 the ship was in latitude 84 degrees 4 minutes north. At this point Nansen decided to explore the sea to the north of the route, and when he made his intention known, Lieutenant Johansson volunteered to accompany him. A few days later the two daring adventurers set out, leaving the Fram to continue the drift in charge of Otto Sferdrup, Nansen's well-tried comrade, in his journey across Greenland. They took with them 28 dogs, 3 sledgers and 2 canoes, and carried a supplier provisions for a hundred days. Their purpose was to reach the highest possible latitude, and then return by Franz Josefland to Spitzbergen, where they hoped to find a ship to take them home. At first they made rapid progress, but then the path became more uneven, and they had to cut their way over piled up masses of ice. Still they pressed resolutely forward. It was a terrible journey. To save weight they had left their furs behind them, and they suffered considerably. The difficulties of the road increased. Often the dogs were unable to proceed, and their drivers, with straining muscles, helped to drag the heavily laden sledgers over the hummocks. Panting, yet stiff with cold, they would rest for a few moments at midday, and eat a dinner of chocolate, then on again till night. Thus they went on day after day, for six weeks, fighting their way to the pole, over ice and snow, swept by the fierce biting northern blast. With half frozen fingers they made the necessary observations, and Nansen took photographs and even sketched. Often at the end of a day's march they found that they had unconsciously drifted back, twice as far as they thought they had travelled, but they pressed onward with a courage that death alone could kill. On the 7th of April when they were at 86 degrees, 14 minutes north latitude, they were forced to turn back. On the horizon the ice lay everywhere piled up, like frozen breakers. The pole was beyond their reach, but they had won the farthest north, and something more. During the long period of 280 years previous to 1893, the combined efforts of all the arctic expeditions succeeded only in travelling 150 miles nearer the pole. Nansen, in three years, penetrated 200 miles beyond the farthest point, then reached, covering the last 150 miles in a space of six weeks. We cannot dwell on the hardships of the return journey. The short summer was drawing to a close, and many miles had to be traversed before land could be reached. There was no time to lose. As they proceeded southward, the ice was much broken, and dogs and sledgers sunk deep in the half-melted snow. The travellers were almost worn out, but they kept on with unceasing and strenuous efforts. No land was in sight, food was becoming scarce, and winter was drawing nigh. To add to the difficulties of their position, their watchers stopped, and their map was unreliable, so that they had little knowledge of their whereabouts. At length three islands were discovered, to which Nansen gave the name of Wittenland. The explorers proceeded in open water alongside the islands, and in a few days came upon a great stretch of land. Here they decided to spend the winter, as it was now too late to attempt the long journey to Spitzbergen. A hut was quickly constructed of stones, earth, and moss, and covered with walrus skins. In this dreary solitude they passed the winter, six months of night, living on blubber and bears' flesh. How different would their lot have been, had they known that within a few miles was encamped a party of English explorers, belonging to the Jackson-Harmesworth expedition? When we think of the hardships Nansen and his companion had already endured, their lack of proper food, and all the attendant circumstances, we are surprised to read that their health was excellent, and they were in good spirits. Christmas Day was perhaps the most melancholy, as they thought of what their loved ones were doing in the dear homeland far across the sea. At last spring came, with welcome sunshine, and the travellers made ready to start for Spitzbergen. On the nineteenth of May, 1896, they set out, but shortly afterwards severe storms came on, which delayed their further progress till the third of June. One morning, while Nansen, whose turn it was to act as cook, was preparing breakfast, he was startled by the barking of dogs. He at once awoke his companion, and they agreed there must be people near. Breakfast was quickly dispatched, and then Nansen set out in the direction from which the sounds proceeded, while Johansson remained by the tent. It was the seventeenth of June, and the members of the Jackson-Harmesworth expedition had just finished dinner, when one of their number saw the figure of a man on the horizon. Jackson at once set off to meet the stranger. After about an hour's walk they came up to one another, and the Englishman was astonished to see that the stranger was, as black as a stoker, his clothes were covered with grease. It was evident he had been in very rough circumstances for some time. As Jackson looked, he thought he recognized in the grimy figure before him his friend, Dr. Nansen, so he asked, Aren't you Nansen? Yes, I'm Nansen. By Jove! exclaimed Jackson, I am awfully glad to see you. The two men shook hands heartily, and questioned an answer followed in quick succession. After some more talk we again shook hands, says Jackson, and I told him how immensely pleased I was to be the first person to congratulate him on his magnificent success. Three hearty cheers welcomed the gallant doctor to Elmwood, the English headquarters, and a party at once set out to bring in Johansen. They remained for six weeks at Elmwood, and then returned to Vardo in Jackson's ship, the Windward. Their sufferings and dangers were at an end. Shortly afterwards, the Fram arrived safely in port. On meeting with his men, Nansen was deeply moved, and embraced them one after the other as they came to congratulate him on his extraordinary journey, which, to quote Jackson's opinion, is absolutely unequalled for daring in the annals of discovery, either in Arctic or other regions. End of Chapter 15. End of Stories of North Pole Adventure by Frank Mundell