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THE NORWEGIAN POLAR EXPEDITION,
1893-1896.
"FARTHEST NORTH"
BY
DR. FRIDTJOF NANSEN
GOLD MEDALLIST, R.G.S.
FRIDTJOF NANSENS
"FARTHEST NORTH '^
BEING THE RECORD OF A
VOYAGE OF EXPLORATION OF
THE SHIP FRAM 1893-96 AND
OF A FIFTEEN MONTHS' SLEIGH
JOURNEY BY DR. NANSEN AND
LIEUT. JOHANSEN WITH AN
APPENDIX BY OTTO SVERDRUP
CAPTAIN OF THE FRAM
ABOUT ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY
FULL PAGE AND
NUMEROUS TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS
SIXTEEN COLOURED PLATES
IN FACSIMILE FROM
DR. NANSEN'S OWN SKETCHES
ETCHED PORTRAIT
PHOTOGRAVURES
AND MAPS
Vol. I
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY
2 WHITEHALL GARDENS
1897
LONDON
IIAKKISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN's LANE,
I'RINTERS IN DRDINARY TO HER MAJESTY.
*"',
TO
HER
WHO
CHRISTENED THE SHH'
AM)
HAD THE COURACiE TO WAIT.
CONTENTS.
Page,
CHAPTER I.
Introduction i
CHAPTER II.
Preparations and Equipment 54
CHAPTER HI.
The Start 84
CHAPTER IV.
Farewell to Norway 98
CHAPTER V.
Voyage through the Kara Sea 134
CHAPTER VI.
The Winter Night 209
CHAPTER VII.
The Spring and Summer of 1894 393
CHAPTER VIII.
Second Autumn in the Ice 453
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATES IN COLOURS.
LATE
Facing
Page
L Walruses Killed off the East Taimyr Peninsula
192
IL Sleepy and Cross
200
IIL Sunset
206
IV. Off the Edge of the Ice .
250
V. Evening Among Drift-ice
264
VL At Sunset
284
VII. The Waning Day . • .
310
^III. Moonlight
496
FULL PAGE PLATES.
Facing Page.
. Etched Frontispiece
From a Photograph, 1893 84
From a Photograph, 1893 86
From a Photograph 90
From a Photograph, 1895 94
Portrait of Dr. Nansen
Scott-Hansen
Adolf Juell
The Fram leaving Bergen .
Otto Sverdrup .
First Drift-ice (July 28th, 1893)
By Otto Sinding, from a Photograph
Peter Henriksen .... From a Photograph
Christofersen and Trontheim
Fratn in the Kara Sea
Henrik Blessing
Bernhard Nordahl
Ivar Mogstad
Bernt Bentzen .
Off the Coast of Siberia
Lars Pettersen .
Anton Amundsen
A Warm Corner among the Walrus
1 10
From a Photograph 123
.By Otto Sinding 142
From a Photograph, 1895 152
Fro7n a Photograph 160
Frofn a Photograph 166
From a P/iotograph 172
From a Photograph 176
From a Photograph 182
From a Photograph 188
By Otto Sinding 196
XI
Facing Page.
Flaying Walruses .... By Otto Sinding 198
The Smithy on the iraw . . . From a Photograph 210
Magnetic Observation . . . From a Photograph 214
Scott-Hansen and Johansen Inspecting the Barometers
From a Photograph 218
Dr. Blessing in his Cabin . . . From a Photograph 224
I Let Loose some of the Dogs . . . By H. Egidius 226
The Men who were Afraid of Frightening the Bear
By A. Bloch
A Chronometer Observation
Sverdrup's Bear Trap
Ice Stratification
Johansen Reading the Anemometer
At the Coming of Spring .
Returning Home after Sunset
Observing the Eclipse of the Sun
A Summer Evening .
Taking a Sounding of 2,058 Fathoms
Reading Temperature with a Lens
Drift-ice in Summer .
Summer Guests
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
Frotn a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
Rhodostethia rosea
Homesickness .
A Summer Scene, July, 1894
The Stern of the Fram, Johansen, and Dog
From a Photograph
Peter Henriksen in a Brown Study
Skeleton of a Kayak for One Man, etc.
Nansen takes a Walk
A Summer Evening
Pettersen after the Explosion
In line for the Photographer
Deep Water Temperatures, July, 1894
The Return of Snowshoers
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
By A. Bloch
From a Photograph
From a Photograph
By A. Eiebakke
228
272
298
360
364
380
382
384
392
396
400
406
414
416
422
430
434
438
442
446
450
456
480
482
488
ILT.USTRATIONS IN TEXT.
Page.
Portrait of Colin Archer . . . From a Photograph 58
Designs for the Fram . . . . . .61
The New Church and the Old Church at Khabarova
From a PhotograpJi 108
Our Trial Trip with the Dogs
By Otto Sinding, from a Photograph 1 1 7
Evening Scene at Khabarova
By Otto Sinding, from a Photograph 121
Landing on Yalmal By Otto Sifiding, from a Photograph 137
The Plain of Yalmal By Otto Sinding, from a Photograph 138
In the Kara Sea By Otto Sinding, from a Photograph 140
Ostrova Kamenni .... Frotn a Photograph 144
Theodor C. Jacobsen .... From a Photograph 146
A Dead Bear on Reindeer Island . From a Photograph 156
At First We Tried to Drag the Bear
By A. Eiebakke, from a Photograph 157
Cape Chelyuskin . By Otto Sinding, from a Photograph 192
On Land, East of Cape Chelyuskin
By Otto Sinding, from a Photograph 193
The Ice into which the Fram was Frozen
From a Photograph 206
The Thermometer House . . . From a Photograph 213
A Smoke in the Galley of the Fram
By A. Eiebakke, from a Photograph 218
The Saloon was converted into a Reading Room
Frotn a Photograph 219
Dogs Chained on the Ice
By H. Fgidius, frofn a Photograph 234
My First Attempt at Dog Driving . . By A. Block 249
Mil
A Lively Game at Cards . . . From a Photograph
I took the Lantern and gave him a Whack By H. Egidius
A Nocturnal Visitant By H. Egidius, from a Photograph
He Stared, Hesitating, at the Delicious Morsel
By H. Egidius
Illustrations from the " Framsjaa ".....
Pram Fellows on the Warpath ......
Pram Fellows still on the Warpath .....
It was strange once more to see the Moonlight
Prom a Photograph
A Game of Halma .... Prom a Photograph
Two Friends . . By A. B loch, from a Photograph
Experiment in Sledge Sailing . . Prom a Photograph
Tailpiece to Chapter .
Sailing on the Fresh Water Pool
Taking Water Temperatures
Our Kennels
The Dogs basking in the Sun
17th of May Procession, 1894
Blessing goes off in search of Algse
Blessing Fishing for Algae
Pressure Ridge on the Port Quarter of Pram, July ist, 1894
Prom a Photograph
Tailpiece to Chapter ........
Snowshoe Practice . By H. Egidius, from a Photograph
Prom a Photograph
Prom a Photograph
Prom a Photograph
Prom a Photograph
Prom a Photograph
Prom a Photograph
Prom a Photograph
Return from a Snowshoe Run
Block of Ice, September 28th, 1894 .
The Waning Day, October, 1894
A Snowshoe Excursion, October, i8'94
On the After-Deck of Pram
Prom a Photograph
Prom a Photograph
Prom a Photograph
Prom a Photograph
Prom a Photograph
Page.
278
291
297
300
304
305
305
310
314
375
377
392
401
411
420
421
424
437
439
440
452
468
469
471
473
479
486
I
c
FARTHEST NORTH
BEING THE NARRATIVE OF THE VOYAGE
AND EXPLORATION OF THE FRAM 1893-96
AND THE FIFTEEN MONTHS' SLEDGE
EXPEDITION BY DR. NANSEN AND
LIEUT. JOHANSEN WITH AN
APPENDIX BY OTTO
SVERDRUP.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction.
" A time will come in later years when the Ocean will unloose the
bands of things, when the immeasurable earth will lie open, when
seafarers will discover new countries, and Thule will no longer be the
extreme point among the lands." — Seneca.
Unseen and untrodden under their spotless mantle of
ice the rigid polar regions slept the profound sleep of
death from the earliest dawn of time. Vl" rapped in his
white shroud, the mighty giant stretched his clammy
ice-limbs abroad, and dreamed his age-long dreams.
Ages passed — deep was the silence.
2 Chapter I.
Then, in the dawn of history, far away in the south,
the awakening spirit of man reared its head on high
and gazed over the earth. To the south it encountered
warmth, to the north, cold ; and behind the boundaries
of the unknown, it placed in imagination the twin
kingdoms of consuming heat and of deadly cold.
But the limits of the unknown had to recede step by
step before the ever-increasing yearning after light and
knowledge of the human mind, till they made a stand in
the north at the threshold of Nature's great Ice Temple
of the polar regions with their endless silence.
Up to this point no insuperable obstacles had opposed
the progress of the advancing hosts, which confidently
proceeded on their way. But here the ramparts of ice
and the long darkness of winter brought them to
bay. Host after host marched on towards the north,
only to suffer defeat. Fresh ranks stood ever ready
to advance over the bodies of their predecessors.
Shrouded in fog lay the mythic land of Nivlheim,
where the " Rimturser ""''" carried on their wild gambols.
Why did we continually return to the attack ? There
in the darkness and cold stood Helheim, where the
death-goddess held her sway ; there lay Nastrand, the
shore of corpses. Thither, where no living being could
draw breath, thither troop after troop made its way. To
what end ? Was it to bring home the dead, as did
■''■ Frost-giants.
Introduction. 3
Hermod when he rode after Baldur ? No! It was
simply to satisfy man's thirst for knowledge. Nowhere,
in truth, has knowledge been purchased at greater cost
of privation and suffering. But the spirit of mankind
will never rest till every spot of these regions has been
trodden by the foot of man, till every enigma has been
solved.
Minute by minute, degree by degree, we have
stolen forwards, with painful effort. Slowly the day
has approached ; even now we are but in its early
dawn ; darkness still broods over vast tracts around the
Pole. „ .
Our ancestors, the old Vikings, were the first Arctic
voyagers. It has been said tha their expeditions to
the frozen sea were of no moment, as they have left no
enduring marks behind them. This, however, is
scarcely correct. Just as surely as the whalers of our
age, in their persistent struggles with ice and sea, form
our outposts of investigation up in the north, so were
the old Northmen, with Eric the Red, Leif and others
at their head, the pioneers of the polar expeditions of
future generations.
It should be borne in mind, that as they were the first
ocean navigators, so also were they the first to combat
with the ice. Long before other seafaring nations had
ventured to do more than hug the coast lines, our
ancestors had traversed the open seas in all directions,
had discovered Iceland and Greenland, and had colonised
B 2
4 Chapter I.
them. At a later period they discovered America, and
did not shrink from making a straight course over the
Atlantic Ocean, from Greenland to Norway. Many and
many a bout must they have had with the ice along
the coasts of Greenland in their open barks, and many a
life must have been lost.
And that which impelled them to undertake these
expeditions was not the mere love of adventure, though
that is, indeed, one of the essential traits of our national
character. It was rather the necessity of discovering
new countries for the many restless beings that could
find no room in Norway. Furthermore, they were
stimulated by a real interest for knowledge. Othar, who
about 890 resided in England at Alfred's Court, set out
on an errand of geographical investigation ; or, as he
says himself, " he felt an inspiration and a desire to
learn, to know, and to demonstrate how far the land
stretched towards the north, and ii there were any
regions inhabited by man northward beyond the desert
waste." He lived in the northernmost part of Helge-
land, probably at Bjarkoi, and sailed round the North
Cape and eastwards, even to the White Sea.
Adam of Bremen relates of Harald Hardrade, "the
experienced king of the Northmen," that he undertook a
voyage out into the sea towards the north and " explored
the expanse of the northern ocean with his ships, but
darkness spread over the verge where the world falls
away, and he put about barely in time to escape being
Introduction. e
swallowed in the vast abyss." This was Ginnungagap,
the abyss at the world's end. How far he went, no one
knows, but at all events he deserves recognition as one
of the first of the polar navigators that were animated by
pure love of knowledge. Naturally, these Northmen
were not free from the superstitious ideas about the
polar regions prevalent in their times. There, indeed,
they placed their Ginnungagap, their Nivlheim, Helheim,
and later on Trollebotn ; but even these mythical and
poetical ideas contained so large a kernel of observation,
that our fathers may be said to have possessed a
remarkably clear conception of the true nature of things.
How soberly and correctly they observed, may best be
seen a couple of hundred years later in Kongespeilet
("The Mirror of Kings"), the most scientific treatise of
our ancient literature, where it is said that **as soon as
one has traversed the greater part of the wild sea, one
comes upon such a huge quantity of ice that nowhere in
the whole world has the like been known. Some of the
ice is so flat that it looks as if it were frozen on the sea
itself; it is from 8 to lo feet thick, and extends so far
out into the sea that it would take a journey of four
or more days to reach the land over it. But this ice
lies more to the north-east or north, beyond the limits
of the land, than to the south and south-west or
west . . . .'
"This ice is of a wonderful nature. It lies at times
quite still, as one would expect, with openmgs or large
6 Chapter I.
fjords in it ; but sometimes its movement is so strong
and rapid as to equal that of a ship running before
the wind, and it drifts against the wind as often as
with it."
This is a conception all the more remarkable when
viewed in the light of the crude ideas entertained by
the rest of the world at that period with regard to
foreign climes.
The strength of our people now dwindled away, and
centuries elapsed before explorers once more sought
the northern seas. Then it was other nations,
especially the Dutch and the English, that led the
van. The sober observations of the old Northmen
were forgotten, and in their stead we meet with
repeated instances of the attraction of mankind towards
the most fantastic ideas ; a tendency of thought that
found ample scope in the regions of the north. When
the told proved not to be absolutely deadly, theories
flew to the opposite extreme and marvellous were the
erroneous ideas that sprang up, and have held their
own down to the present day. Over and over again it
has been the same — the most natural explanation of
phenomena is the very one that men have most shunned ;
and, if no middle course was to be found, they have
rushed to the wildest hypothesis. It is only thus that
the belief in an open polar sea could have arisen and
held its ground. Though everywhere ice was met with,
people maintained that this open sea must lie behind the
Introduction. 7
ice. Thus the belief in an ice-free north-east and north-
west passage to the weakh of Cathay or of India, first
propounded towards the close of the 15th century,
cropped up again and again, only to be again and again
refuted. Since the ice barred the southern regions, the
way must lie further north ; and finally a passage over
the Pole itself was sought for. Wild as these theories
were, they have worked for the benefit of mankind ; for
by their means our knowledge of the earth has been
widely extended. Hence we may see that no work done
in the service of investigation is ever lost, not even when
carried out under false assumptions. England has to
thank these chimeras in no small degree for the fact that
she has become the mightiest seafaring nation of the
world.
By many paths and by many means mankind has
endeavoured to penetrate this kingdom of death. At
first the attempt was made exclusively by sea. Ships
were then ill-adapted to combat the ice, and people were
loth to make the venture. The clinker-built pine and fir
barks of the old Northmen were no better fitted for the
purpose than were the small clumsy carvels of the first
English and Dutch Arctic explorers. Little by little
they learnt to adapt their vessels to the conditions,
and with ever-increasing daring they forced them in
among the dreaded floes.
But the uncivilised polar tribes, both those that
inhabit the Siberian tundras, and the Eskimo of North
8 Chapter I.
America, had discovered, long before polar expeditions
had begun, another and a safer means of traversing these
regions — to wit the sledge, usually drawn by dogs. It
was in Siberia that this excellent method of locomotion
was first applied to the service of polar exploration.
Already in the 17th and i8th centuries the Russians
undertook very extensive sledge journeys, and charted
the whole of the Siberian coast from the borders of
Europe to Bering Strait. And they did not merely
travel along the coasts, but crossed the drift-ice itself to
the New Siberian Islands, and even north of them.
Nowhere, perhaps, have travellers gone through so
many sufferings, or evinced so much endurance.
In America too the sledge was employed by English-
men at an early date for the purpose of exploring the
shores of the Arctic seas. Sometimes the toboggan or
Indian sledge was used, sometimes that of the Eskimo.
It was under the able leadership of M'Clintock that
sledge journeys attained their highest development.
While the Russians had generally travelled with a large
number of dogs, and only a few men, the English
employed many more men on their expeditions, and
their sledges were entirely, or for the most part, drawn
by the explorers themselves. Thus in the most ener-
getic attempt ever made to reach high latitudes, Albert
Markham's memorable march towards the north from
the Alert's winter quarters, there were 2>Z "^^^ who had
to draw the sledges, though there were plenty of dogs
Introduction. g
on board the ship. During his famous expedition in
search of FrankHn, M'Clintock used both men and doijs.
The American traveller Peary has, however, adopted
a totally different method of travelling on the inland ice
of Greenland, employing as few men and as many dogs
as possible. The great importance of dogs for sledge
journeys was clear to me before I undertook my Green-
land expedition, and the reason I did not use them then
was simply that I was unable to procure any serviceable
animals."^
A third method may yet be mentioned which has been
<imployed in the Arctic regions — namely boats and
sledges combined. It is said of the old Northmen in
the Sagas and in the Kongespeil, that for days on end
they had to drag their boats over the ice in the Green-
land sea, in order to reach land. The first in modern
times to make use of this means of travelling was Parry,
who, in his memorable attempt to reach the Pole in 1827,
abandoned his ship and made his way over the drift-ice
northwards, with boats which he dragged on sledges.
He succeeded in attaining the highest latitude (82° 45')
that had yet been reached ; but here the current carried
him to the south more rapidly than he could advance
against it, and he was obliged to turn back.
Of later years this method of travelling has not been
much employed in approaching the Pole. It may,
* First Crossing of Greenland^ Vol. I, p. 30.
lO Chapter I.
however, be mentioned that Markham took boats with
him also on his sledge expedition. Many expeditions
have through sheer necessity accomplished long distances
over the drift-ice in this way, in order to reach home
after having abandoned or lost their ship. Especial
mention may be made of the Austro- Hungarian Tegethoff
expedition to Franz Josef Land, and the ill-fated
American Jeannette expedition.
It seems that but few have thought of following the
example of the Eskimo — living as they do, and, instead
of heavy boats, taking light kayaks, drawn by dogs. At
all events, no attempts have been made in this direction.
The methods of advance have been tested on four
main routes : the Smith Sound route, the sea route
between Greenland and Spitzbergen, Franz Josef Land
route, and the Bering Strait route.
In later times, the point from which the Pole has been
most frequently assailed is Smith Sound, probably
because American explorers had somewhat too hastily
asserted that they had there descried the open Polar
Sea, extending indefinitely towards the north. Every
expedition was stopped, however, by immense masses of
ice, which came drifting southwards, and piled them-
selv^es up against the coasts. The most important expe-
dition by this route was the English one conducted by
Nares in 1875-76, the equipment of which involved a
vast expenditure. Markham, the next in command to
Nares, reached the highest latitude till then attained,
Introduction. ii
83° 20', but at the cost of enormous exertion and loss ;
and Nares was of opinion that the impossibility of
reaching the Pole by this route was fully demonstrated
for all future ages.
During the stay of the Greely expedition from 1881 to
1884 in this same region, Lockwood attained a somewhat
higher record, viz., 83° 24', the most northerly point on
the globe that human feet had trodden previous to the
expedition of which the present work treats.
By way of the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen,
several attempts have been made to penetrate the
secrets of the domain of ice. In 1607 Henry Hudson
endeavoured to reach the Pole along the east coast of
Greenland, where he was in hopes of finding an open
basin and a waterway to the Pacific. His progress was,
however, stopped at jt^^ north latitude, at a point of the
coast which he named " Hold with Hope." The
German expedition under Koldewey (1869-70), which
visited the same waters, reached by the aid of sledges as
far north as yy° north latitude. Owing to the enormous
masses of ice which the polar current sweeps southward
along this coast, it is certainly one of the most unfavour-
able routes for a polar expedition. A better route is that
by Spitzbergen, which was essayed by Hudson, when
his progress was blocked off Greenland, Here he
reached 80° 23' north latitude. Thanks to the warm
current that runs by the west coast of Spitzbergen in a
northerly direction, the sea is kept free from ice, and it is
12 Chapter I.
without comparison the route by which one can the most
safely and easily reach high latitudes in ice- free waters.
It was north of Spitzbergen that Edward Parry made
his attempt in 1827, above alluded to.
Further eastwards, the ice-conditions are less favour-
able, and therefore few polar expeditions have directed
their course through these regions. The original object
of the Austro- Hungarian expedition under Weyprecht
and Payer (1872-74) was to seek for the North-East
Passage ; but at its first meeting with the ice, it was
set fast off the north point of Novaya Zemlya, drifted
northwards, and discovered Franz Josef Land, whence
Payer endeavoured to push forwards to the north with
sledges, reaching 82° 5' north latitude on an island,
which he named Crown Prince Rudolfs Land. To
the north of this he thouofht he could see an extensive
tract of land, lying in about 83° north latitude, which he
called Petermann's Land. Franz Josef Land was after-
wards twice visited by the English traveller Leigh Smith,
in 1880 and 1881-82; and it is here that the English
Jackson- Harms worth expedition is at present established.
The plan of the Danish Expedition under Hovgaard
was to push forward to the North Pole from Cape
Chelyuskin along the east coast of an extensive tract
of land which Hovgaard thought must lie to the east
of Franz Josef Land. He got set fast in the ice, however,
in the Kara Sea and remained the winter there, returning
home the following year.
Introduction. i^
Only a few attempts have been made through Bering
Strait. The first was Cook's in 1776; the last the
Jeantiette expedition 1879-81 under De Long, a
Lieutenant in the American navy. Scarcely anywhere
have polar travellers been so hopelessly blocked by
ice in comparatively low latitudes. The last named
expedition, however, had a most important bearing upon
my own. As De Long himself says in a letter to
Gordon Bennett, who supplied the funds for the
expedition, he was of opinion that there were three
routes to choose from. Smith Sound, the east coast of
Greenland, or Bering Strait ; but he put most faith in
the last, and this was ultimately selected. His main
reason for this choice was his belief in a Japanese
current running north through Bering Strait and
onwards along the east coast of Wrangel Land, which
was believed to extend far to the north. It was urged
that the warm water of this current would open a way
along that coast, possibly up to the Pole. The
experience of whalers showed that whenever their
vessels were set fast in the ice here, they drifted
northwards ; hence it was concluded that the current
generally set in that direction. " This will help
explorers," says De Long, " to reach high latitudes ; but
at the same time will make it more difficult for them to
come back," The truth ot these words he himself was
to learn by bitter experience.
The Jeannette stuck fast in the ice on September 6th^
14 Chapter I.
1879, in 71° 35' north latitude and 175° 6' east longitude,
south-east of W^rangel's Land — which, however, proved
to be a small island — and drifted with the ice in a west-
north-westerly direction for two years, when it foundered,
June i2th, 1881, north of the New Siberian Islands, in
77° 15' north latitude and 154° 59' east longitude.
Everywhere, then, has the ice stopped the progress of
mankind towards the north. In two cases only have
ice-bound vessels drifted in a northerly direction — in
the case of the Tegethoff and xho. Jeannette — while most
of the others have been carried away from their goal
by masses of ice drifting southwards.
On reading the history of Arctic explorations, it early
occurred to me that it would be very difficult to wrest
the secrets from these unknown regions of ice by
adopting the routes and the methods hitherto employed.
But where did the proper route lie ?
It was in the autumn of 1884 that I happened to see
an article by Professor Mohn in the Norwegian
Morgenblad, in which it was stated that sundry articles
which must have come from the Jeannette had been
found on the south-west coast of Greenland. He
conjectured that they must have drifted on a floe right
across the Polar Sea. It immediately occurred to me
that here lay the route ready to hand. Ifa floe could
drift right across the unknown region, that drift might
also be enlisted in the service of exploration — and my
plan was laid. Some years, however, elapsed before, in
Introduction. 15
February, 1890, after my return from my Greenland
Expedition, I at last propounded the idea in an address
before the Christiania Geographical Society. As this
address plays an important part in the history of the
expedition, I shall reproduce its principal features, as
printed in the March number of JVaturen, 1891.
After giving a brief sketch of the different polar
expeditions of former years, I go on to say—" The
results of these numerous attempts, as I have pointed
out, seem somewhat discouraging. They appear
to show plainly enough that it is impossible to sail to the
Pole by any route whatever ; for everywhere the ice has
proved an impenetrable barrier, and has stayed the
progress of invaders on the threshold of the unknown
regions.
" To drag boats over the uneven drift-ice, which
moreover is constantly moving under the influence of
the current and wind, is an equally great difficulty.
The ice lays such obstacles in the way that any one who
has ever attempted to traverse it will not hesitate to
declare it well-nigh impossible to advance in this
manner with the equipment and provisions requisite
for such an undertaking."
Had we been able to advance over land, I said, that
would have been the most certain route ; in that case
the Pole could have been reached "in one summer by
Norwegian snow^-shoe runners." But there is every
reason to doubt the existence of any such land. Green-
1 6 Chapter I.
land, I considered, did not extend further than the most
northerly known point of its west coast. "It is not
probable that Franz Josef Land reaches to the Pole ;
from all we can learn it forms a group of islands separated
from each other by deep sounds, and it appears im-
probable that any large continuous track of land is to be
found there.
" Some people are perhaps of opinion that one ought
to defer the examination of regions like those around the
Pole, beset, as they are, with so many difficulties, till
new means of transport have been discovered. I have
heard it intimated that one fine day we shall be able to
reach the Pole by a balloon, and that it is only waste of
time to seek to get there before that day comes. It need
scarcely be shown that this line of reasoning is untenable.
Even if one could really suppose that in the near or
distant future this frequently mooted idea of travelling to
the Pole in an air-ship would be realised, such an expe-
dition, however interesting it might be in certain respects,
would be far from yielding the scientific results of
expeditions carried out in the manner here indicated.
Scientific results of importance in all branches of
research can be attained only by persistent observations
during a lengthened sojourn in these regions ; while those
of a balloon expedition cannot but be of a transitory
nature.
•' We must, then, endeavour to ascertain if there are
not other routes — and I believe there are. I believe
Introduction. 17
that if we pay attention to the actually existent forces of
nature, and seek to work with and not against them, we
shall thus find the safest and easiest method of reachino-
the Pole. It is useless, as previous expeditions have
clone, to work against the current ; we should see if there
is not a current we can work with. T\\^ Jeannette Expe-
dition is the only one, in my opinion, that started on the
right track, though it may have been unwittingly and
unwillingly.
"The Jeannette drifted for two years in the ice, from
Wrangel Land to the New Siberian Islands. Three years
after she foundered to the north of these islands, there
was found frozen into the drift-ice in the neighbourhood
of Julianehaab on the south-west coast of Greenland, a
number of articles which appeared, from sundry indubi-
table marks, to proceed from the sunken vessel. These
articles were first discovered by the Eskimo, and were
afterwards collected by Mr. Lytzen, Colonial Manager at
Julianehaab, who has given a list of them in the Dafiisk
Geographical Journal for 1885. Among them the
following may especially be mentioned : —
" I. A list of provisions, signed by De Long the com-
mander of x\\^ Jeannette.
" 2. An MS. list of \h^ Jeannette s boats.
" 3. A pair of oilskin breeches marked ' Louis Noros,*
the name of one of the Jeannette s crew, who
was saved.
c
1 8 Chapter I.
" 4. The peak of a cap on which, according to Lytzen's
statement, was written F. C. Lindernann. The
name of one of the crew of the Jeannette, who
was also saved, was F. C. Nindemann. This
may either have been a clerical error on
Lytzen's part or a misprint in the Danish
journal.
"In America when it was reported that these articles
had been found, people were very sceptical and doubts of
their genuineness were expressed in the American news-
papers. The facts, however, can scarcely be sheer
inventions ; and it may therefore be safely assumed that
an ice-floe bearing these articles from the Jeannette had
■drifted from the place where it sank to Julianehaab.
" By what route did this ice-floe reach the west coast
of Greenland }
" Professor Mohn, in a lecture before the Scientific
Society of Christiania in November, 1894, showed that
it could have come by no other way than across the
Pole.*
* Mr. Lytzen, of Julianehaab, afterwards contributed an article to the
Geografisk Tidsskrift (8th Vol., 1885-86, pp. 49-51, Copenhagen), in
•vvliicli he expressed himself, so far at least as I understand him, in the
same sense, and remarkably enough, suggested that this circumstance
might possibly be found to have an important bearing on Arctic
<;xploration. He says : — " It will therefore be seen that Polar explorers
who seek to advance towards the Pole from the Siberian Sea will
probably at one place or another be hemmed in by the ice, but
Introduction. ig
" It cannot possibly have come through Smith Sound,
as the current there passes along the western side of
Baffin's Bay, and it would thus have been conveyed to
Baffin's Land or Labrador, and not to the west coast
of Greenland. The current flows along this coast in a
northerly direction, and is a continuation of the Green-
land polar current, which comes along the east coast of
Greenland, takes a bend round Cape Farewell, and
passes upwards along the west coast.
"It is by this current only that the floe could have
come.
** But the question now arises — what route did it take
from the New Siberian Islands in order to reach the east
coast of Greenland ?
" It is conceivable that it might have drifted along the
north coast of Siberia, south of Franz Josef Land, up
through the sound between Franz Josef Land and
Spitzbergen, or even to the south of Spitzbergen, and
might after that have got into the polar current which
flows along Greenland. If, however, we study the
directions of the currents in these regions so far as they
are at present ascertained, it will be found that this is
extremely improbable, not to say impossible."
these masses of ice will be carried by the current along the Greenland
coast. It is not, therefore, altogether impossible that, if the ship of
such an expedition is able to survive the pressure of the masses of ice
for any length of time, it will arrive safely at South Greenland ; but in
that case it must be prepared to spend several years on the way."
C 2
20 Chapter I.
Having- shown that this is evident from the Tegethoff
drift and from many other circumstances, I proceeded : —
•* The distance from the New Siberian Islands to the
8oth degree of latitude on the east coast of Greenland is
1,360 miles, and the distance from the last-named place
to Julianehaab 1,540 miles, making together a distance
of 2,900 miles. This distance was traversed by the
floe in 1,100 days, which gives a speed of 2 "6 miles per
day of 24 hours. The time during which the relics
drifted after having reached the 80th degree of latitude,
till they arrived at Julianehaab, can be calculated with
tolerable precision, as the speed of the above-named
current along the east coast of Greenland is well known.
It may be assumed that it took at least 400 days to
accomplish this distance ; there remain, then, about
700 days as the longest time the drifting articles can
have taken from the New Siberian Islands to the Both
degree of latitude. Supposing that they took the
shortest route, i.e., across the Pole, this computation
gives a speed of about 2 miles in 24 hours. On the
other hand, supposing they went by the route south of
Franz Josef Land, and south of Spitzbergen, they must
have drifted at much higher speed. Two miles in the
24 hours, however, coincides most remarkably with the
rate at which tho. Jeannette drifted during the last months
of her voyage, from January ist to June 12th, 1881. In
this time she drifted at an average rate of a little over
2 miles in the 24 hours. If. however, the average speed
Introduction. 21
of the whole of the Jeannettes drifting be taken, it will
be found to be only i mile in the 24 hours.
"But are there no other evidences of a current flowing
across the North Pole from Bering Sea on the one side
to the Atlantic Ocean on the other }
" Yes, there are.
" Dr. Rink received from a Greenlander at Godthaab
a remarkable piece of wood which had been found among
the drift-timber on the coast. It is one of the 'throwing
sticks ' which the Eskimo use in hurling their bird-darts,
but altogether unlike those used by the Eskimo on the
west coast of Greenland. Dr. Rink conjectured that it
possibly proceeded from the Eskimo on the east coast
of Greenland.
" From later enquiries,* however, it appeared that it
must have come from the coast of Alaska in the
neighbourhood of Bering Strait, as that is the only
place where ' throwing sticks ' of a similar form are
used. It was even ornamented with Chinese glass
beads, exactly similar to those which the Alaskan
Eskimo obtain by barter from Asiatic tribes, and use
for the decoration of their ' throwing sticks.'
" We may, therefore, with confidence assert that this
piece of wood was carried from the west coast of Alaska
over to Greenland by a current the whole course of
* See on this point Dr. Y. Nielsen in Forhandlinger i Videnskabssel-
skabet i Christiania. Meeting held June nth, 1886.
22 Chapter I.
which we do not know, but which may be assumed to
flow very near the North Pole, or at some place between
it and Franz Josef Land.
" There are, moreover, still further proofs that such a
current exists. As is well known, no trees grow in
Greenland that can be used for making boats, sledges,
or other appliances, l^he driftwood that is carried
down b)'' the polar current along the east coast of
Greenland and up the west coast is, therefore, essential
to the existence of the Greenland Eskimo. But
whence does this timber come }
" Here our enquiries again carry us to lands on the
other side of the Pole. I have myself had an oppor-
tunity of examining large quantities of driftwood both
on the west coast and on the east coast of Greenland.
I have, moreover, found pieces drifting in the sea off
the east coast, and, like earlier travellers, have arrived at
the conclusion that much the greater part of it can only
have come from Siberia, while a smaller portion may
possibly have come from America. For amongst it are
to be found fir, Siberian larch, and other kinds of wood
peculiar to the north, which could scarcely have come
from any other quarter. Interesting in this respect are
the discoveries that have been made on the east coast of
Greenland by the second German Polar Expedition.
Out of twenty-five pieces of driftwood, seventeen were
Siberian larch, five Norwegian fir (probably picea
obovatd), two a kind of alder (ainus incana ?), and
Introduction. 23
one a poplar (popu/us tremula ? the common aspen), all
of which are trees found in Siberia.
" By way of supplement to these observ^ations on the
Greenland side, it may be mentioned that the Jeannefie
Expedition frequently found Siberian driftwood (fir and
birch) between the floes in the strono- northerly current
to the northward of the New Siberian Islands.
" Fortunately for the Eskimo, such laraj^e quantities
of this driftwood come every year to the coasts of
Greenland, that in my opinion one cannot but assume
that they are conveyed thither by a constantly-flowini>"
current, especially as the wood never appears to have
been very long in the sea, at all events not without
having been frozen into the ice.
"That this driftwood passes south of Franz Josef
Land and Spitzbergen is quite as unreasonable a theory
as that the ice-floe with the relics from the Jeannette
drifted by this route. I n further disproof of this assump-
tion it may be stated that Siberian driftwood is found
north of Spitzbergen in the strong southerly current,
against which Parry fought in vain.
"It appears, therefore, that on these grounds also we
cannot but admit the existence of a current flowing
across, or in close proximity to, the Pole.
" As an interesting fact in this connection, it may also
be mentioned that the German botanist Grisebach has
shown that the Greenland flora includes a series ot
Siberian vegetable forms that could scarcely have
24 Chapter I.
reached Greenland in any other way than by the help
of such a current conveying the seeds.
" On the drift-ice in Denmark Strait (between Iceland
and Greenland) I have made observations which tend to
the conclusion that this ice too was of Siberian origin.
For instance, I found quantities of mud on it, which
seemed to be of Siberian origin, or might possibly have
come from North American rivers. It is possible,
however, to maintain that this mud originates in the
glacier rivers that flow from under the ice in the north
of Greenland, or in other unknown polar lands ; so that
this piece of evidence is of less importance than those
already named.
" Putting all this together, we seem driven to the con-
clusion that a current flows at some point between the
Pole and Franz Josef Land front the Siberian Arctic
Sea to the east coast of Greenland.
" That such must be the case we may also infer in
another way. If we regard, for instance, the polar cur-
rent— that broad current which flows down from the
unknown polar regions between Spitzbergen and Green-
land— and consider what an enormous mass of water
it carries along, it must seem self-evident that this
cannot come from a circumscribed and small basin, but
must needs be gathered from distant sources, the more
so as the Polar Sea (so far as we know it) is remarkably
shallow everywhere to the north of the European, Asiatic
and American coasts. The polar current is no doubt
Introduction. 25
fed by that branch of the Gulf Stream which makes
its way up the west side of Spitzbergen ; but this small
stream is far from being sufficient, and the main body
of its water must be derived from further northwards.
"It is probable that the polar current stretches its
suckers, as it were, to the coast of Siberia and Bering
Strait, and draws its supplies from these distant regions.
The water it carries off is replaced partly through the
warm current before mentioned which makes its way
through Bering Strait, and partly by that branch of the
Gulf Stream which, passing by the north of Norway,
bends eastwards towards Novaya Zemlya, and of which
a great portion unquestionably continues its course along
the north coast of this island into the Siberian Arctic
Sea. That a current coming from the south takes
this direction, at all events in some measure, appears
probable from the well-known fact that in the northern
hemisphere the rotation of the earth tends to compel
a northward-flowing current, whether of water or of air,
to assume an easterly course. The earth's rotation may
also cause a southward-flowing stream, like the polar
current, to direct its course westward to the east coast
of Greenland.
" But even if these currents flowing in the polar basin
did not exist, I am still of opinion that in some other way
a body of water must collect in it, sufficient to form a
polar current. In the first place there are the North
European, the Siberian and North American rivers
26 Chapter I.
debouching into the Arctic Sea. to supply this water.
The fluvial basin of these rivers is very considerable,
comprising a large portion of Northern Europe, almost
the whole of Northern Asia or Siberia down to the Altai
Mountains and Lake Baikal, together with the principal
part of Alaska and British North America. All these
added together form no unimportant portion of the
earth, and the rainfall of these countries is enormous.
It is not conceivable that the Arctic Sea cf itself could
contribute anything of importance to this rainfall ; for, in
the first place, it is for the most part covered with drift-
ice, from which the evaporation is but trifling ; and, in
the next place, the comparatively low temperature in
these regions prevents any considerable evaporation
taking place even from open surfaces of water. The
moisture that produces this rainfall must consequently in
a great measure come from elsewhere, principally from
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the amount of water
which thereby feeds the Arctic Sea, must be very con-
siderable. If we possessed sufficient knowledge of the
rainfall in the different localities it might be exactly
calculated.*
" The importance of this augmentation appears even
* Since writing the above I have tried to make such a calculation,
and have come to the conclusion that the aggregate rainfail is not so
large as I had at first supposed. See my paper in The Norwegian
Geographical Society's Annual, III, 1891-92, p. 95 ; and The Geo-
graphical Journal, London, 1893, p. 5.
Introduction. 27
greater when we consider that the polar basin is com-
paratively small, and, as has been already remarked,
very shallow ; its greatest known depth being from
60 to 80 fathoms.
" But there is still another factor that must help to
increase the quantity of water in the polar basin, and
that is its own rainfall. Weyprecht has already pointed
out the probability that the large influx of warm, moist
atmosphere, from the south, attracted by the constant
low atmospheric pressure in the polar regions, must
engender so large a rainfall as to augment considerably
the amount of water in the Polar Sea. Moreover, the
fact that the polar basin receives large supplies of fresh
water is proved by the small amount of salt in the water
of the polar current.
" From all these considerations it appears unquestion-
able that the sea around the Pole is fed with considerable
quantities of water, partly fresh, as we have just seen,
partly salt, as we indicated further back, proceeding from
the different ocean currents. It thus becomes inevitable,
according to the law of equilibrium, that these masses
of water should seek such an outlet as we find in the
Greenland polar current.
" Let us now enquire whether further reasons can be
found to show wh}'^ this current flows exactly in the given
direction.
"If we examine the ocean soundings, w(^ at once
find a conclusive reason why the main outlet must lie
28 Chapter I.
between Spitzbergen and Greenland. The sea here,
so far as we know it, is at all points very deep ; there is,
indeed, a channel of as much as 2,500 fathoms depth ;
while south of Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land it is
remarkably shallow, not more than 160 fathoms. As
has been stated, a current passes northwards through
Bering Strait ; and Smith Sound, and the sounds
between the islands north of America, though here,
indeed, there is a southward current, are far too small
and narrow to form adequate outlets for the mass of
water of which we are speaking. There is, therefore,
no other assumption left than that this mass of water
must find its outlet by the route actually followed by
the polar current. The channel discovered by the
Jeannette Expedition between Wrangel Land and the
New Siberian Islands may here be mentioned as a
notable fact. It extended in a northerly direction, and
was at some points more than 80 fathoms deep, while
at the sides the soundings ran only to 40 or 50 fathoms.
It is by no means impossible that this channel may be
a continuation of the channel between Spitzbergen and
Greenland, "* in which case it would certainly influence, if
not actually determine, the direction of the main current.
"If we examine the conditions of wind and atmo-
spheric pressure over the Polar Sea, as far as they
* The discovery during our expedition of a great depth in the polar
basin renders it highly probable that this assumption is correct.
Introduction. 29
are known, it would appear that they must tend to
produce a current across the Pole in the direction
indicated. From the Atlantic to the south of Spitz-
bergen and Franz Josef Land a belt of low atmo-
spheric pressure (minimum belt) extends into the
Siberian Arctic Sea. In accordance with well-known
laws, the wind must have a preponderating direction
from west to east on the south side of this belt, and
this would promote an eastward-flowing current along the
north coast of Siberia, such as has been found to exist
there.* The winds on the north side of the minimum
belt must, however, blow mainly in a direction from east
to west, and will consequently produce a westerly
current, passing across the Pole towards the Greenland
Sea. exactly as we have seen to be the case.
"It thus appears that, from whatever side we consider
this question, even apart from the specially cogent
evidences above cited, we cannot escape the conclusion
that a current passes across or very near to the Pole
into the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen.
" This being so, it seems to me that the plain thing
for us to do is to make our way into the current on that
side of the Pole where it flows northward, and by its
help to penetrate into those regions which all who have
hitherto worked against it, have sought in vain to reach.
* The experience of our expedition however does not point to any
such eastward-flowing current along the Siberian coast.
30 Chapter I.
" My plan is, briefly, as follows : — I propose to have a
ship built, as small and as strong as possible ; just big
enough to contain supplies of coals and provisions for
twelve men for five years. A ship of about 170 tons
(gross) will probably suffice. Its engine should be
powerful enough to give a speed of 6 knots ; but in
addition it must also be fully rigged for sailing.
" The main point in this vessel is that it be built on
such principles as to enable it to withstand the pressure
of the ice. The sides must slope sufficiently to prevent
the ice, when it presses together, from getting firm hold
of the hull, as was the case with the Jeannette and other
vessels. Instead of nipping the ship, the ice must raise
it up out of the water. No very new departure in
construction is likely to be needed, for the Jeannette,
notwithstanding her preposterous build, was able to hold
out against the ice pressure for about two years. That
a vessel can easily be built on such lines as to fulfil these
requirements no one will question, who has seen a ship
nipped by the ice. For the same reason, too, the ship
ought to be a small one ; for besides being thus easier to
manoeuvre in the ice, it will be more readily lifted by the
pressure of the ice, not to mention that it will be easier
to give it the requisite strength. It must, of course, be
built of picked materials. A ship of the form and size
here indicated will not be a good or comfortable sea-boat,
but that is of minor importance in waters filled with ice
such as we are here speaking of. It is true that it would
Introduction. 31
have to travel a long distance over the open sea before it
would get so far, but it would not be so bad a sea-boat as
to be unable to get along, even though sea-sick passengers
might have to offer sacrifices to the gods of the sea.
" With such a ship and a crew of ten, or at the most
twelve, able-bodied and carefully picked men, with a full
equipment for five years, in every respect as good as
modern appliances permit of, I am of opinion that the
-undertaking would be well secured against risk. With
this ship we should sail up through Bering Strait and
westward along the north coast of Siberia towards the
New Siberian Islands* as early in the summer as the ice
would permit.
" Arrived at the New Siberian Islands, it will be
advisable to employ the time to the best advantage in
examining the conditions of currents and ice, and to wait
for the most opportune moment to advance as far as
possible in ice-free water, which, judging by the accounts
of the ice conditions north of Bering Strait given by
American whalers, will probably be in August or the
beginning of September.
•'When the right time has arrived, then we shall
plough our way in amongst the ice as far as we can. We
* I first thought of choosing the route through Bering Strait, because
I imagined that I could reach the New Siberian Islands safer and earlier
the year from that side. On further investigation I found that this
was doubtful, and I decided on the shorter route through the Kara Sea
and north of Cape Chelyuskin.
32 Chapter I.
may venture to conclude from the experience of the
feannette Expedition, that we should thus be able to reach
a point north of the most northerly of the New Siberian
Islands. De Long notes in his journal that while the
expedition was drifting in the ice north of Bennet Island
they saw all around them a dark ' water sky ' — that is to
say, a sky which gives a dark reflection of open water —
indicating such a sea as would be, at all events, to some
extent navigable by a strong ice-ship. Next, it must be
borne in mind that the whole Jeannette Expedition
travelled in boats, partly in open water, from Bennett
Island to the Siberian coast, where, as we know, the
majority ot them met with a lamentable end.
Nordenskiold advanced no farther northwards than
to the southernmost of the islands mentioned (at the
end of August) but here he found the water every-
where open.
"It is, therefore, probable that we may be able to
push our way up past the New Siberian Islands, and
that accomplished we shall be right in the current which
carried ihe. Jeannette. The thing will then be simply to
force our way northwards till we are set fast.*
"-Next we must choose a fitting place and moor the
ship firmly between suitable ice-floes, and then let the
* As subsequently stated in my lecture in London {Geographical
Society's Journal, p. i8), I purposed to go north along the west coast of
the New Siberian Islands, as I thought that the warm water coming from
the I^ena would keep the sea open here.
Introduction. ^t^
fee screw itself together as much as it likes — the more
the better. The ship will simply be hoisted up and will
ride safely and firmly. It is possible it may heel over
to a certain extent under this pressure ; but that will
scarcely be of much importance. . . . Henceforth
the current will be our motive power, while our ship,
no longer a means of transport, will become a barrack,
and we shall have ample time for scientific observations.
" In this manner the expedition will, as above
indicated, probably drift across the Pole, and onwards
to the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen. And
when we get down to the 8oth degree of latitude, or
even sooner if it is summer, there is every likelihood of
our getting the ship free, and being able to sail home.
Should she, however, be lost before this — which is
certainly possible, though as I think very unlikely if
she is constructed in the way above described — the
expedition will not, therefore, be a failure, for our
homeward course must in any case follow the polar
current on to the North Atlantic basin ; there is plenty
of ice to drift on, and of this means of locomotion we
have already had experience. If the Jeannette
Expedition had had sufficient provisions, and had
remained on the ice-floe on which the relics were
ultimately found, the result would doubtless have been
very different from what it was. Our ship cannot
possibly founder under the ice pressure so quickly but
that there would be time enough to remove, with all
1)
34 Chapter I.
our equipment and provisions, to a substantial ice-floe,
which we should have selected beforehand in view of
such a contingency. Here the tents which we should
take with us to meet this contingency would be pitched.
In order to preserve our provisions and other equipments
we should not place them all together on one spot,
but should distribute them over the ice, laying them
on rafts of planks and beams which we should have
built on it. This will obviate the possibility of any of
our equipments sinking, even should the floe on which
they are break up. The crew of the Hansa, who drifted
for more than half a year along the east coast of
Greenland, in this way lost a great quantity of their
supplies.
" For the success of such an expedition two things
only are required : — viz., good clothing, and plenty of
food, and these we can take care to have with us. We
should thus be able to remain as safely on our ice-floe as
in our ship, and should advance just as well towards the
Greenland Sea. The only difference would be that on
our arrival there, instead of proceeding by ship, we must
take to our boats, which would convey us just as safely to
the nearest harbour.
" Thus it seems to me there is an overwhelming
probability that such an expedition would be successful.
Many people, however, will certainly urge : — * In all
currents there are eddies and backwaters ; suppose, then,
you get into one of these, or perhaps stumble on an
Introduction. 35
unknown land up by the Pole and remain lying fast there,
how will you extricate yourselves ? ' To this I would
merely reply, as concerns the backwater, that we must
get out of it just as surely as we got into it, and that we
shall have provisions for five years. And as regards the
other possibility, we should hail such an occurrence with
delight, for no spot on earth could well be found of
greater scientific interest. On this newly discovered
land we should make as many observations as possible.
Should time wear on and find us still unable to get our
ship into the set of the current again, there would be
nothing for it but to abandon her, and with our boats
and necessary stores to search for the nearest current in
order to drift in the manner before mentioned.
" How long may we suppose such a voyage to occupy .'*
As we have already seen, the relics of the Jeannette
Expedition at most took two years to drift along the same
course down to the 80th degree of latitude, where we
may, with tolerable certainty, count upon getting loose.
This would correspond to a rate of about two miles per
day of twenty-four hours.
" We may therefore not unreasonably calculate on
reaching this point in the course of two years ; and it is
also possible that the ship might be set free in a higher
latitude than is here contemplated. Five years' pro-
visions must therefore be regarded as ample.
" But is not the cold in winter in these regions so
severe that life will be impossible ? There is no pro-
D 2
36 Chapter I.
bability of this. We can even say with tolerable
certainty, that at the Pole itself it is not so cold in winter
as it is (for example) in the north of Siberia, an inhabited
region, or on the northern part of the west coast of
Greenland, which is also inhabited. Meteorologists
have calculated that the mean temperature at the Pole in
January is about — 33° Fahr. ( — 36° C.) while, for example,
in Yakutsk it is— 43° Fahr. ( — 42° C), and in Verkhoyansk
— 54° Fahr. ( — 48° C). We should remember that the
Pole is probably covered with sea, radiation from which
is considerably less than from large land surfaces, such as
the plains of North Asia. The polar region has, therefore,
in all probability a marine climate with comparatively mild
winters, but, by way of a set-off, with cold summers.
"The cold in these regions cannot, then, be any direct
obstacle. One difficulty, however, which many former
expeditions have had to contend against, and which must
not be overlooked here, is scurvy. During a sojourn of
any long duration in so cold a climate, this malady will
unquestionably show itself unless one is able to obtain
fresh provisions. I think, however, it may be safely
assumed that the very various and nutritious foods now
available in the form of hermetically closed preparations
of different kinds, togfether with the scientific knowledge
we now possess of the food stuffs necessary for bodily
health, will enable us to hold this danger at a distance.
Nor do I think that there will be an entire absence of
fresh provisions in the waters we shall travel through.
Introduction. 37
Polar bears and seals we may safely calculate on finding
far to the north, if not up to the very Pole. It may be
mentioned also that the sea must certainly contain
quantities of small animals that might serve as food in
case of necessity.
"It will be seen that whatever difficulties may be
suggested as possible, they are not so great but that they
can be surmounted by means of a careful 'equipment,
a fortunate selection of the members of the expedition,
and judicious leadership ; so that good results may be
hoped for. We may reckon on getting out into the sea
between Greenland and Spitzbergen as surely as we can
reckon on getting into the Jeannette current off the New
Siberian Islands.
" But if this Jeannette current does not pass right
across the Pole } If, for instance, it passes between the
Pole and Franz Josef Land, as above intimated ?
What will the expedition do in that case to reach the
earth's axis ? Yes, this may seem to be the Achilles'
heel of the undertaking ; for should the ship be carried
past the Pole at more than one degree s distance, it may
then appear extremely imprudent and unsafe to abandon
it in mid-current and face such a long sledge-journey over
uneven sea-ice, which itself is drifting. Even if one
reached the Pole it would be very uncertain whether one
could find the ship again on returning
I am, however, of opinion that this is of small import : —
it is not to seek for the exact mathemalical point that forms
38 Chapter I.
the northern extremity of the eartJis axis that we set out,
for to reach this point is intrinsically of small moment.
Our object is to investigate the great unknown region that
surrounds the Pole, and these investigations will be
equally important from a scientific point of view whether
the expedition passes over the polar point itself or at
some distance from it."
In this lecture I had submitted the most important
data on which my plan was founded ; but in the following
years I continued to study the conditions of the northern
waters, and received ever fresh proofs that my surmise
of a drift right across the Polar Sea was correct. In a
lecture delivered before the Geographical Society in
Christiania, on September 28th, 1892, I alluded to some
of these enquiries.* I laid stress on the fact that on
considering the thickness and extent of the drift-ice in
the seas on both sides of the Pole, one cannot but be
struck by the fact that while the ice on the Asiatic side,
north of the Siberian coast, is comparatively thin (the
ice in which th.^ Jeannette drifted was as a rule not more
than from 7 to 10 feet thick) that on the other side,
which comes drifting from the north in the sea between
Greenland and Spitzbergen, is remarkably massive, and
this, notwithstanding that the sea north of Siberia is
one of the coldest tracts on the earth. This, I suggested,
could be explained only on the assumption that the ice is
* See the Society s Annual, III, T892, p. 91.
Introduction. 39
constantly drifting from the Siberian coast, and that,
while passing through the unknown and cold sea there
is time for it to attain its enormous thickness partly by
freezing, partly by the constant packing that takes place
as the floes screw themselves together.
I further mentioned in the same lecture that the mud
found on this drift-ice seemed to point to a Siberian
origin. I did not at the time attach great importance to
this fact, but on a further examination of the deposits I
had collected during my Greenland Expedition, it
appeared that it could scarcely come from anywhere else
but Siberia. On investigating its mineralogical compo-
sition. Dr. Tornebohm, of Stockholm, came to the
conclusion that the greater part of it must be Siberian
river mud. He found about twenty different minerals in
it. " This quantity of dissimilar constituent mineral
parts appears to me," he says, " to point to the fact
that they take their origin from a very extensive tract of
land, and one's thoughts naturally turn to Siberia."
Moreover, more than half of this mud deposit consisted
of humus or boggy soil. More interesting, however,
than the actual mud deposit were the diatoms found in
it, which were examined by Professor Cleve, of Upsala,
who says : — " These diatoms are decidedly marine (i.e.,
take their origin from salt water), with some few fresh-
water forms which the wind has carried from land. The
diatomous flora in this dust is quite peculiar and unlike
what I have found in many thousands of other speci-
40 Chapter I.
mens, with one exception, with which it shows the most
complete conformity, namely, a specimen which was
collected by Kellman during the Vega Expedition on an
ice-floe off Cape Wankarem, near Bering Strait. Species
and varieties were perfectly identical in both specimens."
Cleve was able to distinguish sixteen species of
diatoms. All these appear also in the dust from
Cape Wankarem, and twelve of them have been
found at that place alone, and nowhere else in all
the world. This was a notable coincidence between two
such remote points, and Cleve is certainly right in
saying : — " It is, indeed, quite remarkable that the
diatomous flora on the ice-floes off Bering Strait and
on the east coast of Greenland should so completely
resemble each other, and should be so utterly unlike all
others : it points to an open connection between the seas
east of Greenland and north of Asia." "Through this
open connection," I continued in my address, "drift-ice
is, therefore, yearly transported across the unknown
Polar Sea. On this same drift-ice and by the same route,
it must be no less possible to transport an expedition^
When this plan was propounded it certainly met with
approval in various quarters, especially here at home.
Thus it was vigorously supported by Professor Mohn,
who, indeed, by his explanation of the drift of the
Jeamiette relics, had given the origmal impulse to it.
But, as might be expected, it met with opposition in the
main, especially from abroad, while most of the polar
Introduction. 41
travellers and Arctic authorities declared, more or less
openly, that it was sheer madness. The year before we
set out, in November, 1892, I laid it before the Geogra-
phical Society in London in a lecture at which the
principal Arctic travellers of England were present.
After the lecture a discussion took place,'-' whicli plainly
showed how greatly I was at variance with the generally-
accepted opinions as to the conditions in the interior of
the Polar Sea, the principles of ice navigation, and the
methods that a polar expedition ought to pursue.
The eminent Arctic traveller, Admiral Sir Leopold
M'Clintock, opened the discussion with the remark : —
" I think I may say this is the most adventurous
programme ever brought under the notice of the
Royal Geographical Society." He allowed that the
facts spoke in favour of the correctness of my theories,
but was in a high degree doubtful whether my plan
could be realised. He was especially of opinion that
the danger of being crushed in the ice was too great.
A ship could, no doubt, be built that would be strong
enough to resist the ice pressure in summer ; but should
it be exposed to this pressure in the winter months,
when the ice resembled a mountain frozen fast to the
ship's side, he thought that the possibility of being forced
up on the surface of the ice was very remote. He firmly
* Both my lecture and the discussion are printed in The Geographical
Journal, London, vol. i, 1893, pp. 1-32.
42 Chapter I.
believed, as did the majority of the others, that there
was no probability of ever seeing the Fram again, v^^hen
once she had given herself over to the pitiless polar ice,
and concluded by saying, " I wish the doctor full and
speedy success. But it will be a great relief to his
many friends in England when he returns, and more
particularly to those who have had experience of the
dangers at all times inseparable from ice navigation,
even in regions not quite so far north."
Admiral Sir George Nares said : —
" The adopted Arctic axioms for successfully navi-
gating an icy region are that it is absolutely necessary to
keep close to a coast line, and that the farther we
advance from civilization, the more desirable it is to
insure a reasonably safe line of retreat. Totally dis-
regarding these, the ruling principle of the voyage is
that the vessel — on which, if the voyage is in any way
successful, the sole future hope of the party will depend,
is to be pushed deliberately into the pack-ice. Thus, her
commander — in lieu of retaining any power over her
future movements — will be forced to submit to be drifted
helplessly about in agreement with the natural move-
ments of the ice in which he is imprisoned. Supposing
the sea currents are as stated, the time calculated as
necessary to drift with the pack across the polar area is
several years, during which time, unless new lands are
met with, the ice near the vessel will certainly never be
quiet, and the ship herself never free from the danger of
Introduction. 43
being crushed by ice presses. To guard against this the
vessel is said to be unusually strong, and of a special
form to enable her to lise when the ice presses against
her sides. This idea is no novelty whatever ; but when
once frozen into the polar pack the form of the vessel goes
for nothing. She is hermetically sealed to and forms a
part of the ice block surrounding her. The form of the
ship is for all practical purposes the form of the block of
ice in which she is frozen. This is a matter of the first
importance, for there is no record of a vessel frozen into
the polar pack having been disconnected from the ice,
and so rendered capable of rising under pressure as a
separate body detached from the ice block, even in the
height of summer. In the event of the destruction of
the vessel, the boats — necessarily fully stored, not only
for the retreat, but for continuing the voyage — are to be
available. This is well in theory, but extremely difficult
to arrange for in practice. Preparation to abandon the
vessel, is the one thing that gives us the most anxiety.
To place boats, &c., on the ice packed ready for use
involves the danger of being separated from them by a
movement of the ice, or of losing them altogether, should
a sudden opening occur. If we merely have everything
handy for heaving over the side, the emergency
may be so sudden that we have not time to save
anything. . . ."
As regards the assumed drift of the polar ice, Nares
expressed himself on the whole at variance with me.
44 Chapter I.
He insisted that the drift was essentially determined by
the prevailing winds : —
"As to the probable direction of the drift, the Fram,
starting- from near the mouth of the Lena River, may
expect to meet the main pack not farther north than
about latitude 76^ 30'. I doubt her getting farther north
before she is beset, but taking an extreme case, and
giving her 60 miles more, she will then only be in the
same latitude as Cape Chelyuskin, 730 miles from the
Pole, and about 600 miles from my supposed limit of the
effective homeward carrying ocean current. After a close
study of all the information we possess, I think the wind
will be more likely to drift her towards the west than
towards the east. With an ice-encumbered sea north, of
her, and more open water or newly-made ice to the south-
ward, the chances are small for a northerly drift, at all
events at first, and afterwards I know of no natural forces
that will carry the vessel in any reasonable time much
farther from the Siberian coast than the Jeannette was
carried, and during the whole of this time, unless pro-
tected by newly discovered lands, she will be to all intents
and purposes immovably sealed up in the pack, and
exposed to its well-known dangers. There is no doubt
that there is an ocean connection across the area proposed
to be explored."
In one point, however, Nares was able to declare him-
self. in agreement with me. It was the idea " that the
principal aim of all such voyages is to explore the un-
Introduction. 45
known polar regions, not to reach exactly that mathe-
matical point in which the axis of our globe has its
northern termination. "''^
Sir Allen Young says, among other things : " Dr.
Nansen assumes the blank space around the axis of the
earth to be a pool of water or ice ; I think the great
danger to contend with will be the land in nearly every
direction near the Pole. Most previous navigators seem
to have continued seeing land again and again further
and further north. These Jean^tette relics may have
drifted through narrow channels, and thus finally arrived
at their destination, and, I think, it would be an ex-
tremely dangerous thing for the ship to drift through
them, where she might impinge upon the land, and be
kept for years."
With regard to the ship's form, Sir Allen Young says :
" I do not think the form of the ship is any great point,
for, when a ship is fairly nipped, the question is if there
is any swell or movement of the ice to lift the ship. If
there is no swell the ice must go through her, whatever
material she is made of."
One or two authorities, however, expressed themselves
in favour of my plan. One was the Arctic traveller, Sir
* After our return home, Admiral Nares, in the most chivalrous
fashion, sent me a letter of congratulation, in which he said that the
Pram's remarkable voyage over the Polar Sea proved that my theory
was correct, and his scepticism unfourded.
46 Chapter I.
E. Inglefield, another Captain (now Admiral) Wharton,
Director of the Hydrographic Department of England.
In a letter to the Geographical Society, Admiral
Sir George H. Richards says, on the occasion of my
address : "I regret to have to speak discouragingly
of this project, but I think that any one who can speak
with authority ought to speak plainly where so much
may be at stake."
With regard to the currents, he says : — " I believe there
is a constant outflow (I prefer this word to current) from
the north, in consequence of the displacement of the
water from the region of the Pole by the ice-cap which
covers it, intensified in its density by the enormous
weight of snow accumulated on its surface." This
outflow takes place on all sides, he thinks, from the polar
basin, but should be most pronounced in the tract
between the western end of the Parry Islands and
Spitzbergen ; and with this outflow all previous expedi-
tions have had to contend. He does not appear to make
any exception as to the Tegethoff or Jeannette, and can
find no reason "for believing that a current sets north
over the Pole from the New Siberian Islands which
Dr. Nansen hopes for and believes in." . . . " It is
my opinion that when really within what may be called
the inner circle, say about 78° of latitude, there is little
current of any kind that would influence a ship in the
close ice that must be expected ; it is when we get
outside this circle — round the corners, as it were — into
Introduction. 47
the straight wide channels, where the ice is loose, that we
are really affected by its influence, and here the ice gets
naturally thinner, and more decayed in autumn, and less
dangerous to a ship. Within the inner circle probably
not much of the ice escapes ; it becomes older and
heavier every year, and in all probability completely
blocks the navigation of ships entirely. This is the kind
of ice which was brought to Nares' winter quarters at
the head of Smith Sound in about 82° 30' north ; and
this is the ice which Markham struggled against in his
sledge journey, and against which no human power
could prevail."
He attached " no real importance " to the Jea^tnette
relics. "If found in Greenland, they may well have
drifted down on a floe from the neighbourhood of Smith
Sound, from some of the American Expeditions which
went to Greely's rescue." "It may also well be that
some of De Long's printed or written documents in
regard to his equipment, may have been taken out by
these expeditions, and the same may apply to the other
articles." He does not, however, expressly say whether
there was any indication of such having been the case.
In a similar letter to the Geographical Society the
renowned botanist, Sir Joseph Hooker says : — " Dr.
Nansen's project is a wide departure from any hitherto
put in practice for the purpose of polar discovery, and
it demands the closest scrutiny both on this account,
and because it is one involving the greatest peril ....
48 Chapter I.
" From my experience of three seasons in the Antarctic
regions I do not think that a ship, of whatever build,
could long resist destruction if committed to the move-
ments of the pack in the polar regions. One built as
strongly as the Fram would no doubt resist great
pressures in the open pack, but not any pressure or
repeated pressures, and still less the thrust of the pack
if driven with or by it against land. The lines of the
Fram might be of service so long as she was on an
even keel or in ice of no great height above the water-
line ; but amongst floes and bergs or when thrown on
her beam-ends, they would avail her nothing."
If the Fram were to drift towards the Greenland
coast or the American polar islands he is of opinion
that, supposing a landing could be effected, there would
be no probability at all of salvation. Assuming that
a landing could be effected, it must be on an inhospitable
and probably ice-bound coast, or on the mountainous
ice of a palaiocrystic sea. With a certainly enfeebled,
and probably reduced ship's company, there could, in
such a case, be no prospect of reaching succour. Putting
aside the possibility of scurvy (against which there is no
certain prophylactic), have the depressing influence on
the minds of the crew resulting from long confinement
in ver)'- close quarters during many months of darkness,
extreme cold, inaction, ennui, constant peril, and the
haunting uncertainty as to the future, been sufficiently
taken into account ? Perfunctory duties and occupations
Introduction. 49
do not avert the effects of these conditions; they hardly
mitigate them, and have been known to aggravate them.
I do not consider the attainment of Dr. Nansen's object
by the means at his disposal to be impossible ; but I do
consider that the success of such an enterprise would
not justify the exposure of valuable lives for its
attainment.''
In America, General Greely, the leader of the ill-fated
expedition generally known by his name (i 881 -84),
wrote an article in The Forum (August, 1891) in which
he says among other things: — "It strikes me as
almost incredible that the plan here advanced by Dr.
Nansen should receive encouragement or support. It
seems to me to be based on fallacious ideas as to
physical conditions within the polar regions, and to fore-
shadow, if attempted, barren results, apart from the
suffering and death among its members. Dr. Nansen, so
far as I know, has had no Arctic service ; his crossing of
Greenland, however difficult, is no more polar work than
the scaling of Mount St. Elias. It is doubtful if any
hydrographer would treat seriously his theory of polar
currents, or if any Arctic traveller would indorse the
whole scheme. There are perhaps a dozen men whose
Arctic service has been such that the positive support of
this plan by even a respectable minority would entitle it
to consideration and confidence. . These men are : —
Admiral M'Clintock, Richards, Collinson and Nares,
and Captain Markham of the Royal Navy, Sir Allen
50 Chapter I.
Young and Leigh- Smith of England, Koldewey of
Germany, Payer of Austria, Nordenskiold of Sweden,
and Melville in our own country. I have no hesitation
in asserting that no two of these believe in the possibility
of Nausea's first proposition — to build a vessel capable of
living or navigating in a heavy Arctic pack, into which
it is proposed to put his ship. The second proposition
is even more hazardous, involving as it does a drift of
more than 2,000 miles in a straight line through an
unknown region, during which the party in its voyage
(lasting two or more years, we are told) would take only
boats along, encamp on an iceberg, and live there while
floating across."
After this General Greely proceeds to prove the
falsity of all my assumptions. Respecting the objects
from the Jeannette, he says plainly that he does not
believe in them. " Probably some drift articles were
found," he says, "and it would seem more reasonable to
trace them to the Porteus, which was wrecked in Smith
Sound about 1,000 miles north of J ulianehaab." . .
" It is further important to note that, if the articles were
really from x\\& Jeannette, the nearest route would have
been, not across the North Pole along the east coast of
Greenland, but down Kennedy Channel and by way of
Smith Sound and Baffin Bay, as was suggested as to
drift from the Porteus^
We could not possibly get near the Pole itself by a
long distance, says Greely, as "we know almost as well
Introduction. 51
as if we had seen it, that there is in the unknown regions
an extensive land which is the birthplace of the flat-
topped icebergs or the palseocrystic ice," In this
glacier-covered land, which he is of opinion must be over
300 miles in diameter, and which sends out icebergs to
Greenland as well as to Franz Josef's Land,'"" the Pole
itself must be situated.
" As to the indestructible ship," he says, " it is certainly
a most desirable thing for Dr. Nansen." His meaning,
however, is that it cannot be built. " Dr. Nansen
appears to believe that the question of building on such
lines as will give the ship the greatest power of resistance
to the pressure of the ice-floe has not been thoroughly
and satisfactorily solved, although hundreds of thousands
of dollars have been spent for this end by the seal and
whaling companies of Scotland and Newfoundland." As
an authority he quotes Melville, and says " every Arctic
navigator of experience agrees with Melville's dictum,
that even if built solid a vessel could not withstand the
ice-pressure of the heavy polar pack." To my assertion
that the ice along the " Siberian coast is comparatively
thin, 7 to 10 feet," he again quotes Melville, who speaks
of ice " 50 feet high, etc. " (something we did not dis-
cover, by the way, during the whole of our voyage).
* With reference to his statement that Leigh-Smith had observed
such icebergs on the north-west coast of Franz Josef's Land, it may be
remarked that no human being has ever been there.
E 2
52 ' Chapter I.
After giving still more conclusive proofs that the
Frarn must inevitably go to the bottom, as soon as it
should, be exposed to the pressure of the ice, he goes
on to refer to the impossibility of drifting in the ice with
boats. And he concludes his article with the remark
that "Arctic exploration is sufficiently credited with
rashness and danger in its legitimate and sanctioned
methods, without bearing the burden of Dr. Nansen's
illogical scheme of self-destruction."
From an article Greely wrote after our return home,
in Harpers Weekly for September 19th, 1896, he
appears to have come to the conclusion that the
Jeannette relics were genuine and that the assumption
of their drift may have been correct, mentioning
"Melville, Dall and others" as not believing in them.
He allows also that my scheme has been carried out
in spite of what he had said. This time he concludes
the article as follows : — " In contrasting the expeditions
of De Long and Nansen, it is necessary to allude to
the single blemish that mars the otherwise magnificent
career of Nansen, who deliberately quitted his comrades
on the ice-beset ship hundreds of miles from any known
land, with the intention of not returning, but, in his
own reported words, ' to go to Spitzbergen where he
felt certain to find a ship 600 miles away.' De Long and
Ambler had such a sense of honour that they sacrificed
their lives rather than separate themselves from a dying
man whom their presence could not save. It passes
Introduction. 53
comprehension how Nansen could have thus deviated
from the most sacred duty devolving on the commander
of a naval expedition. The safe return of brave
Captain Sverdrup with the Fram does not excuse
Nansen. Sverdrup's consistency, courage, and skill in
holding fast to the Frani and bringing his comrades
back to Norway, will win for him in the minds of many
laurels even brighter than those of his able and accom-
plished chief"
One of the few who publicly gave to my plan the
support of his scientific authority was Professor Supan,
the well-known Editor oi Peternianns Mitteilungen. In
an article in this journal for 1891 (p. 191) he not only
spoke warmly in its favour, but supported it with new
suggestions. His view was that what he terms the
Arctic "wind-shed" probably for the greater part of the
year divides the unknown polar basin into two parts.
In the eastern part the prevailing winds blow towards
the Bering Sea, while those of the western part blow
towards the Atlantic. He thought that, as a rule, this
"wind-shed" must lie near the Bering Sea, and that the
prevailing winds in the tracts we purposed traversing
would thus favour our drift. Our experience bore out
Professor Supan's theory in a remarkable degree.
CHAPTER II.
Preparations and Equipment.
Foolhardy as the scheme appeared to some, it received
powerful support from the Norwegian Government and
the King of Norway. A Bill was laid before the
Storthing for a grant of ^11,250 (200,000 kroner) or
two-thirds of the estimated cost. The remaining third
I hoped to be able to raise from private sources, as I
had already received promises of support from many
quarters.
On June 30th, 1890, the amount demanded was voted
by the Storthing ; which thereby expressed its wish that
the expedition should be a Norwegian one. In January,
1 89 1, Mr. Thos. Fearnley, Consul Axel Heiberg, and
Mr. Ellef Ringnes set to work to collect the further sum
required, and in a few days the amount was subscribed.
His Majesty King Oscar gave ;^i,i25 (20,000 kroner)
while private individuals in Norway gave as follows : —
Preparations and Equipment.
55
£
s.
d.
Consul Axel Heiberg . . .
562
10
0
Ditto (later) .
.
393
15
0
Mr. Anton Chr. Houen .
.
1,125
0
0
Mr. A. Dick, Hovik
.
281
5
0
Ditto (later) .
393
15
0
Mr. Thos. Fearnley (merchant)
.
281
5
0
Ditto (later)
.
56
5
0
Messrs. Ringnes iSc Co. (brewers) .
.
281
5
0
Ditto (later)
.
56
5
0
Mr. A. S. Kjosterud (merchant), Drammen .
281
5
0
Ditto (later)
56
5
0
Mr. E. Sundt (merchant), Bergen .
281
5
0
Consul Westye Egeberg ....
562
10
0
Mr. Halver Schou
281
5
0
Baron Harald Wedel Jarlsberg and C. lovens-
kiold, Minister of State ....
562
10
0
Consul Nicolay H. Knudtzon, Christiansund .
281
5
0
Among foreign contributors may be mentioned the
Royal Geographical Society of London, which showed
its sympathy with the undertaking by subscribing ^300
sterling. Baron Oscar Dickson provided at his own
cost the electric installation (dynamo, accumulators, and
conductors).
As the work of equipment proceeded, it appeared that
the first estimate was not sufficient. This was especially
due to the ship, which was estimated to cost ^8,437 \os.
(150,000 kroner) but which came to nearly double that
sum. Where so much was at stake, I did not think it
right to study the cost too much, if it seemed that a little
extra outlay could ensure the successful result of the
56 Chapter II.
expedition. The three gentlemen who had taken the
lead in the first collection, Mr. Thomas Fearnley,
Consul Axel Heiberg, and Mr. Ellef Ringnes, undertook
at my request to constitute themselves the Committee of
the expedition and to take charge of its pecuniary affairs.
In order to cover a portion of the deficiency, they,
together with certain members of the Council of the
Geographical Society, set on foot another private sub-
scription all over the country ; while the same society at
a later period headed a national subscription. By these
means about ^956 55. was collected in all. I had further
to petition the Norwegian Storthing for an additional
sum of ;^4,500, when our national assembly again gave
proof of its sympathy with the undertaking by granting
the amount named (June 9th, 1890).
Finally Consul Axel Heiberg and Mr. Dick subscribed
an additional £t,2>7 io-^- each, while I myself made up
the deficiency that still remained on the eve of our
departure.
Preparations and Equipment.
57
Statement of Accounts of the Expedition on
OUT, 1893,
Income.
State Grant .......
H.M. The King, and original private subscribers
Private subscription of the Geographical Society
National subscription ....
Interest accrued .....
Guaranteed by private individuals .
Deficit covered by A. Heiberg and A. Dick
Ditto F. Nansen
Geographical Society, London (;^3oo) .
H. Simon, Manchester (;^ioo)
A Norwegian in Riga (r,ooo roubles) and others
Total .
ITS Setting
Kroner
ore
280,000
0
105,000
0
12,781
23
2,287
23
9,729
78
5,403
0
12,000
0
5,400
0
9,278 62
444,339 36*
* Nearly ;^25,ooo.
Expenditure.
Wages account
Life insurance premiums of married participators
Instruments account
Ship account
Provisions account
Expenses account
Equipment account
To
al
Kroner ore.
46,440 o
5,361 90
12,978 68
271,927 8
39,172 98
10,612 38
57,846 34
444,339 36
It will be evident from the plan above expounded, that
the mo.st important point in the equipment of our
expedition was the building of the ship that was to carry
S8
Chapter 11.
us through the dreaded ice regions. The construction
of this vessel was accordingly carried out with greater
care, probably, than has been devoted to any ship that
COLIN ARCHER.
has hitherto ploughed the Arctic waters I found in the
well-known shipbuilder, Colin Archer, a man who
thoroughly understood the task I set him, and who
concentrated all his skill, foresight, and rare thorough
Preparations and Equipment. 59
ness upon the work. We must gratefully recognise that
the success of the expedition was in no small degree due
to this man.
If we turn our attention to the long list of former
expeditions and to their equipments, it cannot but strike
us that scarcely a single vessel had been built specially
for the purpose — in fact, the majority of explorers have
not even provided themselves with vessels which were
originally intended for ice navigation. This is the more
surprising when we remember the sums of money that
have been lavished on the equipment of some of these
expeditions. The fact is, they have generally been in
such a hurry to set out that there has been no time to
devote to a more careful equipment. In many cases,
indeed, preparations were not begun until a few months
before the expedition sailed. The present expedition,
however, could not be equipped in so short a time, and
if the voyage itself took three years, the preparations
took no less time, while the scheme was conceived thrice
three years earlier.
Plan after plan did Archer make of the projected ship ;
one model after another was prepared and abandoned.
Fresh improvements were constantly being suggested.
The form we finally adhered to may seem to many
people by no means beautiful ; but that it is well adapted
to the ends in view I think our expedition has fully
proved. What was especially aimed at was, as men-
tioned on page 30, to give the ship such sides that it
6o Chapter II.
could readily be hoisted up during ice pressure, without
being crushed between the floes. Greely, Nares, etc.,
etc., are certainly right in saying that. this is nothing
new. I relied here simply on the sad experiences of
earlier expeditions. What, however, may be said to be
new is the fact that we not only realised that the ship
ought to have such a form, but that we gave it that form,
as well as the necessary strength for resisting great ice-
pressure, and that this was the guiding idea in the whole
work of construction. Colin Archer is quite right in
what he says in an article in the Norsk Tidsskrift for
Sovcssen, 1892 : — " When one bears in mind what is, so
to speak, the fundamental idea of Dr. Nansen's plan in
his North Pole Expedition .... it will readily be seen
that a ship which is to be built with exclusive regard to
its suitability for this object must differ essentially from
any other previously known vessel. . . .
"In the construction of the ship two points must be
especially studied, (i) that the shape of the hull be such
as to offer as small a vulnerable target as possible to the
attacks of the ice ; and (2) that it be built so solidly as
to be able to withstand the greatest possible pressure
from without in any direction whatsoever."
And thus she was built, more attention being paid to
making her a safe and warm stronghold while drifting in
the ice, than to endowing her with speed or good sailing
qualities.
As above stated, our aim was to make the ship as
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62 Chapter II.
small as possible. The reason of this was that a small
ship is, of course, lighter than a large one, and can be
made stronger in proportion to her weight. A small ship
too is better adapted for navigation among the ice ; it is
easier to handle her in critical moments, and to find a
safe berth for her between the packing ice-floes. I was
of opinion that a vessel of 170 tons register would
suffice, but the Fram is considerably larger, 402 tons
gross, and 307 tons net. It was also our aim to build a
short vessel, which could thread her way easily among the
floes, especially as great length would have been a source
of weakness when ice-pressure set in. But in order that
such a ship, which has, moreover, very sloping sides, shall
possess the necessary carrying capacity, she must be broad ;
and her breadth is in fact about a third of her length.
Another point of importance was to make the sides as
smooth as possible, without projecting edges, while plane
surfaces were as much as possible avoided in the
neighbourhood of the most vulnerable points, and the
hull assumed a plump and rounded form. Bow, stern,
and keel — all were rounded off so that the ice should not
be able to get a grip of her anywhere. For this reason,
too, the keel was sunk in the planking so that barely
three inches protruded and its edges were rounded.
The object was that " the whole craft should be able to
slip like an eel out of the embraces of the ice."
The hull was made pointed fore and aft, and somewhat
resembles a pilot boat, minus the keel and the sharp
Preparations and Equipment. 63
garboard strakes. Both ends were made specially
strong. The stem consists of three stout oak beams,
one inside the other, forming an aggregate thickness
of 4 feet (i'25 m.) of solid oak; inside the stem are
fitted solid breasthooks of oak and iron to bind the
ship's sides together, and from these breasthooks stays
are placed against the pawl-bit. The bow is protected
by an iron stem, and across it are fitted transverse bars
which run some small distance backwards on either side
as is usual in sealers.
The stern is of a special and somewhat peculiar
construction. On either side of the rudder and pro-
peller posts — which are sided 24 inches (65 cm.) — is
fitted a stout oak counter-timber following the curvature
of the stern right up to the upper deck, and forming, so
to speak, a double stern post. The planking is carried
outside these timbers, and the stern protected by heavy
iron plates wrought outside the planking.
Between these two counter-timbers there is a well for
the screw, and also one for the rudder, through which
they can both be hoisted up on deck. It is usual in
sealers to have the screw arranged in this way, so that it
can easily be replaced by a spare screw should it be
broken by the ice. But such an arrangement is not
usual in the case of the rudder, and, while with our
small crew, and with the help of the capstan, we could
hoist the rudder on deck in a few minutes in case of any
sudden ice pressure or the like, 1 have known it take
64 Chapter II.
sealers with a crew of over 60 men several hours, or
even a whole day, to ship a fresh rudder.
The stern is, on the whole, the Achilles' heel of
ships in the polar seas ; here the ice can easily
inflict great damage, for instance, by breaking the
rudder. To guard against this danger, our rudder was
placed so low down as not to be visible above water, so
that if a floe should strike the vessel aft, it would
break its force against the strong stern-part, and could
hardly touch the rudder itself. As a matter of fact,
notwithstanding the violent pressures we met with, we
never suffered any injury in this respect.
Everything was of course done to make the sides of
the ship as strong as possible. The frame timbers were
of choice Italian oak that had originally been intended
for the Norwegian navy, and had lain under cover at
Horten for 2)^ years. They were all grown to shape
and 10- 1 1 inches thick. The frames were built in two
courses or tiers, closely wrought together, and connected
by bolts, some of which were riveted. Over each joint
flat iron bands were placed. The frames were about
2 I inches (56 cm.) wide, and were placed close together,
with only about an inch or an inch and a-half between ;
and these interstices were filled with pitch and sawdust
mixed, from the keel to a little distance above the water-
line, in order to keep the ship moderately watertight,
even should the outer skia be chafed through.
The outside planking consists of three layers.
Preparations and Equipment. 65
The inner one is of oak 3 inches thick, fastened with
spikes and carefully caulked ; outside this another oak
sheathing 4 inches thick, fastened with through bolts
and caulked ; and outside these comes the ice-skin of
greenheart, which like the other planking runs right
down to the keel. At the water-line it is 6 inches thick,
gradually diminishing towards the bottom to 3 inches.
It is fastened with nails and jagged bolts, and not with
through bolts, so that if the ice had stripped off the
whole of the ice sheathing the hull of the ship would
not have suffered any great damage. The lining inside
the frame timbers is of pitch pine planks, some 4
some 8 inches thick ; it was also carefully caulked once
or twice.
The total thickness of the ship's sides is, therefore,
from 24 to 28 inches of solid water-tight wood. It will
readily be understood that such a ship's side, with its
rounded form, would of itself offer a very good resistance
to the ice ; but to make it still stronger the inside was
shored up in every possible way, so that the hold looks
like a cobweb of balks, stanchions, and braces. In the
first place, there are two rows of beams, the upper deck
and between decks, principally of solid oak, partly also
of pitch pine ; and all of these are further connected
with each other, as well as with the sides of the ship, by
numerous supports. The accompanying diagrams will
show how they are arranged. The diagonal stays are,
of course, placed as nearly as possible at right angles to
F
66 Chapter II.
the sides of the ship, so as to strengthen them against
external pressure and to distribute its force. The
vertical stanchions between both tiers of beams and
between the lower beams and keelson are admirably
adapted for this latter object. All are connected
together with strong knees and iron fastenings, so that
the whole becomes as it were a single coherent mass.
It should be borne in mind that, while in former
expeditions it was thought sufficient to give a couple of
beams amidships some extra strengthening, every single
cross beam in the Frani was stayed in the manner
described and depicted.
In the engine-room there was, of course, no space for
supfJorts in the middle, but in their place two stay ends
were fixed on either side. The beams of the lower deck
were placed a little under the water-line, where the ice-
pressure would be severest. In the after-hold these
beams had to be raised a little to give room for the
engine. The upper deck aft, therefore, was somewhat
higher than the main deck, and the ship had a poop or
half-deck, under which were the cabins for all the
members of the expedition, and also the cooking-galley.
Strong iron riders were worked in for the whole length
of the ship in the spaces between the beams, extending
in one length from the clamp under the upper deck
nearly to the keelson. The keelson was in two
tiers and about 31 inches (80 cm.) high, saving in the
engine-room where the height of the room only allows
Preparations and Equipment. 67
one tier. The keel consists of two heavy American
elm logs 14 inches square ; but, as has been mentioned,
so built in that only 3 inches protrude below the outer
planking. The sides of the hull are rounded downwards
to the keel, so that a transverse section at the midship
frame reminds one forcibly of half a cocoanut cut in
two. The higher the ship is lifted out of the water,
the heavier does she, of course, become, and the greater
her pressure on the ice, but for the above reason
the easier also does it become for the ice to lift. To
obviate much heelinof, in case the hull should be lifted
very high, the bottom was made flat, and this proved
to be an excellent idea. I endeavoured to determine
experimentally the friction of ice against wood, and
taking into account the strength of the ship, and the
angle of her sides with the surface of the water, I
came to the conclusion that her strength must be many
times sufficient to withstand the pressure necessary to
lift her. This calculation was amply borne out by
experience.
The principal dimensions of the ship were as
follows : — Length of keel, 102 feet ; length of water-
line, 113 feet; length from stem to stern on deck,
128 feet; extreme breadth, 36 feet; breadth of water-
line, exclusive of ice-skin, 34 feet ; depth, 1 7 feet ;
draught of water with light cargo, 12J feet ; displacement
with light cargo, 530 tons ; with heavy cargo, the draught
is over 1 5 feet, and the displacement is 800 tons ;
F 2
68 Chapter 11.
there is a freeboard of about 3 feet 6 inches. The hull
with boilers filled was calculated to weigh about
420 tons, and with 800 tons displacement there should,
therefore, be spare carrying-power for coal and other
cargo to the amount of 380 tons. Thus, in addition to
the requisite provisions for dogs and men for more than
five years, we could carry coal for four months steaming
at full speed, which was more than sufficient for such an
exoedition as this.
1.
As regards the rigging, the most important object was
to have it as simple and as strong as possible, and at
the same time so contrived as to offer the least possible
resistance to the wind while the ship was under steam.
With our small crew it was moreover of the last import-
ance that it should be easy to work from deck. For this
reason the Fram was rigged as a three-masted fore-and-
aft schooner. Several of our old Arctic skippers dis-
approved of this arrangement. They had always been
used to sail with square-rigged ships, and with the
conservatism peculiar to their class were of opinion
that what they had used was the only thing that could
be used in the ice. However, the rig we chose was
unquestionably the best for our purpose. In addition to
the ordinary fore-and-aft sails we had two movable yards
on the foremast for a square foresail and topsail. As the
yards were attached to a sliding truss they could easily be
hauled down when not in use. The ship's lower masts
were tolerably high and massive. The mainmast was
Preparations and Equipment. 69
about 80 feet high, the main topmast was 50 feet high,
and the crow's-nest on the top was about 102 feet (32 m.)
above the water. It was important to have this as high
as possible, so as to have a more extended view when it
came to picking our way through the ice. The aggre-
gate sail area was about 6,000 sq. feet.
The ship's engine, a triple expansion, was made with
particular care. The work was done at the Akers
Mechanical Factory, and Engineer Norbeck deserves
especial credit for its construction. With his quick insight
he foresaw the various possibilities that might occur, and
took precautions against them. The triple expansion
system was chosen as being the most economical in the
consumption of coal ; but as it might happen that one
or other of the cylinders should get out of order, it was
arranged, by means of separate pipes, that any of the
cylinders could be cut off, and thus the other two, or, at a
pinch, even one alone could be used. In this way the
engine, by the mere turning of a cock or two, could be
changed at will into a compound high-pressure or low
pressure engine. Although nothing ever went wrong with
any of the cylinders, this arrangement was frequently used
with advantage. By using the engine as a compound one,
we could, for instance, give the Frani greater speed for a
short time, and when occasion demanded we often took
this means of forcing our way through the ice. The engine
was of 220 indicated horse-power, and we could in calm
weather with a light cargo attain a speed of 6 or 7 knots.
70 Chapter II.
The propellers, of which we had two in reserve, were
two-bladed, and made of cast-iron ; but we never used
either the spare propellers or a spare rudder which we
had with us.
Our quarters lay, as before mentioned, abaft under the
half-deck, and were arranged so that the saloon, which
formed our dining-room and drawing-room, was in the
middle, surrounded on all sides by the sleeping-cabins.
These consisted of four state-rooms with one berth apiece
and two with four berths. The object of this arrange-
ment was to protect the saloon from external cold ; but
further, the ceiling, floors and walls were covered with
several thick coatings of non-conducting material, thti
surface layer, in touch with the heat of the cabin, con-
sisting of air-tight linoleum, to prevent the warm, damp
air from penetrating to the other side and depositing
moisture, which would soon turn to ice. The sides of
the ship were lined with tarred felt, then came a space
with cork padding, next a deal panelling, then a thick
layer of felt, next air-tight linoleum, and last of all an
inner panelling. The ceiling of the saloon and cabins
consisted of many different layers : air, felt, deal panelling,
reindeer hair stuffing, deal panelling, linoleum, air and
deal panelling, which, with the 4-inch deck-planks, gave
a total thickness of about 15 inches. To form the floor
of the saloon, cork padding, 6 or 7 inches thick, was laid
on the deck planks, on this a thick wooden floor, and
above all linoleum. The skylight which was most
Preparations and Equipment. 71
exposed to the cold was protected by three panes of
glass one within the other, and in various other ways.
One of the greatest difficulties of life on board ship
which former Arctic expeditions had had to contend
with, was that moisture collecting on the cold outside
walls either froze at once or ran down in streams into
the berths and on to the floor. Thus it was not unusual
to find the mattresses converted into more or less solid
masses of ice. We, however, by these arrangements,
entirely avoided such an unpleasant state of things, and
when the fire was lighted in the saloon there was not a
trace of moisture on the walls even in the sleeping cabins.
In front of the saloon lay the cook's galley, on either
side of which was a companion leading to the deck.
As a protection against the cold, each of these com-
panion-ways was fitted with four small solid doors con-
sisting of several layers of wood with felt between, all
of which had to be passed through on going out. And
the more completely to exclude the cold air the thresholds
of the doors were made more than ordinarily high. On
the half-deck over the cook's galley, between the main-
mast and the funnel, was a chart-room facing the bow,
and a smaller work-room abaft.
In order to secure the safety of the ship in case of a
leak, the hold was divided into three compartments by
watertight bulkheads. Besides the usual pumps, we had
a powerful centrifugal pump driven by the engine, which
could be connected with each of the three compartments.
72 Chapter II.
It may be mentioned as an improvement on former expe-
ditions that the Fram was furnished with an electric
light installation. The dynamo was to be driven by the
engine while we were under steam ; while the intention
was to drive it partly by means of the wind, partly by
hand power, during our sojourn in the ice. For
this purpose we took a windmill with us, and also a
" horsemill " to be worked by ourselves. I had antici-
pated that this latter might have been useful in giving
us exercise in the long polar night. We found,
however, that there were plenty of other things to
do, and we never used it ; on the other hand, the
windmill proved extremely serviceable. For illumination
when we might not have enough power to produce
electric light, we took with us about i6 tons of petroleum,
which was also intended for cooking purposes and for
warming the cabins. This petroleum, as well as 20 tons
of common kerosene^ intended to be used along with
coal in the boiler, was stored in massive iron tanks, eight
of which were in the hold, and one on deck. In all, the
ship had eight boats, two of which were especially large,
* This oil, by means of a specially constructed steam-jet apparatus,
was injected into the furnaces in the form of a fine spray, where it
burned in a very economical and saving manner, giving forth a great
amount of heat. The apparatus was one which has been applied to
locomotives in England, whence it was procured. It appeared, however,
that it tended to overheat the boiler at one particular point, where it
made a dent, so that we soon abandoned this method of firing.
Preparations and Equipment. 73
29 feet long and 9 feet wide. These were intended for
use in case the ship should, after all, be lost, the idea
being that we should live in them while drifting in the
ice. They were large enough to accommodate the whole
ship's company with provisions for many months. Then
there were four smaller boats of the form sealers generally
use. They were exceedingly strong and lightly built,
two of oak, and two of elm. The seventh boat was a
small pram, and the eighth a launch with a petroleum
engine, which, however, was not very serviceable, and
caused us a great deal of trouble.
As I shall have frequent occasion later on to speak of
other details of our equipment, I shall content myself
here with mentioning a few of the most important.
Special attention was, of course, devoted to our com-
missariat with a view to obviating the danger of scurvy
and other ailments. The principle on which I acted in
the choice of provisions was to combine variety with
wholesomeness. Every single article of food was
chemically analysed before being adopted, and great care
was taken that it should be properly packed. Such
articles, even, as bread, dried vegetables, etc., etc., were
soldered down in tins as a protection against damp.
A good library was of great importance to an expedi-
tion like ours, and thanks to publishers and friends both
in our own and in other countries we were very well
supplied in this respect.
The instruments for taking scientific observations of
74 Chapter II.
course formed an important part of our equipment and
special care was bestowed upon them. In addition to
the collection of instruments I had used on my Green-
land expedition, a great many new ones were provided,
and no pains were spared to get them as good and
complete as possible. For meteorological observations,
in addition to the ordinary thermometers, barometers,
aneroids, psychrometers, hygrometers, anemometers, etc.,
etc., self- registering instruments were also taken. Of
special importance were a self-registering aneroid
barometer (barograph) and a pair of self-registering
thermometers (thermographs). For astronomical obser-
vations we had a large theodolite and two smaller ones,
intended for use on sledge expeditions, together with
several sextants of different sizes. We had, moreover,
four ship's chronometers and several pocket chrono-
meters. For magnetic observations, for taking the
declination, inclination and intensity (both horizontal and
total intensity) we had a complete set of instruments.
Among others may be mentioned a spectroscope
especially adapted for the northern lights, an electro-
scope for determining the amount of electricity in the
air, photographic apparatuses, of which we had seven,
large and small, and a photographometer for making
charts. I considered a pendulum apparatus with
its adjuncts to be of special importance to enable
us to make pendulum experiments in the far north.
To do this, however, land was necessary, and, as
Preparations and Equipment. 75
we did not find any, this instrument unfortunately
did not come into use. For hydrographic observa-
tions we took a full equipment of water-samplers, deep
water thermometers, etc. To ascertain the saltness
of the water, we had, in addition to the ordinary are-
ometers, an electric apparatus specially constructed by
Mr. Thornoe. Altogether, our scientific equipment was
especially excellent, thanks in great measure to the
obliging assistance rendered me by many men of science.
I would take this opportunity of tendering my special
thanks to Professor Mohn, who, besides seeing to the
meteorological instruments, helped me in many other
ways with his valuable advice ; to Professor Geelmuyden,
who undertook the supervision of the astronomical
instruments ; to Dr. Neumeyer, of Hamburg, who took
charge of the magnetic equipment ; and to Professor
Otto Petterson, of Stockholm, and Mr. Thornoe, of
Christiania, both of whom superintended the hydro-
graphic department. Of no less importance were the
physiologico-medicinal preparations, to which Professor
Torup devoted particular care.
As it might be of the utmost importance in several
contingencies to have good sledge-dogs, I applied to my
friend, Baron Edward von Toll, of St. Petersburg, and
asked him whether it was possible to procure serviceable
animals from Siberia.* With great courtesy Von Toll
I had thought of procuring dogs from the Eskimo of Greenland
76 ' Chapter II.
replied that he thought he himself could arrange this for
me, as he was just on the point of undertaking his second
scientific expedition to Siberia and the New Siberian
Islands. He proposed to send the dogs to Khabarova, on
Yugor Strait. On his journey through Tiumen in January,
1893, by the help of an English merchant named Ward-
roper, who resided there, he engaged Alexander Ivanovitch
Trontheim to undertake the purchase of thirty Ostiak
dogs, and their conveyance to Yugor Strait. But Von
Toll was not content with this. Mr. Nikolai Kelch
having offered to bear the expense, my friend procured
the East Siberian dogs, which are acknowledged to be
better draught dogs than those of West Siberia (Ostiak
dogs), and Johan Torgersen, a Norwegian, undertook to
deliver them at the mouth of the Olenek, where it was
arranged that we should touch.
Von Toll, moreover, thought it would be important to
establish some depots of provisions on the New Siberian
Islands, in case the Fram should meet with disaster and
the expedition should be obliged to return home that
way. On Von Toll's mentioning this, Kelch at once
expressed himself willing to bear the costs, as- he
wished us in that event to meet with Siberian hospitality
even on the New Siberian Islands. As it was difficult
to find trustworthy agents to carry out a task involving
and Hudson Bay, but there proved to be insuperable difficulties in the
way of getting them conveyed from there.
Preparations and Equipment. 77
so much responsibility, Von Toll determined to establish
the depots himself, and in May, 1893, he set out on an
adventurous and highly interesting journey from the
mainland over the ice to the New Siberian Islands, where,
besides laying down three depots for us,"^ he made
some very important geological researches.
Another important matter, I thought, was to have a
cargo of coal sent out as far as possible on our route, so
that when we broke off all connection with the rest of the
world we should have on board the Frani as much coal
as she could carry. I therefore joyfully accepted an offer
from an Englishman, who was to accompany us with his
steam yacht to Novaya Zemlya or the Kara Sea, and
give us 100 tons of coal on parting company. As our
departure was drawing nigh I learnt, however, that other
arrangements had been made. It being now too late to
take any other measures, I chartered the sloop Urania,
of Bronosund in Nordland, to bring a cargo of coals to
Khabarova en the Yugor Strait.
* These depots were arranged most carefully and every precaution so
well taken that we certainly should not have suffered from famine had
we gone there. In the northernmost depot at Stan Durnova on the
west coast of Kotelnoi, at 75° 37' N.L., we should have found provisions
for a week ; with these we could easily have made our way 65 miles
southwards along the coast to the second depot at Urassalach, where, in
a house built by Baron Von Toll in 1886, we should have found
provisions for a whole month. Lastly, a third depot in a house on the
south side of Little Liakhoff Island, with provisions for two months,
would have enabled us to reach the mainland with ease.
j^ Chapter II.
No sooner did the plan of my expedition become
known, than petitions poured in by the hundred from all
quarters of the earth, from Europe, America, Australia,
from persons who wished to take part in it, in spite of
the many warning voices that had been raised. It was
no easy thing to choose among all the brave men who
applied. As a matter of course it was absolutely
essential that every man should be strong and healthy,
and not one was finally accepted till he had been carefully
examined by Professor Hialmar Heiberg, of Christiania.
The following is a list of the members of the expedi-
tion : —
Otio Neumann Sverdrup, Commander of the Pram,
was born in Bindal in Helgeland, 1855. At the age of
seventeen he went to sea, passed his mate's examination
in 1878, and for some years was captain of a ship. In
1888-89 he took part in the Greenland Expedition. As
soon as he heard of the plan of the Polar Expedition he
expressed his desire to accompany it, and I knew that I
could not place the Fram in better hands. He is
married and has one child.
Sigurd Scott-Hansen, First Lieutenant in the Navy,
undertook the management of the meteorological,
astronomical, and magnetic observations. He was
born in Christiania in 1868. After passing through
the Naval School at Horten, he became an officer in
1889, and First Lieutenant in 1892. He is a son of
x^ndreas Hansen, parish priest in Christiania.
Preparations and Equipment. 79
Henrik Greve Blessing, doctor and botanist to the
expedition, was born in Drammen in 1866, where his
father was at that time a clergyman. He became a
student in 1885, and graduated in medicine in the spring
of 1893.
Theodore Clauditts Jacobsefi, mate of the Fravi, was
born at Tromso in 1855, where his father was a ship's
captain, afterwards harbour master and head pilot. At
the age of fifteen he went to sea, and passed his mate's
examination four years later. He spent two years in
New Zealand, and from 1886-90 he went on voyages to
the Arctic Sea as skipper of a Tromso sloop. He is
married, and has one child.
Anton Amundsen, chief engineer of the Fram, was
born at Horten in 1853. In 1884 he passed his
technical examination, and soon afterwards his engineer's
examination. For twenty-five years he has been in
the Navy, where he attained the rank of chief engineer.
He is married, and has six children.
Adolf Juell, steward and cook of the Frani, was born
in the parish of Skato, near Kragero, in i860. His
father, Claus Nielsen, was a farmer and shipowner. In
1879 he passed his mate's examination, and has been
captain of a ship many years. He is married, and has
four children.
Lars Petterson, second engineer of the Fraf?i, was
born in i860, at Borre, near Landskrona, in Sweden, of
Norwegian parents. He is a fully qualified smith and
8o Chapter II.
machinist, in which capacity he has served in the
Norwegian Navy for several years. Is married and has
children.
Frederik Hjalmar Johansen, Lieutenant in the Re-
serve, was born at Skien in 1867, and matriculated at the
University in 1886. In 1891-92 he went to the Military
School and became a supernumerary officer. He was so
eager to take part in the expedition that, as no other
post could be found for him, he accepted that of stoker.
Peter Leonard Henrikseii, harpooner, was born in
Balsfjord, near Tromso, in 1859. From childhood he
has been a sailor, and from fourteen years old has gone
voyages to the Arctic Sea as harpooner and skipper. In
1888 he was shipwrecked off Novaya Zemlya in the
sloop Enigheden, from Christiansund. He is married
and has four children.
Bernhard Nordahl y^diS born in Christiania in 1862.
At the age of fourteen he entered the Navy and
advanced to be a gunner. Subsequently he has done a
little of everything, and among other things has worked
as an electrical engineer. He had charge of the dynamo
and electric installation on board, acted, moreover, as
stoker, and for a time assisted in the meteorological
observations. He is married and has five children.
Ivar Otto Trgens Mogstad was born at Aure in
Nordmore in 1856. In 1877 passed his examination as
first assistant, and from 1882 onwards was one of the
head keepers at the Gaustad Lunatic Asylum.
Preparations and Equipment. 8i
Bernt Bentzen, born in 1 860, went to sea for several
years. In 1890 he passed his mate's examination, since
which he has sailed as mate in several voyages to the
Arctic Sea. We engaged him at Tromso just as we
were starting. It was 8.30 when he came on board to
speak to me, and at 10 o'clock the Fram set sail.
CHAPTER III
The Start.
" So travel I north to the gloomy abode
That the sun never shines on —
There is no day."
It was midsummer day. A dull, gloomy day ; and with
it came the inevitable leave-taking. The door closed
behind me. For the last time I left my home, and went
alone down the garden to the beach where the Frams
little petroleum launch pitilessly awaited me. Behind me
lay all I held dear in life. And what before me? How
many years would pass ere I should see it all again ?
What would I not have given at that moment to be able
to turn back ; but up at the window little Liv was sitting
clapping her hands. Happy child, little do you know
what life is — how strangely mingled and how full of
change. Like an arrow the little boat sped over
Lysaker Bay, bearing me on the first stage of a journey
on which life itself if not more, was staked.
At last everything was in readiness. The hour had
arrived towards which the persevering labour of years
The Start. 83
had been incessantl}^ bent, and with it the feeling that
everything being provided and completed, responsibility
might be thrown aside and the weary brain at last find
rest. The Fram lies yonder at Pepperviken, impatiently
panting and waiting for the signal, when the launch comes
puffing past Dyna and runs alongside. The deck is
closely packed with people come to bid a last farewell ;
and now all must leave the ship. Then the Fram weighs
anchor, and, heavily laden and moving slowly, makes the
tour of the little creek. The quays are black with
crowds of people waving their hats and handkerchiefs.
But silently and quietly the Fram heads towards the
fjord, steers slowly past Bygdo and Dyna out on her
unknown path, while little nimble craft, steamers, and
pleasure-boats, swarm around her. Peaceful and snug
lay the villas along the shore behind their veils of
foliage, just as they ever seemed of old. Ah ! " fair is
the woodland slope, and never did it look fairer." Long,
long, will it be before we shall plough these well-known
waters again.
And now a last farewell to home. Yonder it lies on
the point : the fjord sparkling in front, pine and fir
woods around, a little smiling meadow-land and long
wood-clad ridges behind. Through the glass one could
descry a summer-clad figure by the bench under the fir-
tree. . . .
It was the darkest hour of the whole journey.
And now out into the fjord. It was rainy weather,
G 2
84 Chapter III.
and a feeling of melancholy seemed to brood over the
familiar landscape with all its memories.
It was not until noon next day (June 25th) that the
Fram glided into the bay by Rsekvik, Archer's shipyard,
near Laurvik, where her cradle stood, and where many
a golden dream had been dreamt of her victorious
career. Here we were to take the two long-boats on
board and have them set up on their davits ; and there
were several other things to be shipped. It took the
whole day and a good part of the next before all was
completed. About three o'clock on the 26th we bade
farewell to Raekvik, and made a bend into Laurvik Bay
in order to stand out to sea by Frederiksvsern. Archer
himself had to take the wheel and steer his child this
last bit before leaving the ship. And then came the
farewell hand-shake ; but few words were spoken, and
they got into the boat, he, my brothers, and a friend,
while the Fram glided ahead with her heavy motion,
and the bonds that united us were severed. It was sad
and strange to see this last relic of home in that little
skiff on the wide blue surface. Anker's cutter behind,
and Laurvik further in the distance. I almost think a
tear glittered on that fine old face as he stood erect in
the boat and shouted a farewell to us and to the Fram.
Do you think he does not love the vessel ? That he
believes in her I know well. So we gave him the first
salute from the Frains guns — a worthier inauguration
thev could not well have had.
SIGURD SCOTT-HANSEN.
(From a photograph talen in December, 1S93 )
The Start. &5
Full speed ahead, and in the calm, bright summer
weather, while the setting sun shed his beams over the
land, the Fra7n stood out towards the blue sea, to get
its first roll in the long heaving swell. They stood up
in the boat and watched us for long.
We bore along the coast in good weather, past
Christiansand. The next evening, June 27th, we were
off the Naze. I sat up and chatted with Scott- Hansen
till late in the night. He acted as captain on the trip
from Christiania to Trondhjem, where Sverdrup was
to join, after having accompanied his family to
Steenkiser. As we sat there in the chart-house and
let the hours slip by while we pushed on in the ever
increasing swell, all at once a sea burst open the door
and poured in. We rushed out on deck. The ship
rolled like a log, the seas broke in over the rails on
both sidles, and one by one up came all the crew.
I feared most lest the slender davits which supported
the long-boats should give way, and the boats them-
selves should go overboard, perhaps carrying away with
them a lot of the rigging. Then twenty-five empty
paraffin casks which were lashed on deck broke loose,
washed backwards and forwards, and gradually filled
with water ; so that the outlook was not altogether
agreeable. But it was worst of all when the piles of
reserve timber, spars, and planks, began the same dance,
and threatened to break the props under the boats.
It was an anxious hour. Sea-sick I stood on the
86 Chapter III.
bridge, occupying myself in alternately making libations
to Neptune and trembling for the safety of the boats
and the men, who were trying to make snug what
they could forward on deck. I often saw only a
hotch-potch of sea^ drifting planks, arms, legs, and
empty barrels. Now a green sea poured over us
and knocked a man off his legs so that the
water deluged him ; now I saw the lads jumping
over hurtling spars and barrels, so as not to get
their feet crushed between them. There was not
a dry thread on them. Juell, who lay asleep in the
" Grand Hotel," as we called one of the long-boats,
awoke to hear the sea roaring^ under him like a
cataract. I met him at the cabin door as he came
running down. It was no longer safe there, he
thought ; best to save one's rags — he had a bundle
under his arm. Then he set off forward to secure his
sea-chest, which was floating about on the fore-deck,
and dragged it hurriedly aft, while one heavy sea
after another swept over him. Once the Fram buried
her bows and shipped a sea over the forecastle. There
was one fellow clinging to the anchor-davits over the
frothing water. It was poor Juell again. We were
hard put to it to secure our goods and chattels.
We had to throw all our good paraffin casks overboard,
and one prime timber baulk after another went the
same way, while I stood and watched them sadly as
they floated off". The rest of the deck cargo was shifted
ADOLF JUELL.
{From a photograph taken in December, 1895. )
The Start. {J7
aft on to the half-deck, I am afraid the shares in the
expedition stood rather low at this moment. Then all
at once, when things were about at their worst with
us, we sighted a bark looming out of the fog ahead.
There it lay with royals and all sails set, as snugly and
peacefully as if nothing was the matter, rocking gently
on the sea. It made one feel almost savage to look at
it. Visions of the Flying Dutchman and other devilry
flashed through my mind.
Terrible disaster in the cook's galley! Mogstad
goes in and sees the whole wall sprinkled over with
dark red stains — rushes off to Nordahl, and says he
believes Juell has shot himself through despair at the
insufferable heat he complains so about. " Great
revolver disaster on board the Fram ! "
On close inspection, however, the stains appeared
to proceed from a box of chocolate that had upset in
the cupboard.
Owing to the fog we dared not go too near land, so
kept out to sea, till at last, towards morning, the fog
lifted somewhat, and the pilot found his bearings
between Farsund and Hummerdus. We put into
Lister Fjord, intending to anchor there and get into
better sea trim ; but as the weather improved we went
on our way. It was not till the afternoon that we
steered into Ekersund, owing to thick weather and a
stiff breeze, and anchored in Hovland's Bay, where our
88 Chapter III.
pilot, Hovland,* lived. Next morning the boat davits,
etc., were put in good working order. The Fram,
however, was too heavily laden to be at all easy in a
seaway ; but this we could not alter. What we had
we must keep, and if we only got everything on deck
shipshape and properly lashed, the sea could not do us
much harm however rough it might be ; for we knew
well enough that ship and rigging would hold out.
It was late in the evening of the last day of June
when we rounded Kvarven, and stood in for Bergen in
the gloom of the sullen night. Next morning when I
came on deck, Vagen lay clear and bright in the sun,
all the ships being gaily decked out with bunting from
topmast to deck. The sun was holding high festival in
the sky — Ulriken, Floiren and Lovstakken sparkled and
glittered, and greeted me as of old. It is a marvellous
place, that old Hanseatic town !
In the evening I was to give a lecture, but arrived
half an hour too late. For just as I was dressing to go,
a number of bills poured in, and if I was to leave the
town as a solvent man I must needs pay them, and so
the public perforce had to wait. But the worst of it was
that the saloon was full of those everlastingly inquisitive
* Both Hovland who piloted us from Christiania to Bergen, and
Johan Hagensen who took us from Bergen to Vardo, were most kindly
placed at the disposal of the expedition by the Nordenfjeldske
Steamship Company of Trondhjem.
The Start. 89
tourists. 1 could hear a whole company of them
besieging my cabin door while I was dressing, declaring
" they must shake hands with the doctor ! "* One of them
actually peeped in through the ventilator at me, my
secretary told me afterwards. A nice sight she must
have seen, the lovely creature ! Report says she drew
her head back very quickly. Indeed, at every place
where we put in we were looked on somewhat as wild
animals in a menagerie. For they peeped uncere-
moniously at us in our berths as if we had been bears
and lions in a den, and we could hear them loudly
disputing among themselves as to who was who, and
whether those nearest and dearest to us whose portraits
hung on the walls could be called pretty or not. When
I had finished my toilette I opened the door cautiously,
made a rush through the gaping company. " There he
is, there he is ! "t they called to each other as they
tumbled up the steps after me. It was no use, I was on
the quay and in the carriage long before they had reached
the deck.
At 8 o'clock there was a great banquet, many fine
speeches, good fare and excellent wine, pretty ladies,
music, and dancing till far into the night.
Next morning at 1 1 o'clock — it was Sunday — in
bright sunshiny weather, we stood northwards over
English in the original. t Ibid.
90 Chapter III.
Bergen Fjord, many friends accompanying us. It was
a lovely, never-to-be-forgotten summer day. In Herlo
Fjord, right out by the skerries, they parted from us, amid
wavings of hats and pocket-handkerchiefs ; we could see
the little harbour boat for a long while with its black
cloud of smoke on the sparkling surface of the water.
Outside, the sea rolled in the hazy sunlight ; and within
lay the flat Mangerland full of memories for me of
zoological investigations in fair weather and foul, years
and years ago. Here it was that one of Norway's most
famous naturalists, a lonely pastor far removed from the
outer world, made his great discoveries. Here I myself
first groped my way along the narrow path of zoological
research.
It was a wondrous evening. The lingering flush of
vanished day suffused the northern sky, while the
moon hung large and round over the mountains behind
us. Ahead lay Alden and Kinn, like a fairyland rising
up from the sea. Tired as I was, I could not seek
my berth ; I must drink in all this loveliness in
deep refreshing draughts. It was like balm to the
soul after all the turmoil and friction with crowds of
strangers.
So we went on our way, mostly in fair weather, occa-
sionally in fog and rain, through sounds and between
islands, northwards along the coast of Norway. A
glorious land — I wonder if another fairway like this is
to be found the whole world over ? Those never-to-be-
O 2
2 ^
> o
< ^
The Start. .91
forgotten mornings, when nature wakens to life, wreaths
of mist glittering like silver over the mountains, their
tops soaring above the mist like islands out of the sea !
Then the day gleaming over the dazzling white snow-
peaks ! And the evenings, and the sunsets with the
pale moon overhead, white mountains and islands lay
hushed and dreamlike as a youthful longing ! Here and
there past homely little havens with houses around them
set in smiling green trees. — Ah ! those snug homes in
the lee of the skerries awake a longing for life and
warmth in the breast. You may shrug your shoulders
as much as you like at the beauties of nature, but it is a
fine thing for a people to have a fair land, be it never so
poor. Never did this seem clearer to me than now when
I was leaving it.
Every now and then a hurrah from land — at one time
from a troop of children, at another from grown-up
people, but mostly from wondering peasants who gaze
long at the strange-looking ship and muse over its
enigmatic destination. And men and women on board
sloops and ten-oared boats stand up in their red shirts
that glow in the sunlight, and rest on their oars to look
at us. Steamboats crowded with people came out from
the towns we passed to greet us and bid us God-speed
on our way with music, songs, and cannon salutes. The
great tourist steamboats dipped flags to us and fired
salutes, and the smaller craft did the same. It is
embarrassing and oppressive to be the object of homage
92 Chapter III.
like this before anything has been accomplished. There
is an old saying : —
" At eve the day shall be praised,
The wife when she is burnt,
The sword when tried,
The woman when married,
The ice when passed over,
Ale when drunk."
Most touching was the interest and sympathy with which
these poor fisher- folk and peasants greeted us. It often
set me wondering. I felt they followed us with fervent
eagerness. I remember one day — it was north in
Helgeland — an old woman was standing waving and
waving to us on a bare crag. Her cottage lay some
distance inland. " I wonder if it can really be us she is
waving to," I said to the pilot, who was standing beside
me. " You may be sure it is," was the answer. " But
how can she know who we are ? " " Oh ! they know all
about the Fram up here, in every cabin, and they will
be on the look-out for you as you come back, I can tell
you," he answered. Ay, truly, it is a responsible task
we are undertaking, when the whole nation are with us
like this. What if the thing should turn out a huge
disappointment !
In the evening I would sit and look around — lonely
huts lay scattered here and there on points and islets.
Here the Norwegian people wear out their lives in the
The Start. 93
struggle with the rocks, in the struggle with the sea ;
and it is this people that is sending us out into the great
hazardous unknown ; the very folk who stand there in
their fishing-boats and look wonderingly after the Fram
as she slowly and heavily steams along on her northward
course. Many of them w^ave their sou'-westers and
shout "Hurrah!" Others have barely time to gape at
us in wonderment. In on the point are a troop of
women waving and shouting, outside a few boats with
ladies in light summer dresses and gentlemen at the oars
entertaining them with small-talk, as they wave their
parasols and pocket-handkerchiefs. Yes ; it is they who
are sending us out. It is not a cheering thought. Not
one of them, probably, knows what they are paying their
money for. Maybe they have heard it is a glorious
enterprise ; but why ? to what end ? Are we not
defrauding them ? But their eyes are rivetted on the
ship, and perhaps there dawns before their minds a
momentary vision of a new and inconceivable world,
with aspirations after a something of which they know
naught. . . . And here on board are men who are
leaving wife and children behind them. How sad has
been the separation — what longing, what yearning await
them in the coming years ! And it is not for profit they
do it. For honour and glory then ? These may be
scant enough. It is the same thirst for achievement,
the same craving to get beyond the limits of the known
which inspired this people in the Saga times, that is
94 Chapter III.
stirring in them again to-day. In spite of all our toil
for subsistence, in spite of all our "peasant politics,"
sheer utilitarianism is perhaps not so dominant among us
after all.
As time was precious I did not, as originally intended,
put in at Trondhjem, but stopped at Beian, where
Sverdrup joined us. Here Professor Brogger also came
on board, to accompany us as far as Tromso.
Here, too, our doctor received three monstrous chests
with the medicine supply, a gift from Apothecary Bruun
of Trondhjem.
And so on towards the north along the lovely coast of
Nordland. We stopped at one or two places to take
dried fish on board as provision for the dogs. Past
Torghatten, the Seven Sisters, and Hestemanden, past
Lovunen and Traenen, far out yonder in the sea,
past Lofoten and all the other lovely places — each
bold gigantic form wilder and more beautiful than
the last. It is unique — a fairyland — a land of dreams.
We felt afraid to go on too fast — for fear of missing
something.
On July 1 2th we arrived at Tromso, where we were
to take in coal and other things, such as reindeer cloaks
"komager" (a sort of Lapp mocassin), Finn shoes,
"senne" grass, dried reindeer flesh, etc., etc., all of
which had been procured by that indefatigable friend of
the expedition, Advocate Mack. Tromso gave us a cold
reception — a north-westerly gale, with driving snow and
OITO SVESDKUP.
{From a photograph taken in 1895.)
The Start. 95
sleet. Mountains, plains, and house-roofs were all
covered with snow down to the water's edge. It was
the very bitterest July day I ever experienced. The
people there said they could not remember such a July.
Perhaps they were afraid the place would come into
disrepute, for in a town where they hold snow-shoe races
on Midsummer Day one may be prepared for anything
in the way of weather.
In Tromso the next day a new member of the expe-
ditiorl was engaged, Bernt Bentzen — a stout fellow to
look at. He originally intended accompanying us only
as far as Yugor Strait, but as a matter of fact he went
the whole voyage with us, and proved a great acquisi-
tion, being not only a capital seaman, but a cheerful and
amusing comrade.
After a stay of two days we again set out. On the
night of the i6th, east of the North Cape or Magero,
we met with such a nasty sea, and shipped so much
water on deck, that we put into Kjollefjord to adjust
our cargo better by shifting the coal and making a few
other changes. We worked at this the whole of two
days, and made everything clear for the voyage to
Novaya Zemlya. I had at first thought of taking on
board a fresh supply of coal at Vardo, but as we were
already deeply laden, and the Urania was to meet us at
Yugor Strait with coal, we thought it best to be con-
tented with what we had already got on board, as we
might expect bad weather in crossing the White Sea
96 Chapter III.
and Barents Sea. At ten o'clock in the evening we
weighed anchor and reached Vardo next evening, where
we met with a magnificent reception. There was a
band of music on the pier, the fjord teemed with boats,
flags waved on every hand, and salutes were fired.
The people had been waiting for us ever since the
previous evening, we were told — some of them, indeed,
coming from Vadso — and they had seized the oppor-
tunity to get up a subscription to provide a big drum
for the town band, the " North Pole." And here we
were entertained to a sumptuous banquet, with speeches
and champagne flowing in streams, ere we bade Norway
our last farewell.
The last thing that had now to be done for the Fram
was to have her bottom cleaned of mussels and weeds,
so that she might be able to make the best speed
possible. This work was done by divers, who were
readily placed at our service by the local inspector of the
Government Harbour Department.
But our own bodies also claimed one last civilised
feast of purification, before entering on a life of savagery.
The bath-house of the town is a small timber building.
The bath-room itself is low, and provided with shelves
where you lie down and are parboiled with hot steam.,
which is constantly kept up by water being thrown on
the glowing hot stones of an awful oven, worthy of hell
itself; while all the time young Qusen (lasses) flog you
with birch twigs. After that you are rubbed down,
The Start. 97
washed and dried delightfully — everything being well-
managed, clean and comfortable. I wonder whether old
father Mahomet has set up a bath like this in his
paradise.
H
CHAPTER IV.
Farewell to Norway.
I FELT in a strange mood as I sat up the last night
writing letters and telegrams. We had bidden farewell
to our excellent pilot, Johan Hagensen, who had piloted
us from Bergen, and now we were only the thirteen
members of the expedition, together with my secretary,
Christofersen, who had accompanied us so far, and was
to go on with us as far as Yugor Strait. Everything
was so calm and still, save for the scraping of the pen
that was sending off a farewell to friends at home.
All the men were asleep below.
The last telegram was written, and I sent my secre-
tary ashore with it. It was 3 o'clock in the morning
when he returned, and I called Sverdrup up and one or
two others. We weighed anchor, and stood out of the
harbour in the silence of the morning. The town still
lay wrapped in sleep, everything looked so peaceful and
lovely all around, with the exception of a little stir of
awakening toil on board one single steamer in the
harbour. A sleepy fisherman stuck his head up out of
Farewell to Norway. 99
the halt-deck of his ten-oared boat, and stared at us as
v/e steamed past the breakwater ; and on the revenue
cutter outside there was a man fishing in that early-
morning light.
This last impression of Norway was just the right one
for us to carry away with us. Such beneficent peace
and calm ; such a rest for the thoughts ; no hubbub and
turmoil of people with their hurrahs and salutes. The
masts in the harbour, the house roofs and chimneys stood
out against the cool morning sky. Just then the sun
broke through the mist, and smiled over the shore —
rugged, bare, and weatherworn in the hazy morning, but
still lovely — dotted here and there with tiny houses and
boats, and all Norway lay behind it. . . .
While the Fram was slowly and quietly working her
way out to sea, towards our distant goal, I stood and
watched the land gradually fading away on the horizon.
I wonder what will happen to her and to us, before we
again see Norway rising up over the sea ?
But a fog soon came on, and obscured everything.
And through fog, nothing but fog, we steamed away
for four days without stopping, until, when I came on
deck on the morning of the 25th of July, behold clear
weather ! The sun was shining in a cloudless sky, the
bright blue sea was heaving with a gentle swell. Again
it was good to be a living being, and to drink in the
peacefulness of the sea in long draughts. Towards noon
we sighted Goose Land on Novaya Zemlya, and stood in
H 2
lOO Chapter IV.
towards it. Guns and cartridges were got ready, and we
looked forward with joyful anticipation to roast goose and
other game ; but we had gone but a short distance when
the grey woolly fog from the south-east came up and
enveloped us. Again we were shut off froin the world
around us. It was scarcely prudent to make for land,
so we set our course eastwards towards Yugor Strait ;
but a head wind soon compelled us to beat up under
steam and sail, which we went on doing for a couple
of days, plunged in a world of fog. Ugh ! that endless,
stubborn fog of the Arctic Sea ! When it lowers its
curtain, and shuts out the blue above and the blue below,
and everything becomes a damp grey mist, day in and
day out, then all the vigour and elasticity of the soul is
needed to save one from being stifled in its clammy
embrace. Fog, and nothing but fog, wherever we turn
our eyes. It condenses on the rigging, and drips down
on every tiniest spot on deck. It lodges on your clothes,
and finally wets you through and through. It settles
down on the mind and spirits, and everything becomes
one uniform grey.
On the evening, of July 27th, while still fogbound, we
quite unexpectedly met with ice ; a mere strip, indeed,
which we easily passed through, but it boded ill. In
the night we met with more — a broader strip this time,
which also we passed through. But next morning I was
called up with the information that there was thick, old
ice ahead. Well, if ice difficulties were to begin so soon.
" o
Farewell to Norway. loi
it would be a bad look out indeed. Such are the chill
surprises that the Arctic Sea has more than enough of.
I dressed and was up in the crow's-nest in a twinkling.
The ice lay extended everywhere, as far as the eye could
reach through the fog, which had lifted a little. There
was no small quantity of ice, but it was tolerably open,
and there was nothing for it but to be true to our watch-
word and "ga fram" — push onwards. For a good while
we picked our way. But now it began to lie closer with
large floes every here and there, and at the same time
the fog grew denser, and we could not see our way at
all. To go ahead in difficult ice and in a fog is not very
prudent, for it is impossible to tell just where you are
going, and you are apt to be set fast before you know
where you are. So we had to stop and wait. But still
the fog grew ever denser, while the ice did the same.
Our hopes meanwhile rose and fell, but mostly the latter
I think. To encounter so much ice already in these
waters, where at this time of year the sea is, as a
rule, quite free from it, boded anything but good.
Already at Tromso and Vardo we had heard bad news ;
the White Sea, they said, had only been clear of ice
a very short time, and a boat that had tried to reach
Yugor Strait had had to turn back because of the ice.
Neither were our anticipations of the Kara Sea
altogether cheerful. What might we not expect there ?
For the Urania with our coal, too, this ice was a
bad business ; for it would be unable to make its way
I02 Chapter IV.
through unless it had found navigable water further
south along the Russian coast.
Just as our prospects were at their darkest, and we
were preparing to seek a way back out of the ice which
kept getting ever denser, the joyful tidings came that
the fog was lifting, and that clear water was visible
ahead to the east on the other side of the ice. After
forcing our way ahead for some hours between the
heavy floes, we were once more in open water. This
first bout with the ice, however, showed us plainly what
an excellent ice-boat the Fram was. It was a royal
pleasure to work her ahead through difficult ice. She
twisted and turned " like a ball on a platter." No
channel between the floes so winding and awkward
but she could get through it. But it is hard work for
the helmsman. "Hard a-starboard ! Hard a-port !
Steady! Hard a-starboard again!" goes on incessantly
without so much as a breathing-space. And he rattles
the wheel round, the sweat pours ofl him, and round
it goes again like a spinning-wheel. And the ship
swings round, and wriggles her way forward among
the floes without touching, if there is only just an
opening wide enough for her to slip through ; and
where there is none she drives full tilt at the ice,
with her heavy plunge, runs her sloping bows up
on it, treads it under her and bursts the floes asunder.
And how strong she is too ! Even when she goes
full speed at a floe, not a creak, not a sound is to
Farewell to Norway. 103
be heard in her ; if she gives a little shake it is all she
does.
On Saturday, July 29th, we again headed eastwards
towards Yugor Strait as fast as sails and steam could
take us. We had open sea ahead, the weather was fine
and the wind fair. Next morning we came under the
south side of Dolgoi or Langoia, as the Norwegian
whalers call it, where we had to stand to the northward.
On reaching the north of the island we again bore
eastwards. Here I descried from the crow's-nest, as
far as I could make out, several islands which are not
given on the charts. They lay a little to the east of
Langoia.
It was now pretty clear that the U^^ania had not
made her way through the ice. While we were sitting
in the saloon in the forenoon talking about it, a cry was
heard from deck that the sloop was in sight. It was
joyful news, but the joy was of no long duration. The
next moment we heard she had a crow's-nest on her
mast, so she was doubtless a sealer. When she sighted
us, she bore off to the south, probably fearing that we
were a Russian war-ship or something equally bad. So,
as we had no particular interest in her, we let her go
on her way in peace.
Later in the day we neared Yugor Strait. We
kept a sharp look-out for land ahead, but none could
be seen. Hour after hour passed as we glided onwards
at good speed, but still no land. Certainly it would not
I04 Chapter IV.
be high land, but nevertheless this was strange. Yes —
there it lies like a low shadow over the horizon on the
port bow. It is land — it is Vaigats Island. Soon we
sight more of it — abaft the beam, then too the mainland
on the south side of the strait. More and more of it
comes in sight — it increases rapidly. All low and level
land, no heights, no variety, no apparent opening for
the strait ahead. Thence it stretches away to the north
and south in a soft low curve. This is the threshold
of Asia's boundless plains, so different from all we have
been used to.
We now glided into the strait with its low rocky
shores on either side. The strata of the rocks lie end-
ways, and are crumpled and broken, but on the surface
everything is level and smooth. No one who travels
over the flat green plains and tundras would have any
idea of the mysteries and upheavals that lie hidden
beneath the sward. Here once upon a time were
mountains and valleys, now all worn away and washed
out.
We looked out for Khabarova. On the north side of
the sound there was a mark ; a shipwrecked sloop lay
on the shore, it was a Norwegian sealer. The wreck of
a smaller vessel lay by its side. On the south side was
a flag-staff, and on it a red flag ; Khabarova must then
lie behind it. At last one or two buildings or shanties
appeared behind a promontory, and soon the whole place
lay exposed to view, consisting of tents and a few houses.
Farewell to Norway. 105
On a little jutting-out point close by us was a large red
building, with white door frames, of a very homelike
appearance. It was indeed a Norwegian warehouse
which Sibiriakoff had imported from Finmarken. But
here the water was shallow, and we had to proceed
carefully for fear of running aground. We kept heaving
the lead incessantly — we had 5 fathoms of water, and
then 4, then not much more than we needed, and then it
shelved to a little over 3 fathoms. This was rather too
close work, so we stood out again a bit to wait till we
got a little nearer the place before drawing in to the
shore.
A boat was now seen slowly approaching from the
land. A man of middle height, with an open kindly face
and reddish beard, came on board. He might have been
a Norwegian from his appearance. I went to meet him,
and asked him in German if he was Trontheim. Yes, he
was. After him there came a number of strange figures
clad in heavy robes of reindeer skin, which nearly touched
the deck. On their heads they wore peculiar "baschlik"-
like caps of reincalf skin, beneath which strongly-marked
bearded faces showed forth, such as might well have
belonged to old Norwegian Vikings. The whole scene,
indeed, called up in my mind a picture of the Viking
Age, of expeditions to Gardarike and Bjarmeland.
They were fine stalwart-looking fellows, these Russian
traders, who barter with the natives, giving them brandy
in exchange for bearskins, sealskins, and other valuables,
io6 Chapter IV.
and who, when once they have a hold on a man, keep
him in such a state of dependence that he can scarcely
call his soul his own. " Es ist eine alte Geschichte, doch
wird sie immer neu." Soon, too, the Samoyedes came
flocking on board, pleasant-featured people of the
broad Asiatic type. Of course it was only the men who
came.
The first question I asked Trontheim was about the
ice. He replied that Yugor Strait had been open a
long while, and that he had been expecting our arrival
every day since then with ever-increasing anxiety. The
natives and the Russians had begun to jeer at him as
time went on, and no Fram was to be seen ; but now
he had his revenge and was all sunshine. He thought
the state of the ice in the Kara Sea would be favourable ;
some Samoyedes had said so, who had been seal
hunting near the eastern entrance of the Strait a day
or two previously. This was not very much to build
upon, certainly, but still sufficient to make us regret
that we had not got there before. Then we spoke of
the Urania, of which no one, of course, had seen
anything. No ship had put in there for some time,
except the sealing sloop we had passed in the morning.
Next we enquired about the dogs and learned that
everything was all right with them. To make sure,
Trontheim had purchased forty dogs, though I had only
asked for thirty. Five of these, from various mishaps,
had died during their journey — one had been bitten to
Farewell to Norway. 107
death, two had got hung fast and had been strangled
while passing through a forest, etc., etc. One, more-
over, had been taken ill a few days before, and was
still on the sick list ; but the remaining thirty-four were
in good condition ; we could hear them howling and
barking. During this conversation we had come as
near to Khabarova as we dared venture, and at seven
in the evening cast anchor in about 3 fathoms of water.
Over the supper table Trontheim told us his adven-
tures. On the way from Sop va and Ural to the Pechora
he heard that there was a dog epidemic in that locality ;
consequently he did not think it advisable to go to the
Pechora as he had intended, but laid his course instead
direct from Ural to Yugor Strait. Towards the end of
the journey the snow had disappeared, and, in company
with a reindeer caravan, he drove on with his dogs over
the bare plain, stocks and stones and all, using the
sledges none the less. The Samoyedes and natives of
Northern Siberia have no vehicles but sledges. The
summer sledge is somewliat higher than the winter
sledge, in order that it may not hang fast upon stones
and stumps. As may be supposed, however, summer
sledging is anything but smooth work.
After supper we went ashore, and were soon on the
flat beach of Khabarova, the Russians and Samoyedes
regarding us with the utmost curiosity. The first
objects to attract our attention were the two churches —
an old venerable-looking wooden shed of an oblong
io8 Chapter IV.
rectangular form, and an octagonal pavilion, not unlike
many summer-houses or garden pavilions that I have
seen at home. How far the divergence between the two
forms of religion was indicated in the two mathematical
THE NEW CHURCH AND THE OLD CHURCH AT KHABAROVA.
(From a Photograph.')
figures I am unable to say. It might be that the
simplicity of the old faith was expressed in the simple,
four-sided building, while the rites and ceremonies of
the other were typified in the octagonal form, with its
double number of corners to stumble against. Then w^e
Farewell to Norway. 109
must go and see the monastery — " Skit," as it was called
— where the six monks had lived, or rather, died, from
what people said was scurvy, probably helped out by
alcohol. It lay over against the new church, and
resembled an ordinary low Russian timber house. The
priest and his assistants were living there now, and had
asked Trontheim to take up his quarters with them.
Trontheim, therefore, invited us in, and we soon found
ourselves in a couple of comfortable log-built rooms with
open fire-places like our Norwegian "peis."
After this we proceeded to the dog-camp, which was
situated on a plain at some distance from the houses and
tents. As we approached it the howling and barking
kept getting worse and worse. When a short distance
off, we were surprised to see a Norwegian flag on the
top of a pole. Trontheim's face beamed with joy as our
eyes fell on it. It was, he said, under the same flag as
our expedition that his had been undertaken. There
stood the dogs tied up, making a deafening clamour.
Many of them appeared to be well-bred animals — long-
haired, snow-white, with up-standing ears and pointed
muzzles. With their gentle, good-natured looking faces
they at once ingratiated themselves in our affections.
Some of them more resembled a fox, and had shorter
coats, while others were black or spotted. Evidently they
were of different races, and some of them betrayed
by their drooping ears a strong admixture of European
blood. After having duly admired the ravenous
I lo Chapter IV.
way in which they swallowed raw fish (gwiniad), not
without a good deal of snarling and wrangling, we took
a walk inland to a lake close by, in search of game ; but
we only found an Arctic gull with its brood. A channel
had been dug from this lake to convey drinking water to
Khabarova. According to what Trontheim told us, this
was the work of the monks — about the only work, pro-
bably, they had ever taken in hand. The soil here was a
soft clay, and the channel was narrow and shallow, like a
roadside ditch or gutter ; the work could not have been
very arduous. On the hill above the lake stood the flag-
staff which we had noticed on our arrival. It had been
erected by the excellent Trontheim to bid us welcome,
and on the flag itself, as I afterwards discovered by
chance, was the word " Vorwarts." Trontheim had been
told that was the name of our ship, so he was not a little
disappointed when he came on board to find it v^disFram
instead. I consoled him, however, by telling him they
both mieant the same thing, and that his welcome was
just as well meant, whether written in German or
Norwegian. Trontheim told me afterwards that he was
by descent a Norwegian, his, father having been a ship's
captain from Trondhjem, and his mother, an Esthonian.
settled at Riga. His father had been much at sea, and
had died early, so the son had not learnt Norwegian.
Naturally our first and foremost object was to learn all
we could about the ice in the Arctic Sea. We had
determined to push on as soon as possible ; but we must
PETER HENRIKSEN.
(From a photograph taken in t895.)
Farewell to Norway. 1 1 1
have the boiler put in order first, while sundry pipes and
valves in the engine wanted seeing to. As it would take
several days to do this, Sverdrup, Peter Henriksen, and
I set out next morning in our little petroleum launch to
the eastern opening of the Yugor Strait, to see with our
own eyes what might be the condition of the ice to the
eastward. It was 28 miles thither. A quantity of
ice was drifting througli the strait from the east, and, as
there was a northerly breeze, we at once turned our
course northwards to get under the lee of the north shore
where the water was more open. I had the rather
thankless task of acting as helmsman and engineer at
one and the same time. The boat went on like a little
hero and made about six knots. Everything looked
bright. But alas ! good fortune seldom lasts long,
especially when one has to do with petroleum launches.
A defect in the circulation pump soon stopped the engine,
and we could only go for short distances at a time, till
we reached the north shore, where, after two hours' hard
work, I got the engines so far in order as to be able to
continue our journey to the north-east through the sound
between the drifting floes. We got on pretty well,
except for an interruption every now and then when the
engine took it into its head to come to a standstill. It
caused a good deal of merriment when the stalwart Peter
turned the crank to set her off again, and the engine
gave a start, so as nearly to pull his arms out of joint,
and upset him head over heels in the boat. Every now
112 Chapter IV.
and then a flock of long-tailed duck i^Harelda glacialis)
or other birds came whizzing by us, one or two of them
invariably falling to our guns.
We had kept along the Vaigats shore, but now
crossed over towards the south side of the strait. When
about the middle of the channel I was startled by all at
once seeing the bottom grow light under us, and had
nearly run the boat on a shoal of which no one knew
anything. There was scarcely more than 2 or 3 feet of
water, and the current ran over it like a rapid river.
Shoals and sunken rocks abound there on every hand,
especially on the south side of the strait, and it required
great care to navigate a vessel through it. Near the
eastern mouth of the strait we put into a little creek,
dragged the boat up on the beach, and then taking our
guns made for some high-lying land we had noticed.
We tramped along over the same undulating plain-land
with low ridges as we had seen everywhere round the
Yugor Strait. A brownish-green carpet of moss and
grass spread over the plain, bestrewn with flowers of rare
beauty. During the long, cold Siberian winter the snow
lies in a thick mass over the tundra ; but no sooner does
the sun get the better of it than hosts of tiny northern
flowers burst their way up through the last disappearing
coating of snow, and open their modest calices, blushing
in the radiant summer day that bathes the plain in its
splendour. Saxifrages with large blooms, pale yellow
mountain poppies (papaver nudicaule) stand in bright
Farewell to Norway. 1 1 3
clusters, and here and there with bluish forget-me-nots
and while cloud-berry flowers ; in some boggy hollows
the cotton-grass spreads its wavy down carpet, while in
other spots small forests of blue-bells softly tingle in the
wind on their upright stalks. These flowers are not at
all brilliant specimens, being in most cases not more than
a couple of inches high, but they are all the more
exquisite on that account, and in such surroundings their
beauty is singularly attractive. While the eye vainly
seeks for a resting place over the boundless plain, these
modest blooms smile at you, and take the fancy captive.
And over these mighty tundra-plains of Asia, stretching
infinitely onwards from one sky-line to the other, the
nomad wanders with his reindeer-herds, a glorious, free
life ! Where he wills he pitches his tent, his reindeer
around him ; and at his will again he goes on his way.
I almost envied him. He has no goal to struggle
towards, no anxieties to endure — he has merely to live !
I well-nigh wished that I could live his peaceful life,
with wife and child, on these boundless, open plains,
unfettered, happy.
After we had proceeded a short distance, we became
aware of a white object sitting on a stone heap beneath a
little ridge, and soon noticed more in other directions.
They looked quite ghostly as they sat there silent and
motionless. With the help of my field-glass I dis-
covered that they were snow-owls. We set out after
I
114 Chapter IV.
them, but they took care to keep out of the range
of a fowling-piece. Sverdrup, however, shot one or
two with his rifle. There was a great number of
them ; I could count as many as eight or ten at once.
They sat motionless on tussocks of grass or stones,
watching, no doubt, for lemmings, of which, judging
from their tracks, there must have been quantities.
We, however, did not see any.
From the tops of the ridges we could see over the
Kara Sea to the north-east. Everywhere ice could be
descried through the telescope, far on the horizon — ice,
too, that seemed tolerably close and massive. But
between it and the coast there was open water, stretch-
ing like a wide channel, as far as the eye could reach,
to the south-east. This was all we could make out, but
it was in reality all we wanted. There seemed to be no
doubt that we could make our way forward, and, well
satisfied, we returned to our boat. Here we lighted a
fire of driftwood, and made some glorious coffee.
As the coffee-kettle was singing over a splendid fire,
and we stretched ourselves at full length on the slope by
its side and smoked a quiet pipe, Sverdrup made himself
thoroughly comfortable, and told us one story after
another. However gloomy a country might look, how^-
ever desolate, if only there were plenty of driftwood on
the beach, so that one Could make a right good fire, the
bigger the better, then his eyes would glisten with
delight — that land was his El Dorado. So from that
Farewell to Norway. 1 1 5
time forth he conceived a high opinion of the Siberian
coast — a right good place for wintering, he called it.
On our way back we ran at full speed on to a sunken
rock. After a bump or two, the boat slid over it ; but
just as she was slipping off on the other side, the
propeller struck on the rock, so that the stern gave a
bound into the air while the engine whizzed round at a
tearing rate. It all happened in a second, before I had
time to stop her. Unluckily one screw blade was
broken off, but we drove ahead with the other as best
we could. Our progress was certainly rather uneven,
but for all that we managed to get on somehow.
Towards morning we drew near the Frani, passing
two Samoyedes who had drawn their boat up on an ice-
floe and were looking out for seals. I wonder what they
thought when they saw our tiny boat shoot by them
without steam, sails or oars. We, at all events, looked
down on these " poor savages " with the self-satisfied
compassion of Europeans, as, comfortably seated, we
dashed past them.
But pride comes before a fall ! We had not gone far
when — whirr, whirr, whirr — a fearful racket ! bits of
broken steel springs whizzed past my ears, and the
whole machine came to a dead stop. It was not to be
moved either forwards or backwards. The vibration of
the one-bladed propeller had brought the lead line little
by little within the range of the flywheel, and all at once
the whole line was drawn into the machinery, and got so-
I 2
1 1 6 Chapter IV.
dreadfully entangled in it that we had to take the whole
thing to pieces to get it clear once more. So we had to
endure the humiliation of rowing back to our proud ship,
for whose fleshpots we had long been an-hungered.
The nett result of the day was : tolerably good news
about the Kara Sea ; forty birds, principally geese and
long-tailed ducks ; one seal ; and a disabled boat.
Amundsen and I, however, soon put this in complete
repair again — but in so doing I fear I forfeited for ever
and a day the esteem of the Russians and Samoyedes in
these parts. Some of them had been on board in the
morning and seen me hard at work in the boat in my
shirt sleeves, face and bare arms dirty with oil and other
messes. They went on shore afterwards to Trontheim,
and said that I could not possibly be a great person,
slaving away like any other workman on board, and
looking worse than a common rough. Trontheim,
unfortunately, knew of nothing that could be said in my
-excuse ; there is no fighting against facts.
In the evening some of us went on shore to try the
dogs. Trontheim picked out ten of them, and harnessed
them to a Samoyede sledge. No sooner were we ready
and I had taken my seat, than the team caught sight of
a wretched strange dog that had come near, and off
dashed dogs, sledge, and my valuable person after the
poor creature. There was a tremendous uproar ; all the
ten tumbled over each other like wild wolves, biting and
tearing wherever they could catch hold ; blood ran in
Farewell to Norway. 1 1 7
streams, and the culprit howled pitiably, while Trontheim
tore round like a madman, striking right and left with his
long switch. Samoyedes and Russians came screaming
from all sides. I sat passively on the sledge in the
middle of it all, dumb with fright, and it was ever so long
before it occurred to me that there was perhaps something
for me too to do. With a horrible yell I flung myself
on some of the worst fighters, got hold of them by the
neck, and managed to give the culprit time to get away.
OUR TRIAL TRIP WITH THE DOGS.
(,By Otto Sifuiing; from a Photogmph.)
Our team had got badly mixed up during the battle,
and it took some time to disentangle them. At last
everything was once more ready for the start. Tront-
heim cracked his whip, and called, '' Pr-r-r-r, pr-r-r-r,"and
off we went at a wild gallop, over grass, clay, and stones,
until it seemed as if they were going to carry us right
across the lagoon at the mouth of the river. I kicked
and pulled in with all my might, but was dragged along,
ii8 Chapter IV.
and it was all that Trontheim and I with our united
strength could do to stop them just as they were going
into the water, although we shouted " Sass, sass," so that
it echoed over the whole of Khabarova. But at last we
got our team turned in another direction, and off we set
again merrily at such a pace that I had enough to do to
hold on. It was an extraordinary summer ride ; and it
gave us a high opinion of the dogs' strength, seeing how
easily they drew two men over this, to put it mildly, bad
sledging ground. We went on board again well satisfied,
also the richer, by a new experience ; having learnt that
dog-driving, at any rate to begin with, requires much
patience.
Siberian dog - harness is remarkably primitive. A
thick rope or a strap of sail-cloth passes round the animal's
back and belly. This is held in its place above by a piece
of cord attached to the collar. The single trace is
fastened under the belly, goes back between the legs,
and must often plague the animal. I was unpleasantly
surprised when I noticed that, with four exceptions, all
the dogs' were castrated ; and this surprise I did not
conceal. But Trontheim on his side was at least equally
astonished, and informed me that in Siberia castrated
dogs are considered the best."^ This was a disappoint-
ment to me, as I had reckoned on my canine family
* The ordinary male dog is liable to get inflammation of the scrotum
from the friction of the trace.
Farewell to Norway. 119
increasing on the way. For the present I should just
have to trust to the four " whole " dogs and " Kvik," the
bitch I had brought with me from home-
Next day, August ist, there was a great religious
festival in Khabarova, that of St. Elias. Samoyedes
from far and near had come in with their reindeer teams
to celebrate the day by going to church and then getting
roaring drunk. We were in need of men in the morning
to help with filling the boiler with fresh water and the
tank with drinking-water, but on account of this festival
it was difficult to get hold of any at all. At last, by dint
of promising sufficient reward, Trontheim succeeded in
collecting some poor fellows who had not money enough
to drink themselves as drunk as the day required of
them. I was on shore in the morning, partly to arrange
about the provision of water, partly to collect fossils, in
which the rock here abounds, especially one rock below
Sibiriakoff's warehouse. I also took a walk up the hill
to the west, to Trontheim's flagstaff, and looked out to
sea in that direction after the Urania. But there was
nothing to be seen except an unbroken sea-line. Loaded
with my find I returned to Khabarova, where I, of
course, took advantage of the opportunity to see some-
thing of the festival.
From early morning the women had been dressed in
their finest clothes — brilliant colours, skirts with many
tucks, and great coloured bows at the end of plaits of
hair which hung far down their backs. Before service,
I20 Chapter IV.
an old Samoyede and a comely young girl led out a lean
reindeer which was to be offered to the church — to the
old church, that is to say. Even up here, as already
mentioned, religious differences have found their way.
Nearly all the Samoyedes of these parts belong to the old
faith and attend the old church. But they go occasionally
to the new one too ; as far as I could make out, so as not
to offend the priest and Sibiriakoff — or perhaps to be
surer of heaven ? From what I got out of Trontheim
on the subject, the chief difference between the two
religions lies in the way they make the sign of the cross
or something of that sort. To-day was high festival in
both churches. All the Samoyedes first paid a short
visit to the new church and then immediately streamed
over into the old one. The old church was for the
moment without a priest, but to-day they had clubbed
together and offered the priest of the new church
2 roubles to hold a service in the old one too. After
careful consideration, he agreed, and in all his priestly
pomp crossed the old threshold. The air inside was so
bad that 1 could not stand it for more than two minutes,
so I now made my way on board again.
During the afternoon the howling and screaming
began, and increased as time went on. We did not need
to be told that the serious part of the festival had now
begun. Some of the Samoyedes tore about over the
plain with their reindeer teams like furious animals.
They could not sit on their sledges, but lay on them or
Farewell to Norway. 121
were dragged behind them, howling. Some of my
comrades went on shore, and brought back anything but
an edifying account of the state of things. Every single
EVENING SCENE AT KIIABAROVA.
{By Olio Sinding,from a Photograph.)
man and woman appeared to be drunk, reeling about the
place. One young Samoyede in particular had made an
ineffaceable impression on them. He mounted a sledge,
122 Chapter IV,
lashed at the reindeer, and drove " amuck " in among the
tents, over the tied-up dogs, foxes, and whatever came in
his way ; he himself fell off the sledge, was caught in the
reins, and dragged behind, shrieking, through sand and
clay. Good Saint Elias must be much flattered by such
homage. Towards morning the howling gradually died
away, and the whole town slept the loathsome sleep of
the drunkard.
There was not a man to be got to help with our coal-
shifting next clay. Most of them slept all day after the
orgie of the night. We had just to do without help ;
but we had not finished by evehing, and I began to
be impatient to get away. Precious time was passing ;
I had long ago given up the Urania. We did not really
need more coal. The wind had been favourable for
several days. It was a south wind, which was certainly
blowing the ice to the northward in the Kara Sea.
Sverdrup was now positive that we should be able to sail
in open water all the way to the New Siberian Islands,
so it was his opinion that there was no hurry for the
present. But hope is a frail reed to lean on, and my
expectations were not quite so bright ; so I hurried
things on, to get away as soon as possible.
At the supper table this evening King Oscar's gold
medal of merit was solemnly presented to Trontheim,
in recognition of the great care with which he had
executed his difficult commission, and the valuable
assistance thereby rendered to the expedition. His
O. CHRISrOFEUSEN AND A. TRONTHEIM.
(From a photograph.. _)
Farewell to Norway. 123
honest face beamed at the sight of the beautiful medal
and the bright ribbon.
Next day, August 3rd, we were at last ready for a
start, and the 34 dogs were brought on board in the
afternoon, with great noise and confusion. They were all
tied up on the deck forward, and began by providing
more musical entertainment than we desired. By
evening the hour had come. We got up steam — every-
thing was ready. But such a thick fog had set in that
we could not see the land. Now came the moment when
our last friend, Christofersen, was to leave the ship.
We supplied him with the barest sufficiency of pro-
visions and some Ringnes's ale. While this was
being done, last lines were added in feverish eager-
ness to the letters home. Then came a last hand-
clasp ; Christofersen and Trontheim got into the boat,
and had soon disappeared in the fog. With them went
our last post ; our last link with home was broken.
We were alone in the mist on the sea. It was not likely
that any message from us would reach the world before
we ourselves brought the news of our success or defeat.
How much anxiety were those at home to suffer between
now and then ? It is true we might possibly be able to
send letters home from the mouth of the Olenek, where,
according to the agreement with Baron Toll, we were to
call in for another supply of dogs ; but I did not consider
this probable. It was far on in the summer, and I had
an instinctive feeling that the state of the ice was not so
favourable as I could have wished it to be.
124 Chapter IV.
Trontheim's Narrative.
Alexander Ivanovitch Trontheim has himself given an
account, in the Tobolsk official newspaper, of his long
and difficult journey with our dogs. The account was
written by A. Kryloff from Trontheim's story. The
following is a short resume : —
After having made the contract with Baron Toll,
Trontheim was on January 28th (January i6th by
Russian reckoning) already at Berezoff, where there was
then a Yassak- meeting,'"" and cansequently a great
assembly of Ostiaks and Samoyedes. Trontheim made
use of this opportunity and bought t^t, (this ought
probably to be 40) choice sledge dogs. These he
conveyed to the little country town of Muzhi, where he
made preparations for the " very long journey," passing
the time in this way till April i6th. By this date he
had prepared 300 pud (about 9,600 lbs.) of dog
provender, consisting chiefly of dried fish. For 300
roubles he engaged a Syriane, named Terentieff, with a
reindeer herd of 450, to convey him, his dogs, and
baggage to Yugor Strait. For three months these two
with their caravan— reindeer, drivers, dogs, women, and
children — travelled through the barren tracts of northern
Siberia. At first their route lay through the Ural
* Yassak is a tax paid in fur by the Siberians,
Farewell to Norway. 125
Mountains. " It was more a sort of nornadic life than a
journey. They did not go straight on towards their
destination, but wandered over wide tracts of country,
stopping wherever it was suitable for the reindeer, and
where they found lichen. From the little town of Muzhi
the expedition passed up the Voikara River to its
sources ; and here began the ascent of the Ural
Mountains by the Pass of Kjaila (Kjola). In their
crossing of the chain they tried to skirt along the foot of
the mountains, climbing as little as possible. . . ."
" They noticed one marked contrast between the
mountains in the northern and those in the southern part
of the Ural chain. In the south the snow melts quickly
in the lower regions and remains lying on the tops.
Here (in the northern Ural), on the contrary, the
mountain tops are free from snow before the sun's rays
penetrate into the valleys and melt it there. In some
valleys, especially those closed by mountains to the south,
and more exposed to north winds, the snow lies the
whole summer. When they had got across the Ural
Mountains they first followed the course of the River
Lemva, then crossed it, and now followed a whole system
of small rivers, for which even the natives have no names.
At last, on May 4th, the expedition reached the River
Ussa, on the banks of which lay the hut of the Syriane
Nikitsa." This was "the one inhabited spot in this
enormous tract of country," and here they stopped two
weeks to rest the reindeer and get provender for them.
126 Chapter IV.
"The country lying between the sources of the Voikara
and the Ussa is wooded in every direction." Between
the River Ussa and the River Vorkuta, and even beyond
that, Trontheim and his company travelled through quite
luxuriant wood. In the middle of May, as the caravan
approached the tundra region, the wood got thinner and
thinner, and by May 27th it was nothing but scattered
underwood. After this came quite small bushes and
weeds, and then at last the interminable tundra came
in sight. Not to be without fuel on the tundra they
felled some dead trees and other wood, eight sledge
loads. The day after they got out on the tundra
(May 29th) the caravan set off at full speed, the Syrianes
being anxious to get quickly past a place where a whole
herd of reindeer had perished some years before. The
reindeer-drivers take good note of such places, and do
everything possible to avoid them, as the animals may
easily be infected by gnawing the bones of their dead
comrades. God help the herd that this happens to !
The disease passes rapidly from animal to animal, and
scores may die of it in a day.^'
"In this region there are many bogs ; the low land
forms one continuous morass. Sometimes we had to
walk up to the waist in water; thus on June 5th we
splashed about the whole day in water, in constant fear
of the dogs catching cold. On the 6th a strong north-
This disease is probably anthrax, or something of the same nature.
Farewell to Norway. 127
east wind blew, and at night the cold was so severe
that two reindeer-calves were frozen to death ; and
besides this two grown ones were carried off by wolves."
The caravan had often to cross rapid rivers, where
it was sometimes very difficult to find a ford. They
were frequently obliged to construct a bridge with the
help of tent poles and sometimes blocks of ice, and it
occasionally took them a whole day to get across. By
degrees their supply of wood was used up, and it was
difficult to get food cooked. Few bushes were to be
found. On June 17th they met a Syriane reindeer
driver and trader ; from him they bought two bottles
of wine (brandy) at 70 kopecks each. "It was, as is
customary, a very friendly encounter, and ended with
treatings on both sides. One can see a long way on the
tundra ; the Syriane's keen eye detects another herd, or
smoke from inhabited tents, 10 versts off; and a nomad
who has discovered the presence of another human
being 10 or 12 versts off never lets slips the oppor-
tunity of visiting him in his camp, having a talk, and
being regaled with tea, or, in preference, brandy. The
day after, June 18th, some Samoyedes, who had heard of
the caravan, came on four sledges to the camp. They
were entertained with tea. The conversation, carried on
in Samoyedc, was about the health of the reindeer, our
journey, and the way to Yugor Strait. When the
scanty news of the tundra had been well discussed
they took their departure."
128 Chapter IV.
By the end of June, when they had got through all
the ramifications of the Little Ural Mountains, the time
was drawing near when, according to his agreement,
Trontheim was due at Yug^or Strait. He was obligfed
to hasten the rate of travelling, which was not an easy
matter, with more than 40 sledges and 450 reindeer,
not counting the calves. He, therefore, determined to
divide the caravan into two parts, leave the women,
children, and domestic animals behind, and push forward
without any baggage, except the necessary food. So on
June 28th "thirty sledges, tents, etc, were left with the
women and children, who were to live their nomadic life
as best they could. The male Syrianes took ten sledges
and went on with Trontheim." At last, on July 9th,
after more wanderings, they saw the sea from a "high
hill," and next day they reached Khabarova, where
Trontheim learned that no steamer had arrived yet in
Yugor Strait, nor had any sail been seen. At this time
the whole shore of Yugor Strait and all the sea within
sight was covered with ice, driven there by northerly
winds. The sea was not quite open till July 22nd.
Trontheim passed the time while he was waiting for
the Frani in hunting and making excursions with his
dogs, which were in excellent condition. He was often
in the Sibiriakoff colony, a meeting place for the
Samoyedes of the district, who come here in considerable
numbers to dispose of their wares. And it was a
melancholy phase of life he saw here in this little " world-
Farewell to Norway. 129
forsaken " colony. '* Every summer two or three mer-
chants or peasant traders, generally from Pustozersk,
come for the purpose of bartering with the Samoyedes,
and sometimes the Syrianes, too, for their wares — bear-
skins, blubber, and sealskins, reindeer skins, and such
like — giving in exchange tea, sugar, flour, household
utensils, etc. No transaction takes place without the
drinking of brandy, for which the Samoyede has an
insatiable craving. When the trader has succeeded in
making a poor wretch quite tipsy, he fleeces him, and
buys all he wants at some ridiculous price — the result of
the transaction generally being that the Samoyede is in
debt to his 'benefactor.' All the traders that come to
the colony bring brandy, and one great drinking bout
goes on all the summer. You can tell where much
business is done by the number of brandy casks in the
trader's booth. There is no police inspection, and it
would be difficult to organise anything of the kind. As
soon as there is snow enough for the sledges, the mer-
chants' reindeer caravans start from the colony on their
homeward journey, loaded with empty brandy casks and
with the proceeds of this one-sided bartering."
" On July 30th [this ought to be 29th] Trontheim saw
from the shore, first, smoke, and soon after a steamer.
There could be no doubt of its being the Fram. He
went out in a little Samoyede boat to meet her, and
called out in Russian that he wanted to be taken on
board. From the steamer they called back asking who
K
13c Chapter IV.
he was, and when they heard his name he was hauled up.
On deck he met Nansen himself, in a greasy working
jacket. He is still quite a young man, of middle height
" Here follows a flattering description of the
leader of the expedition, and the state of matters on
board. " It is evident," he then goes on, "that we have
here one family, united and inspired by one idea, for the
carrying out of which all labour devotedly. The hard
and dirty work on board is fairly divided, no difference
being made between the common sailor and the captain,
or even the chief of the expedition. The doctor, too,
takes his share in the general work, and this community
of labour is a close bond between all on board. The
existence of such relations among the ship's company
made a very favourable impression on Trontheim, and
this most of all (in his opinion) justified the hope that in
difficult crises the expedition would be able tohold itsown."
"A. I. Trontheim was on board the Frani every day,
breakfasting and dining there. From what he relates,
the ship must be admirably built, leaving nothing what-
ever to be desired. The cabins are roomy, and
comfortably fitted up ; there is an excellent library,
containing the classics of European literature ; various
musical instruments, from a beautiful grand piano* to
* By this he probably means our organ. Our other musical instru-
ments were as follows : — An accordion, belonging to the ship, and a
flute, violin, and several Jew's harps, belonging to one of the ship's
company.
Farewell to Norway, 131
flutes and guitars ; then chess, draughts, etc., all for the
recreation of the company."
Here follows a description of the Frani, her general
equipments, and commissariat. It seems to have made
a great impression on him that we had no wine (brandy)
on board. " I was told," he exclaims, " that only among
the medicine stores have they some 20 or 30 bottles
of the best cognac — pure, highly rectified spirit. It is
Nansen's opinion that brandy-drinking in these northern
regions is injurious, and may, if indulged in on such a
difficult and dangerous voyage, have very serious
consequences ; he has therefore considered it expedient
to supply its place by fruit and various sorts of sweets, of
which there are large supplies on board," "In harbour
the crew spent most of the day together ; in spite of
community of work, each individual's duties are fixed
down to the minutest detail. They all sit down to
meals together, with the exception of the acting cook;
whose duty they take by turns. Health and good spirits
are to be read on every face ; Nansen's immovable
faith in a successful and happy issue to their expedi-
tion inspires the whole crew with courage and
confidence."
" On -August 3rd they shifted coal on board the
Fram, from the ship's hold down to the stoke hold
(coal bunkers). All the members of the expedition took
part in this work, Nansen at their head, and they worked
unitedly and cheerfully. This same day Nansen and his
K 2
132 Chapter IV.
companions tried the dogs on shore. Eight [this should
be ten] were harnessed to a sledge on which three
persons took their places. Nansen expressed his satis-
faction with the dogs, and thanked Trontheim for the
good selection he had made, and for the excellent
condition the animals were in. When the dogs were
taken over and brought on board, "^ Trontheim applied
to Nansen for a certificate of the exact and scrupulous
way in which he had fulfilled his contract. Nansen's
answer was : ' No ; a certificate is not enough. Your
duty has been done with absolute conscientiousness,
and you have thereby rendered a great service to the
expedition. I am commissioned to present you with a
gold medal from our king in recognition of the great
help you have given us.' With these words Nansen
handed to Trontheim a very large gold medal with a
crown on it. On the obverse is the following inscrip-
tion : 'Oscar II., King of Norway and Sweden. For
the Welfare of the Brother-Nations.' And on the
reverse : * Reward for valuable service, A. I. Tront-
heim.' Along with this Nansen also gave Trontheim a
written testimonial as to the admirable manner in which
he had carried out his commission, mentioning that
for this he had been rewarded with a medal."
" Nansen determined to weigh anchor during the
* It will be observed that there is some slip of memory here — it was
the evening before.
Farewell to Norway. 133
night of this same day* and set sail on his long voyage
without waiting for the coal sloop Urania, which he
thought must have been delayed by the ice. In the
evening Trontheim took leave of the whole party, with,
hearty wishes for the success of the expedition. Along
with him Herr Ole Christofersen, correspondent of one
of the chief London newspapers,t left the ship. He had
accompanied Nansen from Vardo. At parting, Nansen
gave them a plentiful supply of provisions, Christofersen
and Trontheim having to await the arrival of the Urania,
as they were to go home by her. Precisely at 1 2 o'clock
on the night between August 4th and 5th the signal for
starting was given, and the Fram stood out to sea."
On August 7th the Urania at last arrived. As I had
supposed, she had been stopped by ice ; but had at last
got out of it uninjured. Christofersen and Trontheim
were able to sail for home in her on the iith, and
reached Vardo on the 22nd, food having been very
scarce during the last part of the time. The ship, which
had left her home port, Brono, in May, was not provided
for so long a voyage, and these last days they lived
chiefly on dry biscuits, water, and — weevils.
* It was, in fact, the day after.
t I do not believe that Christofersen ever in his life had anything to
do with a London newspaper.
CHAPTER V
Voyage through the Kara Sea.
It was well into the night after Christofersen and
Trontheim had left us, before we could get away. The
channel was too dangerous for us to risk it in the thick
fog. But it cleared a little, and the petroleum launch
was got ready ; I had determined to go on ahead with
it and take soundings. We started about midnight.
Hansen stood in the bow with the lead line. First we
bore over towards the point of Vaigats to the north-
west, as Palander directs, then on through the strait,
keeping to the Vaigats side. The fog was often so
thick that it was with difficulty we could catch a glimpse
of the Fram, which followed close behind us, and on
board the Frain they could not see our boat. But so
long as we had enough water, and so long as we saw
that they were keeping to the right course behind us, we
went ahead. Soon the fog cleared again a little. But
the depth was not quite satisfactory ; we had been having
steadily 4^ to 5 fathoms ; then it dropped to 4 and then to
3 J. This was too little. We turned and signalled to the
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 135
Frani to stop. Then we held farther out from land and
got into deeper water, so that the F^'ani could come on
again at full speed.
P rom time to time our petroleum engine took to its old
tricks and stopped. I had to pour in more oil to set it
going again, and as I was standing doing this, the boat
gave a lurch, so that a little oil was spilt, and took fire.
The burning oil ran over the bottom of the boat, where
a good deal had been spilt already. In an instant the
whole stern was in a blaze, and my clothes, which were
sprinkled with oil, caught fire. I had to rush to the
bow, and for a moment the situation was a critical one,
especially as a big pail that was standing full of oil also
took fire. As soon as I had stopped the burning of my
clothes, I rushed aft again, seized the pail, and poured
the flaming oil into the sea, burning my fingers badly.
At once the whole surface of the water round was in
flames. Then I got hold of the baler, and baled water
into the boat as hard as I could ; and soon the worst
was over. Things had looked anything but well from
the Frani, however, and they were standing by with
ropes and buoys to throw to us.
Soon we were out of Yugor Strait. There was now so
little fog that the low land round us was visible, and we
could also see a little way out to sea, and, in the distance,
all drift-ice. At 4 o'clock in the morning (August 4th)
we glided past Sokolii, or Hawk Island, out into the
dreaded Kara Sea.
136 Chapter V.
Now our fate was to be decided, I had always said
that it" we could get safely across the Kara Sea and past
Cape Chelyuskin, the worst would be over. Our pros-
pects were not bad — an open passage to the east, along
the land, as far as we could see from the masthead.
An hour and a half later we were at the edge of the
ice. It was so close that there was no use in attempting
to go on through it. To the north-west it seemed much
looser, and there was a good deal of blue in the atmos-
phere at the horizon there.* We kept south-east along the
land through broken ice, but in the course of the day
went further out to sea, the blueness of the atmosphere
to the east and north-east promising more open water in
that direction. However, about 3 p.m. the ice became
so close, that I thought it best to get back into the open
channel along the land. It was certainly possible that
we might have forced our way through the ice in the sea
here, but also possible that we might have stuck fast, and
it was too early to run this risk.
Next morning (August 5th), being then off the coast
near to the mouth of the River Kara, we steered across
towards Yalmal. We soon had that low land in sight,
but in the afternoon we got into fog and close ice. Next
* There is a white reflection from white ice, so that the sky above
fields of ice has a light or whitish appearance ; wherever there is open
water it is blue or dark. In this way the Arctic navigator can judge by
the appearance of the sky what is the state of the sea at a considerable
distance.
Voyage through the Kara Sea.
137
day it was no better, and we made fast to a great ice-
block which was lying stranded off the Yalmal coast.
In the evening some of us went on shore. The water
was so shallow that our boat stuck fast a good way from
the beach, and we had to wade. It was a perfectly flat,
smooth sand beach, covered by the sea at full tide, and
By Otto Simiing], LANDING ON YALMAL. [/'<"« « Photograph.
beyond that a steep sand bank, 30 to 40 feet, in some
places probably 60 feet high.
We wandered about a little. Flat, bare country on
every hand. Any driftwood we saw was buried in the
sand, and soaking wet. Not a bird to be seen except
one or two snipe. We came to a lake, and out of the fog
in front of me I heard the cry of a loon, but saw no
■38
Chapter V.
living creature. Our view was blocked by a wall of fog
whichever way we turned. There were plenty of
reindeer tracks, but of course they were only those of
the Samoyedes' tame reindeer. This is the land of the
Samoyedes — and oh ! but it is desolate and mournful !
The only one of us that bagged anything was the
By Otto Snutiii^,]
THE PLAIN OF VALMAL.
{/iviii a Photograpli.
botanist. Beautiful flowers smiled to us here and there
among the sand mounds — the one message from a
brighter world in this land of fogs. We went far in
over the flats, but came only to sheets of water, with
low spits running out into them, and ridges between.
We often heard the cry of loons on the water, but could
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 139
never catch sight of one. All these lakelets were of a
remarkable, exactly circular conformation, with steep
banks all round, just as if each had dug out a hole for
itself in the sandy plain.
With the oars of our boat and a large tarpaulin we
had made a sort of tent. We were lucky enough to find
a little dry wood, and soon the tent was filled with the
fragrant odour of hot coffee. When we had eaten and
drunk and our pipes were lit, Johansen, in spite of
fatigue and a full meal, surprised us by turning one
somersault after another on the heavy, damp sand in
front of the tent in his long military cloak and sea boots
half full of water.
By 6.30 next morning we were on board again. The
fog had cleared, but the ice, which lay drifting back-
wards and forwards according to the set of the tide,
looked as close as ever towards the north. During the
morning we had a visit from a boat with two stalwart
Samoyedes, who were well received and treated to food
and tobacco. They gave us to understand that they
were living in a tent some distance inland and farther
north. Presently they went off again, enriched with
gifts. These were the last human beings we met.
Next day the ice was still close, and, as there was
nothing else to be done, some of us went ashore again
in the afternoon, partly to see more of this little-known
coast, and partly, if possible, to find the Samoyedes'
camp, and get hold of some skins and reindeer flesh.
140
Chapter V.
It is a strange, flat country. Nothing but sand, sand
everywhere. Still flatter, still more desolate than the
country about Yugor Strait, with a still wider horizon.
Over the plain lay a green carpet of grass and moss,
here and there spoiled by the wind having torn it up and
swept sand over it. But trudge as we might, and search
as we might, we found no Samoyede camp. We saw
IN THE KARA SEA.
three men in the far distance, but they went ofl" as fast
as they could the moment they caught sight of us.
There was little game — just a few ptarmigan, golden
plovers, and long-tailed ducks. Our chief gain was
another collection of plants, and a few geological and
geographical notes. Our observations showed that the
land at this place was charted not less than half a degree
or 36 to 38 minutes too far west.
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 141
It was not till next forenoon (August 9th) that we
went on board again. The ice to the north now seemed
to be rather looser, and at 8 p.m. we at last began once
more to make our way north. We found ice that was
easy to get through, and held on our course until, three
days later, we got into open water. On Sunday,
August 1 8th, we stood out into the open Kara Sea, past
the north point of Yalmal and Bieloi-Ostrov (White
Island). There was no ice to be seen in any direction.
During the days that followed we had constant strong
east winds, often increasing to half a gale. We kept
on tacking to make our way eastward, but the broad
and keel-less Frarn can hardly be called a good
" beater ; " we made too much lee-way, and our progress
was correspondingly slow. In the journal there is a
constantly-recurring entry of " Head wind. Head wind."
The monotony was extreme, but as they may be of
interest as relating to the navigation of this sea, I shall
give the most important items of the journal, especially
those regarding the state of the ice.
On Monday, August 14th, we beat with only sail
against a strong wind. Single pieces of ice were seen
during the middle watch, but after that there was none
within sight.
Tuesday, August 15th. The wind slackened in the
middle watch ; we took in sail, and got up steam. At
5 in the morning we steamed away east over a sea
perfectly clear of ice ; but after mid-day the wind began
142 Chapter V.
to freshen again from E.N.E., and we had to beat with
steam and sail. Single floes of ice were seen during the
evening and night.
Wednesday, August i6th. As the Kara Sea seemed
so extraordinarily free from ice, and as a heavy sea was
running from the north-east, we decided to hold north
as far as we could, even if it should be to the Einsamkeit
(Lonely) Island. But about half-past three in the after-
noon we had a strip of close ice ahead, so that we had to
turn. Stiff breeze and sea. Kept on beating east along
the edge of the ice. Almost lost the petroleum launch
in the evening. The waves were constantly breaking
into it and filling it, the gunwale was burst in at two
places, and the heavy davits it hung on were twisted as
as if they had been copper wires. Only just in the nick
of time, with the waves washing over us, some of us
managed to get it lashed to the side of the ship. There
seemed to be some fatality about this boat.
Thursday, August 1 7th. Still beating eastward under
sail and steam through scattered ice, and along a margin
of fixed ice. Still blowing hard, with a heavy sea as soon
as we headed a little out from the ice.
Friday, August 1 8th. Continued storm. Stood south-
east. At 4.30 a.m., Sverdrup, who had gone up into the
crow's-nest to look out for bears and walrus on the
ice-floes, saw land to the south of us. At 10 a.m. I went
up to look at it — we were then probably not more than
10 miles away from it. It was low land, seemingly of
< i
s i
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 143
the same formation as Yalmal, with steep sandbanks and
grass-grown above. The sea grew shallower as we
neared it. Not far from us, small icebergs lay aground.
The lead showed steadily less and less water; by 11.30
a.m., there were only some 8 fathoms, then to our surprise
the bottom suddenly fell to 20 fathoms, and after that we
found steadily increasing depth. Between the land and
the blocks of stranded ice on our lee there appeared to
be a channel with rather deeper water and not so much
ice aground in it. It seemed difficult to conceive that
there should be undiscovered land here, where both
Nordenskiold and Edward Johansen, and possibly several
Russians, had passed without seeing anything. Our
observations, however, were incontestable, and we imme-
diately named the land Sverdrup's Island, after its
discoverer.
As there was still a great deal of ice to windward, we
continued our south-westerly course, keeping as close to the
wind as possible. The weather was clear, and at 8 o'clock
we sighted the mainland, with Dickson's Island ahead.
It had been our intention to run in and anchor here, in
order to put letters for home under a cairn, Captain
Wiggins having promised to pick them up on his way to
the Yenisei. But in the meantime the wind had fallen
— it was a favourable chance, and time was precious.
So gave up sending our post, and continued our course
along the coast.
1 he country here was quite different from Yalmal.
144 Chapter V.
Though not very high, it was a hilly country, with
patches and even large drifts of snow here and there,
some of them lying close down by the shore. Next
morning I'; sighted the southernmost of the Kamenni
Islands. We took a tack in under it to see if there were
animals of any kind, but could catch sight of none.
The island rose evenly from the sea at all points, with
steep shores. They consisted for the most part of rock,
which was partly solid, partly broken up by the action of
the weather. into heaps of stones. It appeared to be a
OSTROVA KAMENNI (rOCKY ISLANd) OFF THE COAST
OF SIBERIA.
Stratified rock, with strongly marked oblique strata. The
island was also covered with quantities of gravel, some-
times mixed with larger stones ; the whole of the
northern point seemed to be a sand heap, with steep
sand-banks towards the shore. The most notice-
able feature of the island was its marked shore lines.
Near the top there was a specially pronounced one,
which was like a sharp ledge on the west and north
sides, and stretched across the island like a dark band.
Nearer the beach were several other distinct ones. In
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 145
form they all resembled the upper one with its steep
ledges, and had evidently been formed in the same
way, by the action of the sea, and more especially of the
ice. Like the upper one, they also were most marked
on the west and north sides of the island, which are
those facing most to the open sea.
To the student of the history of the earth these
marks of the former level of the sea are of ofreat interest,
showing as they do that the land has risen or the sea
sunk since the time they were formed. Like Scandi-
navia, the whole of the north coast of Siberia has
undergone these changes of level since the Great Ice
Age.
It was strange that we saw none of the islands
which, according to Nordenskiold's map, stretch in a
line to the north-east from Kamenni Island. On the
other hand, I took the bearings of one or two other
islands lying almost due east, and next morning we
passed a small island farther north.
We saw few birds in this neighbourhood— only a
few flocks of geese, some Arctic gulls {lestris parasitica
and /. buffonii), and a few sea-gulls and tern.
On Sunday, August 20th, we had, for us, uncom-
monly fine weather — blue sea, brilliant sunshine, and
light wind, still from the north-east. In the afternoon
we ran in to the Kjellman Islands. These we could
recognise from their position on Nordenskiold's map,
but south of them we found many unknown ones. They
L
140
Chapter V.
all had smoothly rounded forms, these Kjellman
Islands, like rocks that have been ground smooth by the
glaciers ot the Ice Age. The Fram anchored on the
THEODOR C. JACOBSEN, MATE OF THE
{From a Photograph, December 11th, 1893.J
FRAM.
north side of the largest of them, and whilst the boiler
was being refitted, some of us went ashore, in the evening,
for some shooting. We had not left the ship when the
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 147
mate, from the crow's-nest, caught sight of reindeer. At
once we were all agog ; everyone wanted to go ashore,
and the mate was quite beside himself with the hunter's
fever, his eyes as big as saucers, and his hands trembling
as though he were drunk. Not until we were in the boat
had we time to look seriously for the mate's reindeer.
We looked in vain — not a living thing was to be seen in
any direction. Yes — when we were close in shore, we at
last descried a large flock of geese waddling upward from
the beach. We were base enough to let a conjecture
escape us, that these were the mate's reindeer — a
suspicion which he at first rejected with contempt.
Gradually, however, his confidence oozed away. But it
is possible to do an injustice even to a mate. The first
thing I saw when I sprang ashore was old reindeer
tracks. The mate had now the laugh on his side., ran
from track to track, and swore that it was reindeer he
had seen.
When we got up on to the first height we saw several
reindeer on flat ground to the south of us ; but the wind
being from the north, we had to go back and make our
way south along the shore till we got to leeward of them.
The only one who did not approve of this plan was the
mate, who was in a state of feverish eagerness to rush
straight at some reindeer he thought he had seen to the
east, which, of course, was an absolutely certain way to
clear the field of everyone of them. He asked and
received permission to remain behind with Hansen, who
L 2
148 Chapter V.
was to take a magnetic observation ; but had to promise
not to move till he got the order.
On the way along the shore we passed one great flock
of geese after another ; they stretched their necks and
waddled aside a little, until we were quite near, and only
then took flight ; but we had no time to waste on such
small game. A little further on we caught sight of one
or two reindeer we had not noticed before. We could
easily have stalked them, but were afraid of getting to
windward of the others, which were farther south. At
last we got to leeward of these latter also, but they were
grazing on flat ground, and it was anything but easy
to stalk them — not a hillock, not a stone to hide behind.
The only thing was to form a long line, advance as best
we could, and, if possible, outflank them. In the mean-
time we had caught sight of another herd of reindeer
farther to the north, but suddenly, to our astonishment,
saw them tear off across the plain eastward, in all
probability startled b)' the mate, who had not been able
to keep quiet any longer.
A little to the north of the reindeer nearest us there
was a hollow, opening from the shore, from which it
seemed that it might be possible to get a shot at them.
I went back to try this, whilst the others kept their
places in the line. As I went down again towards the
shore I had the sea before me, quiet and beautiful. The
sun had gone down behind it not long before, and the
sky was glowing in the clear, light night. I had to
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 149
stand still for a minute. In the midst of all this beauty,
man was doing the work of a beast of prey ! At this
moment I saw to the north a dark speck move down the
height where the mate and Hansen ought to be. It
divided into two, and the one moved east, just to the
windward of the animals I was to stalk. They would
get the scent immediately, and be off. There was
nothing for it but to hurry on, while I rained anything
but good wishes on these fellows' heads. The gully
was not so deep as I had expected. Its sides were
just high enough to hide me when I crept on all fours.
In the middle were large stones and clayey gravel,
with a little runnel soaking through them. The reindeer
were still grazing quietly, only now and then raising
their heads to look round. My "cover" got lower and
lower, and to the north I heard the mate. He would
presently succeed in setting off my game. It was
imperative to get on quickly, but there was no longer
cover enough for me to advance on hands and knees.
My only chance was to wriggle forward like a snake
on my stomach. But in this soft clay — in the bed of
the stream ? Yes — meat is too precious on board, and
the beast of prey is too strong in a man. My clothes
must be sacrificed ; on I crept on my stomach through
the mud. But soon there was hardly cover enough even
for this. I squeezed myself flat among the stones and
ploughed forward like a drain-cutting machine. And I
did make way, if not quickly and comfortably, still surely.
150 Chapter V.
All this time the sky was turning darker and darker
red behind me, and it was getting more and more
difficult to use the sights of my gun, not to mention
the trouble I had in keeping the clay from them and
from the muzzle. The reindeer still grazed quietly on.
When they raised their heads to look round I had to lie
as quiet as a mouse, feeling the water trickling gently
under my stomach ; when they began to nibble the
moss again, off I went through the mud. Presently I
made the disagreeable discovery that they were moving
away from me about as fast as P could move forward,
and I had to redouble my exertions. But the darkness
was getting worse and worse, and I had the mate to
the north of me, and presently he would start them off.
The outlook was anything but bright either morally or
physically. The hollow was getting shallower and
shallower, so that I was hardly covered at all ; I
squeezed myself still deeper into the mud. A turn in
the ground helped me forward to the next little height,
and now they were right in front of me, within what I
should have called easy range if it had been daylight. I
tried to take aim, but could not see the bead on my gun.
Man's fate is sometimes hard to bear. My clothes
were dripping with wet clay, and after what seemed
to me most meritorious exertions, here I was at the
goal, unable to take advantage of my position. But
now the reindeer moved down into a small depression.
I crept forward a little way further as quickly as I could.
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 151
I was in a splendid position, so far as I could tell in the
dark, but I could not see the bead any better than
before. It was impossible to get nearer, for there was
only a smooth slope between us. There was no sense
in thinking of waiting for light to shoot by ; it was
now midnight, and I had that terrible mate to the north
of me, besides the wind was not to be trusted. I held
the rifle up against the sky to see the bead clearly,
and then lowered it on the reindeer. I did this once,
twice, thrice. The bead was still far from clear ; but
all the same I thought I might hit, and pulled the
trigger. The two deer gave a sudden start, looked
round in astonishment, and bolted off a little way south.
There they stood still again, and at this moment were
joined by a third deer, which had been standing rather
farther north. I fired off all the cartridges in the magazine,
and all to the same good purpose. The creatures
started and moved off a little at each shot, and then
trotted farther south. Presently they made another
halt, to take a long careful look at me ; and I dashed
off westward, as hard as I could run, to turn them.
Now they were off straight in the direction where some
of my comrades ought to be. I expected every moment
to hear shots and see one or two of the animals fall ; but
away they ambled southwards, quite unchecked. At
last, far to the south, crack went a rifle. I could see by
the smoke that it was at too long a range ; so in high
dudgeon I shouldered my rifle and lounged in the direc-
152 Chapter V.
tion of the shot. It was pleasant to see such a good
result for all one's trouble.
No one was to be seen anywhere. At length I met
Sverdrup ; it was he who had fired. Soon Blessing
joined us, but all the others had long since left their
posts. Whilst Blessing went back to the boat and his
botanising box, Sverdrup and I went on to try our luck
once more. A little farther south we came to a valley
stretching right across the island. On the further side
of it we saw a man standing on a hillock, and not far
from him a herd of five or six reindeer. As it never
occurred to us to doubt that the man was in the act of
stalking these, we avoided going in that direction, and
soon he and his reindeer disappeared to the west. I
heard afterwards that he had never seen the deer. As
it was evident that when the reindeer to the south of us
were startled, they would have to come back across this
valley, and as the island at this part was so narrow that
we commanded the whole of it, we determined to take
up our posts here and wait. We accordingly got in the
lee of some great boulders, out of the wind. In front of
Sverdrup was a large flock of geese, near the mouth of
the stream, close down by the shore. They kept up an
incessant gabble, and the temptation to have a shot at
them was very great ; but, considering the reindeer, we
thought it best to leave them in peace. They gabbled and
waddled away down through the mud, and soon took wing.
The time seemed long. At first we listened with all
HENRIK BLESSING,
{From a photograph taken in tS95.)
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 153
our ears — the reindeer must come very soon — and our
eyes wandered incessantly back and forwards along the
slope on the other side of the valley. But no reindeer
came, and soon we were having a struggle to keep our
eyes open and our heads up — we had not had much sleep
the last few days. They must be coming ! We shook
ourselves awake, and gave another look along the bank,
till again the eyes softly closed and the heads began to
nod, while the chill wind blew through our wet clothes,
and I shivered with cold. This sort of thing went on for
an hour or two, until the sport began to pall on me, and
I scrambled from my shelter along towards Sverdrup,
who was enjoying it about as much as I was. We
climbed the slope on the other side of the valley, and
were hardly at the top before we saw the horns of six
splendid reindeer on a height in front of us. They were
restless, scenting westward, trotting round in a circle,
and then sniffing again. They could not have noticed
us as yet, as the wind was blowing at right angles to the
line between them and us. We stood a longf time
watching their manoeuvres, and waiting their choice of a
direction, but they had apparently great difficulty in
making it. At last off they swung south and east, and
off we went south-east as hard as we could go, to get
across their course before they got scent of us. Sverdrup
had got well ahead, and I saw him rushing across a flat
piece of ground — -presently he would be at the right place
to meet them. I stopped, to be in readiness to cut them
154 • Chapter V.
off on the other side if they should face about and make
off northward again. There were six splendid animals,
a big buck in front. They were heading straight for
Sverdrup, who was now crouching down on the slope.
I expected every moment to see the foremost fall. A
shot rang out ! Round wheeled the whole flock like
lightning, and back they came at a gallop. It was my
turn now to run with all my might, and off I went over
the stones, down towards the valley we had come from.
I only stopped once or twice to take breath and to make
sure that the animals were coming in the direction I had
reckoned on — then off again. We were getting near
each other now, they were coming on just where I had
calculated, the thing now was to be in time for them.
I made my long legs go their fastest over the boulders,
and took leaps from stone to stone that would have
surprised myself at a more sober moment. More than
once my foot slipped and I went down head first among
the boulders, gun and all. But the wild beast in me had
the upper hand now. The passion of the chase vibrated
through every fibre of my body.
We reached the slant of the valley almost at the same
time — a leap or two to get up on some big boulders, and
the moment had come — I must shoot, though the shot
was a long one. When the smoke cleared away I saw
the big buck trailing a broken hind-leg. When their
leader stopped, the whole flock turned and ran in a ring
round the poor animal. They could not understand
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 155
what was happening, and strayed about wildly with the
balls whistling round them. Then off they went down
the side of the valley again, leaving another of their
number behind with a broken leg. I tore after them,
across the valley and up the other side, in the hope of
getting another shot, but gave that up and turned back
to make sure of the two wounded ones. At the bottom
of the valley stood one of the victims awaiting its fate.
It looked imploringly at me, and then, just as I was
going forward to shoot it, made off much quicker than I
could have thought it possible for an animal on three
legs to go. Sure of my shot, of course I missed ; and
now began a chase, which ended in the poor beast,
blocked in every other direction, rushing down towards
the sea and wading into a small lagoon on the shore,
whence I feared it might get right out into the sea. At
last it got its quietus there in the water. The other one
was not far off, and a ball soon put an end to its
sufferings also. As I was proceeding to rip it up,
Henriksen and Johansen appeared ; they had just shot
a bear a little farther south.
After disembowelling the reindeer, we went towards
the boat again, meeting Sverdrup on the way. It was
now well on in the morning, and as I considered that we
had already spent too much time here, I was impatient
to push northwards. Whilst Sverdrup and some of the
others went on board to get ready for the start, the rest
of us rowed south to fetch our two reindeer and our
156 Chapter V.
bear. A strong breeze had begun to blow from the
north-east, and as it would be hard work for us to row
back against it, I had asked Sverdrup to come and meet
us with the Fram, if the soundings permitted of his
doing so. We saw quantities of seal and whitefish along
A DEAD BEAR ON REINDEER ISLAND (aUGUST 2 1 ST, 1 893).
{From a Photograph.)
the shore, but we had not time to go after them ; all we
wanted now was to get south, and in the first place to
pick up the bear. When we came near the place where
we expected to find it, we did see a large white heap
resembling a bear lying on the ground, and I was sure it
must be the dead one, but Henriksen maintained that it
Voyage through the Kara Sea.
157
was not. We went ashore and approached it, as it lay
motionless on a grassy bank. I still felt a strong
suspicion that it had already had all the shot it wanted.
We drew nearer and nearer, but it gave no sign of life.
I looked into Henrikson's honest face, to make sure that
they were not playing a trick on me ; but he was staring
AT FIRST WE TRIED TO DRAG THE BEAR.
{By A. Eiebakke,/roni a Photograph.)
fixedly at the bear. As I looked two shots went off, and
to my astonishment the great creature bounded into the
air, still dazed with sleep. Poor beast ! it was a harsh
awakening. Another shot, and it fell lifeless.
We first tried to drag the bears down to the boat, but
they were too heavy for us ; and we now had a hard
piece of work skinning and cutting them up, and
158 Chapter V.
carrying down all we wanted. But bad as it was,
trudging through the soft clay with heavy quarters of
bear on our backs, there was worse awaiting us on the
beach. The tide had risen, and at the same time the
waves had got larger and swamped the boat, and were
now breaking over it. Guns and ammunition were
soaking in the water ; bits of bread, our only provision,
floated round, and the butter dish lay at the bottom,
with no butter in it. It required no small exertion to
get the boat drawn up out of this heavy surf and
emptied of water. Luckily, it had received no injury,
as the beach was of a soft sand ; but the sand had
penetrated with the water everywhere, even into the
most delicate parts of the locks of our rifles. But worst
of all was the loss of our provisions, for now we were
ravenously hungry. We had to make the best of a bad
business, and eat pieces of bread soaked in sea water,
and flavoured with several varieties of dirt. On this
occasion, too, I lost my sketch-book, with some sketches
that were of value to me.
It was no easy task to get our heavy game into the
boat with these big waves breaking on the flat beach.
We had to keep the boat outside the surf, and haul both
skins and flesh on board with a line ; a good deal of
water came with them, but there was no help for it. And
then we had to row north along the shore against the wind
and sea as hard as we could. It was very tough work. The
wind had increased, and it was all we could do to make
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 159
headway against it. Seals were diving round us, white
whales coming and going, but we had no eyes for them
now. Suddenly Henriksen called out that there was a
bear on the point in front. I turned round, and there
stood a beautiful white fellow rummaging among the
flotsam on the beach. As we had no time to shoot it, we
rowed on, and it went slowly in front of us northwards
along the shore. At last, with great exertions we reached
the bay where we were to put in for the reindeer. The
bear was there before us. It had not seen the boat
hitherto ; but now it got scent of us, and came nearer.
It was a tempting shot. I had my finger on the trigger
several times, but did not draw it. After all we had no
use for the animal ; it was quite as much as we could
do to stow away what we had already. It made a
beautiful target of itself by getting up on a stone to
have a better scent and looked about, and after a careful
survey it turned round and set off inland at an easy trot.
The surf was by this time still heavier. It was a flat,
shallow shore, and the waves broke a good way out from
land. We rowed in till the boat touched ground and the
breakers began to wash over us. The only way of
getting ashore was to jump into the sea and wade. But
getting the reindeer on board was another matter.
There was no better landing-place farther north, and
hard as it was to give up the excellent meat after all our
trouble, it seemed to me there was nothing else for it
and we rowed off towards our ship.
i6o Chapter V.
It was the hardest row I ever had a hand in. It went
pretty well to begin with ; we had the current with us,
and got quickly out from land ; but presently the wind
rose, the current slackened, and wave after wave broke
over us. After incredible toil, we had at last only
a short way to go. I cheered up the good fellows as
best I could, reminding them of the smoking hot tea that
awaited them after a few more tough pulls, and picturing
all the good things in store for them. We really were all
pretty well done up now, but we still took a good grip of
the oars, soaking wet as we were from the sea constantly
breaking over us, for of course none of us had thought
of such things as oilskins in yesterday's beautiful weather.
But we soon saw that with all our pulling and toiling the
boat was making no headway whatever. Apart from the
wind and the sea we had the current dead against
us here ; all our exertions were of no avail. We
pulled till our finger-tips felt as if they were bursting ;
but the most we could manage was to keep the boat
where it was ; if we slackened an instant it drifted
back. I tried to encourage my comrades : — " Now
we made a little way! It was just strength that was
needed ! " But all to no purpose. The wind whistled
round our ears, and the spray dashed over us. It was
maddening to be so near the ship that it seemed as
if we could almost reach out to her, and yet feel that
it was impossible to get on any farther. We had to
go in under the land again, where we had the current
I
1
kfl itfe:..^!
^1
i^l^^^^^*'' ^-'-^AdAd^JlfllBfeiF,. , '^R&Hli
■
i
1 4
;^
BERNARD NORDAHL.
{From a photograph taken in December, 1S93 )
<K
Voyage through the Kara Sea. i6i
with us, and here we did succeed in making a little
progress. We rowed hard till we were about abreast
of the ship ; then we once more tried to sheer across to
her, but no sooner did we get into the current again
than it mercilessly drove us back. Beaten again ! And
again we tried the same manoeuvre with the same result.
Now we saw them lowering a buoy from the ship — if we
could only reach it, we were saved ; but we did not reach
it. They were not exactly blessings that we poured on those
on board. Why on earth could they not bear down to us,
when they saw the straits we were in ; or why, at any rate,
could they not ease up the anchor, and let the ship drift a
little in our direction ? They saw how little was needed to
enable us to reach them. Perhaps they had their reasons.
We would make one last desperate attempt. We
went at it with a will. Every muscle was strained to
the utmost — it was only the buoy we had to reach this
time. But to our rage we now saw the buoy being
hauled up. W^e rowed a little way on, to the windward
of the Fram, and then tried again to sheer over. This
time we got nearer her than we had ever been before ;
but we were disappointed in still seeing no buoy, and
none was thrown over ; there was not even a man to be
seen on deck. We roared like madmen for a buoy — we
had no strength left for another attempt. It was not a
pleasing prospect to have to drift back, and go ashore
again in our wet clothes ; — we would get on board !
Once more we yelled like wild Indians, and now they came
M
1 62 Chapter V.
rushing aft and threw out the buoy in our direction.
One more cry to my mates that we must put our last
strength into the work. There were only a few boat
lengths to cover, and we bent to our oars with a will.
Now there were three boat lengths. Another des-
perate spurt. Now there were two-and-a-half boat
lengths — presently two — then only one ! A few
more frantic pulls, and there was a little less. " Now
boys, one or two more hard pulls and it's over 1
Hard! hard!! Keep to it! Now another! Don't give
up ! One more ! There we have it ! ! !'' And one
joyful sigh of relief passed round the boat. '' Keep
the oars going or the rope will break. Row, boys ! "
And row we did, and soon they had hauled us along-
side of the Frani. Not till we were lying there getting
our bearskins and flesh hauled on board, did we really
know what we had had to fight against. The current
was running along the side of the ship like a rapid river.
At last we were actually on board. It was evening by
this time, and it was splendid to get some good hot food
and then stretch one's limbs in a comfortable dry berth.
There is a satisfaction in feeling that one has exerted
one's self to some purpose. Here was the net result of four
and twenty hours' hard toil — we had shot two reindeer,
which we did not get, got two bears that we had no use
for, and had totally ruined one suit of clothes. Two
washings had not the smallest effect upon them, and
they hung on deck to air for the rest of this trip.
Voyage through the Kara Sea. i6
o
I slept badly that night, for this is what I find in my
diary : " Got on board after what I think was the
hardest row I ever had. Slept well for a little, but
am now lying tossing about in my berth, unable to
sleep. Is it the coffee I drank after supper ? or the
cold tea I drank when I awoke with a burning thirst ?
I shut my eyes and try again time after time, but to no
purpose. And now memory's airy visions steal softly
over my soul. Gleam after gleam breaks through the
mist. I see before me sunlit landscapes — smiling fields
and meadows, green, leafy trees and woods, and blue
mountain ridges. The singing of the steam in the boiler
pipe turns to bell-ringing — church bells — ringing in
Sabbath peace over Vestre-Aker on this beautiful
summer morning. I am walking with father along the
avenue of small birch-trees that mother planted, up
towards the church which lies on the height before us,
pointing up into the blue sky and sending its call far over
the country-side. From up there you can see a long way.
Naesodden looks quite close in the clear air, especially
on an autumn morning. And we give a quiet Sunday
greeting to the people that drive past us, all going our
way. What a look of Sunday happiness dwells on their
faces !
" I did not think it all so delightful then, and would
much rather have run off to the woods with my bow and
arrow after squirrels — but now — how fair, how wonder-
fully beautiful that sunlit picture seems to me ! The
INI 2
164 Chapter V.
feeling of peace and happiness that even then no doubt
made its impression, though only a passing one, comes
back now with redoubled strength, and all nature seems
one mighty, thrilling song of praise ! Is it because of the
contrast with this poor, barren sunless land of mists — with-
out a tree, without a bush — nothing but stones and clay ?
No peace in it either — nothing but an endless struggle
to get north, always north, without a moment's delay.
Oh, how one yearns for a little careless happiness ! "
Next day we were again ready to sail, and I tried to
force the Frani on under steam against wind and current.
But the current ran strong as a river, and we had to
be specially careful with the helm, if we gave her the
least thing too much, she would take a sheer, and we
knew there were shallows and rocks on all sides. We
kept the lead going constantly. For a time all went well,
and we made way slowly, but suddenly she took a sheer
and refused to obey her helm. She went off to starboard.
The lead indicated shallow water. The same moment
came the order, " Let go the anchor ! " And to the
bottom it went with a rush and a clank. There we lay
with 4 fathoms of water under the stern, and 9 fathoms
in front at the anchor. We were not a moment too soon.
We got the Frams head straight to the wind, and tried
again time after time, but always with the same result.
The attempt had to be given up. There was still the
possibility of making our way out of the sound to lee-
ward of the land, but the water got quickly shallow there,
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 165
and we might come on rocks at any moment. We could
have gone on in front with the boat and sounded, but I
had already had more than enough of rowing in that
current. For the present we must stay where we were and
anoint ourselves with the ointment called Patience, a medi-
cament of which every polar expedition ought to lay in a
large supply. We hoped on for a change, but the current
remained as it was, and the wind certainly did not
decrease. I was in despair at having to lie here for
nothing but this cursed current, with open sea outside,
perhaps as far as Cape Chelyuskin, that eternal cape,
whose name had been sounding in my ears for the last
three weeks.
When I came on deck next morning (August 23rd)
winter had come. There was white snow on the deck,
and on every little projection of the rigging where it had
found shelter from the wind ; white snow on the land,
and white snow floating through the air. Oh ! how the
snow refreshes one's soul, and drives away all the gloom
and sadness from this sullen land of fogs ! Look at it
scattered so delicately, as if by a loving hand, over
the stones and the grass flats on shore ! But wind
and current are much as they were, and during the
day the wind blows up to a regular storm, howling and
rattling in the Frams rigging.
The following day (August 24th) I had quite made
up my mind that we must get out some way or other.
When I came on deck in the morning the wind had gone
1 66 Chapter V.
down considerably, and the current was not so strong.
A boat would almost be able to row against it ; anyhow
one could be eased away by a line from the stern, and
keep on taking soundings there, while we "kedged"
the Fram with her anchor just clear of the bottom.
But before having recourse to this last expedient, I
would make another attempt to go against the wind
and the current. The engineers were ordered to put
on as much pressure of steam as they dared, and the
Fram was urged on at her top speed. Our surprise
was not small when we saw that we were making way,
and even at a tolerable rate. Soon we were out of
the sound or "Knipa" (nipper) as we christened it,
and could beat out to sea with steam and sail. Of
course, we had, as usual, contrary wind, and thick
weather. There is ample space between every little
bit of sunshine in these quarters.
Next day we kept on beating northward between the
edge of the ice and the land. The open channel was
broad to begin with, but farther north it became so
narrow that we could often see the coast when we put
about at the edge of the ice. At this time we passed
many unknown islands and groups of islands. There
was evidently plenty of occupation here, for any one
who could spare the time, in making a chart of the
coast. Our voyage had another aim, and all that we
could do was to make a few occasional measurements
of the same nature as Nordenskiold had made before us.
^^^^^ ^^^
^^^^p^H ^H
^^^^^^^^^^V^ ''VMI^^Er -
^41^1
iw n
^^^^^^^^^^^^^m m^^^^^^^^^^Kc
*-'l?
B 1
ii^
2.^
H^ViKi
liii
HH^^Bbj^y^^
■^\ . ^'^ ^
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^^^H
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ftmUHs
IVAR KOGSTAD.
{From a photograph taken m 1894.)
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 167
On August 25th, I noted in my diary that in the
afternoon we had seven islands in sight. They were
higher than those we had seen before, and consisted
of precipitous hills. There were also small glaciers or
snow-fields, and the rock formation showed clear traces
of erosion by ice or snow, this being especially the case
on the largest island, where there were even small valleys,
partially filled with snow.
This is the record of August 26th : " Many new
islands in various directions. There are here," the
diary continues, " any number of unknown islands,
so many that one's head gets confused in trying to
keep account of them all. In the morning we passed a
very rocky one, and beyond it I saw two others. After
them land or islands farther to the north and still more
to the north-east. We had to go out of our course
in the afternoon, because we dared not pass between
two large islands on account of possible shoals. The
islands were round in form, like those we had seen
farther back, but were of a good height. Now we held
east again, with four biggish islands and two islets in the
offing. On our other side we presently had a line of flat
islands with steep shores. The channel was far from safe
here. In the evening we suddenly noticed large stones
standing up above the water among some ice-floes close
on our port bow, and on our starboard beam was a shoal
with stranded ice-floes. We sounded, but found over
21 fathoms of water."
1 68 Chapter V.
I think this will suffice to give an idea of the nature of
this coast. Its belt of skerries, though it certainly
cannot be classed with the Norwegian one, is yet of the
kind that it would be difficult to find except off glacier-
formed coasts. This tends to strengthen the opinion
[ had formed of there having been a glacial period in
the earlier history of this part of the world also. Of
the coast itself, we unfortunately saw too little at any
distance from which we could get an accurate idea of its
formation and nature. We could not keep near land,
partly because of the thick weather, and partly because
of the number of islands. The little I did see was
enough to give me the conviction that the actual coast
line differs essentially from the one we know from maps ;
it is much more winding and indented than it is shown
to be. I even, several times, thought that I saw the
openings into deep fjords, and more than once the
suspicion occurred to me that this was a typical fjord
country we were sailing past, in spite of the hills being
comparatively low and rounded. In this supposition
I was to be confirmed by our experiences farther
north.
Our record of August 27th reads as follows: "Steamed
among a variety of small islands and islets. Thick fog
in the morning. At 1 2 noon we saw a small island right
ahead, and therefore changed our course and went north.
We were soon close to the ice, and after 3 in the after-
noon held north-east along its edge. Sighted land when
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 169
the fog cleared a Httle, and were about a mile off it at
7 p.m."
It was the same striated, rounded land, covered with
clay and large and small stones strewn over moss and
grass flats. Before us we saw points and headlands,
with islands outside, and sounds and fjords between ; but
it was all locked up in ice, and w.e could not see far for
the fog. There was that strange Arctic hush and misty
light over everything — that greyish-white light caused by
the reflection from the ice being cast high into the air
against masses of vapour, the dark land offering a
wonderful contrast. We were not sure whether this was
the land near Taimur Sound, or that by Cape Palander,
but were agreed that in any case it would be best to hold
a northerly course, so as to keep clear of Almquist's
Islands, which Nordenskiold marks on his map as lying
off Taimur Island. If we shaped our course for one
watch north, or north to west, we should be safe after
that, and be able again to hold farther east. But we
miscalculated after all. At midniofht we turned north-
eastward, and at 4 a.m. (August 28th) land appeared out
of the fog about half-a-mile off. It seemed to Sverdrup,
who was on deck, the highest that we had seen since we
left Norway. He consequently took it to be the main-
land, and wished to keep well outside of it, but was obliged
to turn from this course because of ice. We held to the
W.S.W., and it was not till 9 a.m. that we rounded
the western point of a large island, and could steer
I/O Chapter V.
north again. East of us were many islands or
points with solid ice between them, and we followed
the edge of the ice. All the morning we went north
along the land against a strong current. There seemed
to be no end to this land. Its discrepancy with every
known map grew more and more remarkable, and I was
in no slight dilemma. We had for long been far to
the north of the most northern island indicated by
Nordenskiold.* My diary this day tells of great uncer-
tainty. " This land (or these islands, or whatever it is)
^oes confoundedly far north. If it is a group of islands
they are tolerably large ones. It has often the appearance
of connected land, with fjords and points ; but the weather
is too thick for us to get a proper view. . . Can this that
we are now coasting along be the Taimur Island of the
Russian maps (or more precisely, Lapteff's map), and is
it separated from the mainland by the broad strait
indicated by him, whilst Nordenskiold's Taimur Island
is what Lapteff has mapped as a projecting tongue of
land ? This supposition would explain everything, and
our observations would also fit in with it. Is it possible
that Nordenskiold found this strait, and took it for Taimur
Strait, whilst in reality it was a new one ; and that he
* It is true that in his account of the voyage he expressly states that
the continued very thick fog " prevented us from doing more than
mapping out most vaguely the islands among and past which the P'e^^a
sought her way."
Voyage through the Kara Sea. i 7 1
saw Almquist's Islands, but had no suspicion that Taimur
Island lay to the outside of them ? The difficulty about
this explanation is that the Russian maps mark no islands
round Taimur Island. It is inconceivable that anyone
should have travelled all about here in sledges without
seeing all these small islands that lie scattered around.*
*' In the afternoon, the water-gauge of the boiler got
choked up ; we had to stop to have it repaired, and
therefore made fast to the edge of the ice. We spent
the time in taking in drinking water. We found a pool
•on the ice, so small that we thought it would only do to
begin with; but it evidently had a "subterranean"
■communication with other fresh water ponds on the floe.
To our astonishment it proved inexhaustible, however
much we scooped. In the evening we stood in to the head
of an ice bay, which opened out opposite the most northern
island we then had in sight. There was no passage
beyond. The broken drift-ice lay packed so close in on
the unbroken land-ice, that it was impossible to tell
where the one ended and the other began. We could see
* Later, when I had investigated the state of matters outside
Nordenskidld's Taimur Island, it seemed to me that the same remark
applied here with even better reason, as no sledge expedition could go
round the coast of this island, without seeing Almquist's Islands, which
lie so near, for instance, to Cape Lapteff, that they ought to be seen
€ven in very thick weather. It would be less excusable to omit
marking these islands, which are much larger, than to omit the small
ones lying off the coast of the large island (or as I now consider it,
group of large islands) we were at present skirting.
172 Chapter V.
islands still farther to the north-east. From the atmo-
sphere it seemed as if there might also be open water in
that direction. To the north it all looked very close,
but to the west there was an open waterway as far as
one could see from the masthead. I was in some doubt
as to what should be done. There was an open channel
for a short way up past the north point of the nearest
island, but farther to the east the ice seemed to be close.
It might be possible to force our way through there,
but it was just as likely that we should be frozen in, so I
thought it more judicious to go back and make another
attempt between these islands and that mainland, which
I had some difficulty in believing that Sverdrup had seen
in the morning."
" Thursday, August 20th. Still foggy weather. New
islands were observed on the way back. Sverdrup's
high land did not come to much. It turned out to be an
island, and that a low one. It is wonderful the way
things loom up in the fog. This reminded me of the
story of the pilot at home in the Drobak Channel. He
suddenly saw land right in front, and gave the order
' Full speed astern ! ' Then they approached carefully
and found that it was half a baling-can floating in the
water."
After passing a great number of new islands, we
got into open water off Taimur Island, and steamed in
still weather through the sound to the north-east. At
five in the afternoon I saw from the crow's-nest thick ice
BERNT BENTZEN.
(rrom a photograph taken in December, 1893.)
Voyage through the Kara Sea. i "jt^
ahead, which blocked further progress. It stretched
from Taimur Island right across to the islands south of
it. On the ice, bearded seals {pkoca barbata) were to
be seen in all directions, and we saw one walrus. We
approached the ice to make fast to it, but the Fram had
got into a dead-water, and made hardly any way, in
spite of the engine going full pressure. It was such
slow work that I thought I would row ahead to shoot
seal. In the meantime the Fram advanced slowly to
the edge of the ice with her machinery still going at
full-speed.
For the moment we had simply to give up all thoughts
of getting on. It was most likely, indeed, that only a few
miles of solid ice lay between us and the probably open
Taimur • Sea ; but to break through this ice was an
impossibility. It was too thick, and there were no
openings in it. Nordenskiold had steamed through here
earlier in the year (August i8th, 1878) without the
slightest hindrance,* and here, perhaps, our hopes, for
this year at any rate, were to be wrecked. It was not
possible that the ice should melt before winter set in in
earnest. The only thing to save us would be a proper
* In his account of his voyage Nordenskiold writes as follows of the
condition of this channel : " We were met by only small quantities of
that sort of ice which has a layer of fresh-water ice on the top of the
salt, and we noticed that it was all melting fjord or river ice. I
hardly think that we came all day on a single piece of ice big enough
to have cut up a seal upon."
174 Chapter V.
storm from the south-west. Our other slight hope lay in
the possibility that Nordenskiold's Taimur Sound farther
south might be open, and that we might manage to get
the Fram through there, in spite of Nordenskiold having*
said distinctly "that it is too shallow to allow of the
passage of vessels of any size."
After having been out in the kayak and boat and shot
some seals, we went on to anchor in a bay that lay rather
farther south, where it seemed as if there would be a
little shelter in case of a storm. We wanted now to
have a thorough cleaning out of the boiler, a very neces-
sary operation. It took us more than one watch to
steam a distance we could have rowed in half an
hour or less. We could hardly get on at all for the
dead-water, and we swept the whole sea along with us.
It is a peculiar phenomenon, this dead-water. We had
at present a better opportunity of studying it than we
desired. It occurs where a surface layer of fresh water
rests upon the salt water of the sea, and this fresh
water is carried along with the ship, gliding on the
heavier sea beneath as if on a fixed foundation. The
difference between the two strata was in this case so
great that while we had drinking water on the surface
the water we got from the bottom cock of the engine-
room was far too salt to be used for the boiler. Dead-
water manifests itself in the form of larger or smaller
ripples or waves stretching across the wake, the one
behind the other, arisin^^ sometimes as far forward as
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 175
ahnost amidships. We made loops in our course,
turned sometimes right round, tried all sorts of antics
to get clear of it, but to very little purpose. The moment
the engine stopped it seemed as if the ship were sucked
back. In spite of the Frams weight, and the momentum
she usually has, we could in the present instance go at
full speed till within a fathom or two of the edge of the
ice, and hardly feel a shock when she touched.
Just as we were approaching we saw a fox jumping
backwards and forwards on the ice, taking the most
wonderful leaps, and enjoying life. Sv^erdrup sent a ball
from the forecastle which put an end to it on the spot.
About midday two bears were seen on land, but they
disappeared before we got in to shoot them.
The number of seals to be seen in ever)" direction was
something extraordinary, and it seemed to me that this
would be an uncommonly good hunting ground. The
flocks I saw this first day on the ice reminded me of
the crested-seal hunting grounds on the west coast of
Greenland.
This experience of ours may appear to contrast
strangely with that of the Vega Expedition. Norden-
skiold writes of this sea, comparing it with the sea
to the north and east of Spitzbergen : — " Another
striking difference is the scarcity of warm-blooded
animals in this region as yet unvisited by the hunter.
We had not seen a single bird in the whole course
of the day, a thing that had never before happened to
176 Chapter V.
me on a summer voyage in the Arctic regions ; and
we had hardly seen a seal." The fact that they had not
seen a seal is simply enough explained by the absence of
ice. From my impression of it, the region must, on the
contrary, abound in seals. Nordenskiold himself says
that "numbers of seals, both phoca barbata and phoca
hispida, were to be seen " on the ice in Taimur Straits.
So this was all the progress we had made up to the
end of August. On August i8th, 1878, Nordenskiold
had passed through this sound, and on the 1 9th and 20th
passed Cape Chelyuskin, but here was an impenetrable
mass of ice frozen on to the land lying in our way at the
end of the month. The prospect was anything but
cheering. Were the many prophets of evil — there is
never any scarcity of them — to prove right even at this
early stage of the undertaking ? No ! The Taimur
Strait must be attempted, and should this attempt fail,
another last one should be made outside all the islands
again. Possibly the ice masses out there might in the
meantime have drifted and left an open way. We could
not stop here.
September came in with a still, melancholy snowfall ;
and this desolate land with its low, rounded heights, soon
lay under a deep covering. It did not add to our cheerful-
ness to see winter thus gently and noiselessly ushered in
after an all too short summer.
On September 2nd the boiler was ready at last, was
filled with fresh water from the sea surface, and we pre-
OFF THE COAST OF SIBERIA.
(From a photograph.)
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 177
pared to start. While this preparation was going on,
Sverdrup and I went ashore to have a look after rein-
deer. The snow was lying thick, and if it had not been
so wet we could have used our snow-shoes. As it was,
we tramped about in the heavy slush without them, and
without seeing so much as the track of a beast of any
kind. A forlorn land, indeed ! Most of the birds of
passage had already taken their way south ; we had met
small flocks of them at sea. They were collecting for
the great flight to the sunshine, and we poor souls could
not help wishing that it were possible to send news and
greeting with them. A few solitary Arctic and ordinary
gulls were our only company now. One day I found a
belated straggler of a goose sitting on the edge of
the ice.
We steamed south in the evening, but still followed by
the dead water. According to Nordenskiold's map, it
was only about 20 miles to Taimur Strait, but we were
the whole night doing this distance. Our speed was
reduced to about a fifth part of what it would otherwise
have been. At 6 a.m. (September 3rd) we got in among
some thin ice that scraped the dead water off us. The
change was noticeable at once. As the Fram cut into
the ice crust she gave a sort of spring forward, and, after
this, went on at her ordinary speed ; and henceforth we
had very little more trouble with dead water.
We found what, according to the map, was Taimur
Strait, entirely blocked with ice, and we held farther
N
178 • Chapter V.
south, to see if we could not come upon some other
strait or passage. It was not an easy matter, finding
our way by the map. We had not seen Hovgaard's
Islands, marked as lying north of the entrance to
Taimur Strait ; yet the weather was so beautifully clear,
that it seemed unlikely they could have escaped us,
if they lay where Nordenskiold's sketch-map places them.
On the other hand, we saw several islands in the offing.
These, however, lay so far out that it is not probable that
Nordenskiold saw them, as the weather was thick when
he was here ; and, besides, it is impossible that islands
lying many miles out at sea could have been mapped
as close to land, with only a narrow sound separating
them from it. Farther south we found a narrow open
strait or fjord, which we steamed into, in order if possible
to get some better idea of the lie of the land. I sat up
in the crow's-nest, hoping for a general clearing up of
matters ; but the prospect of this seemed to recede
farther and farther. What we now had to the north of
us, and what I had taken to be a projection of the main-
land, proved to be an island ; but the fjord wound on
farther inland. Now it got narrower — presently it
widened out again. The mystery thickened. Could
this be Taimur Strait after all ? A dead calm on the
sea. Fog everywhere over the land. It was well nigh
impossible to distinguish the smooth surface of the water
from the ice, and the ice from the snow-covered land.
Everything is so strangely still and dead. The sea rises
Voyage through the Kara Sea. i 79
and falls with each twist of the fjord through the silent
land of mists. Now we have open water ahead, now
more ice, and it is impossible to make sure which it
is. Is this Taimur Strait ? Are we getting through ?
A whole year is at stake ! . . . No ! here we stop —
nothing but ice ahead. No ! it is only smooth water
with the snowy land reflected in it. This must be
Taimur Strait !
But now we had several large ice-floes ahead, and it was
difficult to get on ; so we anchored at a point, in a good,
safe harbour, to make a closer inspection. We now
discovered that it was a strong tidal current that was
carrying the ice-floes with it ; and there could be no
doubt that it was a strait we were lying in. I rowed out
in the evening to shoot some seals, taking for the
purpose my most precious weapon, a double-barrelled
Express rifle, calibre "577. As we were in the act of
taking a sealskin on board, the boat heeled over, I
slipped and my rifle fell into the sea — a sad accident.
Peter Henriksen and Bentzen, who were rowing me, took
it so to heart that they could not speak for some time.
They declared that it would never do to leave the
valuable gun lying there in 5 fathoms of water. So
we rowed to the Fram for the necessary apparatus, and
dragged the spot for several hours, well on into the dark,
gloomy night. While we were thus employed, a bearded
seal circled round and round us, bobbing up its big
startled face, now on one side of us, now on the other,
N 2
i8o Chapter V.
and always coming nearer ; it was evidently anxious to
find out what our night work might be. Then it dived
over and over again, probably to see how the dragging
was getting on. Was it afraid of our finding the rifle ?
At last it became too intrusive. I took Peter's rifle, and
put a ball through its head ; but it sank before we could
reach it ; and we gave up the whole business in despair.
The loss of that rifle saved the life of many a seal ; and,
alas ! it had cost me ;^28.
We took the boat again next day and rowed eastward,
lo find out if there really was a passage for us through
this strait. It had turned cold during the night, and
snow had fallen, so the sea round the Fram was covered
with tolerably thick snow ice, and it cost us a good deal
of exertion to break through it into open water with the
boat. I thought it possible that the land farther in on
the north side of the strait might be that in the neigh-
bourhood of Actinia Bay, where the Vega had lain ; but
I sought in vain for the cairn erected there by Norden-
skiold, and presently discovered to my astonishment that
it was only a small island, and that this island lay on the
south side of the principal entrance to Taimur Strait.
The strait was very broad here, and I felt pretty certain
that I saw where the real Actinia Bay cut into the land
far to the north.
We were hungry now, and were preparing to take
a meal before we rowed on from the island, when we
discovered to our disappointment that the butter had
Voyage through the Kara Sea. i8i
been forgotten. We crammed down the dry biscuits as
best we could, and worked our jaws till they were stiff
on the pieces we managed to hack off a hard dried rein-
deer chine. When we were tired of eating, though any-
thing but satisfied, we set off, giving this point the name
of " Cape Butterless." We rowed far in through the
strait, and it seemed to us to be a good passage for ships,
8 or 9 fathoms right up to the shore. However, we
were stopped by ice in the evening, and as we ran the
risk of being frozen in if we pushed on any farther, I
thought it best to turn. We certainly ran no danger
of starving, for we saw fresh tracks both of bears and
reindeer everywhere, and there were plenty of seals
in the water ; but I was afraid of delaying the Fram
in view of the possibility of progress in another direction.
So we toiled back against a strong wind, not reaching
the ship till next morning ; and this was none too early,
for presently we were in the midst of a storm.
On the subject of the navigability of Taimur Strait,
Nordenskiold writes that, "according to soundings
made by Lieutenant Palander, it is obstructed by rocky
shallows ; and being also full of strong currents, it is
hardly advisable to sail through it, at least until the
direction of these currents has been carefully investi-
gated." I have nothing particular to add to this, except
that, as already mentioned, the channel was clear as far
as we penetrated, and had the appearance of being
practicable as far as I could see. I was, therefore,
1 82 Chapter V.
determined that we would, if necessary, try to force our
way through with the Fram.
The 5th of September brought snow with a stiff
breeze, which steadily grew stronger. When it was
rattling in the rigging in the evening we congratulated
each other on being safe on board — it would not have
been an easy matter to row back to-day. But altogether
I was dissatisfied. There was some chance, indeed, that
this wind might loosen the ice farther north, and yester-
day's experiences had given me the hope of being able,
in case of necessity, to force a way through this strait ;
but now the wind was steadily driving larger masses of ice
in past us ; and this approach of winter was alarming — it
might quite well be on us in earnest before any channel
was opened. I tried to reconcile myself to the idea of
wintering in our present surroundings. I had already
laid all the plans for the way in which we were to occupy
ourselves during the coming year. Besides an investiga-
tion of this coast, which offered problems enough to solve,
we were to explore the unknown interior of the Taimur
Peninsula right across to the mouth of the Chatanga,
With our dogs and snow-shoes we should be able to go
far and wide ; so the year would not be a lost one as
regarded geography and geology. But no ! I could not
reconcile myself to it ! I could not ! A year of one's life
was a year ; and our expedition promised to be a long
one at best. What tormented me most was the reflection
that if the ice stopped us now, we could have no
LARS PETTERSEN.
(Front a photograph taken in f895.)
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 183
assurance that it would not do the same at the same time
next year. It has been observed so often that several
bad ice-years come together, and this was evidently none
of the best. Though I would hardly confess the feeling
of depression even to myself, I must say that it was not
on a bed of roses I lay these nights, until sleep came and
carried me off into the land of forgetfulness.
Wednesday, the 6th of September, was the anniversary
of my wedding-day. I was superstitious enough to feel
when I awoke in the morning, that this day would
bring a change, if one were coming at all. The storm had
gone down a little, the sun peeped out, and life seemed
brighter. The wind quieted down altogether in the
course of the afternoon, the weather becoming calm and
beautiful. The strait to the north of us, which was
blocked before with solid ice, had been swept open by
the storm ; but the strait to the east, where we had been
with the boat, was firmly blocked, and if we had not
turned when we did that evening, we should have been
there yet, and for no one knows how long. It seemed
to us not improbable that the ice between Cape Lapteft
and Almquist's Islands might be broken up. We, there-
fore, got up steam and set off north about 6.30 p.m. to
try our fortune once more. I felt quite sure that the
day would bring us luck. The weather was still
beautiful, and we were thoroughly enjoying the sunshine.
It was such an unusual thing that Nordahl, when he
was working among the coals in the hold in the after-
184 Chapter V.
noon, mistook a sunbeam falling through the hatch on
the coal dust for a plank, and leaned hard on it. He was
not a little surprised when he fell right through it on
to some iron lumber.
It became more and more difficult to make anything
of the land, and our observation for latitude at noon
did not help to clear up matters. It placed us at
76° 2' north latitude, or about 14 miles from what is
marked as the mainland on Nordenskiold's or Bove's map.
It was hardly to be expected that these should be correct,
as the weather seems to have been foggy the whole time
the explorers were here.
Nor were we successful in finding Hovgaard's Islands
as we sailed north. When I supposed that we were
off them, just on the north side of the entrance to Taimur
Strait, I saw, to my surprise, a high mountain almost
directly north of us, which seemed as if it must be on the
mainland. What could be the explanation of this ? I
began to have a growing suspicion that this was a regular
labyrinth of islands we had got into. We were hoping to
investigate and clear up the matter, when thick weather,
with sleet and rain, most inconveniently came on, and we
had to leave this problem for the future to solve.
The mist was thick, and soon the darkness of night
was added to it, so that we could not see land at any
great distance. It might seem rather risky to push ahead
now, but it was an opportunity not to be lost. We
slackened speed a little, and kept on along the coast
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 185
all night, in readiness to turn as soon as land was
observed ahead. Satisfied that things were in good
hands, as it was Sverdrup's watch, I lay down in my
berth with a lighter mind than I had had for long.
At 6 o'clock next morning (September 7th) Sverdrup
roused me with the information that we had passed
Taimur Island, or Cape Lapteff, at 3 a.m., and were now
at Taimur Bay, but with close ice and an island ahead.
It was possible that we might reach the island, as a
channel had just opened through the ice in that direc-
tion ; but we were at present in a tearing " whirlpool "
current, and should be obliged to put back for the
moment. After breakfast I went up into the crow's nest.
It was brilliant sunshine. I found that Sverdrup's island
must be mainland, which, however, stretched remarkably
far west compared with that given on the maps. I could
still see Taimur Island behind me, and the most easterly
of Almquist's Islands lay gleaming in the sun to the
north. It was a long sandy point that we had ahead,
and I could follow the land in a southerly direction till
it disappeared on the horizon at the head of the bay in
the south. Then there was a small strip where no land,
only open water, could be made out. After that the
land emerged on the west side of the bay, stretching
towards Taimur Island. With its heights and round
knolls this land was essentially different from the low-
coast on the east side of the bay.
To the north of the point ahead of us I saw open
1 86 Chapter V.
water; there was some ice between us and it, but the
Fram forced her way through. When we got out, right
off the point, I was surprised to notice the sea suddenly
covered with brown clayey water. It could not be a
deep layer, for the track we left behind was quite clear.
The clayey water seemed to be skimmed to either
side by the passage of the ship. I ordered soundings
to be taken, and found, as I expected, shallower water —
first 8 fathoms, then 6 J, then 5 4. I stopped now, and
backed. Things looked very suspicious, and round
us ice-floes lay stranded. There was also a very
strong current running north-east. Constantly sounding,
we again went slowly forwards. Fortunately the lead
went on showing 5 fathoms. Presently we got into
deeper water — 6 fathoms, then 6\ — and now we went
on at full speed again. We were soon out into the
clear, blue water on the other side. There was quite a
sharp boundary line between the brown surface water
and the clear blue. The muddy water evidently came
from some river a little farther south.
From this point the land trended back in an easterly
direction, and we held east and north-east in the open
water between it and the ice. In the afternoon this
channel grew very narrow, and we got right under the
coast, where it again slopes north. We kept close along
it in a very narrow cut, with a depth of 6 to 8 fathoms,
but in the evening had to stop, as the ice lay packed close
in to the shore ahead of us.
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 187
This land we had been coasting along bore a strong
resemblance to Yalmal. The same low plains, rising
very little above the sea, and not visible at any great
distance. It was perhaps rather more undulating. At
one or two places I even saw some ridges of a certain
elevation a little way inland. The shore the whole way
seemed to be formed of strata of sand and clay, the
margin sloping steeply to the sea.
Many reindeer herds were to be seen on the plains,
and next morning (September 8th) I went on shore on a
hunting expedition. Having shot one reindeer, I was on
my way farther inland in search of more, when I made a
surprising discovery, which attracted all my attention, and
made me quite forget the errand I had come on. It was
a large fjord cutting its way in through the land to the
north of me. I went as far as possible to find out all I
could about it, but did not manage to see the end of it.
So far as I could see, it was a fine broad sheet of water,
stretching eastwards to some blue mountains far, far
inland, which, at the extreme limit of my vision, seemed
to slope down to the water. Beyond them I could
distinguish nothing. My imagination was fired, and for
a moment it seemed to me as if this might almost be a
strait, stretching right across the land here, and making an
island of the Chelyuskin Peninsula. But probably it was
only a river, which widened out near its mouth into a
broad lake, as several of the Siberian rivers do. All
about the clay plains I was tramping over, enormous
1 88 Chapter V.
erratic blocks, of various formations, lay scattered. They
can only have been brought here by the great glaciers of
the Ice Age. There was not much life to be seen.
Besides reindeer there were just a fe>v willow-grouse,
snow-buntings, and snipe ; and I saw tracks of foxes and
lemmings. This farthest north part of Siberia is quite
uninhabited, and has probably not been visited even by
the wandering nomads. However, I saw a circular moss
heap on a plain far inland, which looked as if it might
be the work of man's hand. Perhaps, after all, some
Samoyede had been here collecting moss for his reindeer ;
but it must have been long ago ; for the moss looked
quite black and rotten. The heap was quite possibly
only one of Nature's freaks — she is often capricious.
What a constant alternation of light and shadow there
is in this Arctic land. When I went up to the crow's-
nest next morning (September 9th), I saw that the ice
to the north had loosened from the land, and I could
trace a channel which might lead us northwards into open
water. I at once gave the order to get up steam. The
barometer was certainly low — lower than we had ever had
it yet ; it was down to y^,;^ mm. (28*8 inches) ; the wind
was blowing in heavy squalls off the land, and in on the
plains the gusts were whirling up clouds of sand and dust.
Sverdrup thought it would be safer to stay where we
were ; but it would be too annoying to miss this splendid
opportunity : and the sunshine was so beautiful, and the
sky so smiling and reassuring. I gave orders to set sail,
ANTON AMUNDSEN.
(From a photograph taken in December, 1&J3.)
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 189
and soon we were pushing on northwards through the ice,
under steam, and with every stitch of canvas that we
could crowd on. Cape Chelyuskin must be vanquished !
Never had the Fram gone so fast ; she made more
than 8 knots by the log ; it seemed as though she knew
how much depended on her getting on. Soon we were
through the ice, and had open water along the land as
far as the eye could reach. We passed point after point,
discovering new fjords and islands on the way, and soon
I thought that I caught a glimpse through the large
telescope of some mountains far away north ; they must
be in the neighbourhood of Cape Chelyuskin itself.
The land along which we to-day coasted to the north-
ward was quite low, some of it like what I had seen on
shore the previous day. At some distance from the low
coast, fairly high mountains or mountain chains were to
be seen. Some of them seemed to consist of horizontal
sedimentary schist ; they were flat-topped, with precipi-
tous sides. Further inland the mountains were all white
with snow. At one point it seemed as if the whole range
were covered with a sheet of ice, or great snow field that
spread itself down the sides. At the edge of this
sheet I could see projecting masses of rock, but all
the inner part was spotless white. It seemed almost
too continuous and even to be new snow, and looked
like a permanent snow mantle.
Nordenskiold's map marks at this place, " high moun-
tain chains inland ; " and this agrees with our observa-
I go Chapter V.
tions, though I cannot assert that the mountains are of
any considerable height. But when, in agreement with
earlier maps, he marks at the same place, " high rocky
coast ; " his terms are open to objection. The coast
is, as already mentioned, quite low, and consists, in
great part at least, of layers of clay or loose earth.
Nordenskiold either took this last description from the
earlier, unreliable maps, or possibly allowed himself to
be misled by the fog which beset them during their
voyage in these waters.
In the evening we were approaching the north end of
the land, but the current, which we had had with us
earlier in the day, was now against us, and it seemed
as if we were never to get past an island that lay off the
shore to the north of us. The mountain height which
I had seen at an earlier hour through the telescope, lay
here some way inland. It was flat on the top with
precipitous sides, like those mountains last described.
It seemed to be sandstone or basaltic rock ; only the
horizontal strata of the ledges on its sides were not
visible. I calculated its height at i,ooo to 1,500 feet.
Out at sea we saw several new islands, the nearest of
them being of some size.
The moment seemed to be at hand, when we were at
last to round that point which had haunted us for so
long — the second of the greatest difficulties I expected
to have to overcome on this expedition. I sat up in
the crow's-nest in the evening, looking out to the north.
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 191
The land was low and desolate. The sun had long
since gone down behind the sea, and the dreamy
evening sky was yellow and gold. It was lonely and
still up here, high above the water. Only one star was
to be seen. It stood straight above Cape Chelyuskin,
shining clearly and sadly in the pale sky. As we
sailed on and got the cape more to the east of us,
the star went with it ; it was always there, straight
above. I could not help sitting watching it. It seemed
to have some charm for me, and to bring such peace.
Was it my star ? Was it the spirit of home
following and smiling to me now ? Many a thought
it brought to me, as the Fram toiled on through the
melancholv night, past the northernmost point of the
old world.
Towards morning we were off what we took to be
actually the northern extremity. We stood in near
land, and at the change of the watch, exactly at four
o'clock, our flags were hoisted, and our three last
cartridges sent a thundering salute over the sea.
Almost at the same moment the sun rose. Then our
poetic doctor burst forth into the following touching
lines : —
" Up go the flags, off goes the gun ;
The clock strikes four — and lo, the sun • *
As the sun rose, the Chelyuskin troll, that had so long
had us in his power, was banned. We had escaped the
192 Chapter V.
danger of a winter's imprisonment on this coast, and we
saw the way clear to our goal, the drift ice to the north
of the New Siberian Islands. In honour of the occasion,
all hands were turned out, and punch, fruit, and cigars
were served in the festally lighted saloon. Something
special in the way of a toast was expected on such an
occasion. I lifted my glass, and made the following
speech : — " Skoal, my lads, and be glad we've passed
Chelyuskin !" Then there was some organ playing,
during which I went up into the crow's-nest again, to have
a last look at the land. I now saw that the height I
CAPE CHELYUSKIN, THE NORTHERNMOST POINT OF THE
OLD WORLD.
had noticed in the evening, which has already been
described, lies on the west side of the peninsula, while
farther east a lower and more rounded height stretches
southward. This last must be the one mentioned by
Nordenskiold, and, according to his description, the real
north point must lie out beyond it ; so that we were now
off King Oscar's Bay ; but I looked in vain through the
telescope for Nordenskiold's cairn. I had the greatest
inclination to land, but did not think that we could spare
the time. The bay, which was clear of ice at the time of
I
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is
a
H
O
«1
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O
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H
H
H
&•
hi
O
Q
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Voyage through the Kara Sea.
19:
the Vegas visit, was now closed in with thick winter ice,
frozen fast to the land.
We had an open channel before us ; but we could see
the edge of the drift-ice out at sea. A little farther west
we passed a couple of small islands, lying a short way
-^msi^u
^ — «.• ^,
4
aiOe
ON LAND EAST OF CAPE CHELYUSKIN (SEPTEMBER lOTH,
1893).
(By Otto Situiing, front a Photograph.)
from the coast. We had to stop before noon at the
north-western corner of Chelyuskin, on account of the
drift-ice, which seemed to reach right into the land
before us. To judge by the dark air, there was open
water again on the other side of an island wiiich lay
o
194 Chapter V.
ahead. We landed and made sure that some straits or
fjords on the inside of this island to the south were
quite closed with firm ice ; and in the evening the Fram
forced her way through the drift-ice on the outside of it.
We steamed and sailed southwards along the coast all
night, making splendid way ; when the wind was blowing
stiffest we went at the rate of 9 knots. We came upon
ice every now and then, but got through it easily.
Towards morning (September nth) we had high land
ahead, and had to change our course to due east,
keeping to this all day. When I came on deck before
noon I saw a fine tract of hill country with high summits
and valleys between. It was the first view of the
sort since we had left Vardo, and after the monotonous
low land we had been coasting along for months, it was
refreshing to see such mountains again. They ended
with a precipitous descent to the east, and eastward from
that extended a perfectly flat plain. In the course of the
day we quite lost sight of land, and strangely enough
did not see it again ; nor did we see the Islands of
St. Peter and St. Paul, though, according to the maps,
our course lay close past them.
Thursday, September 12th. Henriksen awoke me
this morning at six with the information that there
were several walruses lying on a floe quite close to us.
•' By jove ! " Up I jumped and had my clothes on in a
trice. It was a lovely morning — fine, still weather ;
the walruses' guffaw sounded over to us along the clear
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 195
ice surface. They were lying crowded together on a
floe a little to landward from us, blue mountains glitter-
ing behind them in the sun. At last the harpoons were
sharpened, guns and cartridges ready, and Henriksen,
Juell and I set off. There seemed to be a slight breeze
from the south, so we rowed to the north side of the floe,
to get to leeward of the animals. From time to time
their sentry raised his head, but apparently did not see
us. We advanced slowly, and soon were so near that
we had to row very cautiously. Juell kept us going, while
Henriksen was ready in the bow with a harpoon, and I
behind him with a gun. The moment the sentry raised his
head the oars stopped, and we stood motionless ; when
he sunk it again, a few more strokes brought us nearer.
Body to body they lay close-packed on a small floe,
old and young ones mixed. Enormous masses of flesh
they were ! Now and again one of the ladies fanned
herself by moving one of her flappers backwards and
forwards over her body ; then she lay quiet again on her
back or side. ''Good gracious! what a lot of meat!"
said Juell, who was cook. More and more cautiously
we drew near. Whilst I sat ready with the gun,
Henriksen took a good grip of the harpoon shaft, and as
the boat touched the floe he rose, and off flew the har-
poon. But it struck too high, glanced ofl" the tough hide,
and skipped over the backs of the animals. Now there
was a pretty to do ! Ten or twelve great weird faces
glared upon us at once; the colossal creatures twisted
o 2
196 Chapter V.
themselves round with incredible celerity, and came
waddling with lifted heads and hollow bellowings to the
edge of the ice where we lay. It was undeniably an
imposing sight ; but I laid my gun to my shoulder and
fired at one of the biggest heads. The animal staggered,
and then fell head foremost into the water. Now a ball
into another head ; this creature fell too, but was able to
fling itself into the sea. And now the whole flock
dashed in, and we as well as they were hidden in spray.
It had all happened in a few seconds. But up they
came again immediately round the boat, the one head
bigger and uglier than the other — their young ones close
beside them. They stood up in the water, bellowed
and roared till the air trembled, threw themselves for-
ward towards us, then rose up again, and new bellowings
filled the air. Then they rolled over and disappeared
with a splash, then bobbed up again. The water foamed
and boiled for yards around — the ice- world that had
been so still before seemed in a moment to have been
transformed into a raging Bedlam. Any moment we
might expect to have a walrus tusk or two through the
boat, or to be heaved up and capsized. Something of
this kind was the very least that could happen after
such a terrible commotion. But the hurly-burly went on
and nothing came of it. I again picked out my victims.
They went on bellowing and grunting like the others,
but with blood streaming" from their mouths and noses.
Another ball, and one tumbled over and floated on the
* s
O CQ
z ^
o
s
Voyat^e through the Kara Sea. 197
water ; now a ball to the second, and it did the same.
Henriksen was ready with the harpoons, and secured
them both. One more was shot, but we had no more
harpoons, and had to strike a seal-hook into it to hold
it up. The hook slipped, however, and the animal
sank before we could save it. Whilst we were towing
our booty to an ice-floe, we were still, for part of the
time at least, surrounded by walruses ; but there was no
use in shooting any more, for we had no means of carry-
ing them off. The Fram presently came up and took
our two on board, and we were soon going ahead along
the coast. We saw many walruses in this part. We shot
two others in the afternoon, and could have got many
more if we had had time to spare. It was in this same
neig^hbourhood that Nordenskiold also saw one or two
small herds.
We now continued our course, against a strong current,
southwards along the coast, past the mouth of the
Chatanga. This eastern part of the Taimur Peninsula
is a comparatively high, mountainous region, but with a
lower level stretch between the mountains and the sea —
apparently the same kind of low land we had seen along
the coast almost the whole way. As the sea seemed to
be tolerably open and free from ice, we made several
attempts to shorten our course by leaving the coast and
striking across for the mouth of the Olenek ; but every
time thick ice drove us back to our channel by the
land.
198 Chapter V.
On September 14th we were off the land lying between
the Chatanga and the Anabara. This also was fairly high
mountainous country with a low strip by the sea. "In
this respect," so I write in my diary, "this whole coast
reminds one very much of Jsederen in Norway. But
the mountains here are not so well separated and are con-
siderably lower than those farther north. The sea is
unpleasantly shallow ; at one time during the night we
had only 4 fathoms, and were obliged to put back some
distance. We have ice outside, quite close ; but yet
there is a sufficient fairway to let us push on eastwards."
The following day we got into good, open water, but
shallow — never more than 6 to 7 fathoms. We heard
the roaring of waves to the east, so there must certainly
be open water in that direction, which indeed we had
expected. It was plain that the Lena, with its masses of
warm water, was beginning to assert its influence. The
sea here was browner, and showed signs of some mixture
of muddy river- water. It was also much less salt.
"It would be foolish," I write in my diary for this day
(September 15th), " to go in to the Olenek now that we
are so late. Even if there were no danger from shoals,
it would cost us too much time — probably a year.
Besides it is by no means sure that the Fram can get in
there at all ; it would be a very tiresome business if she
went aground in these waters. No doubt we should be
very much the better for a few more dogs, but to lose a
year is too much ; we shall rather head straight east for
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 199
the New Siberian Islands, now that there is a good oppor-
tunity, and really bright prospects.
" The ice here puzzles me a good deal. How in the
world is it not swept northwards by the current which,
according to my calculations, ought to set north from
this coast, and which indeed we ourselves have felt. And
it is such hard, thick ice — has the appearance of being
several years old. Does it come from the eastward,
or does it lie and grind round here in the sea between
the ' north-going ' current of the Lena and the Taimur
Peninsula ? I cannot tell yet, but anyhow it is different
from the thin one-year-old ice we have seen until now in
the Kara Sea and west of Cape Chelyuskin.
" Saturday, September i6th. We are keeping a
north-easterly course (by compass) through open water,
and have got pretty well north, but see no ice, and the
air is dark to the northward. Mild weather and water
comparatively warm, as high as 35° Fahr. We have
the current against us, and are always considerably west
of our reckoning. Several flocks of eider-duck were seen
in the course of the day. We ought to have land to the
north of us ; can it be that which is keeping back the
■\ »»
ice :
Next day we met ice, and had to hold a little to the
south to keep clear of it ; and I began to fear that we
should not be able to get as far as I had hoped. But in my
notes for the following day (Monday, September i8th) I
read : " A splendid day. Shaped our course northwards,
200 Chapter V.
to the west of Bielkoff Island. Open sea ; good wind
from the west ; good progress. Weather clear, and we
had a little sunshine in the afternoon. Now the decisive
moment approaches. At 12.15 shaped our course north
to east (by compass). Now it is to be proved if my
theory, on which the whole expedition is based, is correct
— if we are to find a little north from here a north-flowing
current. So far everything is better than I had expected.
We are in latitude 75^° N., and have still open water and
dark sky to the north and west. In the evening there
was ice-light ahead and on the starboard bow. About
seven I thought that I could see ice, which, however,
rose so regularly that it more resembled land, but it was
too dark to see distinctly. It seemed as if it might be
Bielkoff Island, and a big light spot farther to the east
might even be the reflection from the snow-covered
Kotelnoi. I should have liked to run in here, partly to
see a little of this interesting island, and partly to inspect
the stores which we knew had been deposited for us here
by the friendly care of Baron von Toll ; but time was
precious, and to the north the sea seemed to lie open to
us. Prospects were bright, and we sailed steadily north-
wards, wondering what the morrow would bring. Dis-
appointment or hope ? If all went well we should
reach Sannikofif Land — that, as yet, untrodden ground.
"It was a strange feeling to be sailing away north in
the dark night to unknown lands, over an open, rolling
sea, where no ship, no boat had been before. We might
09
"2
I14
o
0;
O
a
H
Hi
00
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 201
have been hundreds of miles away in more southerly
waters, the air was so mild for September in this
latitude.
" Tuesday, September 19th. I have never had such
a splendid sail. On to the north, steadily north, with a
good wind, as fast as steam and sail can take us, and
open sea mile after mile, watch after watch, through
these unknown regions, always clearer and clearer of ice
one might almost say ! How long will this last ? The eye
always turns to the northward as one paces the bridge.
It is gazing into the future. But there is always the
same dark sky ahead, which means open sea. My plan
was standing its test. It seemed as if luck had been on
our side ever since the 6th of September. We see
* nothing but clean water,' as Henriksen answered from
the crow's-nest when I called up to him. When he was
standing at the wheel later in the morning, and I was on
the bridge, he suddenly said : ' They little think at home
in Norway just now that we are sailing straight for the
Pole in clear water.' ' No, they don't believe we have
got so far.' And I shouldn't have believed it myself if
anyone had prophesied it to me a fortnight ago ; but
true it is. All my reflections and inferences on the
subject had led me to expect open water for a good way
farther north ; but it is seldom that one's inspirations
turn out to be so correct. No ice-light in any direction,
not even now in the evening. We saw no land the
whole day ; but we had fog and thick weather all the
202 Chapter V.
morning and forenoon, so that we were still going at
half speed, as we were afraid of coming suddenly on
something. Now we are almost in 'j']'^ north latitude.
How long is it to go on ? I have said all along that I
should be glad if we reached 78° ; but Sverdrup is less
easily satisfied ; he says over 80° — perhaps 84°, 85°. He
even talks seriously of the open Polar Sea, which he
once read about ; he always comes back upon it, in spite
of my laughing at him.
" I have almost to ask myself if this is not a dream.
One must have gone against the stream to know what
it means to go with the stream. As it was on the
Greenland Expedition, so it is here : — ■
" ' Dort ward der Traum zur Wirklichkeit,
Hier wird die Wirklichkeit zum Traum ! '
" Hardly any life visible here. Saw an auk or black
guillemot to-day, and later a sea-gull in the distance.
When I was hauling up a bucket of water in the
evening to wash the deck, I noticed that it was
sparkling with phosphorescence. One could almost
have imagined one's self to be in the south.
"Wednesday, September 20th. I have had a rough
awakening from my dream. As I was sitting at 1 1 a.m.
looking at the map and thinking that my cup would
soon be full — we had almost reached 78° — there was
a sudden luff, and I rushed out. Ahead of us lay the
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 203
edge of the ice, long and compact, shining through the
fog. I had a strong inclination to go eastward, on
the possibility of there being land in that direction ;
but it looked as if the ice extended farther south there,
and there was the probability of being able to reach a
higher latitude if we kept west ; so we headed that
way. The sun broke through for a moment just now,
so we took an observation, which showed us to be in
about ']']° 44' north latitude."
We now held north-west along the edge of the ice.
It seemed to me as if there might be land at no great
distance, we saw such a remarkable number of birds of
various kinds. A flock of snipe or wading birds met us,
followed us for a time, and then took their way south.
They were probably on their passage from some land to
the north of us. We could see nothing, as the fog lay
persistently over the ice. Ag^in, later, we saw flocks of
small snipe, indicating the possible proximity of land.
Next day the weather was clearer, but still there was no
land In sight. We were now a good way north of the
spot where Baron von Toll has mapped the south coast of
Sannikoff Land, but in about the same longitude. So it
is probably only a small island, and in any case cannot
extend far north.
On September 21st we had thick fog again, and when
we had sailed north to the head of a bay in the ice. and
could get no farther, I decided to wait here for clear
weather to see if progress farther north were possible.
204 Chapter V.
I calculated that we were now in about /S^° north
latitude. We tried several times during the day to take
soundings, but did not succeed in reaching the bottom
with 2 15 fathoms of line.
"To-day made the agreeable discovery that there are
bugs on board. Must plan a campaign against them.
"Friday, September 22nd. Brilliant sunshine once
again, and white dazzling ice ahead. First we lay still
in the fog because we could not see which way to go ;
now it is clear and we know just as little about it. It
looks as if we were at the northern boundary of the
open water. To the west the ice appears to extend
south again. To the north it is compact and white —
only a small open rift or pool every here and there ; and
the sky is whitish-blue everywhere on the horizon. It is
from the east we have just come, but there we could see
very little ; and for want of anything better to do, we
shall make a short excursion in that direction, on the
possibility of finding openings in the ice. If there were
only time, what I should like would be to go east as far
as Sannikoff Island, or, better still, all the way to Bennet
Land, to see what condition things are in there ; but it
is too late now. The sea will soon be freezing, and we
should run a great risk of being frozen in at a dis-
advantageous point."
Earlier Arctic explorers have considered it a necessity
to keep near some coast. But this was exactly what I
wanted to avoid. It was the drift of the ice that I
Voyage through the Kara Sea. 205
wished to get into, and what I most feared was being
blocked by land. It seemed as if we might do much
worse than give ourselves up to the ice where we were,
especially as our excursion to the east had proved that
following the ice-edge in that direction would soon forc^
us south again. So in the meantime we made fast to a
great ice-block, and prepared to clean the boiler and shift
coals. " We are lying in open water, with only a few
large floes here and there ; but I have a presentiment
that this is our winter harbour.
" Great bug war to-day. We play the big steam hose
on mattresses, sofa-cushions — everything that we think
can possibly harbour the enemies. All clothes are put
into a barrel, which is hermetically closed, except where
the hose is introduced. Then full steam is set on. It
whizzes and whistles inside, and a little forces its way
through the joints, and we think that the animals must be
having a fine hot time of it. But suddenly the barrel
cracks, the steam rushes out, and the lid bursts off with
a violent explosion, and is flung far along the deck.
I still hope that there has been a great slaughter, for
these are horrible enemies. Juell tried the old experi-
ment of setting one on a piece of wood to see if it
would creep north. It would not move at all, so he took
a blubber hook and hit it to make it go ; but it would do
nothing but wriggle its head — the harder he hit the
more it wriggled. ' Squash it, then,' said Bentzen.
And squashed it was.
2o6 Chapter V.
" Friday, September 23rd. We are still at the same
moorings, working at the coal. An unpleasant contrast,
— everything on board, men and dogs included, black
and filthy, and everything around white and bright in
beautiful sunshine. It looks as if more ice were
driving in.
" Sunday, September 24th. Still coal shifting. Fog
THE ICE INTO WHICH THE '' FRAM WAS FROZEN
(SEPTEMBER 25TH, 1 893).
(From a Photograph.)
in the morning, which cleared off as the day went on,
when we discovered that we were closely surrounded
on all sides by tolerably thick ice. Between the floes
lies slush-ice, which will soon be quite firm. There
is an open pool to be seen to the north, but not a
large one. From the crow's-nest, with the telescope, we
can still descry the sea across the ice to the south.
5
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Voyage through the Kara Sea. 207
It looks as if we were being shut in. Well, we must
e'en bid the ice w^elcome. A dead region this ; no life
in any direction, except a single seal (pkoca foetida) in the
water ; and on the floe beside us we can see a bear-track
some days old. We again try to get soundings, but
still find no bottom ; it is remarkable that there should
be such depth here."
Ugh ! one can hardly imagine a dirtier, nastier job
than a spell of coal-shifting on board. It is a pity that
such a useful thing as coal should be so black ! What we
are doing now is only hoisting it from the hold, and
filling the bunkers with it ; but every man on board
must help, and everything is in a mess. So many men
must stand on the coal heap in the hold and fill the
buckets, and so many hoist them, Jacobsen is specially
good at this last job ; his strong arms pull up bucket
after bucket as if they were as many boxes of matches.
The rest of us go backwards and forwards with the
buckets between the main-hatch and the half-deck,
pouring the coal into the bunkers ; and down below
stands Amundsen packing it, as black as he can be.
Of course coal-dust is flying over the whole deck ; the
dogs creep into corners, black and tousled ; and we
ourselves — well, we don't wear our best clothes on such
days. We got some amusement out of the remarkable
appearance of our faces, with their dark complexions,
black streaks at the most unlikely places, and eyes and
white teeth shining through the dirt. Anyone happening
2o8 Chapter V.
to touch the white wall below with his hand leaves a black
five-fingered blot ; and the doors have a wealth of such
mementoes. The seats of the sofas must have their
wrong sides turned up, else they would bear lasting
marks of another part of the body ; and the tablecloth —
well, we fortunately do not possess such a thing. In
short, coal-shifting is as dirty and wretched an experience
as one can well imagine in these bright and pure sur-
roundings. One good thing is that there is plenty of
fresh water to wash with ; we can find it in every hollow
on the floes, so there is some hope of our being clean
again in time, and it is possible that this may be our last
coal-shifting.
" Monday, September 25th. Frozen in faster and
faster! Beautiful still weather ; 13 degrees of frost last
night. Winter is coming now. Had a visit from a
bear, which was off again before anyone got a shot
at It.
CHAPTER VI.
The Winter Night.
It really looked as if we were now frozen in for good,
and I did not expect to get the Fra77t out of the ice till
we were on the other side of the Pole, nearing the
Atlantic Ocean. Autumn was already well advanced ;
the sun stood lower in the heavens day by day ; and the
temperature sank steadily. The long night of winter
was approaching — that dreaded night. There was
nothing to be done except prepare ourselves for it, and
by degrees we converted our ship, as well as we could,
into comfortable winter quarters ; while at the same time
we took every precaution to assure her against the
destructive influences of cold, drift-ice, and the other
forces of nature to which it was prophesied that we must
succumb. The rudder was hauled up, so that it might
not be destroyed by the pressure of the ice. We had
intended to do the same with the screw ; but as it, with
its iron case, would certainly help to strengthen the stern,
and especially the rudder stock, we let it remain in its
place. We had a good deal of work with the engine,
p
2IO Chapter VI.
too ; each separate part was taken out, oiled, and laid
away for the winter ; slide-valves, pistons, shafts, were
examined and thoroughly cleaned. All this was done
with the very greatest care. Amundsen looked after
that engine as if it had been his own child ; late and
early he was down tending it lovingly ; and we used to
tease him about it, to see the defiant look come into his
eyes and hear him say : " It's all very well for you to
talk, but there's not such another engine in the world,
and it would be a sin and a shame not to take good care
of it." Assuredly he left nothing undone. I do not
suppose a day passed, winter or summer, all these three
years, that he did not go down and caress it, and do
something or other for it.
We cleared up in the hold to make room for a joiner's
workshop down there ; our mechanical workshop we had
in the engine-room. The smithy was at first on deck, and
■afterwards on the ice ; tinsmith's work was done chiefly in
the chart room, shoemaker's and sailmaker's, and various
odd sorts of work, in the saloon. And all these occupa-
tions were carried on with interest and activity during the
rest of the expedition. There was nothing, from the
most delicate instruments down to wooden shoes and
axe-handles, that could not be made on board the Fram.
When we were found to be short of sounding-line, a
grand rope- walk was constructed on the ice. It proved
to be a very profitable undertaking, and was well
patronised.
5 s
c &;
The Winter Night. 211
Presently we began putting up the windmill which
was to drive the dynamo and produce the electric light.
While the ship was going, the dynamo was driven by
the engine, but for a long time past we had had to be
contented with petroleum lamps in our dark cabins. The
windmill was erected on the port side of the fore-deck,
between the main hatch and the rail. It took several
weeks to get this important appliance into working order.
As mentioned on page 72, we had also brought with
us a " horse-mill " for driving the dynamo. I had
thought that it might be of service in giving us exercise
whenever there was no other physical work for us. But
this time never came, and so the " horse-mill " was never
used. There was always something to occupy us ; and
it was not difficult to find work for each man that gave
him sufficient exercise, and so much distraction that the
time did not seem to him unbearably long.
There was the care of the ship and rigging, the
inspection of sails, ropes, etc., etc. ; there were pro-
visions of all kinds to be got out from the cases down in
the hold, and handed over to the cook ; there was ice
— good, pure, fresh- water ice — to be found and carried
to the galley to be melted for cooking, drinking and
washing-water. Then, as already mentioned, there was
always something doing in the various workshops. Now
" Smith Lars " had to straighten the longboat davits
which had been twisted by the waves in the Kara
Sea ; now it was a hook, a knife, a'bear-trap, or some-
p 2
2 12 Chapter VI.
thing else to be forged. The tinsmith, again " Smith
Lars," had to solder together a great tin pail for the ice-
melting in the galley. The mechanician, Amundsen,
would have an order for some instrument or other
— perhaps a new current-gauge. The watchmaker,
Mogstad, would have a thermograph to examine and
clean, or a new spring to put intx) a watch. The sail-
maker might have an order for a quantity of dog
harness. Then each man had to be his own shoemaker
— make himself canvas boots with thick, warm, wooden
soles, according to Sverdrup's newest pattern. Presently
there would come an order to mechanician Amundsen
for a supply of new zinc music-sheets for the organ —
these being a brand-new invention of the leader of the
expedition. The electrician would have to examine and
clean the accumulator batteries, which were in danger of
freezing. When at last the windmill was ready, it had to
be attended to, turned according to the wind, etc. And
when the wind was too strong, some one had to climb up
and reef the mill sails, which was not a pleasant occupa-
tion in this winter cold, and involved much breathing on
fingers and rubbing of the tip of the nose.
It happened now and then, too, that the ship required
to be pumped. This became less and less necessary as the
water froze round her and in the interstices in her sides.
The pumps, therefore, were not touched from December,
1893, till July, 1895. The only noticeable leakage
during that time was in the engine-room ; but it was
The Winter Night.
213
nothing of any consequence ; just a few buckets of ice
that had to be hewn away every month from the bottom
of the ship and hoisted up.
5^4r/&^
From a\
THE THERMOMETER HOUSE.
[Photograph.
To these varied employments was presently added,
as the most important of all, the taking of scientific
observations, which gave many of us constant occu-
214 Chapter VI.
pation. Those that involved the greatest labour
were, of course, the meteorological observations, which
were taken every four hours day and night ; indeed,
for a considerable part of the time, every two hours.
They kept one man, sometimes two, at work
iall day. It was Hansen who had the principal charge
;of this department, and his regular assistant until
;March, 1895, was Johansen, whose place was then taken
by Nordahl. The night observations were taken by
whoever was on watch. About every second day when
the weather was clear, Hansen and his assistant took the
astronomical observation which ascertained our position.
This was certainly the work which was followed with
most interest by all the members of the expedition ; and it
was not uncommon to see Hansen's cabin, while he was
making his calculations, besieged with idle spectators,
jwaiting to hear the result — whether we had drifted
north or south since the last observation, and how far.
The state of feeling on board very much depended on
^hese results.
i Hansen had also at stated periods to take observations
to determine the mao^netic constant in this unknown
region. These were carried on at first in a tent,
specially constructed for the purpose, which was soon
erected on the ice ; but later we built him a large snow
hut, as being both more suitable and more comfortable.
For the ship's doctor there was less occupation. He
looked long and vainly for patients, and at last had to
y s
The Winter Night. 215
give it up and in despair take to doctoring the dogs.
Once a month he too had to make his scientific observa-
tions, which consisted in the weighing of each man, and
the counting of blood corpuscles, and estimating the
amount of blood pigment, in order to ascertain the
number of red blood corpuscles and the quantity of red
colouring matter (haemoglobin) in the blood of each.
This was also work that was watched with anxious
interest, as' every man thought he could tell from the
result obtained how long it would be before scurvy
overtook him.
Among our scientific pursuits may also be mentioned
the determining of the temperature of the water and of
its degree of saltness at varying depths ; the collection
and examination of such animals as are to be found in
these northern seas ; the ascertaining of the amount of
electricity in the air ; the observation of the formation of
the ice, its grov/th and thickness, and of the tempera-
ture of the different layers of ice ; the investigation
of the currents in the water under it, etc., etc. I had
the main charge of this department. There remains to
be mentioned the regular observation of the aurora
borealis, which we had a splendid opportunity of
studying. After I had gone on with it for some time.
Blessing undertook this part of my duties ; and when
I left the ship, I made over to him all the other
observations that were under my charge. Not an
inconsiderable item of our scientific work were the
2i6 • Chapter VI.
soundings and dredgings. At the greater depths, it was
such an undertaking that every one had to assist ; and
from the way we were obliged to do it later, one
sounding sometimes gave occupation for several days.
One day differed very little from another on board,
and the description of one is, in ever}' particular of any
importance, a description of all.
We all turned out at eight, and breakfasted on hard
bread (both rye and wheat), cheese (Dutch clove cheese,
Cheddar, Gruyere, and Mysost, or goat's- whey cheese,
prepared from dry powder), corned beef or corned
mutton, luncheon ham or Chicago tinned tongue or bacon,
cod-caviare, anchovy roe ; also oatmeal biscuits or
English ship-biscuits — with orange marmalade or Frame
Food jelly. Three times a week we had fresh-baked
bread as well, and often cake of some kind. As for our
beverages we began by having coffee and chocolate
day about ; but afterwards had coffee only two days a
week, tea two, and chocolate three.
After breakfast some men went to attend to the dogs
— give them their food, which consisted of half a stock-
fish or a couple of dog biscuits each ; let them loose ; or
do whatever else there was to do for them. The others
went all to their different tasks. Each took his turn of
a week in the galley — helping the cook to wash up, lay
the table, and wait. The cook himself had to arrange
his bill of fare for dinner immediately after breakfast, and
to set about his preparations at once. Some of us would
The Winter Night. 217
take a turn on the floe to get some fresh air, and to
examine the state of the ice, its pressure, etc. At one
o'clock all were assembled for dinner, which generally-
consisted of three courses — soup, meat, and dessert ; or,
soup, fish, and meat ; or fish, meat, and dessert ; or
sometimes only fish and meat. With the meat we
always had potatoes and either green vegetables or
maccaroni. I think we were all agreed that the fare was
good ; it would hardly have been better at home ; for
some of us it would perhaps have been worse. And we
looked like fatted pigs ; one or two even began to
cultivate a double chin and a corporation. As a rule,
stories and jokes circulated at table along with the bock-
beer.
After dinner the smokers of our company would march
off, well fed and contented, into the galley, which was
smoking-room as well as kitchen, tobacco being tabooed
in the cabins except on festive occasions. Out there
they had a good smoke and chat ; many a story
was told, and not seldom some warm dispute arose.
Afterwards came, for most of us, a short siesta. Then
each went to his work again until we were summoned to
supper at six o'clock, when the regulation day's work was
done. Supper was almost the same as breakfast, except
that tea was always the beverage. Afterwards there was
again smoking in the galley, while the saloon was trans-
formed into a silent readina--room. Good use was made
of the valuable library presented to the expedition by
2i8 Chapter VI.
generous publishers and other friends. If the kind donors
could have seen us away up there, sitting round the
table at night with heads buried in books or collections of
illustrations, and could have understood how invaluable
these companions were to us, they would have felt
HENRIKSEN. SVERDRUP. BLESSING.
A SMOKE IN THE GALLEY OF THE " FRAM."
rewarded by the knowledge that they had conferred
a real boon — that they had materially assisted in making
the Fram the little oasis that it was in this vast ice
desert. About half-past seven or eight cards or other
games were brought out, and we played well on into the
Z o
The Winter Night.
219
night, seated in groups round the saloon table. One or
other of us might go to the organ, and with the assistance
of the crank handle, perform some of our beautiful pieces,
or Johansen would bring out the accordion and play many
a fine tune. His crowning efforts were " Oh, Susanna!"
and " Napoleon's March across the Alps in an Open
Boat." About midnight we turned in, and then the night
"THE SALOON WAS CONVERTED INTO A READING-ROOM.
watch was set. Each man went on for an hour. Their
most trying work on watch seems to have been writing
their diaries and looking out, when the dogs barked, for
any signs of bears at hand. Besides this, every two
220 Chapter VI.
hours or four hours, the watch had to go aloft or on to
the ice to take the meteorological observations.
I believe I may safely say that on the whole the time
passed pleasantly and imperceptibly, and that we throve
in virtue of the regular habits imposed upon us.
My notes from day to day will give the best idea
of our life, in all its monotony. They are not great
events that are here recorded, but in their very bareness
they give a true picture. Such, and no other, was
our life. I shall give some quotations direct from my
diary : —
" Tuesday, September 26th. Beautiful weather.
The sun stands much lower now ; it was 9° above the
horizon at midday. Winter is rapidly approaching ;
there are 14^^° of frost this evening, but we do not feel it
cold. To-day's observations unfortunately show no
particular drift northwards ; according to them we are
still in 'j2>'^ 50' north latitude. I wandered about over the
floe towards evening. Nothing more wonderfully beau-
tiful can exist than the Arctic night. It is dreamland,
painted in the imagination's most delicate tints ; it is
colour etherealised. One shade melts into the other, so
that you cannot tell where one ends and the other begins,
and yet they are all there. No forms — it is all faint,
dreamy colour music, a far-away, long-drawn-out melody
on muted strings. Is not all life's beauty high, and
delicate, and pure like this night? Give it brighter
colours, and it is no longer so beautiful. The sky is like
y
The Winter Night. 221
an enormous cupola, blue at the zenith, shading down
into green, and then into lilac and violet at the edges.
Over the ice-fields there are cold violet-blue shadows,
with lighter pink tints where a ridge here and there
catches the last reflection of the vanished day. Up in
the blue of the cupola shine the stars, speaking peace, as
they always do, those unchanging friends. In the south
stands a large red-yellow moon, encircled by a yellow
ring and light golden clouds floating on the blue back-
ground. Presently the aurora borealis shakes over the
vault of heaven its veil of glittering silver — changing
now to yellow, now to green, now to red. It spreads, it
contracts again, in restless change, next it breaks into
waving, many-folded bands of shining silver, over which
shoot billows of glittering rays ; and then the glory
vanishes. Presently it shimmers in tongues of flame
over the very zenith ; and then again it shoots a bright
ray right up from the horizon, until the whole melts
away in the moonlight, and it is as though one heard the
sigh of a departing spirit. Here and there are left a few
waving streamers of light, vague as a foreboding — they
are the dust from the aurora's glittering cloak. But now
it is growing again ; new lightnings shoot up ; and the
endless game begins afresh. And all the time this utter
stillness, impressive as the symphony of infinitude. I
have never been able to grasp the fact that this earth
will some day be spent and desolate and empty. To
what end, in that case, all this beauty, with not a crea-
222 Chapter VI.
ture to rejoice in it ? Now I begin to divine it.
This is the cominiJf earth — here are beautv and death.
But to what purpose ? Ah, what is the purpose of all
these spheres ? Read the answer if you can in the
starry blue firmament.
" Wednesday, September 27th. Grey weather and
strong wind from the south-south-west. Nordahl, who
is cook to-day, had to haul up some salt meat which,
rolled in a sack, had been steeping for two days in the
sea. As soon as he got hold of it he called out, horrified,
that it was crawling with animals. He let go the sack,
and jumped away from it, the animals scattering round
in every direction. They proved to be sand-hoppers,
or amphipodce, which had eaten their way into the meat.
There were pints of them, both inside and outside of
the sack. A pleasant discovery ; there will be no need
to starve when such food is to be had by hanging a sack
in the water.
" Bentzen is the wag of the party ; he is always
playing some practical joke. Just now one of the men
came rushing up and stood respectfully waiting for me
to speak to him. It was Bentzen that had told him I
wanted him. It won't be longr before he has thouorht of
some new trick.
" Thursday, September 28th. Snowfall with wind.
To-day the dogs' hour of release has come. Until now
their life on board has been really a melancholy one.
They have been tied up ever since we left Khabarova.
The Winter NiQfht. 22
t>
The stormy seas have broken over them, and they have
been rolled here and there in the water on the deck ;
they have half hanged themselves in their leashes,
howling miserably ; they have had the hose played over
them every time the deck was washed ; they have been
sea-sick ; in bad as in good weather they have had to
lie on the spot hard fate had chained them to, without
more exercise than going backwards and forwards the
length of their chains. It is thus you are treated, you
splendid animals, who are to be our stay in the hour
of need ! When that time comes, you will, for a while
at least, have the place of honour. When they were
let loose there was a perfect storm of jubilation. They
rolled in the snow, washed and rubbed themselves, and
rushed about the ice in wild joy, barking loudly. Our
floe, a short time ago so lonesome and forlorn, was
quite a cheerful sight with this sudden population ; the
silence of ages was broken."
It was our intention aft-^r this to tie up the dogs on
the ice.
" Friday, September 29th. Dr. Blessing's birthday,
in honour of which we of course had a fete, our first
great one on board. There was a double occasion for
it. Our midday observation showed us to be in
latitude 79° 5' north ; so we had passed one more
degree. We had no fewer than five courses at dinner,
and a more than usually elaborate concert during the
meal. Here follows a copy of the printed menu :
224 Chapter VI.
" * FRAM.'
"Menu. September 29TH, 1893.
Soupe k la julienne avec des macaroni-dumplings.
Potage de poison (s/c) avec des pommes de terre.
Pudding de Nordahl.
Glace du Greenland.
De la table biere de la Ringnaees.
Marmalade intacte.
" Music a Dini^ (sh).
T. Valse Myosotic.
2. Menuette de Don Juan de Mozart.
3. I.es Troubadours.
4. College Hornpipe,
5. Die letzte Rose de Martha.
6. Ein flotter Studio Marsch de Phil. Farbach.
7. Valse de Lagune de Strauss,
8. Le Chanson du Nord (Du gamla, du friska.
9. Hoch Habsburg MarsCh de Krai.
10. Josse Karads Polska.
11. Vart Land, vart Land.
12. Le Chanson de Chaseuse.
13. Les Roses, Valse de Mdtra.
14. Fischers Hornpipe.
15. Traum-Valse de Millocher.
16. Hemlandssang. * A le miserable.'
17. Diamanten und Perlen.
18. Marsch de 'Det lustiga Kriget.'
19.' Valse de ' Det lustige Kriget'
20. Priere du Freischiitz."
DR. BLESSING IN HIS CABIN.
I
The Winter Night. 225
I hope my readers will admit that this was quite a
fine entertainment to be given in latitude 79° north ; but
of such we had many on board the Fram at still higher
latitudes.
" Coffee and sweets were served after dinner ; and
after a better supper than usual, came strawberry and
lemon ice {alias granitta) and limejuice toddy, without
alcohol. The health of the hero of the day was first
proposed 'in a few well-chosen words ; ' and then we
drank a bumper to the seventy-ninth degree, which we
were sure was only the first of many degrees to be
conquered in the same way.
'* Saturday, September 30th. I am not satisfied that
the Frams present position is a good one for the winter.
The great floe on the port side to which we are moored
sends out an ugly projection about amidships, which might
give her a bad squeeze in case of the ice packing. We
therefore began to-day to warp her backwards into better
ice. It is by no means quick work. The comparatively
open channel around us is now covered with tolerably
thick ice, which has to be hewn and broken in pieces
with axes, ice-staves, and walrus-spears. Then the
capstan is manned, and we heave her through the broken
floe foot by foot. The temperature this evening is
9'4° Fahr. ( — 12-6° C). A wonderful sunset."
"Sunday, October ist. Wind from the W.S.W. and
weather mild. We are taking a day of rest, which
means eating, sleeping, smoking, and reading.
Q
226 Chapter VI.
" Monday, October 2ncl. Warped the ship farther
astern, until we found a good berth for her out in the
middle of the newly-frozen pool. On the port side we
have our big floe, with the dogs' camp — thirty-five black
dogs tied up on the white ice. This floe turns a low,
and by no means threatening, edge towards us. We
have good low ice on the starboard too ; and between the
ship and the floes we have on both sides the newly-
frozen surface ice, which has, in the process of warping,
also got packed in under the ship's bottom, so that she
lies in a good bed.
'* As Sverdrup, Juell, and I were sitting in the chart-
room in the afternoon splicing rope for the sounding-line,
Peter* rushed in shouting, ' A bear ! a bear ! ' I
snatched up my rifle, and tore out. ' Where is it } '
' There, near the tent, on the starboard side ; it came
right up to it, and had almost got hold of them.'
"And there it was, big and yellow, snuffing atvay at the
tent gear. Hansen, Blessing, and Johansen were running
at the top of their speed towards the ship. On to the
ice I jumped, and off I went, broke through, stumbled,
fell, and up again. The bear in the meantime had done
sniffing, and had probably determined that an iron spade,
an ice-staff, an axe, some tent-pegs, and a canvas tent
were too indigestible food even for a bear's stomach.
Anyhow it was following with mighty strides in the track
* Peter Henriksen.
fi-
'y^^
- '9
\\-
I LET LOOSE SOME OF THE DOGS.
The Winter Night. 227
of the fugitives. It caught sight of me, and stopped
astonished, as if it were thinking, * What sort of insect can
that be ? ' I went on to within easy range ; it stood still,
lookinor hard at me. At last it turned its head a little,
and I gave it a ball in the neck. Without moving a
limb, it sank slowly to the ice. I now let loose some
of the dogs, to accustom them to this sort of sport, but
they showed a lamentable want of interest in it ; and
* Kvik,' on whom all our hope in the matter of bear-
hunting rested, bristled up and approached the dead
animal very slowly and carefully, with her tail between
her legs — a sorry spectacle.
" I must now give the story of the others who made the
bear's acquaintance first. Hansen had to-day begun to
set up his observatory tent a little ahead of the ship on
the starboard bow. In the afternoon he got Blessing
and Johansen to help him. While they were hard at
work they caught sight of a bear not far from them,
just off the bow of the Fram.
" ' Hush ! Keep quiet, in case we frighten him,' says
Hansen.
" ' Yes, yes ! ' And they crouch together and look at
him.
" ' I think I'd better try to slip on board and announce
him,' says Blessing.
" ' I think you should,' says Hansen.
" And off steals Blessing on tiptoe, so as not to frighten
the bear. By this time Bruin has seen and scented
Q 2
228 Chapter VI.
them, and comes jogging along, following his nose,
towards them.
'• Hansen now began to get over his fear of startling
him. The bear caught sight of Blessing slinking off to the
ship, and set after him. Blessing also was now much less
concerned than he had been as to the bear's nerves. He
stopped uncertain what to do ; but a moment's reflection
brought him to the conclusion that it was pleasanter to be
three than one just then, and he w^ent back to the others
faster than he had gone from them. The bear followed
at a good rate. Hansen did not like the look of things,
and thought the time had come to try a dodge he had
seen recommended in a book. He raised himself to
his full height, flung his arms about, and yelled with all
the power of his lungs, ably assisted by the others. But
the bear came on quite undisturbed. The situation was
becoming critical. Each snatched up his weapon —
Hansen an ice-staff, Johansen an axe, and Blessing
nothing. They screamed with all their strength, ' Bear!
bear ! ' and set off for the ship as hard as they could
tear. But the bear held on his steady course to the
tent, and examined everything there before (as we have
seen) he went after them.
"It was a lean he-bear. The only thing that was
found in its stomach when it was opened was a piece of
paper, with the names ' Llitken and Mohn.' This was
the wrapping paper of a ' ski ' light, and had been left
by one of us somewhere on the ice. After this day
The Winter Night. 229
some of the members of the expedition would hardly
leave the ship without being armed to the teeth."
" Wednesday, October 4th. North-westerly wind yes-
terday and to-day. Yesterday we had — 16° (3° F.), and
to-day — 14° C. (7° F.). I have worked all day at sound-
ings and got to about 800 fathoms depth. The bottom
samples consisted of a layer of grey clay 4 to 4^
inches thick, and below that brown clay or mud. The
temperature was, strangely enough, just above freezing
point (-|- ot8" C.) at the bottom, and just below
freezing point (— 0*4° C.) 75 fathoms up. This rather
disposes of the story of a shallow polar basin, and of
the extreme coldness of the water of the Arctic Ocean.
"W^hile we were hauling up the line in the afternoon,
the ice cracked a little astern of the Fra^n, and the
crack increased in breadth so quickly, that three of
us, who had to go out to save the ice-anchors, were
obliged to make a bridge over it with a long board
to get back to the ship again. Later in the evening
there was some packing in the ice, and several new
passages opened out behind this first one.
"Thursday, October 5th. As I was dressing this
morning, just before breakfast, the mate rushed down
to tell me a bear was in sio^ht. I was soon on deck
and saw him coming from the south, to the lee of us.
He was still a good way off, but stopped and looked
about. Presently he lay down, and Henriksen and
1 started off across the ice, and were lucky enough to
230 Chapter VI.
send a bullet into his breast at about 350 yards, just
as he was moving off.
" We are making everything snug for the winter and
for the ice pressure. This afternoon we took up the
rudder. Beautiful weather, but cold, — 18° C. (— 0*4° F.)
at 8 p.m. The result of the medical inspection to-day
was the discovery that we still have bugs on board ; and
I do not know what we are to do. We have no steam
now, and must fix our hopes on the cold,
" I must confess that this discovery made me feel quite
ill. If bugs got into our winter furs the thing was
hopeless. So the next day there was a regular feast
of purification, according to the most rigid antiseptic
prescriptions. Each man had to deliver up his old
clothes, every stitch of them, wash himself, and dress
in new ones from top to toe. All the old clothes, fur
rugs, and such things, were carefully carried up on to
the deck, and kept there the whole winter. This was
more than even these animals could stand ; — 53° C.
(— 63° F.) of cold proved to be too much for them, and
we saw no more of them. As the bug is made to say in
the popular rhyme : —
' Put me in the boiling pot, and shut me down tight ;
But don't leave me out on a cold winter night ! '
" Friday, October 6th. Cold, down to 1 1° below zero
(Fahr.). To-day we have begun to rig up the windmill.
The ice has been packing to the north of the Frams
stern. As the dogs will freeze if they are kept tied up
The Winter Night. 23!
and get no exercise, we let them loose this afternoon,
and are going to try if we can leave them so. Of course
they at once began to fight, and some poor creatures
limped away from the battle-field scratched and torn.
But otherwise great joy prevailed ; they leaped, and ran,
and rolled themselves in the snow. Brilliant aurora in
the evening.
" Saturday, October 7th. Still cold, with the same
northerly wind we have had all these last days. I am
afraid we are drifting far south now. A few days ago
we were, according to the observations, in 78° 47' north
latitude. That was 16' south in less than a week. This is
too much ; but we must make it up again : we must get
north. It means going away from home now, but soon
it will mean going nearer home. What depth of beauty,
with an undercurrent of endless sadness, there is in these
dreamily glowing evenings ! The vanished sun has left
its track of melancholy flame. Nature's music, which
fills all space, is instinct with sorrow that all this beauty
should be spread out day after day, week after week,
year after year, over a dead world. Why 1 Sunsets are
always sad, at home too. This thought makes the sight
seem doubly precious here and doubly sad. There is
red burning blood in the west against the cold snow —
and to think that this is the sea, stiffened in chains, in
death, and that the sun will soon leave us, and we shall
be in the dark, alone ! ' And the earth was without
form, and void ' ; is this the sea that is to come }
232 Chapter VI.
" Sunday, October 8th. Beautiful weather. Made a
snow-shoe expedition westward, all the dogs following.
The running was a little spoiled by the brine, which
soaks up through the snow from the surface of the ice —
flat, newly frozen ice, with older, uneven blocks break-
ing through it. I seated myself on a snow hummock far
away out ; the dogs crowded round to be patted. My
eye wandered over the great snow plain, endless and
solitary, nothing but snow, snow everywhere.
" The observations to-day gave us an unpleasant
surprise ; we are now down in 78° 35' north latitude ;
but there is a simple enough explanation of this, when
one thinks of all the northerly and north-westerly wind
we have had lately, with open water not far to the south
of us. As soon as everything is frozen we must go
north again : there can be no question of that ; but none
the less this state of matters is unpleasant. I find some
comfort in the fact that we have also drifted a little east,
so that at all events we have kept with the wind and are
not drifting down westward.
"Monday, October 9th. I was feverish both during
last night and to-day. Goodness knows what is the
meaning of such nonsense. When I was taking water
samples in the morning I discovered that the water-
lifter suddenly stopped at the depth of a little less than
80 fathoms. It was really the bottom. So we have
drifted south again to the shallow water. We let the
weight lie at the bottom for a little, and saw by the line
The Winter Nieht
fc>
that for the moment we were driftinor north. This was
some small comfort anyhow.
"All at once in the afternoon, as we were sitting idly
chatting, a deafening noise began, and the whole ship
shook. This was the first icQ-pressure. Every one
rushed on deck to look. The Frafu behaved beauti-
fully, as I had expected she would. On pushed the ice
with steady pressure, but down under us it had to go,
and we were slowly lifted up. These ' squeezings '
continued off and on all the afternoon, and were some-
times so strong that the Fram was lifted several feet ;
but then the ice could no longer bear her, and she broke
it below her. Towards evening the whole slackened
again, till we lay in a good-sized piece of open water,
and had hurriedly to moor her to our old floe, or we
should have drifted off There seems to be a good deal
of movement in the ice here. Peter has just been
telling us that he hears the dull booming of strong
pressures not far off.
"Tuesday, October loth. The ice continues dis-
turbed.
"Wednesday, October iith. The bad news v;as
brought this afternoon that 'Job' is dead, torn in pieces
by the other dogs. He was found a good way from the
ship, ' Old Suggen ' lying watching the corpse, so that
no other dog could get to it. They are wretches, these
dogs; no day passes without a fight. In the day-time
one of us is generally at hand to stop it, but at night
234
Chapter VI.
they seldom fail to tear and bite one of their comrades.
Poor ' Barabbas ' is almost frightened out of his wits.
He stays on board now, and dares not venture on the
ice, because he knows the other monsters would set -on
him. There is not a trace of chivalry about these curs.
When there is a fight, the whole pack rush like wild
DOGS CHAINED ON THE ICE.
beasts on the loser. But is it not, perhaps, the law ot
nature that the strong, and not the weak, should be
protected ? Have not we human beings, perhaps, been
trying to turn nature topsy-turvy by protecting and doing
our best to keep life in all the weak ?
" The ice is restless, and has pressed a good deal
The Winter Night. 235
to-day again. It begins with a gentle crack and moan
along the side of the ship, which gradually sounds louder
in every key. Now it is a high plaintive tone, now it
is a grumble, now it is a snarl, and the ship gives a
start up. The noise steadily grows till it is like all the
pipes of an organ ; the ship trembles and shakes, and
rises by fits and starts, or is sometimes gently lifted.
There is a pleasant, comfortable feeling in sitting
listening to all this uproar and knowing the strength of
our ship. Many a one would have been crushed long
ago. But outside the ice is ground against our ship's
sides, the piles of broken-up floe are forced under her
heavy, invulnerable hull, and we lie as if in a bed. Soon
the noise begins to die down ; the ship sinks into its old
position again, and presently all is silent as before. In
several places round us the ice is piled up, at one spot
to a considerable height. Towards evening there was a
slackening, and. we lay again in a large, open pool.
" Thursday, October 12th. In the morning we and our
floe were drifting on blue water in the middle of a large,
open lane, which stretched far to the north, and in the
north the atmosphere at the horizon was dark and blue.
As far as we could see from the crow's-nest with the
small field-glass, there was no end to the open water,
with only single pieces of ice sticking up in it here and
there. These are extraordinary changes. I wondered
if we should prepare to go ahead. But they had
long ago taken the machinery to pieces for the winter.
236 Chapter VI.
so that it would be a matter of time to get it ready for
use again. Perhaps it would be best to wait a little.
Clear weather, with sunshine — a beautiful, inspiriting
winter day — but the same northerly wind. Took
soundings and found 50 fathoms of water {90 metres).
We are drifting slowly southwards. Towards evening
the ice packed together again with much force ; but the
Frani can hold her own. In the afternoon I fished in a
depth of about 27 fathoms (50 metres) with Murray's
silk-net,'^' and had a good take, especially of small
crustaceans (>^^^/^rtfe, ostrakodce, aniphipodce, etc.) and of
a little Arctic worm {spadella) that swims about in the sea.
It is horribly difficult to manage a little fishing here. No
sooner have you found an opening to slip your tackle
through, than it begins to close again, and you have to
haul up as hard as you can, so as not to get the line
nipped and lose everything. It is a pity, for there are
interesting hauls to be made. One sees phosphorescencet
in the water here whenever there is the smallest opening
in the ice. There is by no means such a scarcity of
animal life as one might expect.
* This silk bag-net is intended to be dragged after a boat or ship to
catch the living animals or plant organisms at various depths. We used
them constantly during our drifting, sinking them to different depths
under the ice, and they often brought up rich spoils.
t This phosphorescence is principally due to small luminous Crus-
tacea {kopepodce).
The Winter Night. 237
" Friday, October 13th. Now we are in the very midst
of what the prophets would have had us dread so much.
The ice is pressing and packing round us with a noise
like thunder. It is piling itself up into long walls, and
heaps high enough to reach a good way up the Frams
rigging ; in fact, it is trying its very utmost to grind the
Fi'am into powder. But here we sit quite tranquil,
not even going up to look at all the hurly-burly, but
just chatting and laughing, as usual. Last night there
was tremendous pressure round our old dog-floe. The
ice had towered up higher than the highest point of the
floe, and hustled down upon it. It had quite spoilt a
well, where we till now had found good drinking water,
filling it with brine. Furthermore, it had cast itself
Over our stern ice-anchor and part of the steel cable
which held it, burying them so effectually that we had
afterwards to cut the cable. Then it covered our planks
and sledges, which stood on the ice. Before long the
dogs were in danger, and the watch had to turn out all
hands to save them. At last the floe split in two. This
morning the ice was one scene of melancholy confusion,
gleaming in the most glorious sunshine. Piled up all
round us were high, steep ice walls. Strangely enough,
we had lain on the very verge of the worst confusion, and
had escaped with the loss of an ice-anchor, a piece of
steel cable, a few planks and other bits of wood, and
half of a Samoyede sledge, all of which might have
been saved if we had looked after them in time.
238 Chapter VI.
But the men have grown so indifferent to the pressure
now, that they do not even go up to look, let it thunder
ever so hard. They feel that the ship can stand it, and
so long as that is the case there is nothing to hurt except
the ice itself.
"In the morning the pressure slackened again, and we
were soon lying in a large piece of open water, as we did
yesterday. To-day, again, this stretched far away
towards the northern horizon, where the same dark
atmosphere indicated some extent of open water. I now
gave the order to put the engine together again ; they
told me it could be done in a day and a half or at most
two days. We must go north and see what there is u.)
there. I think it possible that it may be the boundary
between the ice-drift the Jeannette was in and the pack
we are now drifting south with — or can it be land ?
" We had kept company quite long enough with the
old, now broken-up floe, so worked ourselves a little way
astern after dinner, as the ice was beginning to draw
together. Towards evening the pressure began again in
earnest, and was especially bad round the remains of our
old floe, so that I believe we may congratulate ourselves
on having left it. It is evident that the pressure here
stands in connection with, is perhaps caused by, the tidal
wave. It occurs w4th the greatest regularity. The ice
slackens twice and packs twice in 24 hours. The
pressure has happened about 4, 5, and 6 o'clock in the
morning, and almost at exactly the same hour in the
The Winter Xight. 239
afternoon, and in between we have always lain for some
part of the time in open water. The very great pressure
just now is probably due to the spring tide ; we had new
moon on the 9th, which was the first day of the pressure.
Then it was just after midday when we noticed it, but it
has been later every day, and now it is at 8 p.m."
The theory of the ice-pressure being caused to a
considerable extent by the tidal wave has been
advanced repeatedly by Arctic explorers. During the
Frams drifting we had better opportunity than most
of them to study this phenomenon, and our experience
seems to leave no doubt that over a wide reg-ion the
tide produces movement and pressure of the ice. It
occurs especially at the time of the spring tides, and
more at new moon than at full moon. Curing the
intervening periods there was as a rule little or no
trace of pressure. But these tidal pressures did not
occur during the whole time of our drifting. We
noticed them especially the first autumn, while we were
in the neighbourhood of the open sea north of Siberia,
and the last year, when the Fram was drawing near
the open Atlantic Ocean ; they were less noticeable
while we were in the polar basin. Pressure occurs
here more irregularly, and is mainly caused by the
wind driving the ice. When one pictures to one's self
these enormous ice-masses, drifting in a certain direction,
suddenly meeting hindrances — for example, ice-masses
drifting from the opposite direction, owing to a change
240 Chapter VI.
of wind in some more or less distant quarter — it is easy
to understand the tremendous pressure that must result.
Such an ice conflict is undeniably a stupendous
spectacle. One feels one's self to be in the presence
of Titanic forces, and it is easy to understand how
timid souls may be overawed and feel as if nothing
could stand before it. For when the packing begins
in earnest, it seems as though there could be no spot on
the earth's surface left unshaken. First you hear a sound
like the thundering rumble of an earthquake far away on
the great waste ; then you hear it in several places, always
coming nearer and nearer. The silent ice world re-echoes
with thunders ; nature's giants are awakening to the
battle. The ice cracks on every side of you, and begins
to pile itself up ; and all of a sudden you too find your-
self in the midst of the struggle. There are bowlings and
thunderings round you ; you feel the ice trembling, and
hear it rumbling under your feet ; there is no peace any-
where. In the semi-darkness you can see it piling and
tossing itself up into high ridges nearer and nearer you —
floes 10, 12, 15 feet thick, broken, and flung on the top of
each other as if they were featherweights. They are
quite near you now, and you jump away to save your life.
But the ice splits in front of you, a black gulf opens, and
water streams up. You turn in another direction, but
there through the dark you can just see a new ridge of
moving ice-blocks coming towards you. You try another
direction, but there it is the same. All round there is
The Winter Night. 241
thundering and roaring, as of some enormous waterfall,
with explosions like cannon salvoes. Still nearer you it
comes. The floe you are standing on gets smaller and
smaller ; water pours over it ; there can be no escape
except by scrambling over the rolling ice-blocks to get to
the other side of the pack. But now the disturbance
begins to calm down. The noise passes on, and is lost
by degrees in the distance.
This is what goes on away there in the north month
after month and year after year. The ice is split and
piled up into mounds, which extend in every direction.
If one could get a bird's-eye view of the ice-fields, they
would seem to be cut up into squares or meshes by a
network of these packed ridges, or pressure-dykes as we
called them, because they reminded us so much of snow-
covered stone dykes at home, such as, in many parts of
the country, are used to enclose fields. At first sight
these pressure-ridges appeared to be scattered about in
all possible directions, but on closer inspection I was
sure that I discovered certain directions which they
tended to take, and especially that they were apt to run
at right angles to the course of the pressure which
produced them. In the accounts of Arctic expeditions
one often reads descriptions of pressure-ridges or pressure-
hummocks as high as 50 feet. These are fairy tales.
The authors of such fantastic descriptions cannot have
taken the trouble to measure. During the whole period
of our drifting and of our travels over the ice-fields in
R
242 Chapter VI.
the far north I only once saw a hummock of a greater
height than 23 feet. Unfortunately I had not the
opportunity of measuring this one, but I believe I may
say with certainty that it was very nearly 30 feet high.
All the highest blocks I measured — and they were many
— had a height of 18 to 23 feet ; and I can maintain
with certainty that the packing of sea ice to a height of
over 25 feet is a very rare exception.*
"Saturday, October 14th. To-day we have got on
the rudder ; the engine is pretty well in order, and we
are clear to start north when the ice opens to-morrow
morning. It is still slackening and packing quite
regularly twice a day, so that we can calculate on
it beforehand. To-day we had the same open
channel to the north, and beyond it open sea as far as
our view extended. What can this mean ? This
evening the pressure has been pretty violent. The floes
were packed up against the Fram on the port side, and
were once or twice on the point of toppling over the rail.
The ice, however, broke below ; they tumbled back
again, and had to go under us after all. It is not thick
* Markham's account gives us to understand that on the north side
of Grinnell Land he came across hummocks which measured 43 feet
I do not feel at all certain that these were not in reality icebergs ; but it
is no doubt possible that such hummocks might be formed by violent
pressure against land or something resembling it. After our experience,
however, I cannot believe in the possibility of their occurring in
open sea.
The Winter Night. 243
ice, and cannot do much damage ; but the force is some-
thing enormous. On the masses come incessantly withou
a pause ; they look irresistible ; but slowly and surely they
are crushed against the Frams sides. Now (8.30 p.m.)
the pressure has at last stopped. Clear evening,
sparkling stars, and flaming northern lights."
I had finished writing my diary, gone to bed, and was
lying reading, in " The Origin of Species," about the
struggle for existence, when I heard the dogs out on the
ice making more noise than usual. I called into the
saloon that some one ought to go up and see if it was
bears they were barking at. Hansen went, and came
back immediately, saying that he believed he had seen
some large animal out in the dark. " Go and shoot it,
then." That he was quite ready to do, and went up
again at once, accompanied by some of the others. A
shot went off on deck above my head, then another ;
shot followed shot, nine in all. Johansen and Henriksen
rushed down for more cartridges, and declared that the
creature was shot, it was roaring so horribly ; but so far
they had only indistinctly seen a large greyish-white
mass out there in the dark, moving about among the
dogs. Now they were going on to the ice after it.
Four of them set off, and not far away they really did
find a dead bear, with marks of two shots. It was a
young one. The old one must be at hand, and the dogs
were still barking loudly. Now they all felt sure that
they had seen two together, and that the other also
R 2
244 Chapter VI.
must be badly wounded. Johansen and Henriksen
heard it groaning in the distance when they were out
on the ice again afterwards to fetch a knife they had
left lying where the dead one had lain. The creature
had been dragged on board and skinned at once, before
it had time to stiffen in the cold.
"Sunday, October I5tb. To our surprise, the ice
did not slacken away much during last night, after the
violent pressure ; and what was worse, there was no
indication of slackening in the morning, now that we
were quite ready to go. Slight signs of it showed
themselves a little later, upon which I gave orders to
get up steam ; and while this was being done, I took
a stroll on the ice, to look for traces of yesterday
evening. I found tracks not only of the bear that had
been killed and of a larger one that might be the
mother, but of a third, which must have been badly
wounded, as it had sometimes dragged itself on its
hindquarters, and had left a broad track of blood. After
following the traces for a good way and discovering
that I had no weapon to despatch the animal with but
my own fists, I thought it would be as well to return
to the ship to get a gun and companions who would
help to drag the bear back. I had also some small
hope that in the meantime the ice might have slackened,
so that, in place of going after game, we might go
north with the Fram. But no such luck ! So I put on
my snowshoes and set off after our bear, some of the
The Winter Night. 245
dogs with me, and one or two men following. At
some distance we came to the place where it had spent
the night — poor beast, a ghastly night! Here I also
saw tracks of the mother. One shudders to think of her
watching over her poor young one, which must have had
its back shot through. Soon we came up to the cripple,
dragging itself away from us over the ice as best it could.
Seeing no other way of escape, it threw itself into a
small water opening and dived time after time. While
we were putting a noose on a rope, the dogs rushed
round the hole as if they had gone mad, and it was
difficult to keep them from jumping into the water after
the bear. At last we were ready, and the next time
the creature came up it got a noose round one paw and
a ball in the head. Whilst the others drew it to the
ship, I followed the mother's tracks for some way, but
could not find her. I had soon to turn back to see if
there was no prospect of moving the F^^a^n ; but I
found that the ice had packed together again a little at
the very time when we could generally calculate on its
slackening. In the afternoon Hansen and I went off
once more after the bear. We saw, as I expected, that
she had come back, and had followed her daughter's
funeral procession for some way, but then she had
gone off east, and as it grew dark we lost her tracks in
some newly packed ice. We have only one matter
for regret in connection with this bear episode, and
that is the disappearance of two dogs : ' Narrifas ' and
246 Chapter VI.
* Fox.' Probably they went off in terror on the first
appearance of the three bears. They may have been
hurt, but I have seen nothing to suggest this. The
ice is quiet this evening also, only a little pressure about
7 o'clock.
" Monday, October 1 6th. Ice quiet and close. Obser-
vations on the 1 2th placed us in 78° 5' north latitude.
Steadily southwards. This is almost depressing. The
two runaways returned this morning.
"Tuesday, October 17th. Continuous movement in
the ice. It slackened a little again during the night ;
some way off to starboard there was a large opening.
Shortly after midnight there was strong pressure, and
between 11 and 12 a.m. came a tremendous squeeze;
since then it has slackened again a little."
"Wednesday, October i8th. When the meteoro-
logist, Johansen, was on deck this morning reading
the thermometers, he noticed that the dogs, which are
now tied up on board, were barking loudly down at some-
thing on the ice. He bent over the rail astern, near the
rudder, and saw the back of a bear below him, close in at
the ship's side. Off he went for a gun, and the animal
fell with a couple of shots. We saw afterwards by its
tracks that it had inspected all the heaps of sweepings
round the ship.
" A little later in the morning I went for a stroll on
the ice. Hansen and Johansen were busy with some
magnetic observations to the south of the ship. It was
The Winter Night. 247
beautiful sunshiny weather. I was standing beside an
open pool a little way ahead, examining the formation
and growth of the new ice, when I heard a gun go off on
board. I turned, and just caught a glimpse of a bear
making off towards the hummocks. It was Henriksen,
who had seen it from the deck coming marching towards
the ship. When it was a few paces off it saw Hansen
and Johansen, and made straight for them. By this
time Henriksen had got his gun, but it missed fire
several times. He has an unfortunate liking for
smearing the lock so well with vaseline that the spring
works as if it lay in soft soap. At last it went off, and
the ball went through the bear's back and breast in a
slanting direction. The animal stood up on its hind-
legs, fought the air with its fore-paws, then flung itself
forward and sprang off, to fall after about 30 steps ; the
ball had grazed the heart. It was not till the shot went
off that Hansen saw the bear, and then he rushed up
and put two revolver balls into its head. It was a large
bear, the largest we had got yet."
"About mid-day I was in the crow's-nest. In spite of
the clear weather I could not discover land on any side.
The opening far to the north has quite disappeared ; but
during the night a large new one has formed quite close
to us. It stretches both north and south, and has now a
covering of ice. The pressure is chiefly confined to the
edges of this opening, and can be traced in walls of
packed ice as far as the horizon in both directions. To
248 Chapter VI.
the east the ice is quite unbroken and flat. We have
lain just in the worst pressure."
" Thursday, October 19th. The ice again slackened
a little last night. In the morning I attempted a drive
with six of the dogs. When I had managed to harness
them to the Samoyede sledge, had seated myself on it,
and called ' Pr-r-r-r, pr-r-r-r!' they went off in quite good
style over the ice. But it was not long before we came
to some high pack-ice and had to turn. This was hardly
done before they were off back to the ship at lightning
speed, and they were not to be got away from it again.
Round and round it they went, from refuse-heap to refuse-
heap. If I started at the gangway on the starboard side,
and tried by thrashing them to drive them out over the
ice, round the stern they flew to the gangway on the port
side. I tugged, swore, and tried everything I could
think of, but all to no purpose. I got out and tried to
hold the sledge back, but was pulled off my feet, and
dragged merrily over the ice in my smooth sealskin
breeches, on back, stomach, side, just as it happened.
When I managed to stop them at some pieces of pack-ice
or a dust-heap, round they went again to the starboard
gangway, with me dangling behind, swearing madly that
I would break every bone in their bodies when I got at
them. This game went on till they probably tired of
it, and thought they might as well go my way for a
change. So now they went off beautifully across the flat
floe until I stopped for a moment's breathing space. But
The Winter Night.
249
at the first movement I made in the sledge they were off
again, tearing wildly back the way we had come. I held
on convulsively, pulled, raged, and used the whip ; but
m^rn^
Drawn by-^ MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT DOG DRIVING.
[A. Block.
the more I lashed the faster they went on their own way.
At last I got them stopped by sticking my legs down
into the snow between the sledge-shafts, and driving a
250 Chapter VI.
strong seal-hook into it as well. But while I was off my
guard for a moment they gave a tug. I lay with my
hinder-part where my legs had been, and we went on at
lightning speed — that substantial part of my body leaving
a deep track in the snow. This sort of thing went on
time after time. I lost the board I should have sat on,
then the whip, then my gloves, then my cap — these
losses not improving my temper. Once or twice I ran
round in front of the dogs, and tried to force them to
turn by lashing at them with the whip. They jumped
to both sides, and only tore on the faster ; the reins got
twisted round my ankles, and I was thrown flat on the
sledge, and they went on more wildly than ever. This
was my first experience in dog-driving on my own account,
and I will not pretend that I was proud of it. I inwardly
congratulated myself that my feats had been unobserved."
"In the afternoon I examined the melted water of the
newly-formed brownish-red ice, of which there is a good
deal in the openings round us here. The microscope
proved this colour to be produced by swarms of small
organisms, chiefly plants — quantities of diatoms and
some algse, a few of them very peculiar in form."
"Saturday, October 21st. I have stayed in to-day
because of an affection of the muscles, or rheumatism,
which I have had for some days on the right side of
my body, and for which the doctor is ' massaging '
me, thereby greatly adding to my sufferings. Have
I really grown so old and palsied, or is the whole
J4
03
o
O
OS
o
H
o
s
n
o
td
H
o
The Winter Night. 251
thing imagination ? It is all I can do to limp about ;
but I just wonder if I could not get up and run with
the best of them, if there happened to be any great
occasion for it : I almost believe I could. A nice Arctic
hero of 32, lying here in my berth ! Have had a good
time reading home letters, dreaming myself at home,
dreaming of the home-coming — in how many years ?
Successful or unsuccessful, what does that matter ?
" I had a sounding taken ; it showed over 'j'^ fathoms
{135 m,), so we are in deeper water again. The
sounding-line indicated that we are drifting south-west.
I do not understand this steady drift southwards. There
has not been much wind either lately ; there is certainly
a little from the north to-day, but not strong. What
can be the reason of it ? With all my information, all
my reasoning, all my putting of two and two together,
I cannot account for any south-going current here —
there ought to be a north-going one. If the current
runs south here, how is that great open sea we steamed
north across, to be explained ? and the bay we ended
in farthest north ? These could only be produced by
the north-going current which I pre-supposed. The
only thing which puts me out a bit is that west-going
current which we had ao^ainst us durinof our whole
voyage along the Siberian coast. We are never going
to be carried away south by the New Siberian Islands,
and then west along the coast of Siberia, and then north
by Cape Chelyuskin, the ver)^ way we came ! That
252 Chapter VI.
would be rather too much of a good thing — to say
nothing of its being dead against every calculation.
" Well, who cares ? Somewhere we must go ; we can't
stay here for ever. ' It will all come right in the end,'
as the saying goes ; but I wish we could get on a little
faster wherever we are going. On our Greenland
Expedition, too, we were carried south to begin with,
and that ended well."
"Sunday, October 22nd. Henriksen took soundings
this morning, and found 70 fathoms (129 m.) of water.
' If we are drifting at all,' said he, ' it is to the east ;
but there seems to be almost no movement.' No wind
to-day. I am keeping in my den."
"Monday, October 23rd. Still in the den. To-
day, 5 fathoms shallower than yesterday. The line
points south-west, which means that we are drifting
north-eastward. Hansen has reckoned out the observa-
tion for the 19th, and finds that we must have got
10 minutes farther north, and must be in 78° 15' N.
lat. So at last, now that the wind has gone down,
the north-going current is making itself felt. Some
channels have opened near us, one along the side of the
ship, and one ahead, near the old channel. Only slight
signs of pressure in the afternoon."
" Tuesday, October 24th. Between 4 and 5 a.m.
there was strong pressure, and the Fram was lifted up a
little. It looks as if the pressure were going to begin
again ; we have spring-tide with full-moon. The ice
The Winter Night. 253
opened so much this morning that the Fram was afloat
in her cutting ; later on it closed again, and about 1 1
there was some strong pressure ; then came a quiet time ;
but in the afternoon the pressure began once more, and
was violent from 4 to 4.30. The Fram was shaken
and lifted up ; didn't mind a bit. Peter gave it as his
opinion that the pressure was coming from the north-
east, for he had heard the noise approaching from that
direction. Johansen let down the silk net for me about
1 1 fathoms. 1 1 was all he could do to get it up again in
time, but it brought up a good catch. Am still
keeping in."
"Wednesday, October 25th. W^e had a horrible
pressure last night. I awoke and felt the Fram being
lifted, shaken, and tossed about, and heard the loud
cracking of the ice breaking against her sides. After
listening for a little while I fell asleep again, with a snug
feeling that it was good to be on board the Fram; it
would be confoundedly uncomfortable to have to be ready
to turn out every time there w^as a little pressure, or to
have to go off with our bundles on our backs like the
'Tegethoff' people."
"It is quickly getting darker. The sun stands lower
and lower every time we see it ; soon it will disappear
altogether, if it has not done so already. The long
dark winter is upon us, and glad shall we be to see
the spring ; but nothing matters much if we could only
begin to move north. There is now south-westerly
254 Chapter VI.
wind, and the windmill, which has been ready for several
days, has been tried at last and works splendidly.
We have beautiful electric light to-day, though the wind
has not been specially strong (5-8 m. (16-26 feet) per
second). Electric lamps are a grand institution. What
a strong influence light has on one's spirits ! There
was a noticeable brightening-up at the dinner table to-
day ; the light acted on our spirits like a draught of
ofood wine. And how festive the saloon looks ! We
felt it quite a great occasion — drank Oscar Dickson's
health, and voted him the best of good fellows.
"Wonderful moonshine this evening, light as day ; and
along with it aurora borealis, yellow and strange in the
white moonlight ; a large ring round the moon — all this
over the great stretch of white, shining ice, here and
there in our neighbourhood piled up high by the
pressure. And in the midst of this silent silvery ice-
world the windmill sweeps round its dark wings against
the deep blue sky and the aurora. A strange contrast :
civilization making a sudden incursion into this frozen
ghostly world.
" To-morrow is the Frams birthday. How many
memories it recalls of the launch day a year ago."
"Thursday, October 26th, 164 fathoms (300 m.) of
water when the soundings were taken this morning.
We are moving quickly north — due north — says Peter.
It does look as if things were going better. Great cele-
bration of the day, beginning with target-shooting.
The Winter Night. 255
Then we had a splendid dinner of four courses, which
put our digestive apparatus to a severe test. The
Frams health was drunk amidst great and stormy
applause. The proposer's words were echoed by all
hearts when he said that she was such an excellent ship
for our purpose, that we could not imagine a better
(great applause), and we therefore wished her, and our-
selves with her, long life (hear, hear). After supper
came strawberry and lemon punch, and prizes were
presented with much ceremony and a good deal of fun ;
all being ' taken off' in turn in suitable mottoes, for the
most part composed by the ship's doctor. There was a
prize for each man. The first prize-taker was awarded
the wooden cross of the Order of the Fram, to wear
suspended from his neck by a ribbon of white tape ; the
last received a mirror, in which to see his fallen great-
ness. Smoking in the saloon was allowed this evening,
so now pipes, toddy, and an animated game of whist,
ended a bright and successful holiday.
" Sitting here now alone, my thoughts involuntarily
turn to the year that has gone since we stood up there
on the platform, and she threw the champagne against the
bow, saying : — * Fram is your name ! ' and the strong,
heavy hull began to glide so gently. I held her hand
tight ; the tears came into eyes and throat, and one could
not get out a word. The sturdy hull dived into the
glittering water ; a sunny haze lay over the whole
picture. Never shall I forget the moment we stood there
256 Chapter VI.
together, looking out over the scene. And to think of
all that has happened these four last months ! Separated
by sea and land and ice ; coming years, too. lying
between us — it is all just the continuation of what
happened that day. But how long is it to last ? I have
such difficulty in feeling that I am not to see home again
soon. When I begin to reflect, I know that it may be
long, but I will not believe it.
" To-day, moreover, we took solemn farewell of the sun.
Half of its disc showed at noon for the last time above the
edge of the ice in the south, a flattened body, with a dull
red glow, but no heat. Now we are entering the night
of winter. What is it brino-ing- us ? Where shall we be
o o
when the sun returns ? No one can tell. To console us
for the loss of the sun, we have the most wonderful
moonlight ; the moon goes round the sky night and day.
There is, strange to say, little pressure just now ; only
an occasional slight squeeze. But the ice often opens
considerably ; there are large pieces of water in several
directions ; to-day there were some good-sized ones to the
south."
" Friday, October 27th. The soundings this morning
showed 52 fathoms (95 m.) of water. According to
observations taken yesterday afternoon, we are about
3' farther north, and a little farther west than on
the 19th. It is disgusting the way we are muddling
about here. We must have got into a hole where the ice
grinds round and round, and can't get farther. And the
The Winter Night. 257
time is passing all to no purpose ; and goodness only
knows how long this sort of thing may go on. If only a
good south wind would come and drive us north, out of
this hobble ! The boys have taken up the rudder again
to-day. While they were working at this in the afternoon,
it suddenly grew as bright as day. A strange fire-ball
crossed the sky in the west — giving a bluish-white light,
they said. Johansen ran down to the saloon to tell
Hansen and me ; he said they could still see the bright
trails it had left in its train. When we got on deck we
saw a bent bow of light in the ' Triangle,' near ' Deheb,'
The meteor had disappeared in the neighbourhood of
' Epsilon Cygni ' (constellation ' Swan '), but its light
remained for a long time floating in the air like glowing
dust. No one had seen the actual fire-ball, as thev had
all had their backs turned to it, and they could not say
if it had burst. This is the second great meteor of
exceptional splendour that has appeared to us in these
regions. The ice has a curious inclination to slacken,
without pressure having occurred, and every now and
then we find the ship floating in open water. This is
the case to-day."
*• Saturday, October 28th. Nothing of any import-
ance. Moonshine night and day. A glow in the south
from the sun."
" Sunday, October 29th. Peter shot a white fox this
morning close in to the ship. For some time lately we
have been seeing fox tracks in the mornings, and one.
s
258 Chapter VI.
Sunday Mogstad saw the fox itself. It has, no doubt,
been coming regularly to feed on the offal of the bears.
Shortly after the first one was shot another was seen ; it
came and smelt its dead comrade, but soon set off again
and disappeared. It is remarkable that there should
be so many foxes on this drift-ice so far from land. But
after all it is not much more surprising than my coming
upon fox tracks out on the ice between Jan Mayen
and Spitzbergen."
" Monday, October 30th. To-day the temperature
has gone down 18° F. below zero (— 27° C). I took
up the dredge I had put out yesterday. It brought
up two pails of mud from the bottom, and I have been
busy all day washing this out in the saloon in a large
bath, to get the many animals contained in it. They
were chiefly starfish, waving starfish, medusae {astropJiy-
ton), sea-slugs, coral insects {alcyonarics), worms, sponges,
shell-fish, and crustaceans ; and were, of course, all
carefully preserved in spirits."
"Tuesday, October 31st. Forty-nine fathoms (90 m.)
of water to-day, and the current driving us hard to the
south-west. We have good wind for the mill now, and
the electric lamps burn all day. The arc lamp under
the skylight makes us quite forget the want of sun. Oh !
light is a glorious thing, and life is fair in spite of all
privations ! This is Sverdrup's birthday, and we had
revolver practice in the morning. Of course a magni-
ficent dinner of five courses : chicken soup, boiled
The Winter Night. 259
mackerel, reindeer ribs with baked cauliflower and
potatoes, macaroni pudding, and stewed pears with
milk — Ringnes ale to wash it down."
" Thursday, November 2nd. The temperature keeps
at about 22° F. below zero ( — 30° C.) now; but it does not
feel very cold, the air is so still. We can see the aurora
borealis in the day-time too. I saw a very remarkable
display of it about 3 this afternoon. On the
south-western horizon lay the glow of the sun ; in front
of it light clouds were swept together — like a cloud of
dust rising above a distant troop of riders. Then dark
streamers of gauze seemed to stretch from the dust-
cloud up over the sky, as if it came from the sun, or
perhaps rather as if the sun were sucking it in to itself
from the whole sky. It was only in the south-west that
these streamers were dark ; a little higher up, farther
from the sun glow, they grew white and shining, like
fine, glistening silver gauze. They spread over the
vault of heaven above us, and right away towards the
north. They certainly resembled aurora borealis ; but
perhaps they might be only light vapours hovering high
up in the sky, and catching the sunlight ? I stood long
looking at them. They were singularly still, but they
were northern lights, changing gradually in the south-
west into dark cloud-streamers, and ending in the dust-
cloud over the sun. Hansen saw them too, later, when
it was dark. There was no doubt of their nature. His
impression was that the aurora borealis spread from the
s 2
26o Chapter VI.
sun over the whole vault of heaven like the stripes on
the inner skin of an orange."
" Sunday, November 5th. A great race on the ice
was advertised for to-day. The course was measured,
marked off, and decorated with flags. The cook had
prepared the prizes^ — cakes, numbered, and properly
graduated in size. The expectation was great ; but it
turned out that, from excessive training during the few
last days, the whole crew were so stiff in the legs that
they were not able to move. We got our prizes all
the same. One man was blind-folded, and he decided
who was to have each cake as it was pointed at. This
just arrangement met with general approbation, and
we all thought it a pleasanter way of getting the prizes
than running half-a-mile for them."
"So it is Sunday once more. How the days drag
past ! I work, read, think, and dream ; strum a little on
the organ ; go for a walk on the ice in the dark. Low
on the horizon in the south-west there is the flush of the
sun — a dark fierce red, as if of blood aglow with all life's
smouldering longings — low and far-off, like the dream-
land of youth. Higher in the sky it melts into orange, and
that into green and pale blue ; and then comes deep blue,
star sown, and then infinite space, where no dawn will
ever break. In the north are quivering arches of faint
aurora, trembling now like awakening longings, but
presently, as if at the touch of a magic wand, to storm
as streams of light through the dark blue of heaven —
The Winter Niorht. 261
•fc.
never at peace, restless as the very soul of man. I can
sit and gaze and gaze, my eyes entranced by the
dream-glow yonder in the west, where the moon's thin
pale, silver-sickle is dipping its point into the blood ;
and my soul is borne beyond the glow, to the
sun, so far off now — and to the home-coming ! Our
task accomplished, we are making our way up the fjord
as fast as sail and steam can carry us. On both sides of
us the homeland lies smiling in the sun ; and then ....
the sufferings of a thousand days and hours melt into
a moment's inexpressible joy. Ugh ! that was a bitter
gust — I jump up and walk on. What am I dreaming
about ! so far yet from the goal — hundreds and hundreds
of miles between us, ice and land and ice again. And
we are drifting round and round in a ring, bewildered
attaining nothing, only waiting, always waiting, for
what ?
" I dreamt I lay on a grassy bank,
And the sun shone warm and clear,
I wakened on a desert isle,
And the sky was black and drear."
" One more look at the star of home, the one that
stood that evening over Cape Chelyuskin, and I creep
on board, where the windmill is turning in the cold
wind, and the electric light is streaming out from the
skylight upon the icy desolation of the Arctic night."
" Wednesday, November 8th. The storm (which we
had had the two previous days) is quite gone down ;
262 Chapter VI.
not even enough breeze for the mill. We tried letting
the dogs sleep on the ice last night, instead of bringing
them on board in the evening, as we have been doing
lately. The result was that another dog was torn to
pieces during the night. It was ' Ulabrand,' the old
brown, toothless fellow, that went this time. ' Job ' and
' Moses ' had gone the same way before. Yesterday
evening's observations place us in 77^ 43' N. lat. and
138° 8' E. long. This is farther south than we have
been yet. No help for it ; but it is a sorry state of
matters ; and that we are farther east than ever before
is only a poor consolation. It is new moon again, and
we may therefore expect pressure ; the ice is, in fact,
already moving ; it began to split on Saturday, and has
broken up more each day. The channels have been of a
good size, and the movement becomes more and more
perceptible. Yesterday there was slight pressure, and we
noticed it again this morning about 5 o'clock. To-day
the ice by the ship has opened, and we are almost afloat.
" Here I sit in the still winter night on the drifting
ice-floe, and see only stars above me. Far off I see the
threads of life twisting themselves into the intricate web
which stretches unbroken from life's sweet morning dawn
to the eternal death-stillness of the ice. Thought follows
thought — you pick the whole to pieces, and it seems so
small — but high above all towers one form.
Why did yott take this voyage ? . . . . Could I do
otherwise ? Can the river arrest its course and run
The Winter Night. 26
o
up hill ? My plan has come to nothing. That palace oi
theory, which I reared in pride and self-confidence, high
above all silly objections, has fallen like a house of cards
at the first breath of wind. Build up the most ingenious
theories, and you may be sure of one thing — that fact
will defy them all. Was I so very sure .'* Yes, at
times ; but that was self-deception, intoxication. A
secret doubt lurked behind all the reasoning. It seemed
as though the longer I defended my theory, the nearer
I came to doubting it. But 7io, there is no getting over
the evidence of that Siberian drift-wood.
" But if, after all, we are on the wrong track, what
then ? Only disappointed human hopes, nothing more.
And even if we perish, what will it matter in the endless
cycles of eternity ? "
" Thursday, November 9th. I took temperatures and
sea- water samples to-day every 10 yards from the
surface to the bottom. The depth was g^ fathoms. An
extraordinarily even temperature of 30° Fahr. ( — i'^ C.)
through all the layers. I have noticed the same thing
before as far south as this. So it is only polar water
here ? There is not much pressure ; an inclination to it
this morning, and a little at 8 o'clock this evening,
also a few squeezes later^ when we were playing cards."
" Friday, November [oth. This morning made
despairing examinations of yesterday's water samples
with Thornoe's electric apparatus. There must be
absolute stillness on board when this is going on. The
264 Chapter VI.
men are all terrified, slip about on tiptoe, and talk in
the lowest possible whispers. But presently one begins
to hammer at something on deck, and another to file
in the engine-room, when the chiefs commanding voice
is at once heard, ordering silence. These examinations
are made by means of a telephone, through which a
very faint noise is heard, which dies slowly away ; the
moment at which it stops must be exactly ascertained.
" I find remarkably little salt all the way to the bottom
in the water here ; it must be mixed with fresh water
from the Siberian river.
" There was some pressure this morning, going on till
nearly noon, and we heard the noise of it in several
directions. In the afternoon the ice was quite slack,
with a large opening alongside the port side of the ship.
At half-past seven pretty strong pressure began, the ice
crashing and grinding along the ship's side. About
midnight the roar of packing was heard to the south.
"Saturday, November iith. There has been some
pressure in the course of the day. The newly-formed
ice is about 15 inches thick. It is hard on the top,
but looser and porous below. This particular piece of
ice began to form upon a large opening in the night
between the 27th and 28th October, so it has frozen
15 inches in 15 days. I observed that it froze 3 inches
the first night, and 5 inches altogether during the three
first nights ; so that it has taken 1 2 days to the last
10 inches."
o
J3
e
a,
d
as
M
H
H
o
O
5
>
The Winter NiPfht. 26 ^
'&
Even this small observation serves to show that the
formation of ice goes on most easily where the crust is
thin, becoming more and more difficult as the thickness
increases, until at a certain thickness, as we observed
later, it stops altogether. " It is curious that the pressure
has gone on almost all day — no slackening such as we
have usually observed."
"Sunday, November 19th. — Our life has gone on
its usual monotonous routine since the iith. The
wind has been steadily from the south all the week, but
to-day there is a little from N.N.W. We have had
pressure several times, and have heard sounds of it
in the south-east. Except for this, the ice has been
unusually quiet, and it is closed in tightly round the ship.
Since the last strong pressure we have probably 10 to 20
feet of ice packed in below us.'" Hansen to-day worked
out an observation taken the day before yesterday, and
surprised us with the welcome intelligence that we have
travelled 44' north and a little east since the 8th. We
are now in 78° 27' north latitude, 139° 23' east longitude.
This is farther east than we have been yet. For any
sake let us only keep on as we are going !
"The Fram is a warm, cosy abode. Whether the
thermometer stands at 22° above zero or at 22° below
it, we have no fire in the stove. The ventilation is
* On a later occasion, they bored down 30 feet without reaching the
lower surface of the ice.
266 Chapter VI.
excellent, especially since we rigged up the air sail, which
sends a whole winter's cold in through the ventilator ; yet
in spite of this . we sit here warm and comfortable, with
only a lamp burning. I am thinking of having the stove
removed altogether ; it is only in the way. At least, as
far as our protection from the winter cold is concerned,
my calculations have turned out well. Neither do we
suffer much from damp. It does collect and drop a little
from the roof in one or two places, especially astern in
the four-man cabins ; but nothing in comparison with
what is common in other ships ; and if we lighted the
stove it would disappear altogether. When I have
burned a lamp for quite a short time in my cabin, every
trace of damp is gone."^ These are extraordinary fellows
for standing the cold. With the thermometer at 22° F.
below zero Bentzen goes up in his shirt and trousers to
read the thermometer on deck."
" Monday, November 27th. The prevailing wind has
been southerly, with sometimes a little east. The
temperature still keeps between 13° and 22° below zero ;
in the hold it has fallen to 12°."
It has several times struck me that the streamers of the
aurora borealis followed in the direction of the wind,
from the wind's eye on the horizon. On Thursday
* When we had fire in the stoves later, especially during the
following winter, there was not a sign of damp anywhere — neither
in saloon nor small cabins. It was, if anything, rather too dry, for the
panels of the walls and roof dried and shrank considerably.
The Winter Night. 267
morning, when we had very shght north-easterly wind, I
even ventured to prophesy, from the direction of the
streamers, that it would go round to the south-east,
which it accordingly did. On the whole there has been
much less of the aurora borealis lately than at the
beginning of our drift. Still, though it may have been
faint, there has been a little every day. To-night it is
very strong again. These last days the moon has some-
times had rings round it, with mock-moons and axes —
accompanied by rather strange phenomena. When the
moon stands so low that the ring touches the horizon,
a bright field of light is formed where the horizon cuts
the ring. Similar expanses of light are also formed
where the perpendicular axis from the moon intersects the
horizon. Faint rainbows are often to be seen in these
shining light-fields ; yellow was generally the strongest
tint nearest the horizon, passing over into red, and then
into blue. Similar colours could also be distinguished in
the mock-moons. Sometimes there are two large rings —
the one outside the other — and then there may be four
mock-moons. I have also seen part of a new ring above
the usual one, meeting it at a tangent directly above the
moon. As is well known, these various ring formations
round the sun, as well as round the moon, are produced
by the refraction of rays of light by minute ice crystals
floating in the air.
" We looked for pressure with full moon and spring
tide on 23rd of November ; but then, and for several days
268 Chapter VI.
afterwards, the ice was quite quiet. On the afternoon of
Saturday, the 25th, however, its distant roar was heard
from the south, and we have heard it from the same
direction every day since. This morning it was very
loud, and came gradually nearer. At nine o'clock it was
quite close to us, and this evening we hear it near us
again. It seems, however, as if we had now got out of
the groove to which the pressure principally confines
itself. We were regularly in it before. The ice round
us is perfectly quiet. The probability is that the last
severe pressure packed it very tight about us, and that
the cold since has frozen it into such a thick strong mass
that it offers great resistance, while the weaker ice in
other places yields to the pressure. The depth of the
sea is increasing steadily, and we are drifting north.
This evening Hansen has worked out the observations
of the day before yesterday, and finds that we are in
79° 11' north latitude. That is good, and the way we
ought to get on. It is the most northern point we have
reached yet, and to day we are in all likelihood still
farther north. We have made good way these last days,
and the increasing depth seems to indicate a happy
change in the direction of our drift. Have we, perhaps,
really found the right road at last ^ We are drifting
about 5' a day. The most satisfactory thing is that
there has not been much wind lately, especially the two
last days ; yesterday it was only about 3 feet per second ;
to-day is perfectly still, and yet the depth has increased
The Winter Night. 269
21 fathoms (40 m.) in these two days. It seems as if
there were a northerly current after all. No doubt
many disappointments await us yet ; but why not
rejoice while fortune smiles ? "
" Tuesday, November 28th. The disappointment
lost no time in coming. There had been a mistake
either in the observation or in Hansen's calculations.
An altitude of Jupiter taken yesterday evening shows us
to be in 78° 36' north latitude. The soundings to-day
showed 74 fathoms (142 m.) of water, or about the
same as yesterday, and the sounding-line indicated a
south-westerly drift. However anxious one is to take
things philosophically, one can't help feeling a little
depressed. I try to find solace in a book; absorb myself
in the learning of the Indians — their happy faith in
transcendental powers, in the supernatural faculties of
the soul, and in a future life. Oh, if one could only get
hold of a little supernatural power now, and oblige the
winds always to blow from the south !
"I went on deck this evening in rather a gloomy frame
of mind, but was nailed to the spot the moment I got
outside. There is the supernatural for you — the
northern lights flashing in matchless power and beauty
over the sky in all the colours of the rainbow ! Seldom
or never have I seen the colours so brilliant. The
prevailing one at first was yellow, but that gradually
flickered over into green, and then a sparkling ruby-red
began to show at the bottom of the rays on the under
270 Chapter VI.
side of the arch, soon spreading over the whole arch.
And now from the far-away western horizon a fiery-
serpent writhed itself up over the sky, shining brighter
and brighter as it came. It split into three, all brilliantly
glittering. Then the colours changed. The serpent to
the south turned almost ruby-red, with spots of yellow ;
the one in the middle, yellow ; and the one to the north,
greenish-white. Sheafs of rays swept along the sides of
the serpents, driven through the ether-like waves before
a storm-wind. They sway backwards and forwards, now
strong, now fainter again. The serpents reached and
passed the zenith. Though I was thinly dressed and
shivering with cold, I could not tear myself away till the
spectacle was over, and only a faintly-glowing fiery
serpent near the western horizon showed where it had
begun. When I came on deck later the masses of light
had passed northwards, and spread themselves in incom-
plete arches over the northern sky. If one wants to
read mystic meanings into the phenomena of nature,
here, surely, is the opportunity.
"The observation this afternoon showed us to be in
78° 38' 42" N. lat. This is anything but rapid progress.
"Wednesday, November 29th. Another dog has been
bitten to death to-day — ' Fox,' a handsome, powerful
animal. He was found lying dead and stift* on the ice at
our stern this evening when they went to bring the dogs
in, ' Suggen ' performing her usual duty of watching
the body. They are wretches, these dogs. But now I
The Winter Night. 271
have given orders that some one must always watch
them when they are out on the ice."
" Thursday, November 30th. The lead showed a depth
of exactly 93 fathoms (170 m.) to-day, and it seemed
by the line as if we were drifting north-west. We are
almost certainly further north now ; hopes are rising,
and life is looking brighter again. My spirits are like
a pendulum, if one could imagine such an instrument
giving all sorts of irregular swings backwards and
forwards. It is no good trying to take the thing
philosophically ; I cannot deny that the question
whether we are to return successful or unsuccessful
affects me very deeply. It is quite easy to convince
myself with the most incontrovertible reasoning that
what really matters is to carry through the expedition,
whether successfully or not, and get safe home again.
I could not but undertake it ; for my plan was one
that I felt must succeed, and therefore it was my duty
to try it. Well, if it does not succeed, is that my affair ?
I have done my duty, done all that could be done,
and can return home with an easy conscience to the
quiet happiness I have left behind. What can it matter
whether chance, or whatever name you like to give it,
does or does not allow the plan to succeed and make
our names immortal ? The worth of the plan is the
same whether chance smiles or frowns upon it. And
as to immortality, happiness is all we want, and that
is not to be had here.
272 Chapter VI.
" I can say all this to myself a thousand times ; I can
bring myself to believe honestly that it is all a matter
of indifference to me ; but none the less my spirits
change like the clouds of heaven according as the
wind blows from this direction or from that, or the
soundings show the depth to be increasing or not, or
the observations indicate a northerly or southerly drift.
When I think of the many that trust us, think of
Norway, think of all the friends that gave us their
time, their faith, and their money, the wish comes that
they may not be disappointed, and I grow sombre when
our progress is not what we expected it would be.
And she that gave most — does she deserve that her
sacrifice should have been made in vain ? Ah, yes,
we must and will succeed ! "
" Sunday, December 3rd. Sunday again, with its
feeling of peace, and its permission to indulge in the
narcotic of happy day-dreams, and let the hours go idly
by, without any prickings of conscience.
" To-day the bottom was not reached with over
1352 fathoms (250 m.) of line. There was a north-
easterly drift. Yesterday's observation showed us to be
in 78° 44' north latitude, that is 5' farther north than
on Tuesday. It is horribly slow ; but it is forward, and
forward we must go ; there can be no question of that."
"Tuesday, December 5th, — This is the coldest day
we have had yet, with the thermometer 31° below
zero (— 35"7° C.) and a biting wind from the E.S.E.
The Winter Night. 273
Observation in the afternoon shows 78° 50' north
latitude, that is 6' farther north than on Saturday, or
2' per day. In the afternoon we had magnificent
aurora boreaHs — gh'ttering arches across the whole vault
of the sky from the east towards the west ; but when I
was on deck this evening the sky was overcast ; only
one star shone through the cloudy veil — the home star.
How I love it ! It is the first thing my eye seeks, and
it is always there, shining on our path. I feel as if no
ill could befall us as long as I see it there ....
" Wednesday, December 6th. This afternoon the ice
cracked abaft the starboard quarter ; this evening I see
that the crack has opened. We may expect pressure
now, as it is new moon either to-day or to-morrow."
" Thursday, December 7th. The ice pressed at the
stern at five o'clock this morning for about an hour.
I lay in my berth and listened to it creaking and grinding
and roaring. There was slight pressure again in the
afternoon ; nothing to speak of. No slackening in the
forenoon."
" Friday, December 8th. Pressure from seven till
eight this morning. As I was sitting drawing in the
afternoon I was startled by a sudden report or crash.
It seemed to be straight overhead, as if great masses of
ice had fallen from the rigging on to the deck above my
cabin. Every one starts up and throws on some extra
garment ; those that are taking an afternoon nap jump
out of their berths right into the middle of the saloon,
T
274 Chapter VI.
calling out to know what has happened. Pettersen rushes
up the companion ladder in such wild haste that he
bursts open the door in the face of the mate, who is
standing in the passage holding back * Kvik,' who has
also started in fright from the bed in the chart-room,
where she is expecting her confinement. On deck we
could discover nothing, except that the ice was in
motion, and seemed to be sinking slowly away from the
ship. Great piles had been packed up under the stern
this m.orning and yesterday. The explosion was probably
caused by a violent pressure suddenly loosening all the
ice along the ship's side, the ship at the same time
taking a strong list to port. There was no cracking of
wood to be heard, so that, whatever it was, the Fram
cannot have been injured. But it was cold, and we
crept down again.
"As we were sitting at supper, about six o'^clock,
pressure suddenly began. The ice creaked and roared
so along the ship's sides close by us that it was not
possible to carry on any connected conversation ; we had
to scream, and all agreed with Nordahl when he
remarked that it would be much pleasanter if the
pressure would confine its operations to the bow instead
of coming bothering us here aft. Amidst the noise we
caught every now and again from the organ a note or
two of Kjerulfs melody : ' I could not sleep for the
nightingale's voice.' The hurly-burly outside lasted
for about twenty minutes, and then all was still.
The Winter Night. 275
" Later in the evening Hansen came down to give
notice of what really was a remarkable appearance of
aurora borealis. The deck was brightly illuminated by
it, and reflections of its light played all over the ice.
The whole sky was ablaze with it, but it was brightest
in the south ; high up in that direction glowed waving
masses of fire. Later still Hansen came again to say that
now it was quite extraordinary. No words can depict the
glory that met our eyes. The glowing fire-masses had
divided into glistening, many-coloured bands, which were
writhing and twisting across the sky both in the south
and north. The rays sparkled with the purest, most
crystalline rainbow colours, chiefly violet-red or carmine
and the clearest green. Most frequently the rays of
the arch were red at the ends, and changed higher
up into sparkling green, which quite at the top turned
darker, and went over into blue or violet before dis-
appearing in the blue of the sky ; or the rays in one and
the same arch might change from clear red to clear green,
coming and going as if driven by a storm. It was an
endless phantasmagoria of sparkling colour, surpassing
anything that one can dream. Sometimes the spectacle
reached such a climax that one's breath was taken away ;
one felt that now something extraordinary must happen
— at the very least the sky must fall. But as one stands
in breathless expectation, down the whole thing trips, as
if in a few quick, light scale-runs, into bare nothingness.
There is something most undramatic about such a
T 2
276 Chapter VT.
denouement, but it is all done with such confident
assurance that one cannot take it amiss ; one feels one's
self in the presence of a master who has the complete
command of his instrument. With a singrle stroke of
the bow he descends lightly and elegantly from the
height of passion into quiet, every-day strains, only with
a few more strokes to work himself up into passion again.
It seems as if he were trying to mock, to tease us.
When we are on the point of going below, driven by
61 degrees of frost ( — 347 C), such magnificent tones
again vibrate over the strings that we stay, until noses
and ears are frozen. For a finale, there is a wild display
of fireworks in every tint of flame — such a conflagration
that one expects every minute to have it down on the ice,
because there is not room for it in the sky. But I can
hold out no longer. Thinly dressed, without a proper
cap, and without gloves, I have no feeling left in body or
limbs, and I crawl away below."
"Sunday, December 10th. Another peaceful Sunday.
The motto for the day in the English almanac is : — ' He
is happy whose circumstances suit his temper : but he is
more excellent who can suit his temper to any circum-
stances ' (Hume). Very true, and exactly the phil-
osophy I am practising at this moment. I am lying
on my berth in the light of the electric lamp, eating
cake and drinking beer whilst I am writing my journal ;
presently I shall take a book and settle down to read
and sleep. The arc lamp has shone like a sun to-day
The Winter Night. 277
over a happy company. We have no difficulty now in
distinguishing hearts from diamonds on our dirty cards.
It is wonderful what an efifect light has. I believe I am
becoming a fire-worshipper. It is strange enough that
fire-worship should not exist in the Arctic countries.
' For the sons of men
Fire is the best,
And the sight of the sun.'
" A newspaper appears on board now. Framsjaa^
(news of, or outlook from, the Fram) is its name, and our
doctor is its irresponsible editor. The first number was
read aloud this evening, and gave occasion for much
merriment. Amongst its contents are : —
'WINTER IN THE ICE.
(Contribution to the Infant Framsjaa.
Far in the ice there Hes a ship, boys,
Mast and sail, ice to the very tip, boys ;
But, perfectly clear,
If you listen you can hear,
There is life and fun on board that ship, boys.
What can it be ?
Come along and see —
It is Nansen and his men that laugh, boys.
* Apparently modelled on the title of the well-known magazine,
Kringsjaa, which means "A Look Around" or "Survey." Framsjaa
might be translated " The Fram's Look-Out."
278
Chapter VI,
Nothing to be heard at night but glasses' clink, boys,
Fall of greasy cards and counters' chink, boys ;
If he won't " declare,"
Nordahl he will swear
Bentzen is stupid as an owl, boys.
Bentzen cool, boys.
Is not a fool, boys ;
" You're another ! " quickly he replies, boys.
Front a\
A LIVELY GAME OF CARDS.
[Photograph.
Among those sitting at the table, boys.
Is " Heika,"* with his body big and stable, boys ;
He and Lars, so keen,
It would almost seem
The name Peter Henriksen generally went by on board.
The Winter Night. 279
They would stake their lives if they were able, boys.
Amundsen, again,
Looks at these two men.
Shakes his head and sadly goes to bed, boys.*
Sverdrup, Blessing, Hansen, and our Mohn,t boys.
Say of "marriage" " this game is our own," boys;
• Soon for them, alas !
The happy hour is past ;
And Hansen he says, " Come away, old Mohn ! " boys.
" It is getting late,
And the stars won't wait,
You and I must up and out alone," boys.
The doctor here on board has nought to do, boys ;
Not a man to test his skill among the crew, boys ;
Well may he look blue,
There's nought for him to do.
When every man is strong and hearty, too, boys.
" Now on the Fratn," boys,
He says '' I am," boys,
" Chief editor of newspaper for you ! " boys.
" Warning ! ! !
" I think it is my duty to warn the public that a travelling
watchmaker has been making the round of this neigh-
bourhood lately, getting watches to repair, and not
* Refers to the fact that Amundsen hated card-playing more than
anything else in the world. He called cards "the devil's playbooks."
t Nickname of our meteorologist, Johansen, Professor Mohn being
a distinguished Norwegian meteorologist.
28o Chapter VI.
returninof them to their owners. How long- is this to be
allowed to go on under the eyes of the authorities ?
" The watchmaker's appearance is as follows : — Middle
height, fair, grey eyes, brown full beard, round shoulders,
and generally delicate-looking.
"A. JUELL.*
"The person above notified was in our office yesterday,
asking for work, and we consider it right to add the
following particulars as completing the description. He
generally goes about with a pack of mongrel curs at his
heels ; he chews tobacco, and of this his beard shows
traces. This is all we have to say, as we did not consider
ourselves either entitled or called upon to put him under
the microscope.
"Ed. Framsjaay
" Yesterday's observation placed us in 79° o' north
latitude, 139° 14' east longitude. At last, then, we have
got as far north again as we were in the end of
September, and now the northerly drift seems to be
steady : 10' in 4 days.
"Monday, December nth. This morning I took a
long excursion to westward. It is hard work struggling
* This signature proved to be forged, and gave rise to a lawsuit so
long and intricate that space does not permit an account of it to be
given.
The Winter Night. 281
over the packed ice in the dark, something like scramb-
ling about a moraine of big boulders at night. Once I
took a step in the air, fell forward, and bruised my right
knee. It is mild to-day, only 9^^° F. below zero ( — 23° C).
This evening there was a strange appearance of aurora
borealis — white, shining clouds, which I thought at first
must be lit up by the moon, but there is no moon yet.
They were light cumuli, or cirro-cumuli, shifting into a
brightly shining mackerel sky. I stood and watched
them as long as my thin clothing permitted, but there
was no perceptible pulsation, no play of flame ; they
sailed quietly on. The light seemed to be strongest in
the south-east, where there were also dark clouds to
be seen. Hansen said that it moved over later into
the northern sky ; clouds came and went, and for a time
there were many white shining ones — * white as lambs,'
he called them — but no aurora played behind them."
" In this day's meteorological journal I find noted for
4 p.m. : ' Faint aurora borealis in the north. Some
distinct branchings or antlers (they are of ribbon crimped
like blonde) in some diffused patches on the horizon in
the N.N.E.' In his aurora borealis journal Hansen
describes that of this evening as follows : 'About 8 p.m.
an aurora borealis arch of light was observed, stretching
from E.S.E. to N.W., through the zenith ; diffused quiet
intensity 3-4, most intense in N.W. The arch spread
at the zenith by a wave to the south. At 10 o'clock
there was a fainter aurora borealis in the southern sky ;
282 Chapter VI.
eight minutes later it extended to the zenith, and two
minutes after this there was a shining broad arch
across the zenith with intensity 6. Twelve seconds later
flaming rays shot from the zenith in an easterly
direction. During the next half-hour there was con-
stant aurora, chiefly in bands across or near the zenith,
or lower in the southern sky. The observation ended
about 10.38. The intensity was then 2, the aurora
diffused over the southern sky. There were cumulus
clouds of varying closeness all the time. They came
up in the south-east at the beginning of the observa-
tion, and disappeared towards the end of it ; they were
closest about 10 minutes past 10. At the time that
the broad shining arch through the zenith was at
its highest intensity, the cumulus clouds in the north-
west shone quite white, though we were unable to detect
any aurora borealis phenomena in this quarter. The
reflection of light on the ice field was pretty strong at
the same time. In the aurora borealis the cumulus
clouds appeared of a darker colour, almost the grey ot
wool. The colours of the aurora were yellowish, bluish-
white, milky blue — cold colouring.' According to the
meteorological journal there was still aurora borealis in
the southern sky at midnight."
"Tuesday, December 12th. Had a long walk south-
east this morning. The ice is in much the same
condition there as it is to the west, packed or pressed up
into mounds, with flat floes between. This evening the
The Winter Night. 283
dogs suddenly began to make a great commotion on
deck. We were all deep in cards, some playing whist,
others 'marriage.' I had no shoes on, so said that
some one else must go up and see what was the matter.
Mogstad went. The noise grew worse and worse.
Presently Mogstad came down and said that all the dogs
that could get at the rail were up on it, barking out
into the dark towards the north. He was sure there
must be an animal of some sort there, but perhaps it
was only a fox, for he thought he had heard the bark
of a fox far in the north ; but he was not sure. Well,
it must be a devil of a fox to excite the dogs like
that. As the disturbance continued, I at last went up
myself, followed by Johansen. From different positions
we looked long and hard into the darkness in
the direction in which the dogs were barking,
but we could see nothing moving. That something
must be there was quite certain ; and I had no doubt
that it was a bear, for the dogs were almost beside
themselves. ' Pan ' looked up into my face with an
odd expression, as if he had something important to tell
me, and then jumped up on the rail and barked away to
the north. The dogs' excitement was quite remarkable ;
they had not been so keen when the bear was close in to
the side of the ship. However, I contented myself with
remarking that the thing to do would be to loose some
dogs and go north with them over the ice. But these
wretched dogs won't tackle a bear, and besides it is so
284 Chapter VI.
dark that there is hardly a chance of finding anything.
If it is a bear he will come again. At this season, when
he is so hungry, he will hardly go right away from all the
good food for him here on board. I struck about with
my arms to get a little heat into me, then went below
and to bed. The dogs went on barking, sometimes
louder than before. Nordahl, whose watch it was, went
up several times, but could discover no reason for it. As
I was lying reading in my berth I heard a peculiar
sound ; it was like boxes being dragged about on deck,
and there was also scraping, like a dog that wanted to
get out, scratching violently at a door. I thought of
' Kvik,' who was shut up in the chart-room. I called
into the saloon to Nordahl that he had better go up
again and see what this new noise was. He did so, but
came back saying that there was still nothing to be seen.
It was difficult to sleep, and I lay long tossing about.
Peter came on watch. I told him to go up and turn the
air-sail to the wind, to make the ventilation better. He
was a good time on deck doing this and other things,
but he also could see no reason for the to-do the dogs
were still making. He had to go forward, and then
noticed that the three dog's nearest the starboard Sfanof-
way were missing. He came down and told me, and
we agreed that possibly this might be what all the
excitement was about ; but never before had they taken
it so to heart when some of their number had run
away. At last I fell asleep, but heard them in my
sleep for a long time."
c
11
The Winter Night. 285
"Wednesday, December 13th. Before I was rightly
awake this morning I heard the dogs 'at it ' still, and
the noise went on all the time of breakfast, and had, I
believe, gone on all night. After breakfast Mogstad
and Peter went up to feed the wretched creatures and
let them loose on the ice. Three were still missing.
Peter came down to get a lantern ; he thought he
might as well look if there were any tracks of animals.
Jacobsen called after him that he had better take a
gun. No, he did not need one, he said. A little later,
as I was sitting sorrowfully absorbed in the calculation
of how much petroleum we have used, and how short
a time our supply will last if we go on burning it at
the same rate, I heard a scream at the top of the com-
panion. ' Come with a gun.' In a moment I was in
the saloon, and there was Peter tumbling in at the door,
breathlessly shouting, * A gun ! a gun ! ' The bear had
bitten him in the side. I was thankful that it was no
worse, hearing him put on so much dialect* I had
thought it was a matter of life and death. I seized
one gun, he another, and up we rushed, the mate
with his gun after us. There was not much diffi-
culty in knowing in what direction to turn, for from
the rail on the starboard side came confused shouts
of human voices, and from the ice below the gangway
the sound of a frightful uproar of dogs. I tore out the
He says " ei borsja " for " a gun " instead of " en bosse."
286 Chapter VI.
tow-plug at the muzzle of my rifle, then up with the
lever and in with the cartridge ; it was a case of
hurry. But, hang it ! there is a plug in at this end
too. I poked and poked, but could not get a grip
of it. Peter screamed : ' Shoot, shoot ! mine won't go
off!' He stood clicking and clicking, his lock full of
frozen vaseline again, while the bear lay chewing at a
dog just below us at the ship's side. Beside me stood
the mate, groping after a tow-plug which he also had
shoved down into his gun, but now he flung the gun
angrily away and began to look round the deck for a
walrus spear to stick the bear with. Our fourth man,
Mogstad, was waving an empty rifle (he had shot away
his cartridges), and shouting to some one to shoot the
bear. Four men, and not one that could shoot, although
we could have prodded the bear's back with our gun-
barrels. Hansen, making a fifth, was lying in the
passage to the chart-room, groping with his arm through
a chink in the door for cartridges ; he could not get the
door to open because of 'Kvik's' kennel. At last
Johansen appeared and sent a ball straight down into the
bear's hide. That did some good. The monster let go
the dog and gave a growl. Another shot flashed and
hissed down on the same spot. One more, and we saw
the white dog the bear had under him jump up and run
off, while the other dogs stood round, barking. Another
shot still, for the animal began to stir a little. At this
moment my plug came out, and I gave him a last ball
The Winter Night. 287
through the head to make sure. The dogs had crowded
round barking as long as he moved, but now that he
lay still in death they drew back terrified. They
probably thought it was some new ruse of the enemy.
It was a little thin, one-year-old bear that had caused
all this terrible commotion.
" Whilst it was being flayed I went off in a north-
westerly direction to look for the dogs that were still
missing. I had not gone far when I noticed that the
dogs that were following me had caught scent of some-
thing to the north, and wanted to go that way. Soon
they got frightened, and I could not get them to go on ;
they kept close in to my side or slunk behind me. I held
my gun ready, while I crawled on all fours over the pack-
ice, which was anything but level. I kept a steady look-
out ahead, but it was not far my eyes could pierce in that
darkness. I could only just see the dogs, like black
shadows, when they were a few steps away from me. I
expected every moment to see a huge form rise among
the hummocks ahead, or come rushing towards me. The
dogs got more and more cautious, one or two of them
sat down, but they probably felt that it would be a shame
to let me go on alone, so followed slowly after. Terrible
ice to force one's way over ! Crawling along on hands
and knees does not put one in a very convenient
position to shoot from if the bear should make a sudden
rush. But unless he did this, or attacked the dogs, I
had no hope of getting him. We now came out on
288 . Chapter VI.
some flat ice. It was only too evident that there must
be something quite near now. I went on, and presently
saw a dark object on the ice in front of me. It was not
unlike an animal. I bent down — it was poor ' Johansen's
Friend,' the black dog with the white tip to his tail, in a
sad state, and frozen stiff. Beside him was something
else dark. I bent down again and found the second
of the missing dogs, brother of the corpse-watcher
* Suggen.' This one was almost whole, only eaten
a little about the head, and it was not frozen quite stiff.
There seemed to be blood all round on the ice. I
looked about in every direction, but there was nothing
more to be seen. The dogs stood at a respectful dis-
tance, staring and sniffing in the direction of their dead
comrades. Some of us went not long after this to fetch
the dogs' carcases, taking a lantern to look for bear
tracks, in case there had been some big fellows along
with the little one. We scrambled on among the pack-
ice. ' Come this way with the lantern, Bentzen ; I
think I see tracks here.' Bentzen came, and we turned
the light on some indentations in the snow ; they were
bear-paw marks sure enough, but only the same little
fellow's. ' Look ! the brute has been dragging a dog
after him here.' By the light of the lantern we traced
the blood-marked path on among the hummocks. We
found the dead dogs, but no footprints except small ones,
which we all thought must be those of our little bear.
' Svarten,' alias ' Johansen's Friend,' looked bad in the
The Winter Night. 289
lantern-Hght. Flesh and skin and entrails were gone ;
there was nothing to be seen but a bare breast and back-
bone, with some stumps of ribs. It was a pity that the
fine strong dog should come to such an end. He had
just one fault : he was rather bad-tempered. He had a
special dislike to Johansen ; barked and showed his teeth
whenever he came on deck, or even opened a door, and
when he sat whistling in the top, or in the crow's-nest
these dark winter days, the ' Friend ' would answer with
a howl of rage from far out on the ice. Johansen bent
down with the lantern to look at the remains.
" ' Are you glad, Johansen, that your enemy is done
for ? '
" ' No, I am sorry.'
" ' Why ? '
" * Because we did not make it up before he died.'
And we went on to look for more bear-tracks, but found
none ; so we took the dead dogs on our backs and turned
homewards.
" On the way I asked Peter what had really happened
with him and the bear. ' Well, you see,' said he,
* when I came along with the lantern we saw a few drops
of blood by the gangway ; but that might quite well
have been a dog that had cut itself. On the ice below
the gangway we saw some bear-tracks, and we started
away west, the whole pack of dogs with us, running on
far ahead. When we had got away a bit from the ship,
there was suddenly an awful row in front, and it wasn't
u
290 Chapter VI.
long before a great beast came rushing at us, with the
whole troop of dogs around it. As soon as we saw what
it was, we turned and ran our best for the ship. Mog-
stad, you see, he had moccasins (komager) on, and knew
his way better and got there before me. I couldn't get
along so fast with my great wooden shoes, and in my
confusion I got right on to the big hummock to the west
of the ship's bow, you know. I turned here and lighted
back to see if the bear was behind me, but I saw nothing
and pushed on again, and in a minute these slippery
wooden shoes had me flat on my back among the
hummocks. I was up again quick enough ; but when I
got down on to the flat ice close to the ship, I saw some-
thing coming straight for me on the right-hand side.
First I thought it was a dog — it's not so easy to see in
the dark, you know — I had no time for a second thought,
for the beast jumped on me and bit me in the side. I
had lifted my arm like this, you see, and so he caught
me here, right on the hip. He growled and hissed as he
bit.
" ' What did you think then, Peter ?'
" ' What did I think ? I thought it was all up with me.
What w^as I to do ? I had neither gun nor knife. But
I took the lantern and gave him such a whack on the
head with it that the thing broke, and went flying away
over the ice. The moment he felt the blow he sat down
and looked at me. I was just taking to my heels when
he got up ; I don't know whether it was to grip me
The Winter Night. 291
again or what it was for, but anyhow at that minute
he caught i?ight of a dog coming, and set off after it,
and I got on board.'
" ' Did you scream, Peter ? *
" I TOOK THE LANTERN AND GAVE HIM A WHACK ON
THE HEAD WITH IT."
(Drawn by H. Egidius.)
"'Scream! I screamed with all my might.' And
apparently this was true, for he was quite hoarse.
" ' But where was Mogstad all this time } '
" ' Well, you see, he had reached the ship long before
me, but he never thought of running down and giving
u 2
292 Chapter VI.
the alarm, but takes his gun from the round-house wall
and thinks he'll manage all right alone, but his gun
wouldn't go off, and the bear would have had time to eat
me up before his nose.'
"We were now near the ship, and Mogstad, who had
heard the last part of the story from the deck, corrected
it in so far that he had just reached the gangway
when Peter began to roar. He jumped up and fell
back three times before he got on board, and had no
time to do anything then but seize his gun and go to
Peter's assistance.
"When the bear left Peter and rushed after the dogs,
lie soon had the whole pack about him again. Now
Jhe would make a spring and get one below him ; but
then all the rest would set upon him and jump on his
back, so that he had to turn to defend himself. Then
he would spring upon another dog, and the whole pack
would be on him again. And so the dance went on,
backwards and forwards over the ice, until they were
once more close to the ship. A dog stood there, below
the gangway, wanting to get on board ; the bear made a
spring on it, and it was there, by the ship's side, that the
villain met his fate.
"An examination on board showed that the hook
of ' Svarten's ' leash was pulled out quite straight ;
■' Gammelen's ' was broken through ; but the third dog's
was only wrenched a little : it hardly looked as if the
bear had done it. I had a slight hope that this dog
The Winter Night. 293
might still be in life, but, though we searched well,
we could not find it.
"It was altogether a deplorable story. To think that
we should have let a bear scramble on board like this,
and should have lost three dogs at once ! Our dogs are
dwindling down ; we have only 26 now. That was a
wily demon of a bear, to be such a little one. He had
crawled on board by the gangway, shoved away a box
that was standing in front of it, taken the dog that stood
nearest, and gone off with it. When he had satisfied the
first pangs of his hunger, he had come back and fetched
No. 2, and, if he had been allowed, he would have
continued the performance until the deck was cleared of
dogs. Then he would probably have come bumping
downstairs * and beckoned with cold hand ' in at the
galley door to Juell. It must have been a pleasant
feeling for ' Svarten ' to stand there in the dark and see
the bear conje creeping in upon him.
"When I went below after this bear affair, Juell said
as I passed the galley door : * You'll see that " Kvik " will
have her pups to-day ; for it's always the way here
on board, that things happen together.' And, sure
enough, when we were sitting in the saloon in the
evening, Mogstad, who generally plays ' master of the
hounds,' came and announced the arrival of the first.
Soon there was another, and then one more. This news
was a little balsam to our wounds. * Kvik ' has got a
good warm box, lined with fur, up in the passage on the
294 Chapter VI.
starboard ; it is so warm there that she is lying sweating,
and we hope that the young ones will live, in spite of
54 degrees of frost. It seems this evening as if every
one had some hesitation in going out on the ice unarmed.
Our bayonet-knives have been brought out, and I am
providing myself with one. I must say that I felt quite
certain that we should find no bears as far north as this
in the middle of winter ; and it never occurred to me, in
making long excursions on the ice without so much as a
penknife in my pocket, that I was liable to encounters
with them. But, after Peter's experience, it seems as if
it might be as well to have, at any rate, a lantern to hit
them with. The long bayonet-knife shall accompany me
henceforth.
" They often chaffed Peter afterwards about having
screamed so horribly when the bear seized him. * H'm !
I wonder, said he, ' if there aren't others that would
have screeched just as loud. I had to yell after the
fellows that were so afraid of frightening the bear that
when they ran they covered seven yards at each stride.'
"Thursday, December 14th. 'Well, Mogstad, how
many pups have you now ? ' I asked at breakfast.
* There are five now.' But soon after he came down to
tell me that there were at least twelve. Gracious ! that
is good value for what we have lost. But we were
almost as pleased when Johansen came down and said
that he heard the missing dog howling on the ice far
away to the north-west. Several of us went up to listen.
The Winter Night. 295
and we could all hear him quite well ; but it sounded as
if he were sitting still, howling in despair. Perhaps he
was at an opening in the ice that he could not get
across. Blessing had also heard him during his night-
watch, but then the sound had come more from a south-
westerly direction. When Peter went after breakfast
to feed the dogs, there was the lost one, standing below
the gangway wanting to get on board. Hungry he was,
— he dashed straight into the food-dish, — but otherwise
hale and hearty.
" This evening Peter came and said that he was
certain he heard a bear moving about and pawing the
ice ; he and Pettersen had stood and listened to him
scraping at the snow crust. I put on my ' pesk ' (a fur
blouse), got hold of my double-barrelled rifle, and went
on deck. The whole crew were collected aft, gazing out
into the night. We let loose 'Ulenka' and ' Pan,' and
went in the direction where the bear was said to be. It
was pitch-dark, but the dogs would find the tracks, if
there was anything there. Hansen thought he had seen
something moving about the hummock near the ship,
but we found and heard nothing, and, as several of the
others had by this time come out on the ice and could
also discover nothing, we scrambled on board again. It
is extraordinary, all the sounds that one can fancy one
hears out on tha\ great, still space, mysteriously lighted
by the twinkling stars.
"Friday, December 15th. This morning Peter saw
296 Chapter VI.
a fox on the ice astern, and he saw it again later, when
he was out with the dogs. There is something remark-
able about this appearance of bears and foxes now, after
our seeing no life for so long. The last time we saw a fox
we were far south of this, possibly near Sannikoff Land.
Can we have come into the neighbourhood of land again ?
" I inspected * Kvik's ' pups in the afternoon. There
were thirteen, a curious coincidence — thirteen pups on
December 13th, for thirteen men. Five were killed ;
' Kvik ' can manage eight, but more would be bad for
her. Poor mother ! she was very anxious about her
young ones, wanted to jump up into the box beside them
and take them from us. And you can see that she is
very proud of them.
"Peter came this evening and said that there must be a
ghost on the ice, for he heard exactly the same sounds of
walking and pawing as yesterday evening. This seems
to be a populous region, after all.
" According to an observation taken on Tuesday, we
must be pretty nearly in 79° 8' north latitude. That
was 8' drift in the three days from Saturday ; we are
getting on better and better.
"Why will it not snow ? Christmas is near, and what
is Christmas without snow, thickly falling snow ? We
have not had one snowfall all the time we have been
drifting. The hard grains that come down now and
again are nothing. Oh, the beautiful white snow, falling
so gently and silently, softening every hard outline with
The Winter Nio-ht.
297
its sheltering purity ! There is nothing more deliciously
restful, soft, and white. This snowless ice-plain is like
a life without love — nothing to soften it. The marks of
all the battles and pressures of the ice stand forth just
as when they were made, rugged and difficult to move
By H. Egidius'\
A NOCTURNAL VISITANT. IFrom a Photograph.
among. Love is life's snow. It falls deepest and
softest into the gashes left by the fight — whiter and
purer than snow itself. What is life without love ^ It
is like this ice — a cold, bare, rugged mass, the wind
driving it and rending it and then forcing it together
298 Chapter VI.
again, nothing to cover over the open rifts, nothing to
break the violence of the collisions, nothing to round
away the sharp corners of the broken floes — nothing,
nothing but bare, rugged drift-ice.
"Saturday, December i6th. In the afternoon Peter
came quietly into the saloon, and said that he heard all
sorts of noises on the ice. There was a sound to the
north exactly like that of ice packing against land, and
then suddenly there was such a roar through the air that
the dogs started up and barked. Poor Peter ! They
laugh at him when he comes down to give an account
of his many observations ; but there is not one among
us as sharp as he is.
" Wednesday, December 20th. As I was sitting at
breakfast, Peter came roaring that he believed he had
seen a bear on the ice. ' And that " Pan " set off the
moment he was loosed.' I rushed on to the ice with
my gun. Several men were to be seen in the moonlight,
but no bear. It was long before Pan came back ; he
had followed him far to the north-west. :
"Sverdrupand 'Smith Lars' in partnership have mad6
a great bear-trap, which was put out on the ice to-day.
As I was afraid of more dogs than bears being caught in
it, it was hung from a gallows, too high for the dogs to
jump up to the piece of blubber which hangs as bait
right in the mouth of the trap. All the dogs spend the
evening now sitting on the rail barking at this new man
they see out there on the ice in the moonlight.
o -^
o «
S a
The Winter Night. 299
" Thursday, December 21st. It is extraordinary, after
all, how the time passes. Here we are at the shortest
day, though we have no day. But now we are moving
on to light and summer again. We tried to sound
to-day; had out 2,100 metres (over 1,100 fathoms) of
line without reaching the bottom. We have no more
line ; what is to be done '^ Who could have guessed
that we should find such deep water ? There has been
an arch of light in the sky all day, opposite the moon ;
so it is a lunar rainbow, but without colours, so far as I
have been able to see.
" Friday, December 22nd. A bear was shot last night.
Jacobsen saw it first, during his watch. He shot at it.
It made off; and he then went down and told about it
in the cabin. Mogstad and Peter came on deck ;
Sverdrup was called, too, and came up a little later.
They saw the bear on his way towards the ship again ;
but he suddenly caught sight of the gallows with the trap
on the ice to the west, and went off there. He looked
well at the apparatus, then raised himself cautiously on
his hind-legs, and laid his right paw on the cross-beam
just beside the trap, stared for a little, hesitating, at
the delicious morsel, but did not at all like the ugly jaws
round it. Sverdrup was by this time out at the deck-
house, watching in the sparkling moonshine. His heart
was jumping — he expected every moment to hear the
snap of his trap. But the bear shook his head sus-
piciously, lowered himself cautiously on to all- fours again,
;oo
Chapter VI,
and snuffed carefully at the wire that the trap was fastened
by, following it along to where it was made fast to a
great block of ice. He went round this, and saw how
cleverly it was all arranged, then slowly followed the
HE STARED, HESITATING, AT THE DELICIOUS MORSEL.
(Draivn by H. Egidius.)
wire back, raised himself up as before, with his paw on
the beam of the gallows, had a long look at the trap, and
shook his head again, probably saying to himself :
' These wily fellows have planned this very cleverly for
The Winter Night. 301
me.' Now he resumed his march to the ship. When
he was within 60 paces of the bow Peter fired. The
bear fell, but jumped up again and made off. Jacobsen,
Sverdrup, and Mogstad all fired now, and he fell among
some hummocks. He was flayed at once, and in the
skin there was only the hole of one ball, which had
gone through him from behind the shoulder-blade.
Peter, Jacobsen, and Mogstad all claimed this ball.
Sverdrup gave up his claim, as he had stood so far astern.
Mogstad, seeing the bear fall directly after his shot,
called out, ' I gave him that one ; ' Jacobsen swears that it
was he that hit ; and Bentzen, who was standing looking
on, is prepared to take his oath anywhere that it was
Peter's ball that did the deed. The dispute upon this
weighty point remained unsettled during the whole
course of the expedition.
" Beautiful moonlight. Pressure in several directions.
To-day we carried our supply of gun-cotton and cannon
and rifle powder on deck. It is safer there than in the
hold. In case of fire or other accident, an explosion in
the hold might blow the ship's sides out and send us to
the bottom before we had time to turn round. Some we
put on the forecastle, some on the bridge. From these
places it would be quickly thrown on to the ice.
" Saturday, December 23rd, What we call in Nor-
way ' Little Christmas Eve.' I went a long way west
this morning, coming home late. There was packed up
ice everywhere, with flat floes between. I was turned
302 Chapter VI.
by a newly formed opening in the ice, which I dared not
cross on the thin layer of fresh ice. In the afternoon,
as a first Christmas entertainment, we tried an ice-
blasting with four prisms of gun-cotton. A hole was
made with one of the large iron drills we had brought
with us for this purpose, and the charge, with the end of
the electric connecting wire, was sunk about a foot below
the surface of the ice. Then all retired, the knob was
touched, there was a dull crash, and water and pieces of
ice were shot up into the air. Although it was 60 yards
off, it gave the ship a good jerk that shook everything on
board, and brought the hoar-frost down from the rigging.
The explosion blew a hole through the four-feet-thick ice,
but its only other effect was to make small cracks round
this hole.
" Sunday, December 24th. Christmas Eve. 67° of
cold { — 37'^ C). Glittering moonlight and the endless
stillness of the Arctic night. I took a solitary stroll
over the ice. The first Christmas Eve, and how far
away ! The observation shows us to be in 79° 1 1 ' north
latitude. There is no drift ; 2' farther south than six days
ago."
There are no further particulars given of this day in
the diary, but when I think of it, how clearly it all comes
back to me ! There was a peculiar elevation of mood
on board that was not at all common among us. Every
man's inmost thoughts were with those at home, but his
comrades were not to know that, and so there was more
The Winter Night.
o^o
joking and laughing than usual. All the lamps and lights
we had on board were lit, and ev^ery corner of the saloon
and cabins was brilliantly illuminated. The bill of fare
for the day, of course, surpassed any previous one —
food was the chief thing we had to hold festival with.
The dinner was a very fine one indeed ; so was the
supper, and after it piles of Christmas cakes came on
the table ; Juell had been busy making them for several
weeks. After that we enjoyed a glass of toddy and a
cigar, smoking in the saloon being, of course, allowed.
The culminating point of the festival came when two
boxes with Christmas presents were produced. The one
was from Hansen's mother, the other from his fiancde —
Miss Fougner. It was touching to see the childlike
pleasure with which each man received his gift — it might
be a pipe or a knife or some little knick-knack — he
felt that it was like a message from home. After this
there were speeches ; and then the Framsjaa appeared,
with an illustrated supplement, selections from which
are given. The drawings are the work of the famous
Arctic draughtsman, Huttetu. Here are two verses from
the poem for the day : —
" When the ship's path is stopped by fathom-thick ice,
And winter's white covering is spread.
When we're quite given up to the power of the stream,
Oh ! 'tis then that so often of home we must dream.
" We wish them all joy at this sweet Christmas-tide,
Health and happiness for the next year,
304 Chapter VI,
Ourselves patience to wait ; 'twill bring us to the Pole,
And home the next spring, never fear ! "
There were many more poems, amongst others one
giving some account of the principal events of the last
weeks, in this style: —
" Bears are seen, and dogs are born,
Cakes are baked, both small and large ;
Henriksen, he does not fall,
Spite of bear's most violent charge ;
Mogstad with his rifle clicks,
Jacobsen with long lance sticks,"
ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE " FRAMSJAA.
I. PROMENADE IN TIMES OF PEACE, WTTH SVERDRUP's
PATENT FOOT-GEAK.
and so on. There was a long ditty on the subject of the
" Dog Rape on board the Frain :" —
" Up and down on a night so cold,
Kvirre virre vip, bom, bom.
The Winter Night.
305
Walk harpooner and kennelman bold,
Kvirre vine vip, bom, bom ;
II. FRAM-FELLOWS ON THE WARPATH I DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE SVERDRUP AND THE LAPP FOOT-GEAR.
III. FRAM-FELLOWS STILL ON THE WARPATH.
Our kennelman swings, I need hardly tell,
Kvirre virre vip, bom, bom,
3o6 . Chapter VI.
The long, long lash you know so well,
Kvirre virre vip, bom, bom ;
Our harpooner, he is a man of light,
Kvirre virre vip, bom bom,
A burning lantern he grasps tight,
Kvirre virre vip, bom, bom,
They as they walk the time beguile,
Kvirre virre vip, bom, bom.
With tales of bears and all their wile,
Kvirre virre vip, bom, bom.
" Now suddenly a bear they see,
Kvirre virre vip, bom, bom,
Before whom all the dogs do flee,
Kvirre virre vip, bom, bom ;
Kennelman, like a deer, runs fast,
Kvirre virre vip, bom, bom,
Harpooner slow comes in the last,
Kvirre virre vip, bom, bom,"
and so on.
Among the announcements are —
" Instruction in Fencing.
" In consequence of the indefinite postponement of our departure, a
limited number of pupils can be received for instiuction in both fencing
and boxing.
" Majakoft,
" Teacher of Boxing,
"Next door to the Doctor's."
Again —
" On account of want of storage room, a quantity of old clothes are
at present for sale, by private arrangement, at No. 2, Pump Lane.*
Repeated requests to remove them having been of no effect, I am
* This was the nickname of the starboard four-berth cabin.
The Winter Night. 307
obliged to dispose of them in this way. The clothes are quite fresh,
having been in salt for a long time."
After the reading of the newspaper came instrumental
music and singing, and it was far on in the night before
we sought our berths.
'* Monday, December 25th. Christmas Day. Ther-
mometer at — 36° F. ( — 38° C.) below zero. I took a walk
south in the beautiful light of the full moon. At a newly
made crack I went through the fresh ice with one leg and
got soaked ; but such an accident matters very little in
this frost. The water immediately stiffens into ice ; it does
not make one very cold, and one feels dry again soon.
" They will be thinking much of us just now at home
and giving many a pitying sigh over all the hardships
we are enduring in this cold, cheerless, icy region.
But I am afraid their compassion would cool if they
could look in upon us, hear the merriment that goes on,
and see all our comforts and good cheer. They can
hardly be better off at home. I myself have cer-
tainly never lived a more sybaritic life, and have never
had more reason to fear the consequences it brings in
its train. Just listen to to-day's dinner menu : —
1. Ox-tail soup ;
2. Fish-pudding, with potatoes and melted butter ;
3. Roast of reindeer, with peas, French beans, potatoes,
and cranberry jam ;
4. Cloudberries with cream :
5. Cake and marzipan (a welcome present from the baker
to the expedition ; we blessed that man).
X 2
3o8 Chapter VI.
And along with all this that Ringnes bock-beer which
is so famous in our part of the world. Was this the
sort of dinner for men who are to be hardened against
the horrors of the Arctic night ?
" Every one had eaten so much that supper had to be
skipped altogether. Later in the evening coffee was
served, with pine-apple preserve, gingerbread, vanilla-
cakes, cocoanut macaroons, and various other cakes, all
the work of our excellent cook, Juell ; and we ended up
with figs, almonds, and raisins.
" Now let us have the breakfast, just to complete the
day : coffee, freshly baked bread, beautiful Danish
butter, Christmas cake, Cheddar cheese, clove-cheese,
tongue, corned beef, and marmalade. And if any one
thinks that this is a specially good breakfast because it is
Christmas Day, he is wrong. It is just what we have
always, with the addition of the cake, which is not part
of the every-day diet.
"Add now to this good cheer our strongly built, safe
house, our comfortable saloon, lighted up with the
large petroleum lamp and several smaller ones (when we
have no electric light), constant gaiety, card-playing, and
books in any quantity, with or without illustrations, good
and entertaining reading, and then a good sound
sleep — what more could one wish ?
". . . . But, O Arctic night, thou art like a woman,
a marvellously lovely woman. Thine are the noble,
pure outlines of antique beauty, with its marble coldness.
The Winter Night. 309
On thy high, smooth brow, clear with the clearness of
ether, is no trace of compassion for the little sufferings
of despised humanity, on thy pale, beautiful cheek no
blush of feeling. Among thy raven locks, waving out
into space, the hoar-frost has sprinkled its glittering
crystals. The proud lines of thy throat, thy shoulders'
curves, are so noble, but, oh ! unbendingly cold ; thy
bosom's white chastity is feelingless as the snowy ice.
Chaste, beautiful, and proud, thou floatest through ether
over the frozen sea, thy glittering garment, woven of
aurora beams, covering the vault of heaven. But some-
times I divine a twitch of pain on thy lips, and endless
sadness dreams in thy dark eye.
" Oh, how tired I am of thy cold beauty ! I long to
return to life. Let me get home again, as conqueror or
as beggar ; what does that matter ? But let me get
home to begin life anew. The years are passing here,
and what do they bring .'* Nothing but dust, dry dust,
which the first wind blows away ; new dust comes in its
place, and the next wind takes it too. Truth ? Why
should we always make so much of truth ? Life is more
than cold truth, and we live but once.
" Tuesday, December 26th. 36° F. below zero
( — 38° C). This (the same as yesterday's) is the greatest
cold we have had yet. I went a long way north to-day ;
found a big lane covered with newly frozen ice, with a quite
open piece of water in the middle. The ice rocked up and
down under my steps, sending waves out into the open
k
3IO . Chapter VI
pool. It was strange once more to see the moonlight
*'IT WAS STRANGE ONCE MORE TO SEE THE MOONLIGHTj
PLAYING ON THE COAL-BLACK WAVES."
{From a Photograph.)
playing on the coal-black waves, and awakened a
remembrance of well-known scenes. I followed this
fX,
(D T
<» -
C 3
o
a
The Winter Night. 311
lane far to the north, seemed to see the outHnes of
high land in the hazy light below the moon, and went
on and on ; but in the end it turned out to be a bank of
clouds behind the moonlit vapour rising from the open
water. I saw from a high hummock that this opening
stretched north as far as the eye could reach.
"The same luxurious living as yesterday; a dinner
of four courses. Shooting with darts at a target for
cigarettes has been the great excitement of the day.
Darts and target are Johansen's Christmas present from
Miss Fougner."
*' Wednesday, December 27 th. Wind began to blow
this afternoon, 19J to 26 feet per second ; the windmill
is going again, and the arc-lamp once more brightens
our lives. Johansen gave notice of 'a shooting match
by electric light, with free concert,' for the evening. It
was a pity for himself that he did, for he and several
others were shot into bankruptcy and beggary, and had
to retire one after the other, leaving their cigarettes
behind them."
" Thursday, December 28th. A little forward of the
Fram there is a broad, newly formed open lane, in
which she could lie crossways. It was covered with last
night's ice, in which slight pressure began to-day. It is
strange how indifferent we are to this pressure, which
was the cause of such great trouble to many earlier
Arctic navigators. We have not so much as made the
smallest preparation for possible accident, no provisions
312 Chapter VI.
on deck, no tent, no clothing, in readiness. This may-
seem like recklessness, but in reality there is not the
slightest prospect of the pressure harming us ; we know
now what the Frain can bear. Proud of our splendid,
strong ship, we stand on her deck watching the ice come
hurtling against her sides, being crushed and broken
there and having to go down below her, while new ice-
masses tumble upon her out of the dark, to meet the
same fate. Here and there, amid deafening noise, some
great mass rises up and launches itself threateningly
upon the bulwarks, only to sink down suddenly,
dragged the same way as the others. But at times
when one hears the roaring of tremendous pressure in
the night, as a rule so deathly still, one cannot but call
to mind the disasters that this uncontrollable power
has wrought.
" I am reading the story of Kane's expedition just now.
Unfortunate man, his preparations were miserably
inadequate ; it seems to me to have been a reckless,
unjustifiable proceeding to set out with such equipments.
Almost all the dogs died of bad food ; all the men had
scurvy from the same cause, with snow-blindness,
frost-bites, and all kinds of miseries. He learned a
wholesome awe of the Arctic night, and one can hardly
wonder at it. He writes on page 173 : 'I feel that we
are fighting the battle of life at disadvantage, and that
an Arctic day and an Arctic night age a man more
rapidly and harshly than a year anywhere else in this
The Winter Night. 313
weary world. In another place he writes that it is.
impossible for civilised men not to suffer in such circum-
stances. These were sad, but by no means unique
experiences. An English Arctic explorer, with whom
I had some conversation, also expressed himself very
discouragingly on the subject of life in the Polar regions,
and combated my cheerful faith in the possibility of
prev^enting scurvy. He was of opinion that it was
inevitable, and that no expedition yet had escaped it,
though some might have given it another name ; rather
a humiliating view to take of the matter, I think. But I
am fortunately in a position to maintain that it is not
justified ; and I wonder if they would not both change
their opinions if they were here. For my own part,
I can say that the Arctic night has had no ageing,
no weakening, influence of any kind upon me ; I seem,
on the contrary, to grow younger. This quiet, regular
life suits me remarkably well, and I cannot remember a
time when I was in better bodily health balance than
I am at present. I differ from these other authorities to
the extent of feeling inclined to recommend this region
as an excellent sanatorium in cases of nervousness and
general breakdown. This is in all sincerity.
" I am almost ashamed of the life we lead, with none of
those darkly painted sufferings of the long winter night
which are indispensable to a properly exciting Arctic
expedition. We shall have nothinof to write about when
we get home. I may say the same of my comrades as I
314
Chapter VI.
have said for myself : they all look healthy, fat, in good
condition ; none of the traditional pale, hollow faces ;
no low spirits — anyone hearing the laughter that goes
on in the saloon, ' the fall of greasy cards,' etc. {see
Juell's poem), would be in no doubt about this. But
how, indeed, should there be any illness ? With the best
A GAME OF HALM A.
of food of every kind, as much of it as we want, and
constant variety, so that even the most fastidious cannot
tire of it, good shelter, good clothing, good ventilation,
exercise in the open air ad libitum, no over-exertion
in the way of work, instructive and amusing books of
every kind, relaxation in the shape of cards, chess,
The Winter Night.
3^5
dominoes, halma, music, and story-telHng — how should
any one be ill ? Every now and then I hear remarks
expressive of perfect satisfaction with the life. Truly
the whole secret lies in arranging things sensibly, and
especially in being careful about the food. A thing that
I believe has a good effect upon us is this living
together in the one saloon, with everything in common.
So far as I know, it is the first time that such a thing
has been tried, but it is quite to be recommended. I
have heard some of the men complain of sleeplessness.
This is generally considered to be one inevitable conse-
quence of the Arctic darkness. As far as I am
personally concerned I can say that I have felt nothing
of it ; I sleep soundly at night. I have no great belief
in this sleeplessness, but then I do not take an after-
dinner nap, which most of the others are addicted
to ; and if they sleep for several hours during the day,
they can hardly expect to sleep all night as well.
'One must be awake part of one's time,' as Sverdrup
said."
"Sunday, December 3 1 st. And now the last day of
the year has come, it has been a long year, and has
brought much both of good and bad. It began with
good, by bringing little Liv, such a new, strange
happiness that at first I could hardly believe in it. But
hard, unspeakably hard, was the parting that came later ;
no year has brought worse pain than that. And the
lime since has been one great longing.
3i6 Chapter VI.
" * Would'st thou be free from care and pain ?
Thou must love nothing here on earth.'
** But longing — Oh, there are worse things than that I
All that is good and beautiful may flourish in its shelter.
Everything would be over if we cease to long.
" But you fell off at the end, old year ; you hardly
carried us so far as you ought. Still you might have
done worse ; you have not been so bad after all.
Have not all hopes and calculations been justified, and
are we not drifting away just where I wished and
hoped we should be ? Only one thing has been
amiss — I did not think the drift would have gone in
quite so many zig-zags.
" One could not have a more beautiful New Year's.
Eve. The aurora borealis is burning in wonderful
colours and bands of light over the whole sky; but
particularly in the north. Thousands of stars sparkle
in the blue firmament among the northern lights. On
every side the ice stretches endless and silent into the
night. The rime-covered rigging of the Fram stands,
out sharp and dark against the shining sky."
The newspaper was read aloud ; only verses this time ;
among other poems the following : —
"TO THE NEW YEAR.
"And you, my boy, must give yourself trouble
Of your old father to be the double ;
Your lineage, honour, and fight hard to merit
Our praise for the habits we trust you inherit.
The Winter Night. 317
On we must go if you want to please us ;
To make us lie still is the way to tease us.
In the old year we sailed not so badly,
Be it so still, or you'll hear us groan sadly.
When the time comes you must break up tlie ice for us ;
When the time comes you must win the great prize for us ;
We fervently hope, having reached our great goal.
To eat next Christmas dinner beyond the North Pole."
During the evening we were regaled with pine-apple,
figs, cakes, and other sweets, and about midnight
Hansen brought in toddy, and Nordahl cigars and
cigarettes. At the moment of the passing of the year
all stood up, and I had to make an apology for a
speech — to the effect that the old year had been after
all a good one, and I hoped the new would not be
worse ; that I thanked them for good comradeship,
and was sure that our life together this year would be
as comfortable and pleasant as it had been during the
last. Then they sang the songs that had been written
for the farewell entertainments given to us at Christiania
and at Bergen : —
" Our mother, weep not ! it was thou
Gave them the wish to wander ;
To leave our coasts and turn their prow
Towards night and perils yonder.
Thou pointed'st to the open sea.
The long cape was thy finger ;
The white sail wings they got from thee ;
Thou canst not bid them linger !
3i8 Chapter VI.
" Yes, they are thine, O mother old !
And proud thou dost embrace them ;
Thou hear'st of dangers manifold,
But know'st thy sons can face them.
And tears of joy thine eyes will rain,
The day the Fra?n comes steering
Up fjord again to music strain,
And the roar of thousands cheering.
E. N.
Then I read aloud our last greeting, a telegram we
received at Tromso from Moltke Moe : —
" Luck on the way.
Sun on the sea,
Sun on your minds,
Help from the winds ;
May the packed floes
Part and unclose
Where the ship goes.
Forward her progress be,
E'en though the silent sea
Then
After her freeze up again.
" Strength enough, meat enough, :
Hope enough, heat enough ;
The Fram will go sure enough then
To the Pole and so back to the dwellings of men.
Luck on the way
To thee and thy band.
And welcome back to the fatherland ! "
After this we read some of Vinje s poems, and then
sang songs from the Framsjaa and others.
V
The Winter Night. 319
It seems strange that we should have seen the New
Year in already, and that it will not begin at home for
eight hours yet. It is almost 4 a.m. now. I had thought
of sitting up till it was New Year in Norway too; but
no, I will rather go to bed and sleep, and dream that I
am at home.
" Monday, January ist, 1894. The year began well.
I was awakened by Juell's cheerful voice wishing me a
Happy New Year. He had come to give me a cup of
coffee in bed — delicious Turkish coffee, his Christmas
present from Miss Fougner. It is beautiful clear
weather, with the thermometer at 36° below zero
( — T^S° C). It almost seems to me as if the twilight in
the south were beginning to grow ; the upper edge of it
to-day was 14° above the horizon."
An extra good dinner at 6 p.m.
1. Tomato soup.
2. Cod roe with melted butler and potatoes.
3. Roast reindeer, with green peas, potatoes, and cranberry jam.
4. Cloudberries with milk.
Ringnes beer.
I do not know if this begins to give any impression of
great sufferings and privations ? I am lying in my berth,
writing, reading, and dreaming. It is always a curious
feeling to write for the first time the number of a New
Year. Not till then does one grasp the fact that the old
year is a thing of the past ; the new one is here, and one
must prepare to wrestle with it. Who knows what it is
320 Chapter VI.
bringing ? Good and evil, no doubt, but most good. It
cannot but be that we shall go forward towards our goal,
and towards home.
. " Life is rich and wreathed in roses ;
Gaze forth into a world of dreams."
Yes, lead us, if not to our goal — that would be too early
— at least towards it ; strengthen our hope ; but perhaps
— no, no perhaps. These brave boys of mine deserve to
succeed. There is not a doubt in their minds. Each
one's whole heart is set on getting north ; I can read it
in their faces — it shines from every eye. There is one
sigh of disappointment every time that we hear that we
are drifting south, one sigh of relief when we begin to
go north again, to the unknown. And it is in me and
my theories that they trust. What if I have been
mistaken, and am leading them astray ? Oh, I could
not help myself! We are the tools of powers beyond us.
We are born under lucky or unlucky stars. Till now I
have lived under a lucky one ; is its light to be darkened ?
I am superstitious, no doubt, but I believe in my star.
And Norway, our fatherland, what has the old year
brought to thee, and what is the new year bringing ?
Vain to think of that ; but I look at our pictures, the
gifts of Werenskjold, Munthe, Kitty Kielland, Skredsvig,
Hansteen, Eilif Pettersen, and I am at home, at home !
" Wednesday, January 3rd. The old lane about 1,300
feet ahead of the Frmn has opened again — a large rift.
The Winter Night. 321
with a coating of ice and rime. As soon as ice is formed
in this temperature, the frost forces it to throw out its
saHnity on the surface, and this itself freezes into pretty
salt flowers, resembling hoar-frost. The temperature is
between 38° F. (-39° C.) and 40° F. (-40° C.) below
zero, but when there is added to this a biting wind,
with a velocity of from 9 to 16 feet per second, it must
be allowed that it is rather 'cool in the shade.' "
" Sverdrup and I agreed to-day that the Christmas
holidays had better stop now, and the usual life begin
again ; too much idleness is not good for us. It cannot
be called a full nor a complicated one, this life of ours,
but it has one advantage, that we are all satisfied with it,
such as it is."
" They are still working in the engine-room, but
expect to finish what they are doing to the boiler in a
few days, and then all is done there. Then the turning
lathe is to be set up in the hold, and tools for it have to
be forged. There is often a job for Smith Lars, and
then the forge flames forward by the forecastle, and
sends its red glow on to the rime-covered rigging,
and farther up into the starry night, and out over the
waste of ice. From far off you can hear the strokes
on the anvil ringing through the silent night. When
one is wandering alone out there, and the well known
sound reaches one's ear, and one sees the red glow,
memory recalls less solitary scenes. While one stands
gazing, perhaps a light moves along the deck, and
322 Chapter VI.
slowly up the rigging. It is Johansen, on his way up
to the crow's-nest to read the temperature. Blessing
is at present engaged in counting blood corpuscles again,
and estimating amounts of haemoglobin. For this purpose
he draws blood every month from every mother's son
of us, the bloodthirsty dog, with supreme contempt for
all the outcry against vivisection. Hansen and his assistant
take observations. The meteorological ones, which are
taken every four hours, are Johansen's special department.
First he reads the thermometer, hygrometer, and ther-
mograph on deck (they were afterwards kept on the
ice) ; next the barometer, barograph, and thermometer
in the saloon ; and then the minimum and maximum
thermometers in the crow's-nest (this to take the record
of the temperature of a higher air stratum). Then he
goes to read the thermometers that are kept on the ice
to measure the radiations from its surface, and perhaps
down to the hold, too, to see what the temperature is
there. Every second day, as a rule, astronomical
observations are taken, to decide our whereabouts, and
keep us up to date in the crab's progress we are making.
Taking these observations with the thermometer between
2 2° F. and 40^ F. below zero (— 30° C. to — 40° C.) is a
very mixed pleasure. Standing still on deck working with
these fine instruments and screwing in metal screws with
one's bare fingers is not altogether agreeable. It often
happens that they must slap their arms about and tramp
hard up and down the deck. They are received with
The Winter Night. 323
shouts of laughter when they reappear in the saloon after
the performance of one of these thundering nigger break-
downs above our heads, that has shaken the whole ship.
We ask innocently if it was cold on deck ? ' Not the
very least,' says Hansen ; 'just a pleasant temperature/
' And your feet are not cold now ? ' ' No, I can't say that
they are, but one's fingers get a little cold sometimes/
Two of his had just been frost-bitten ; but he refused to
wear one of the wolf-skin suits which I had given out
for the meteorologists. ' It is too mild for that yet ; and
it does not do to pamper one's-self,' he says.
" I believe it was when the thermometer stood at 40°
below zero that Hansen rushed up on deck one morning
in shirt and drawers to take an observation. He said
he had not time to get on his clothes.
" At certain intervals they also take magnetic observa-
tions on the ice, these two. I watch them standing-
there with lanterns, bending over their instruments ; and
presently I see them tearing away over the floe, their
arms swinging like the sails of the windmill when there
is a wind pressure of 32 to 39 feet — but 'it is not at
all cold.' I cannot help thinking of what I have read in
the accounts of some of the earlier expeditions, namely,
that at such temperatures it was impossible to take
observations. It would take worse than this to make
these fellows give in. In the intervals between their
observations and calculations I hear a murmuring in
Hansen's cabin, which means that the principal is at
Y 2
324 Chapter VI.
present occupied in inflicting a dose of astronomy or
navigation upon his assistant.
"It is something dreadful the amount of card-playing
that goes on in the saloon in the evenings now ; the
gaming demon is abroad, far into the night ; even our
model Sverdrup is possessed by him. They have not
yet played the shirts off their backs, but some of them
have literally played the bread out of their mouths ; two
poor wretches have had to go without fresh bread for a
whole month because they had forfeited their rations of
it to their opponents. But all the same, this card-
playing is a healthy, harmless recreation, giv^ing occasion
for much laughter, fun, and pleasure.
"An Irish proverb says: 'Be happy; and if you
cannot be happy, be careless ; and if you cannot be
careless, be as careless as you can.' This is good
philosophy, which — no, what need of proverbs here,
where life is happy ! It was in all sincerity that
Amundsen burst out yesterday with : ' Yes, isn't it just
as I say, that we are the luckiest men on earth that
can live up here where we have no cares, get everything
given us without needing to trouble about it, and are
well off in every possible way!' Hansen agreed that
it certainly was a life without care. Juell said much
the same a little ago ; what seems to please him most
is that there are no summonses here, no creditors, no
bills. And I ? Yes, I am happy too. It is an easy
life ; nothing that weighs heavy on one, no letters, no
The Winter Night. 325"
newspapers, nothing disturbing ; just that monastic,
out-of-the-world existence that was my dream when I
was younger and yearned for quietness in which to
give myself up to my studies. Longing, even when it
is strong and sad, is not unhappiness. A man has
truly no right to be anything but happy when fate
permits him to follow up his ideals, exempting him from
the wearing strain of every-day cares, that he may with
clearer vision strive towards a lofty goal,
" ' Where there is work, success will follow,' said a
poet of the land of work. I am working as hard as
I can, so I suppose success will pay me a visit by-and-
bye. I am lying on the sofa, reading about Kane's
misfortunes, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes — truth
obliges me to confess that I have become addicted to
the vice I condemn so strongly — but flesh is grass ; so
I blow the smoke clouds into the air and dream sweet
dreams. It is hard work, but I must do the best I can."
"Thursday, January 4th. It seems as if the twilight
were increasing quite perceptibly now, but this is
very possibly only imagination. I am in good spirits in
spite of the fact that we are drifting south again. After
all, what does it matter ? Perhaps the gain to science
will be as great, and after all, I suppose this desire to
reach the North Pole is only a piece of vanity. I have
now a very good idea of what it must be like up there.
(' I like that!' say you.) Our deep water here is con-
nected with, is a part of, the deep water of the Atlantic
326 Chapter VI.
Ocean — of this there can be no doubt. And have not I
found that things go exactly as I calculated they would
whenever we get a favourable wind ? Have not many
before us had to wait for wind ? And as to vanity
— that is a child's disease, got over long ago. All calcu-
lations, with but one exception, have proved correct.
We made our way along the coast of Asia, which many
prophesied we should have great difficulty in doing. We
were able to sail farther north than I had dared to hope
for in my boldest moments, and in just the longitude I
wished. We are closed in by the ice, also as I wished.
The Fram has borne the ice-pressure splendidly, and
allows herself to be lifted by it without so much as
creaking, in spite of being more heavily loaded with
coal, and drawing more water than we reckoned on when
we made our calculations ; and this after her certain
destruction and ours was prophesied by those most
experienced in such matters. I have not found the ice
higher nor heavier than I expected it to be; and the
comfort, warmth, and good ventilation on board are far
beyond my expectations. Nothing is wanting in our
equipment, and the food is quite exceptionally good. As
Blessing and I agreed a few days ago, it is as good as at
home ; there is not a thing we long for ; not even the
thought of a beefsteak a la Chateaubriand, or a pork
cutlet with mushrooms, and a bottle of Burgundy, can
make our mouths water ; we simply don't care about
such things. The preparations for the expedition cost me
The Winter Night. 327
several years of precious life ; but now I do not grudge
them, my object is attained. On the drifting ice we
live a winter life, not only in every respect better
than that of previous expeditions, but actually as if we
had brought a bit of Norway, of Europe, with us. We
are as well off as if we were at home. All together in
one saloon, with everything in common, we are a little
part of the fatherland, and daily we draw closer and
closer together. In one point only have my calculations
proved incorrect, but unfortunately in one of the most
important. I pre-supposed a shallow Polar Sea, the
greatest depth known in these regions up till now being
80 fathoms, found by the Jeannette. I reasoned that
all currents would have a strong influence in the shallow
Polar Sea, and that on the Asiatic side the current of the
Siberian rivers would be strong enough to drive the ice
a good way north. But here I already find a depth which
we cannot measure with all our line, a depth of certainly
1,000 fathoms, and possibly double that. This at once
upsets all faith in the operation of a current ; we find
either none, or an extremely slight one ; my only trust
now is in the winds. Columbus discovered America by
means of a mistaken calculation, and even that not his own ;
heaven only knows where my mistake will lead us. Only I
repeat once more — the Siberian driftwood on the coast of
Greenland cannot lie, and the way it went we must go.
" Monday, January 8th. Little Liv is a year old
to-day ; it will be a fete day at home. As I was lying
328 Chapter VI.
on the sofa reading after dinner, Peter put his head in at
the door and asked me to come up and look at a strange
star which had just shown itself above the horizon,
shining like a beacon flame. I got quite a start when
I came on deck and saw a strong red light just above
the edge of the ice in the south. It twinkled and
changed colour ; it looked just as if some one were
coming carrying a lantern over the ice ; I actually
believe that for a moment I so far forgot our surround-
ings as to think that it really was some person
approaching from the south. It was Venus, which we
see to-day for the first time, as it has till now been
beneath the horizon. It is beautiful with its red light.
Curious that it should happen to come to-day. It must
be Liv's star, as Jupiter is the home star. And Liv's
birthday is a lucky day — we are on our way north again.
According to observations we are certainly north of
79° N. lat. On the home day, September 6th, the
favourable wind began to blow that carried us along the
coast of Asia ; perhaps Liv's day has brought us into a
good current, and we are making the real start for the
north under her star.
"Friday, January i2th. There was pressure about
ten o'clock this morning in the opening forward, but I
could see no movement when I was there a little later,
I followed the opening some way to the north. It is
pretty cold work walking with the thermometer at 40° F.
below zero, and the wind blowing with a velocity of
The Winter Night. 329
16 feet per second straight in your face. But now we
are certainly drifting fast to the north under Liv's star.
After all it is not quite indifferent to me whether we are
going north or south. When the drift is northwards
new life seems to come into me, and hope, the ev^er-
young, springs fresh and green from under the winter
snow. I see the way open before me, and I see the
home-coming in the distance — too great happiness to
believe in."
" Sunday, January 14th. Sunday again. The time
is passing almost quickly, and there is more light every
day. There was great excitement to-day when yester-
day evening's observations were being calculated. All
guessed that we had come a long way north again.
Several thought to 79° 18' or 20'. Others, I believe,
insisted on 80". The calculation places us in 79^ 19'
N. lat. ; 137'^ 31' E. long. A good step onwards.
Yesterday the ice was quiet, but this morning there was
consillerable pressure in several places. Goodness
knows what is causing it just now ; it is a whole week
after new-moon. I took a long" walk to the south-west,
and got right in among it. Packing began where I
stood, with roars and thunders below me and on every
side. I jumped, and ran like a hare, as if I had never
heard such a thing before ; it came so unexpectedly.
The ice was curiously flat there to the south ; the farther
I went the flatter it grew, with excellent sledging surface.
Over such ice one could drive many miles a day."
330 Chapter VI.
" Monday, January 15th. There was pressure forward
both this morning and towards noon, but we heard the
loudest sounds from the north. Sverdrup, Mogstad,
and Peter went in that direction and were stopped by
a large open channel. Peter and I afterwards walked
a long distance N.N.E., past a large opening that 1 had
skirted before Christmas. It was shining, flat ice,
splendid for sledging on, always better the farther
north we went. The longer I wander about and see
this sort of ice in all directions, the more strongly does
a plan take hold of me that I have long had in my
mind. It would be possible to get with dogs and
sledges over this ice to the Pole, if one left the ship
for good and made one's way back in the direction of
Franz Josef Land, Spitzbergen, or the west coast of
Greenland. It might almost be called an easy expe-
dition for two men.
" But it would be too hasty to go off in spring. We
must first see what kind of drift the summer brings.
And as I think over it, I feel doubtful if it would be
right to go off and leave the others. Imagine if I
came home and they did not ! Yet it was to explore
the unknown Polar regions that I came ; it was for that
the Norwegian people gave their money ; and surely
my first duty is to do that if I can. I must give the
drift plan a longer trial yet, but if it takes us in a
wrong direction, then there is nothing for it but to try
the other, come what may.
The Winter Nioht.
t>
"Thursday, January i6th. The ice is quiet to-day.
Does longing stupefy one, or does it wear itself out and
turn at last into stolidity ? Oh, that burning longing
night and day was happiness ! but now its fire has turned
to ice. Why does home seem so far away ? It is one's
all-life, without it is so empty, so empty — nothing but
dead emptiness. Is it the restlessness of spring that is
beginning to come over one, the desire for action, for
something different from this indolent, enervating life ?
Is the soul of man nothing but a succession of moods
and feelings, shifting as incalculably as the changing
winds ? Perhaps my brain is over-tired ; day and night
my thoughts have turned on the one point, the possi-
bility of reaching the Pole and getting home. Perhaps
it is rest I need, to sleep, sleep ! Am I afraid of
venturing my life ? No, it cannot be that. But what
else then can be keeping me back ? Perhaps a secret
doubt of the practicability of the plan ? My mind is
confused ; the whole thing has got into a tangle ; I am
a riddle to myself. I am worn out, and yet I do not
feel any special tiredness. Is it perhaps because I sat
up reading last night ? Everything around is empti-
ness, and my brain is a blank. I look at the home
pictures and am moved by them in a curious, dull way ;
I look into the future, and feel as if it does not much
matter to me whether I get home in the autumn of this
year or next. So long as I get home in the end, a year
or two seem almost nothing. I have never thought this
332 Chapter VI.
before. I have no inchnation to read, nor to draw, nor
to do anything else whatever. Folly ! Shall I try a few
pages of Schopenhauer ? No, I will go to bed, though
I am not sleepy. Perhaps, if the truth were known, I
am longing now more than ever. The only thing that
helps me is writing, trying to express myself on these
pages, and then looking at myself as it were from the
outside. Yes, man's life is nothing but a succession of
moods, half memory and half hope."
" Thursday, January i8th. The wind that began
yesterday has gone on blowing all to-day with a velocity
of i6 to 19 feet per second, from S.S.E., S.E., and E.S.E.
It has no doubt helped us on a good way north ; but it
seems to be going down ; now, about midnight, it has
sunk to 13 feet; and the barometer, which has been
rising all the time, has suddenly begun to fall ; let us
hope that it is not a cyclone passing over us, bringing
northerly wind. It is curious that there is almost always
a rise of the thermometer with these stronger winds;
to-day it rose to 13° F. below zero ( — 25° C). A south
wind of less velocity generally lowers the temperature,
and a moderate north wind raises it. Payer's explana-
tion of this raising of the temperature by strong winds
is that the wind is warmed by passing over large
openings in the ice. This can hardly be correct, at any
rate in our case, for we have few or no openings. I am
rather inclined to believe that the rise is produced by air
from higher strata being brought down to the surface of
The Winter Nioht.
f5
the earth. It is certain that the higher air is warmer
than the lower, which comes into contact with snow and
ice surfaces cooled by radiation. Our observations go to
prove that such is the case. Add to this that the air in
its fall is heated by the rising pressure. A strong wind,
even if it does not come from the higher strata of the
atmosphere, must necessarily make some confusion in
the mutual position of the various strata, mixing the
higher with those below them and vice versa.
" I had a strange dream last night. I had got home.
I can still feel something of the trembling joy, mixed
with fear, with which I neared land and the first tele-
graph station. I had carried out my plan ; we had
reached the North Pole on sledges, and then got down
to Franz Josef Land. I had seen nothing but drift-ice ;
and when people asked what it was like up there, and
how we knew we had been to the Pole, I had no answer
to give ; I had forgotten to take accurate observations,
and now began to feel that this had been stupid of me.
It is very curious that I had an exactly similar dream
when we were drifting on the ice-floes along the east
coast of Greenland, and thought that we were being
carried farther and farther from our destination. Then
1 dreamed that I had reached home after crossing
Greenland on the ice ; but that I was ashamed because I
could give no account of what I had seen on the way — I
had forgotten everything. Is there not a lucky omen in
the resemblance between these two dreams } I attained
334 Chapter VI.
my aim the first time, bad as things looked — shall I not
do so this time, too ? If I were superstitious I should
feel surer of it ; but even though I am not at all super-
stitious, I have a firm conviction that our enterprise
must be successful. This belief is not merely the result
of the two last days' south wind ; something within me
says that we shall succeed ; I laugh now at myself for
having been weak enough to doubt it. I can spend
hours staring into the light, dreaming of how, when we
land, I shall grope my way to the first telegraph station,
trembling with emotion and suspense. I write out tele-
gram after telegram ; I ask the clerk if he can give me
any news from home."
" Friday, January 19th. Splendid wind with velocity
of 13 to 29 feet per second ; we are going north at a
grand rate. The red, glowing twilight is now so bright
about midday, that, if we were in more southern latitudes,
we should expect to see the sun rise bright and glorious
above the horizon in a few minutes, but we shall have to
wait a month yet for that."
" Saturday, January 20th. I had about 600 lbs, of
pemmican and 200 lbs. of bread brought up from the
hold to-day, and stowed on the forecastle. It is wrong
not to have some provisions on deck against any sudden
emergency, such as fire.
"Sunday, January 21st. We took a long excursion
to the north-west ; the ice in that direction, too, was
tolerably flat. Sverdrup and I got on the top of a high
The Winter Night. 335
pressure mound at some distance from here. It was in
the centre of what had been very violent packing, but
all the same the wall at its highest was not over 1 7 feet,
and this was one of the highest and biggest altogether
that I have seen yet. An altitude of the moon taken
this evening showed us to be in 79° 35' N. lat. — exactly
whvat I had thought. We are so accustomed now to calcu-
lating our drift by the wind, that we are able to tell pretty
nearly where we are. This is a good step northwards, if
we could take many more such. In honour of the King's
birthday we have a treat of figs, raisins, and almonds.
"Tuesday, January 23rd. When I came on deck this
morning ' Caiaphas ' was sitting out on the ice on the
port quarter, barking incessantly to the east. I knew
there must be something there, and went off with a
revolver, Sverdrup following with one also. When I got
near the dog he came to meet me, always wriggling his
head round to the east and barking ; then he ran on before
us in that direction ; it was plain that there was some
animal there, and of course it could only be a bear. The
full moon stood low and red in the north, and sent its
feeble light obliquely across the broken ice-surface.
I looked out sharply in all directions over the hummocks,
which cast long, many-shaped shadows ; but I could
distinguish nothing in this confusion. We went on,
' Caiaphas ' first, growling and barking and pricking his
ears, and I after him, expecting every moment to see a
bear loom up in front of us. Our course was eastwards
33^ Chapter VI.
along the opening. The dog presently began to go
more cautiously and straighter forward ; then he stopped
making any noise except a low growl — we were evidently
drawing near. I mounted a hummock to look about,
and caught sight among the blocks of ice of something
dark, which seemed to be coming towards us. ' There
comes a black dog,' I called. * No, it is a bear,' said
Sverdrup, who was more to the side of it and could see
better. I saw now, too, that it was a large animal, and
that it had only been its head that I had taken for a
dog. It was not unlike a bear in its movements, but
it seemed to me remarkably dark in colour. I pulled
the revolver out of the holster and rushed forward to
empty all its barrels into the creature's head. When
I was just a few paces from it, and preparing to shoot, it
raised its head and I saw that it was a walrus, and that
same moment it threw itself sideways into the water.
There we stood. To shoot at such a fellow with a
revolver would be of as much use as squirting water at a
goose. The great black head showed again immediately
in a strip of moonlight on the dark water. The animal
took a long look at us, disappeared for a little,
appeared again nearer, bobbed up and down, blew, lay
with its head under water, shoved itself over towards us,
raised its head again. It was enough to drive one mad :
if we had only had a harpoon I could easily have stuck
it into its back. Yes, if we had had — and back to the
Frain we ran as fast as our legs would carry us, to get
The Winter Night. • 337
harpoon and rifle. But the harpoon and Hne were stored
away, and were not to be had at once ; who could
have guessed that they would be needed here ? The
harpoon point had to be sharpened, and all this took
time. And for all our searching afterwards east and
west along the opening, no walrus was to be found.
Goodness knows where it had gone, as there are hardly
any openings in the ice for a long distance round.
Sverdrup and I vainly fret over not having known at
once what kind of animal it was, for if we had only
guessed we should have him now. But who expects
to meet a walrus on close ice in the middle of a wild
sea of a thousand fathoms depth, and that in the heart
of winter ? None of us ever heard of such a thing
before ; it is a perfect mystery. As I thought we
might have come upon shoals or into the neighbour-
hood of land, I had soundings taken in the afternoon
with 130 fathoms (240 metres) of line, but no bottom
was found.
" By yesterday's observations we are in 79^41' N. lat.,
and 135° 29' E. long. That is good progress north,
and it does not much matter that we have been taken
a little west. The clouds are driving this evening
before a strong south wind, so we shall likely be going
before it soon too ; in the meantime there is a breeze
from the south, so slight that you hardly feel it.
" The opening on our stern lies almost east and west.
We could see no end to it westwards when we went
z
33^ Chapter VI.
after the walrus ; and Mogstad and Peter had gone three
miles east, and it was as broad as ever there.
"Wednesday, January 24th. At supper this evening
Peter told some of his remarkable Spitzbergen stories —
about his comrade Andreas Bek. 'Well, you see, it was
up about Dutchman's Island, or Amsterdam Island, that
Andreas Bek and I were on shore and got in among
all the graves. We thought we'd like to see what was
in them, so we broke up some of the coffins, and there
they lay. Some of them had still flesh on their jaws
and noses, and some of them still had their caps on their
heads. Andreas, he was a devil of a fellow, you see, and
he broke up the coffins and got hold of the skulls, and
rolled them about here and there. Some of them he set
up for targets and shot at. Then he wanted to see if
there was marrow left in their bones, so he took and
broke a thigh-bone — and, sure enough, there was marrow ;
he took and picked it out with a wooden pin.'
" * How could he do a thing like that ? '
" ' Oh, it was only a Dutchman, you know. But he
had a bad dream that night, had Andreas. All the dead
men came to fetch him, and he ran from them and got
right out on the bowsprit, and there he sat and yelled,
while the dead men stood on the forecastle. And
the one with his broken thigh-bone in his hand was
foremost, and he came crawling out, and wanted
Andreas to put it together again. But just then he
wakened. We were lying in the same berth, you see.
The Winter Night. 339
Andreas and me, and I sat up in the berth and
laughed, Hstening to him yelHng. I wouldn't waken
him, not I. I thought it was fun to hear him getting
paid out a little.'
" ' It was bad of you, Peter, to have any part in that
horrid plundering of dead bodies.'
" ' Oh, I never did anything to them, you know. Just
once I broke up a coffin to get wood to make a fire for
our coffee ; but when we opened it the body just fell to
pieces. But it was juicy wood, that, better to burn than
the best fir-roots — such a fire as it made ! '
" One of the others now remarked, ' Wasn't it the
devil that used a skull for his coffee-cup ?
'* ' Well, he hadn't anything else, you see, and he just
happened to find one. There was no harm in that, was
there ?
"Then Jacobsen began to hold forth: 'It's not
at all such an uncommon thing to use skulls for shooting
at, either because people fancy them for targets, or
because of some other reason ; they shoot in through
the eyeholes,' etc., etc.
"I asked Peter about ' Tobiesen's ' coffin — if it had
ever been dug up to find out if it was true that his
men had killed him and his son.
" ' No, that one has never been dug up.'
" ' I sailed past there last year,' begins Jacobsen,
again ; ' I didn't go ashore, but it seems to me that I
heard that it had been dug up.'
z 2
340 Chapcer VI.
" * That's just rubbish ; it has never been dug up.'
"'Well,' said I, * it seems to me that I've heard
something about it too ; I believe it was here on board,
and I am very much mistaken if it was not yourself
that said it, Peter.'
" ' No, I never said that. All I said was that a man
once struck a walrus spear through the coffin, and it's
sticking there yet.'
" ' What did he do that for ? '
" ' Oh ! just because he wanted to know if there was
anything in the coffin ; and yet he didn't want to open
it, you know. But let him lie in peace now.'
" Friday, January 26th. Peter and I went eastwards
along the opening this morning for about seven miles,
and we saw where it ends, in some old pressure ridges ;
its whole length is over seven miles. Movement in the
ice began on our way home ; indeed, there was pretty
strong pressure all the time. As we were walking on the
new ice in the opening, it rose in furrows or cracked
under our feet. Then it raised itself up into two high
walls, between which we walked as if along a street,
amidst unceasing noises, sometimes howling and whining
like a dog complaining of the cold, sometimes a roar like
the thunder of a great waterfall. We were often obliged
to take refuge on the old ice, either because we came to
open water with a confusion of floating blocks, or because
the line of the packing had gone straight across the
opening, and there was a wall in front of us like a high
The Winter Night. 341
frozen wave. It seemed as if the ice on the south side
of the opening where the Fram is lying, were moving
east, or else that on the north side was moving west ; for
the floes on the two sides slanted in towards each other
in these directions. We saw tracks of a little bear
which had trotted along the opening the day before.
Unfortunately it had gone off south-west, and we had small
hope, with this steady south wind, of its getting scent ot
the ship and coming to fetch a little of the flesh on board.
"Saturday, January 27th. The days are turning
distinctly lighter now. We can just see to read Verdens
Gang^ about midday. At that time to-day Sverdrup
thought he saw land far astern ; it was dark and irregular,
in some places high ; he fancied that it might be only an
appearance of clouds. When I returned from a walk,
about one o'clock, I went up to look, but saw only piled-
up ice. Perhaps this was the same as he saw, or possibly
I was too late. (It turned out next day to be only an
optical illusion.) Severe pressure has been going on this
evening. It began at 7.30 astern in the opening, and
went on steadily for two hours. It sounded as if a
roaring waterfall were rushing down upon us with a
force that nothing could resist. One heard the big floes
crashing and breaking against each other. They were
flung and pressed up into high walls, which must now
stretch along the whole opening east and west, for one
* A Norwegian newspaper.
342 Chapter VI.
hears the roar the whole way. It is coming nearer just
now ; the ship is getting violent shocks ; it is like waves
in the ice. They come on us from behind, and move
forward. We stare out into the night, but can see
nothing, for it is pitch-dark. Now I hear cracking and
shifting in the hummock on the starboard quarter ; it
gets louder and stronger, and extends steadily. At last
the waterfall roar abates a little. It becomes more
unequal ; there is a longer interval between each shock.
I am so cold that I creep below.
" But no sooner have I seated myself to write,
than the ship begins to heave and tremble again, and I
hear through her sides the roar of the packing. As the
bear-trap may be in danger, three men go off to see to
it, but they find that there is a distance of 50 paces
between the new pressure-ridge and the wire by which the
trap is secured, so they leave it as it is. The pressure-
ridge was an ugly sight, they say, but they could
distinguish nothing well in the dark.
" Most violent pressure is beginning again. I must go
on deck and look at it. The loud roar meets one as one
opens the door. It is coming from the bow now, as well
as from the stern. It is clear that pressure-ridges are
being thrown up in both openings, so if they reach us
we shall be taken by both ends and lifted lightly and
gently out of the water. There is pressure near us
on all sides. Creaking has begun in the old hummock
on the port quarter ; it is getting louder, and, so far
The Winter Night.
o^^
as I can see, the hummock is slowly rising. A lane
has opened right across the large floe on the port
side ; you can see the water, dark as it is. Now both
pressure and noise get worse and worse ; the ship
shakes, and I feel as if I myself were being gently
lifted with the stern-rail, where I stand gazing out at
the welter of ice-masses, that resemble giant snakes
writhing and twisting their great bodies out there
under the quiet, starry sky, whose peace is only broken
by one aurora serpent waving and flickering restlessly
in the north-east. I once more think what a comfort,
it is to be safe on board the Fram, and look out with
a certain contempt at the horrible hurly-burly nature
is raising to no purpose whatever ; it will not crush
us in a hurry, nor even frighten us. Suddenly I
remember that my fine thermometer is in a hole on
a floe to port on the other side of the openings and
must certainly be in danger. I jump on to the ice,
find a place where I can leap across the opening, and
grope about in the dark until I find the piece of ice
covering the hole ; I get hold of the string, and the
thermometer is saved. I hurry on board again well
pleased, and down into my comfortable cabin to smoke
a pipe of peace — alas ! this vice grows upon me more
and more — and to listen with glee to the roar of the
pressure outside and feel its shakings, like so many
earthquakes, as I sit and write my diary. Safe and
comfortable, I cannot but think with deep pity of the
344 Chapter VI.
many who have had to stand by on deck in readiness
to leave their frail vessels on the occurrence of any such
pressure. The poor Tegethoff fellows — they had a bad
time of it, and yet theirs was a good ship in comparison
with many of the others. It is now 11.30, and the
noise outside seems to be subsiding.
"It is remarkable that we should have this strong
pressure just now, with the moon in its last quarter and
neap tide. This does not agree with our previous
experiences ; no more does the fact that the pressure the
day before yesterday was from 12 a.m. to about 2 p.m.,
and then again at 2 a.m., and now we have had it from
7.30 to 10.30 p.m. Can land have something to do with
it here after all ? The temperature to-day is 42° F. below
zero ( — 41 '4° C), but there is no wind, and we have not
had such pleasant weather for walking for a long time ; it
feels almost mild here when the air is still.
" No, that was not the end of the pressure. When I
was on deck at a quarter to twelve, roaring and trembling
began again in the ice forward on the port quarter ;
then suddenly came one loud boom after another,
sounding out in the distance, and the ship gave a start ;
there was again a little pressure, and after that quietness.
Faint aurora borealis.
" Sunday, January 28th. Strange to say, there has
been no pressure since 12 o'clock last night; the ice
seems perfectly quiet. The pressure-ridge astern showed
what violent packing yesterday's was ; in one place its
The Winter Night. 345
height was 18 or 19 feet above the surface of the water ;
floe-ice 8 feet thick was broken, pressed up in square
blocks, and crushed to pieces. At one point a huge
monoHth of such floe-ice rose high into the air. Beyond
this pressure-wall there was no great disturbance to be
detected. There had been a little packing here and there,
and the floe to port had four or five large cracks across
it, which no doubt accounted for the explosions I heard
last night. The ice to starboard was also cracked in
several places. The pressure had evidently come from
the north or N.N.E. The ridge behind us is one of the
highest I have seen yet. I believe that if the Fram had
been lying there she would have been lifted right out of
the water. I walked for some distance in a north-
easterly direction, but saw no signs of pressure there.
" Another Sunday. It is wonderful that the time can
pass so quickly as it does. For one thing, we are in
better spirits, knowing that we are drifting steadily north.
A rough estimate of to-day's observation gives 79° 50'
N. lat. That is not much since Monday ; but then
yesterday and to-day there has been almost no wind at
all, and the other days it has been very light, only once
or twice with as much as 9 feet velocity, the rest of
the time 3 and 6.
" A remarkable event happened yesterday afternoon :
I got Munthe's picture of the * Three Princesses '
fastened firmly on the wall. It is a thing that we have
been going to do ever since we left Christiania, but we
346 Chapter VI.
have nev^er been able to summon up energy for such a
heavy undertaking — it meant knocking in four nails —
and the picture has amused itself by constantly falling
and guillotining whoever happened to be sitting on the
sofa below it.
"Tuesday, January 30th. 79° 49' N. lat.. 134° 57' E.
long., is the tale told by this afternoon's observations,
while by Sunday afternoon's we were in 79° 50' N. lat.,
and 133° 23' E. long. This fall-off to the south-east
again was not more than I had expected, as it has been
almost calm since Sunday. I explain the thing to my-
self thus : When the ice has been set adrift in a certain
direction by the wind blowing that way for some time, it
gradually in process of drifting becomes more com-
pressed, and when that wind dies away, a reaction in the
opposite direction takes place. Such a reaction must, I
believe, have been the cause of Saturday's pressure,
which stopped entirely as suddenly as it began. Since
then there has not been the slightest appearance ot
movement in the ice. Probably the pressure indicates the
time when the drift turned. A light breeze has sprung
up this afternoon from S.E. and E.S.E., increasing
gradually to almost ' mill wind.' We are going north
again ; surely we shall get the better of the 80th degree
this time.
"Wednesday, January 31st. The wind is whistling
among the hummocks ; the snow flies rustling through
the air ; ice and sky are melted into one. It is dark ; our
The Winter Night. 347
skins are smarting with the cold ; but we are going north
at full speed, and are in the wildest of gay spirits.
"Thursday, February ist. The same sort of weather
as yesterday, except that it has turned quite mild — 7^° F.
below zero ( — 22° C). The snow is falling exactly as
it does in winter weather at home. The wind is more
southerly, S.S.E. now, and rather lighter. It may be
taken for granted that we have passed the 80th degree,
and we had a small preliminary f^te this evening — figs,
raisins, and almonds — and dart-shooting, which last
resulted for me in a timely replenishment of my cigarette
case.
" Friday, February 2nd. High festival to-day in
honour of the 80th degree, beginning with fresh rye-
bread and cake for breakfast. Took a long walk to get
up an appetite for dinner. According to this morning's
observation, we are in 80° 10' N. lat. and 132° 10' E.
long. Hurrah ! Well sailed ! I had offered to bet
heavily that we had passed 80°, but no one would
take the bet. Dinner menu : — Ox-tail soup, fish
pudding, potatoes, rissoles, green peas, haricot beans,
cloudberries with milk, and a whole bottle of beer to
each man. Coffee and a cigarette after dinner. Could
one wish for more ? In the evening we had tinned
pears and peaches, gingerbread, dried bananas, figs,
raisins, and almonds. Complete holiday all day. We
read aloud the discussions of this expedition published
before we left, and had some good laughs at the many
34^ Chapter VI.
objections raised. But our people at home, perhaps,
do not laugh if they read them now.
" Monday, February 5th. Last time we shall have
Ringnes beer at dinner. Day of mourning.
" Tuesday, February 6th. Calm, clear weather. A
strong sun-glow above the horizon in the south ; yellow,
green, and light blue above that ; all the rest of the sky
deep ultramarine, I stood looking at it, trying to
remember if the Italian sky was ever bluer ; I do not
think so. It is curious that this deep colour should
always occur along with cold. Is it perhaps that a
current from more northerly, clear regions produces
drier and more transparent air in the upper strata ?
The colour was so remarkable to-day that one could
not help noticing it. Striking contrasts to it were
formed by the Frams red deck-house and the white
snow on roof and rigging. Ice and hummocks were
quite violet wherever they were turned from the day-
light. This colour was specially strong over the fields
of snow upon the floes. The temperature has been 52° F.
and 54° F. below zero (— 47° and — 48° C). There is
a sudden change of 125° F. when one comes up from
the saloon, where the thermometer is at 72° F. (+ 22° C.) ;
but, although thinly clad and bareheaded, one does not
feel it cold, and can even with impunity take hold of
the brass door-handle or the steel cable of the rigging.
The cold is visible, however ; one's breath is like
cannon smoke before it is out of one's mouth ; and
The Winter Night. 349
when a man spits there is quite a little cloud of steam
round the fallen moisture. The Fram always gives off
a mist, which is carried along by the wind, and a man
or a dog can be detected far off among the hummocks
or pressure-ridges by the pillar of vapour that follows
his progress.
" Wednesday, February 7th. It is extraordinary
what a frail thing hope, or rather the mind of man, is.
There was a little breeze this morning from the N.N.E.,
only 6 feet per second, thermometer at 57° F. below zero
( — 49 "6° C), and immediately one's brow is clouded
over, and it becomes a matter of indifference how we get
home, so long as we only get home soon. I immediately
assume land to the northward from which come these
cold winds, with clear atmosphere and frost and bright
blue skies, and conclude that this extensive tract ot
land must form a pole of cold with a constant maximum
of air pressure, which will force us south with north-
east winds. About midday the air began to grow
more hazy, and my mood less gloomy. No doubt
there is a south wind coming, but the temperature is
still too low for it. Then the temperature, too, rises,
and now we can rely on the wind. And this evening it
came, sure enough, from S.S.W., and now, 12 p.m., its
velocity is 1 1 feet, and the temperature has risen to
43° F. below zero ( — 42° C). This promises well. We
should soon reach 81° The land to the northward has
now vanished from my mind's eye.
350 Chapter VI.
" We had lime-juice with sugar at dinner to-day instead
of beer, and it seemed to be approved of. We call it
wine, and we agreed that it was better than cider.
Weighing has gone on this evening, and the increase in
certain cases is still disquieting. Some have gained as
much as 4 pounds in the last month, for instance, Sverdrup,
Blessing, and Juell, who beats the record on board with
1 3 stone. * I never weighed so much as I do now,' says
Blessing, and it is much the same story with us all.
Yes, this is a fatiguing expedition, but our menus are
always in due proportion to our labours. To-day's
dinner : Knorr's bean soup, toad-in-the-hole, potatoes,
rice, and milk with cranberry jam. Yesterday's dinner :
Fish au grathi (hashed fish) with potatoes, curried rabbit
with potatoes and French beans, stewed bilberries, and
cranberries with milk. At breakfast yesterday we had
freshly baked wheat-bread, at breakfast to-day freshly
baked rye-bread. These are specimens of our ordinary
bills of fare. It is as I expected : I hear the wind roar-
ing in the rigging now ; it is going to be a regular storm,
according to our ideas of one here.
" Saturday, February loth. Though that wind the
other day did not come to much after all, we still hoped
that we had made good way north, and it was
consequently an unwelcome surprise when yesterday's
observation showed our latitude to be 79"^ 57' N., 13'
farther south instead of farther north. It is extra-
ordinary how little inured one gets to disappointments ;
The Winter Night. 351
the longing begins again ; and again attainment seems so
far off, so doubtful. And this though I dream at nights
just now of getting out of the ice west of Iceland. Hope
is a rickety craft to trust oneself to. I had a long,
successful drive with the dogs to-day.
"Sunday, February nth. To-day we drove out with
two teams of dogs. Things went well ; the sledges got
on much better over this ice than I thought they would.
They do not sink much in the snow. On flat ice four
dogs can draw two men.
" Tuesday, February 13th. A long drive south-west
yesterday with white dogs. To-day still farther in the
same direction on snow-shoes. It is good healthy
exercise, with a temperature of 43° F. to 47° F. below zero
( — 42^ and — 44° C.) and a biting north wind. Nature is
so fair and pure, the ice is so spotless, and the lights and
shadows of the growing day so beautiful on the new-
fallen snow. The Franis hoar-frost-covered rigging
rises straight and white with rime towards the spark-
ling blue sky. One's thoughts turn to the snow-
shoeing days at home.
"Thursday, February 15th. I went yesterday on
snow-shoes farther north-east than I have ever been
before, but I could still see the ship's rigging above
the edge of the ice. I was able to go fast, because
the ice was flat in that direction. To-day I went the
same way with dogs. I am examining the * lie of the
land ' all round, and thinking of plans for the future.
352 Chapter VI.
** What exaggerated reports of the Arctic cold are in
circulation ! It was cold in Greenland, and it is not
milder here; the general day temperature just now is about
40° F. and 43° F. below zero. I was clothed yesterday
as usual as regards the legs — drawers, knickerbockers,
stockings, frieze leggings, snow - socks, and moccasins ;
my body covering consisted of an ordinary shirt, a wolf-
skin cape, and a sealskin jacket, and I sweated like a
horse. To-day I sat still, driving with only thin ducks
above my ordinary leg wear, and on my body woollen
shirt, vest, Iceland woollen jersey, a frieze coat, and a
sealskin one. I found the temperature quite pleasant,
and even perspired a little to-day, too. Both yesterday
and to-day I had a red flannel mask on my face, but
it made me too warm, and I had to take it off, though
there was a bitter breeze from the north. That north
wind is still persistent, sometimes with a velocity of 9
or even 13 feet, but yet we do not seem to be drifting
south ; we lie in 80° N. lat, or even a few minutes
farther north. What can be the reason of this ? There
is a little pressure every day just now. Curious that it
should again occur at the moon's change of quarter.
The moon stands high in the sky, and there is daylight
now, too. Soon the sun will be making his appearance,
and wh(in he does we shall hold high festival.
"Friday, February i6th. Hurrah! A meridian
observation to-day shows 80° i' N. lat., so that we have
come a few minutes north since last Friday, and that in
The Winter Night. 353
spite of constant northerly winds since Monday. There
is something very singular about this. Is it, as I have
thought all along from the appearance of the clouds and
the haziness of the air, that there has been south wind in
the south, preventing the drift of the ice that way, or
have we at last come under the influence of a current ?
That shove we got to the south lately in the face of
southerly winds was a remarkable thing, and so is our
remaining where we are now in spite of the northerly
ones. It would seem that new powers of some kind
must be at work.
"To-day another noteworthy thing happened, which
was that about midday we saw the sun, or, to be more
correct, an image of the sun, for it was only a mirage.
A peculiar impression was produced by the sight of
that glowing fire lit just above the outermost edge of
the ice. According to the enthusiastic descriptions
given by many Arctic travellers of the first appearance
of this god of life after the long winter night, the
impression ought to be one of jubilant excitement ; but
it was not so in my case. We had not expected to see
it for some days yet, so that my feeling was rather one
of pain, of disappointment, that we must have drifted
farther south than we thought. So it was with pleasure
I soon discovered that it could not be the sun itself.
The mirage was at first like a flattened-out glowing red
streak of fire on the horizon ; later there were two
streaks, the one above the other, with a dark space
2 A
354 Chapter VI.
between ; and from the main top I could see four, or
even five such horizontal lines directly over one another,
and all of equal length ; as if one could only imagine
a square dull-red sun with horizontal dark streaks across
it. An astronomical observation we took in the after-
noon showed that the sun must in reality have been
2° 22' below the horizon at noon ; we cannot expect to
see its disc above the ice before Tuesday at the earliest :
it depends on the refraction, which is very strong in this
cold air. All the same, we had a small sun-festival
this evening, on the occasion of the appearance of its
image — a treat of figs, bananas, raisins, almonds, and
gingerbread.
''Sunday, February 18th. I went eastwards yester-
day on snow-shoes, and found a good snow-shoeing and
driving road out to the flats that lie in that direction.
There is a pretty bad bit first, with hummocks and
pressure-ridges, and then you come out on these great
wide plains, which seem to extend for miles and miles to
the north, east, and south-east. To-day I drove out
there with eight dogs ; the driving goes capitally now ;
some of the others followed on snow-shoes. Still
northerly wind. This is slow work ; but anyhow we are
having clear, bright weather. Yes, it is all very well —
we snow-shoe, sledge, read both for instruction and
amusement, write, take observations, play cards, chat,
smoke, play chess, eat and drink ; but all the same it is
an execrable life in the long run, this — at least, so it
The Winter Night. 355
seems to me at times. When I look at the picture of
our beautiful home in the evening light, with my
wife standing in the garden, I feel as if it were
impossible that this could go on much longer. But
only the merciless fates know when we shall stand
there together again, feeling all life's sweetness as
we look out over the smiling fjord, and
Taking everything into calculation, if I am to be
perfectly honest, I think this is a wretched state of
matters. We are now in about 80° N. lat., in
September we were in 79° ; that is, let us say, one
degree for five months. If we go on at this rate we
shall be at the Pole in forty-five, or say fifty, months,
and in ninety or one hundred months at 80° N. lat.
on the other side of it, with probably some prospect
of getting out of the ice and home in a month or two
more. At best, if things go on as they are doing now,
we shall be home in eight years. I remember Brogger
writing before I left, when I was planting small bushes
and trees in the garden for future generations, that no
one knew what length of shadow these trees would cast
by the time I came back. Well, they are lying under the
winter snow now, but in spring they will shoot and
grow again — how often ? Oh ! at times this inactivity
crushes one's very soul ; one's life seems as dark as
the winter night outside ; there is sunlight upon no
part of it except the past and the far, far distant
future. I feel as if I must break through this dead-
2 A 2
356 Chapter VI.
ness, this inertia, and find some outlet for my energies.
Can't something happen ? Could not a hurricane come
and tear up this ice, and set it rolling in high waves
like the open sea ? Welcome danger, if it only brings
us the chance of fighting for our lives — only lets us
move onwards ! The miserable thing is to be inactive
onlookers, not to be able to lift a hand to help our-
selves forwards. It wants ten times more strength of
mind to sit still and trust in your theories and let
nature work them out without your being able so
much as to lay one stick across another to help,
than it does to trust in working them out by
your own energy — that is nothing when you have
a pair of strong arms. Here I sit, whining like an
old woman. Did I not know all this before I started ?
Things have not gone worse than I expected, but on the
contrary, rather better. Where is now the serene hope-
fulness that spread itself in the daylight and the sun ?
Where are these proud imaginings now that mounted
like young eagles towards the brightness of the future ?
Like broken-winged, wet crows they leave the sun-lit
sea, and hide themselves in the misty marshes of
despondency. Perhaps it will all come back again with
the south wind ; but no — I must go and rummage up one
of the old philosophers again.
" There is a little pressure this evening, and an observa-
tion just taken seems to indicate a drift of 3' south.
"II p.m. Pressure in the opening astern. The ice
The Winter Night. 357
is cracking and squeezing against the ship, making it
shake.
"Monday, February 19th. Once more it may be said
that the night is darkest just before the dawn. Wind
began to blow from the south to-day, and has reached a
velocity of 13 feet per second. We did some ice-
boring this morning, and found that the ice to port is
5 feet I if inches (i'875 metres) thick, with a layer of
about i^ inches of snow over it. The ice forward was
6 feet 7^ inches (2*08 metres) thick, but a couple of
inches of this was snow. This cannot be called much
growth for quite a month, when one thinks that the
temperature has been down to 58° F. below zero.
'' Both to-day and yesterday we have seen the mirage
of the sun again ; to-day it was high above the horizon,
and almost seemed to assume a round, disc-like form.
Some of the others maintain that they have seen the
upper edge of the sun itself ; Peter and Bentzen that
they have seen at least half of the disc and Juell and
Hansen declare that the whole of it was above the
horizon. I am afraid it is so long since they saw it that
they have forgotten what it is like.
"Tuesday, February 20th. Great sun festival to-day
without any sun. We felt certain we should see it, but
there were clouds on the horizon. However we were
not going to be cheated out of our festival ; we can hold
another on the occasion of really seeing it for the first
time. We began with a grand rifle practice in the
358 Chapter VI.
morning ; then there was a dinner of three or four
courses and ' Fram wine/ otherwise Hme-juice, coffee
afterwards with ' Fram cake.' In the evening pine apple,
cake, figs, bananas, and sweets. We go off to bed
feehng that we have over-eaten ourselves, while half a
gale from the S.E. is blowing us northwards. The mill
has been going to-day, and though the real sun did not
come to the festival^ our saloon sun lighted up our table
both at dinner and supper. Great face-washing in
honour of the day. The way we are laying on flesh is
getting serious. Several of us are like prize pigs, and
the bulge of cook Juell's cheeks, not to mention another
part of his body, is quite alarming. I saw him in profile
to-day, and wondered how he would ever manage to
carry such a corporation over the ice if we should have
to turn out one of these fine days. Must begin to
think of a course of short rations now.
"Wednesday, February 21st. The south wind con-
tinues. Took up the bag-nets to-day which were put
out the day before yesterday. In the upper one, which
hung near the surface, there were chiefly amphipodae ;
in Murray's net, which hung at about 50 fathoms depth,
there was a variety of small crustaceae and other small
animals shining with such a strong phosphorescence that
the contents of the net looked like glowing embers as I
emptied them out in the cook's galley by lamplight.
To my astonishment the net-line pointed north-west,
though from the wind there ought to be a good northerly
The Winter Night. 359
drift. To clear this matter up I let the net down in the
afternoon, and as soon as it got a little way under the
ice the line pointed north-west again, and continued to
do so the whole afternoon. How is this phenomenon
to be explained ? Can we after all be in a current
moving north-west .'* Let us hope that the future will
prove such to be the case. We can reckon on two
points of variation in the compass, and in that case the
current would make due N.N.W. There seems to be
strong movement in the ice. It has opened and formed
channels in several places."
" Thursday, February 22nd. The net-line has pointed
west all day till now, afternoon, when it is pointing
straight up and down, and we are presumably lying still.
The wind slackened to-day till it was quite calm in the
afternoon. Then there came a faint breeze from the
south-west and from the west, and this evening the long-
dreaded north-wester has come at last. At 9 p.m. it is
blowing pretty hard from N.N.W. An observation of
Capella taken in the afternoon would seem to show that
we are in any case not farther north than 80° 11', and
this after almost four days' south wind. Whatever can
be the meaning of this.-* Is there dead-water under the
ice keeping it from going either forwards or backwards ?
The ice to starboard cracked yesterday, away beyond the
bear trap. The thickness of the solid floe was 11^ feet
(3*45° metres), but beside this other ice was packed on
to it below. Where it was broken across, the floe
360 Chapter VI.
showed a marked stratified formation, recalling the
stratification of a glacier. Even the darker and dirtier
strata were there, the colour in this case produced by the
brownish-red organisms that inhabit the water, specimens
of which I found at an earlier date. In several places
the strata were bent and broken, exactly in the same
manner as the geological strata forming the earth's crust.
This was evidently the result of the horizontal pressure
in the ice at the time of packing. It was especially
noticeable at one place, near a huge mound formed
during the last pressure. Here the strata looked very
much as they are represented in annexed drawing.*
It was extraordinary too to see how this floe of over
three yards in thickness was bent into great waves
without breaking. This was clearly done by pressure
and was specially noticeable more particularly near the
pressure-ridges, which had forced the floe down so that
its upper surface lay even with the water-line, whilst at
other places it was a good half-yard above it, in these last
cases thrust up by ice pressed in below. It all shows
how extremely plastic these floes are, in spite of the cold;
the temperature of the ice near the surface must have
been from 4" F. to 22° F. below zero(— 20° to — 30^ C.)
at the time of these pressures. In many places the
bending had been too violent, and the floe had cracked.
* In spite of this bending of the strata, the surface of the ice and
snow remained even.
II Sr A. ;'i.A.,NCK OF THE SUN.
ICE STRATIFICATION.
The Winter Night. 361
The cracks were often covered with loose ice, so that
one could easily enough fall into them, just as in
crossing a dangerous glacier.
"Saturday, February 24th. Observations to-day
show us to be in 79° 54' N. lat., 132° 57' E. long.
Strange that we should have come so far south when
the north or north-west wind only blew for twenty-four
hours.
"Sunday, February 25th. It looks as if the ice were
drifting eastwards now. Oh ! I see pictures of summer
and green trees and rippling streams. I am reading
of valley and mountain life, and I grow sick at heart
and enervated. Why dwell on such things just now ?
It will be many a long day before we can see all that
again. We are going at the miserable pace of a snail,
but not so surely as it goes. We carry our house with
us ; but what we do one day is undone the next.
" Monday, February 26th. We are drifting north-
■east. A tremendous snowstorm is going on. The wind
has at times a velocity of over 35 feet per second ;
it is howling in the rigging, whistling over the ice,
and the snow is drifting so badly that a man might
be lost in it quite near at hand. We are sitting here
listening to the howling in the chimney, and in the
ventilators, just as if we were sitting in a house at
liome in Norway. The wings of the windmill have
been going round at such a rate that you could hardly
distinguish them ; but we have had to stop the mill
J
62 Chapter VI.
this evening because the accumulators are full, and we
fastened up the wings, so that the wind might not
destroy them. We have had electric light for almost
a week now.
" This is the strong-est wind we have had the whole
winter. If anything can shake up the ice and drive
us north, this must do it. But the barometer is falling
too fast ; there will be north wind again presently.
Hope has been disappointed too often ; it is no longer
elastic ; and the gale makes no great impression on me.
I look forward to spring and summer, in suspense as to-
what change they will bring. But the Arctic night,
the dreaded Arctic night, is over, and we have daylight
once again. I must say that I see no appearance of
the sunken, wasted faces which this night ought to have
produced ; in the clearest daylight and the brightest
sunshine, I can only discover plump, comfortable-looking
ones. It is curious enough though about the light.
We used to think it was like real day down here when
the incandescent lamps were burning, but now, coming
down from the daylight, though they may be all lit, it
is like coming into a cellar. When the arc lamp has
been burning all day, as it has to-day, and is then put
out and its place supplied by the incandescent ones^
the effect is much the same."
"Tuesday, February 27th. Drifting E.S.E. My
pessimism is justified. A strong west wind has blown
almost all clay ; the barometer is low, but has begun to
The Winter Night. 363
rise unsteadily. The temperature is the highest we
have had all winter ; to-day's maximum is 1 5° F. above
zero (— 97° C). At 8 p.m. the thermometer stood at
7° F. below zero ( — 22° C). The temperature rises and
falls almost exactly conversely with the barometer.
This afternoon's observation places us in about 80° lO*^
N. lat."
"Wednesday, February 28th. Beautiful weather
to-day, almost still, and temperature only about 15° F.
to 22° F. below zero (— 26° to — 30° 5' C). There were
clouds in the south, so that not much was to be seea
of the sun ; but it is light wonderfully long already.
Sverdrup and I went snow-shoeing after dinner — the
first time this year that we have been able to do
anything of the kind in the afternoon. W^e made
attempts to pump yesterday and to-day ; there ought
to be a little water, but the pump would not suck,,
though we tried both warm water and salt. Possibly
there is water frozen round it, and possibly there is no-
water at all. In the engine-room there has been no
appearance of water for more than a month, and none
comes into the forehold, especially now that the bow is-
raised up by the pack-ice ; so if there is any it can
only be a little in the hold. This tightening may be
attributed chiefly to the frost.
" The wind has begun to blow again from the S.S.W.
this evening, and the barometer is falling, which ought
to mean good wind coming ; but the barometer of
364 Chapter VI.
hope does not rise above its normal height. I had a
bath this evening in a tin tub in the galley ; trimmed
and clean, one feels more of a human being."
"Thursday, March ist. We are lying almost still.
Beautiful mild weather, only 2^° F. below zero ( — 19° C),
sky overcast ; light fall of snow, and light wind. We
made attempts to sound to-day, having lengthened our
hemp line with a single strand of steel. This broke off
with the lead. We put on a new lead and the whole
line ran out, about 2,000 fathoms, without touching
bottom, so far as we could make out. In process of
hauling in, the steel line broke again. So the results
are : no bottom, and two sounding leads, each of
100 lbs. weight, making their way down. Goodness
knows if they have reached the bottom yet. I declare
I feel inclined to believe that Bentzen is right, and
that it is the hole at the earth's axis we are trying to
sound."
" Friday, March 2nd. The pups have lived until now
in the chart-room, and have done all the mischief there
that they could, gnawing the cases of Hansen's instru-
ments, the log-books, etc. They were taken out on deck
yesterday for the first time, and to-day they have been
there all the morning. They are of an enquiring turn of
mind, and examine everything, being specially interested
in the interiors of all the kennels in this new large town."
" Sunday, March 4th. The drift is still strong south.
There is north-westerly wind to-day again, but not quite
c
JOHANSEN READING THE ANEMOMETER.
The Winter Night. 365
so much of it. I expected we had come a long way
south, but yesterday's observation still shows 79° 54' N.
lat. We must have drifted a good way north during the
last days before this wind came. The weather yesterday
and to-day has been bitter, 35° F. and 36 J° F. below zero
( — 37° and — 38° C), with sometimes as much as 35 feet of
wind per second must be called cool. It is curious that
now the northerly winds bring cold, and the southerly
warmth. Earlier in the winter it was just the opposite.
" Monday, March 5th. Sverdrup and I have been a
long way north-east on snow-shoes. The ice was in good
condition for it ; the wind has tossed about the snow,
finely, covering over the pressure-ridge, as far as the
scanty supply of material has permitted.
''Tuesday, March 6th. No drift at all. It has been a
bitter day to-day, 47° F. to 50° F. below zero ( — 44° to
— 46° C), and wind up to 19 feet. This has been a good
occasion for getting hands and face frost-bitten, and one
or two have taken advantage of it. Steady north-west
wind. I am beginning to get indifferent and stolid as
far as the wind is concerned. I photographed Johansen
to-day at the anemometer, and during the process his
nose was frost-bitten.
" There has been a general weighing this evening again.
These weighings are considered very interesting per-
formances, and we stand watching in suspense to see
whether each man has gained or lost. Most of them
have lost a little this time. Can it be because we have
o
66 Chapter VI.
stopped drinking beer, and begun lime-juice ? But Juell
goes on indefatigably — he has gained nearly a pound
this time. Our doctor generally does very well in this
line too, but to-day it is only lo oz. In other ways he is
badly off on board, poor fellow — not a soul will turn ill.
In despair he set up a headache yesterday himself, but
he could not make it last over the night. Of late he has
taken to studying the diseases of dogs ; perhaps he may
find a more profitable practice in this department.
"Thursday, March 8th. Drifting south. Sverdrup
and I had a good snow-shoeing trip to-day, to the north
and west. The snow was in splendid condition after the
winds ; you fly along like thistledown before a breeze,
and can get about everywhere, even over the worst
pressure-mounds. The weather was beautiful, tempera-
ture only 38° F. below zero ( — 39° C.) ; but this evening
it is quite bitter again, 55° F. ( — 48*5° C.) and from 16
to 26 feet of wind. It is by no means pleasant work
standing up on the windmill, reefing or taking in the
sails ; it means aching nails, and sometimes frost-bitten
cheeks ; but it has to be done, and it is done. There is
plenty of * mill-wind ' in the daytime now — this is the
third week we have had electric light — but it is wretched
that it should be always this north and north-west wind ;
goodness only knows when it is going to stop. Can
there be land north of us ? We are drifting badly south.
It is hard to keep one's faith alive. There is nothing for
it but to wait and see what time will do.
The Winter Night. 367
" After a long rest the ship got a shake this afternoon.
1 went on deck. Pressure was going on in an opening
just in front of the bow. We might almost have expected
it just now, as it is new moon ; only we have got out of
the way of thinking at all about the spring tides, as they
have had so little effect lately. They should of course
be specially strong just now, as the equinox is approach-
ing.
*' Friday, March 9th. The net line pointed slightly
south-west this morning ; but the line attached to a
cheese which was only hanging a few fathoms below the
ice to thaw faster, seemed to point in the opposite
direction. Had we got a southerly current together with
the wind now ? H'm ! in that case something must
come of it ! Or was it, perhaps, only the tide setting
that way ?
" Still the same northerly wind ; we are steadily
bearing south. This, then, is the change I hoped the
March equinox would bring ! We have been having
northerly winds for more than a fortnight. I cannot
conceal from myself any longer that I am beginning
to despond. Quietly and slowly, but mercilessly, one
hope after the other is being crushed and .... have
I not a right to be a little despondent ? I long
unutterably after home, perhaps I am drifting away
farther from it, perhaps nearer ; but anyhow it is not
cheering to see the realisation of one's plans again and
again delayed, if not annihilated altogether, in this
368 Chapter VI.
tedious and monotonously killing way. Nature goes
her age-old round impassively ; summer changes into
winter ; spring vanishes away, autumn comes, and finds
us still a mere chaotic whirl of daring projects and
shattered hopes. As the wheel revolves, now the one
and now the other comes to the top — but memory
betweenwhiles lightly touches her ringing silver chords —
now loud like a roaring waterfall, now low and soft like
far off sweet music. I stand and look out over this
desolate expanse of ice with its plains and heights and
valleys, formed by the pressure arising from the shifting
tidal currents of winter. The sun is now shining over
them with his cheering beams. In the middle lies the
Fram, hemmed in immovably. When, my proud ship, will
you float free in the open water again .'*
" Ich schau dich an, und Wehmuth,
Schleicht mir in's Herz hinein."
Over these masses of ice, drifting by paths unknown, a
human being pondered and brooded so long that he put
a whole people in motion to enable him to force his way in
among them — a people who had plenty of other claims
upon their energies. For what purpose all this to do ?
If only the calculations were correct, these ice-floes
would be glorious, nay irresistible auxiliaries. But if
there has been an error in the calculation — well, in that
case they are not so pleasant to deal with. And how
The Winter Night. 369
often does a calculation come out correct ? But were I
now free ? Why, I should do it all over again, from the
same starting-point. One must persevere till one learns
to calculate correctly.
"I laugh at the scurvy; no sanatorium better than ours,
" I laugh at the ice ; we are living as it were in an
impregnable castle.
" I laugh at the cold ; it is nothing.
" But I do not laugh at the winds; they are everything ;
they bend to no man's will.
" But why always worry about the future ? Why
distress yourself as to whether you are drifting forwards
or backwards ? Why not carelessly let the days
glide by like a peacefully flowing river ? every now
and then there will come a rapid that will quicken the
lazy flow. Ah ! what a wondrous contrivance is life —
one eternal hurrying forwards, ever forwards — to what
end ? And then comes death and cuts all short before
the goal is reached.
" I went a long snow-shoe tour to-day. A little way to
the north there were a good many newly-formed lanes and
pressure-ridges which were hard to cross, but patience
overcomes everything, and I soon reached a level plain
where it was delightful going. It was, however, rather
cold, about 54° F. below zero (—48° C.) and 16 feet of wind
from N.N.E., but I did not feel it much. It is wholesome
and enjoyable to be out in such weather. I wore only"
ordinary clothes such as I might wear at home with a
2 li
3/0 Chapter VI.
sealskin jacket and linen outside breeches, and a half-
mask to protect the forehead, nose, and cheeks.
" There has been a good deal of ice-pressure in
different directions to-day. Oddly enough, a meridian
altitude of the sun gave 79° 45'. We have there-
fore drifted only 8' southwards during the four days
since March 4th. This slow drift is remarkable in
spite of the high winds. If there should be land to
the north ? I begin more and more to speculate on
this possibility. Land to the north would explain at
once our not progressing northwards, and the slowness of
our southward drift. But it may also possibly arise from
the fact of the ice being so closely packed together,
and frozen so thick and massive. It seems strange to
me that there is so much north-west wind, and hardly
any from the north-east, though the latter is what
the rotation of the earth would lead one to expect.
As a matter of fact, the wind merely shifts between
north-west and south-east, instead of between south-
west and north-east, as it ought to do. Unless there
is land I am at a loss to find a satisfactory explanation,
at all events, of this north-west direction. Does Franz
Josef Land jut out eastwards or northwards, or does
a continuous line of islands extend from Franz Josef
Land in one or other of those directions .'* It is by no
means impossible. Directly the Austrians got far enough
to the north they met with prevailing winds from the
north-east, while we get north-westerly winds. Does
The Winter Night. 371
the central point of these masses of land lie to the north,
midway between our meridian and theirs ? I can hardly
believe that these remarkably cold winds from the
north are engendered by merely passing over an ice-
covered sea. If, indeed, there is land, and we get hold
of it, then all our troubles would be over. But no one
can tell what the future may bring forth, and it is
better, perhaps, not to know.
"Saturday, March 10. The line shows a drift north-
wards ; now, too, in the afternoon, a slight southerly
breeze has sprung up. As usual it has done me good to
put my despondency on paper and get rid of it. To-
day I am in good spirits again, and can indulge in
happy dreams of a large and high land in the north,
with mountains and valleys, where we can sit under the
mountain wall, roast ourselves in the sun, and see the
spring come. And over its inland ice we can make
our way to the very Pole.
"Sunday, March nth. A snow-shoe run north-
wards. Temperature, — 50° C. (58° F. below zero),
and 10 feet wind from N.N.E. We did not feel
the cold very much, though it was rather bad for
the stomach and thighs, as none of us had our
wind trousers* on. We wore our usual dress of a
pair of ordinary trousers and woollen pants, a shirt,
* So we called some light trousers of thin close cotton, which we
used as a protection against the wind and snow.
2 B 2
372 Chapter VI.
and wolf's skin cloak, or a common woollen suit with
a light sealskin jacket over it. For the first time in
my life I felt my thighs frozen, especially just over the
knee, and on the kneecap ; my companions also suffered
in the same way. This was after going a long while
against the wind. We rubbed our legs a little, and
they soon got warm again, but had we kept on much
longer without -noticing it, we should probably have been
severely frost-bitten. In other respects we did not
suffer the least inconvenience from the cold, on the
contrary found the temperature agreeable ; and I am
convinced that io°, 20°, or even 30°, lower would not
have been unendurable. It is strange how one's
sensations alter. When at home, I find it unpleasant if
I only go out of doors when there are some 20 degrees
of cold, even in calm weather. But here I don't find it
any colder when I turn out in 50 degrees of cold with a
wind into the bargain. Sitting in a warm room at home
one gets exaggerated ideas about the terribleness of the
cold. It is really not in the least terrible : we all of us
find ourselves very well in it, though sometimes one or
another of us does not take quite so long a walk as usual
when a strong wind is blowing, and will even turn back
for the cold ; but that is when he is only lightly clad and
has no wind clothes on. This evening it is 51*2° F.
below zero, and 14 J feet N.N.E. wind. Brilliant northern
lights in the south. Already there is a very marked
twilight even at midnight.
The Winter Night. 373
''Monday, March 12th. Slowly drifting southwards.
Took a long snow-shoe run alone, towards the north ;
to-day had on my wind-breeches, but found them almost
too warm. This morning it was 5 1 '6° F. below zero, and
about 1 3 feetN. wind ; at noon it was some degrees warmer.
Ugh ! this north wind is freshening ; the barometer has
risen again, and I had thought the wind would have
changed, but it is and remains the same.
" This is what March brings us — the month on which
my hopes relied. Now I must wait for the summer.
Soon the half-year will be past, it will leave us about in
the same place as when it began. Ugh ! I am weary —
so weary — let me sleep, sleep ! Come sleep ! noiselessly
close the door of the soul, stay the flowing stream of
thought ! Come dreams, and let the sun beam over the
snowless strand of Godthaab !
"Wednesday, March 14th. In the evening the dogs
all at once began to bark, as we supposed on account of
bears. Sverdrup and I took our guns, let ' Ulenka ' and
' Pan ' loose, and set off. There was twilight still, and
the moon moreover began to shine. No sooner were
the dogs on the ice than off they started westward like a
couple of rockets, we after them as quickly as we could.
As I was jumping over a lane I thrust one leg through
the ice up to the knee. Oddly enough, I did not get
wet through to the skin, though I only had Finn shoes and
frieze gaiters on ; but in this temperature, 58° F. below zero
(— 39° C), the water freezes on the cold cloth before it can
374 Chapter VI.
penetrate it. I felt nothing of it afterwards ; it became,
as it were, a plate of ice armour that almost helped to
keep me warm. At a channel some distance off we at
last discovered that it was not a bear the dogs had
winded, but either a walrus or a seal. We saw holes in
several places on the fresh-formed ice where it had stuck
its head through. What a wonderfully keen nose those
dogs must have : it was quite two-thirds of a mile from
the ship, and the creature had only had just a little bit
of its snout above the ice. We returned to the ship to
get a harpoon, but saw no more of the animal, though
we went several times up and down the channel.
Meanwhile 'Pan,' in his zeal, got too near the edge
of the lane and fell into the water. The ice was so high
that he could not get up on it again without help, and if
I had not been there to haul him up I am afraid he
would have been drowned. He is now lying in the
saloon, and making himself comfortable and drying
himself; but he, too, did not get wet through to the
skin, though he was a good time in the water : the inner
hair of his close, coarse coat is quite dry and warm.
The dogs look on it as a high treat to come in here,
for they are not often allowed to do so. They go
round all the cabins and look out for a comfortable
corner to lie down in.
" Lovely weather, almost calm, sparklingly bright, and
moonshine : in the north the faint flush- of evening, and
the aurora over the southern sky, now like a row of
The Winter Night.
375
flaming spears, then changing into a silvery veil, undu-
lating in wavy folds with the wind, every here and there
interspersed with red sprays. These wonderful night
effects are ever new, and never fail to captivate the soul.
"Thursday, March 15th. This morning 417° and
By A. Bloch'\
TWO FRIENDS.
\/rom a Photograph.
at 8 o'clock p.m. 407° F. below zero, while the daytime
was rather warmer. At noon it was 40*5° and at 4 p.m.
39° F. below zero. It would almost seem as if the sun
began to have power.
" The dogs are strange creatures. This evening they
^i'jt Chapter VI.
are probably sweltering in their kennels again, for four
or five of them are lying outside or on the roof. When
there is 50° of cold most of them huddle together inside,
and lie as close to one another as possible. Then, too,
they are very loth to go out for a walk, they prefer to lie
in the sun under the lee of the ship. But now they find
it so mild and such pleasant walking that to-day it was
not difficult to get them to follow.
" Friday, March i6th. Sverdrup has of late been
occupied in making sails for the ship's boats. To-day
there was a light south-westerly breeze, so we tried one
of the sails on two hand-sledges lashed together. It is
first-rate sailing, and does not require much wind to
make them glide along. This would be a great assist-
ance if we had to go home over the ice.
" Wednesday, March 21st. At length a re-action has
set in: the wind is S.E. and there is a strong drift
northwards again. The equinox is past, and we are not
one degree further north since the last equinox. I wonder
where the next will find us. Should it be more to the
south, then victory is uncertain ; if more to the north the
battle is won, though it may last long. I am looking
forward to the summer ; it must bring a change with it.
The open water we sailed in up here cannot possibly be
produced by the melting of the ice alone ; it must be also
due to the winds and current. And if the ice in which
we are now, drifts so far to the north as to make room
for all this open water, we shall have covered a good
The Winter Nioht.
Z11
bit on our way. It would seem, indeed, as if summer
must bring northerly winds, with the cold Arctic Sea in
the north and warm Siberia in the south. This makes
From a\
EXPERIMENT IN SLEDGE SAILING.
\Photograph.
me somewhat dubious — but, on the other hand, we have
warm seas in the west ; they may be stronger ; and the
Jeannette moreover drifted north-west.
^'/S Chapter VI.
"It is strange, that notwithstanding these westerly
winds we do not drift eastwards. The last longitude
was only 135° E. long.
" Maundy Thursday, March 22nd. A strong south-
easterly wind still, and a good drift northwards. Our spirits
are rising. The wind whistles through the rigging over-
head, and sounds like the sough of victory through the air.
In the forenoon one of the puppies had a severe attack
of convulsions ; it foamed at the mouth, and bit furiously
at everything round it. It ended with tetanus and we
carried it out and laid it down on the ice. It hopped
about like a toad, its legs stiff and extended, neck and
head pointing upwards, while its back was curved like a
saddle. I was afraid it might be hydrophobia or some
other infectious sickness and shot it on the spot.
Perhaps I was rather too hasty, w^e can scarcely have
any infection among us now. But what could it have
been ? Was it an epileptic attack ? The other day
one of the other puppies alarmed me by running round
and round in the chart-house as if it were mad, hiding
itself after a time between a chest and the wall. Some
of the others, too, had seen it do the same thing ; but
after a while it got all right again, and for the last few
days there has been nothing amiss with it.
" Good Friday, March 23rd. Noonday observation
gives 80° N. lat. In four days and nights we have
drifted as far north as we drifted southwards in three
weeks. It is a comfort, at all events, to know that !
The Winter Night. 379
" It is remarkable how quickly the nights have grown
light. Even stars of the first magnitude can now barely
manage to twinkle in the pale sky at midnight.
" Saturday, March 24th. Easter Eve. To-day a
notable event has occurred. We have allowed the light
of spring to enter the saloon. During the whole of the
winter the skylight was covered with snow to keep the
cold out, and the dogs' kennels, moreover, had been
placed round it. Now we have thrown out all the snow
upon the ice, and the panes of glass in the skylight have
been duly cleared and cleaned.
" Monday, March 26th. We are lying motionless —
no drift. How long will this last ? Last equinox how
proud and triumphant I was ; the whole worM looked
bright ; but now I am proud no longer.
" The sun mounts up and bathes the ice-plain with its
radiance. Spring is coming, but brings no joys with it.
Here it is as lonely and cold as ever. One's soul freezes.
Seven more years of such life — or say only four — how
will the soul appear then ? And she. . . . ? If I dared
to let my longings loose — to let my soul thaw. Ah ! I
long more than I dare confess.
" I have not courage to think of the future. . . . And
how will it be at home, when year after year rolls by
and no one comes ?
" I know this is all a morbid mood ; but still this
inactive, lifeless monotony, without any change, wrings
one's very soul. No struggle, no possibility of struggle !
380 Chapter VI.
All is so still and dead, so stiff and shrunken under the
mantle of ice. Ah ! . . . . the very soul freezes. What
would I not give for a single day of struggle — for
even a moment of danger !
" Still I must wait, and watch the drift ; but, should it
take a wrong direction, then I will break all the bridges
behind me, and stake everything on a northward march
over the ice. I know nothing better to do. It will be
a hazardous journey, a matter, may be, of life or death.
But have I any other choice ?
"It is unworthy of a man to set himself a task and
then give in when the brunt of the battle is upon him.
There is but one way, and that is Fram — forwards.
" Tuesday, March 27th. We are again drifting
southwards, and the wind is northerly. The midday
observation showed 80° 4' N. lat. But why so
dispirited .'* I am staring myself blind at one single
point — am thinking solely of reaching the Pole and
forcing our way through to the Atlantic Ocean. And
all the time our real task is to explore the unknown
polar regions. Are we doing nothing in the service
of science ? It will be a goodly collection of observa-
tions that we shall take home with us from this region,
with which we are now rather too well acquainted. The
rest is, and remains, a mere matter of vanity. ' Love
truth more, and victory less.'
" I look at Eilif Peterssen's picture, a Norwegian pine
forest, and I am there in spirit. How marvellously
AT THE COMING OF THE SPRING. MARCH, 1894.
(From a photograph, j
The Winter Night. 381
lovely it is there now, in the spring, in the dim,
melancholy stillness that reigns among the stately stems.
I can feel the damp moss in which my foot sinks softly
and noiselessly ; the brook released from the winter
bondage is murmuring through the clefts and among the
rocks, with its brownish-yellow water ; the air is full of
the scent of moss and pine needles, while overhead
against the light blue sky, the dark pine tops rock to
and fro in the spring breeze, ever uttering their mur-
muring wail, and beneath their shelter the soul fearlessly
expands its wings and cools itself in the forest dew.
" Oh, solemn pine forest, the only confidant of my
childhood, it was from you I learned nature's deepest
tones, its wildness, its melancholy. You coloured my
soul for life.
" Alone^ — far in the forest — beside the glowing embers
of my fire on the shore of the silent, murky woodland
tarn, with the gloom of night overhead, how happy I
used to be in the enjoyment of Nature s harmony.
" Thursday, March 29th. It is wonderful what a
change it makes to have daylight once more in the
saloon. On turning out for breakfast and seeing the
light gleaming in, one feels that it really is morning.
" We are busy on board. Sails are being made for the
boats and hand-sledges. The windmill, too, is to have
fresh sails, so that it can go in any kind of weather.
Ah ! if we could but give the Frain wings as well.
Knives are being forged, bear spears which we never
o
82 Chapter VI.
have any use for, bear-traps in which we never catch
a bear, axes and many other things of Hke usefulness.
For the moment there is a great manufacture of wooden
shoes going on, and a newly started nail-making
industry. The only shareholders in this company are
Sverdrup and Smith Lars, called ' Storm King,' because
he always comes upon us like hard weather. The
output is excellent and is in active demand, as all our
small nails for the hand-sledge fittings have been used.
Moreover, we are very busy putting German-silver
plates under the runners of the hand sledges, and
providing appliances for lashing sledges together.
There is, moreover, a workshop for snow-shoe fastenings,
and a tinsmith's shop busied for the moment with repairs
to the lamps. Our doctor too for lack of patients has
set up a bookbinding establishment which is greatly
patronised by the Frams library, whereof several books
that are in constant circulation, such as Gjest Baardsens
Liv og Levnet, etc., etc., are in a very bad state. We
have also a saddlers' and sailmakers' workshop, a photo-
graphic studio, etc., etc. The manufacture of diaries,
however, is the most extensive — every man on board
works at that. In fine, there is no thing between
heaven and earth that we cannot turn out — excepting
constant fair winds.
•'Our workshops can be highly recommended; they
turn out good solid work. We have lately had a
notable addition to our industries, the firm ' Nansen
yr
''-1,
The Winter Night. 383
and Amundsen ' having established a music factory.
The cardboard plates of the organ had suffered greatly
from wear and damp, so that we had been deplorably
short of music during the winter. But, yesterday, I
set to work in earnest to manufacture a plate of zinc.
It answers admirably, and now we shall go ahead with
music sacred and profane, especially valses, and these
halls shall once more resound with the pealing tones
of the organ, to our great comfort and edification.
When a valse is struck up it breathes fresh life into
many of the inmates of the Fram.
" I complain of the wearing monotony of our
surroundings ; but in reality I am unjust. The last
few days dazzling sunshine over the snowhills ; to-day,
snowstorm and wind, the Fram enveloped in a whirl
of foaming white snow. Soon the sun appears again,
and the waste around gleams as before.
" Here, too, there is sentiment in Nature. How often
when least thinking of it, do I find myself pause, spell-
bound by the marvellous hues which evening wears.
The ice-hills steeped in bluish-violet shadows, against the
orange-tinted sky, illumined by the glow of the setting
sun, form as it were a strange colour-poem, imprinting
an ineffaceable picture on the soul. And these bright
dream-like nights, how many associations they have for
us Northmen ! One pictures to oneself those mornings
in spring when one went out into the forest after
blackcock, under the dim stars, and with the pale
384 . Chapter VI.
crescent moon peering over the treetops. Dawn, with
its glowing hues up here in the north, is the breaking
of a spring day over the forest wilds at home ; the
hazy blue vapour beneath the morning glow, turns to the
fresh early mist over the marshes ; the dark low clouds
on a background of dim red, seem like distant ranges of
hills.
" Daylight here with its rigid, lifeless whiteness has no
attractions ; but the evening and night thaw the heart of
this world of ice ; it dreams mournful dreams, and you
seem to hear in the hues of the evening, sounds of its
smothered wail. Soon these will cease, and the sun will
circle round the everlasting light blue expanse of heaven,
imparting one uniform colour to day and night alike.
" Friday, April 6th. A remarkable event was to take
place to-day, which naturally we all looked forward to with
lively interest. It was an eclipse of the sun. During the
night Hansen had made a calculation that the eclipse
would begin at 12.56 o'clock. It was important for us to
be able to get a good observation, as we should thus be
able to regulate our chronometers to a nicety. In order
to make everything sure, we set up our instruments a
couple of hours beforehand, and commenced to observe
We used the large telescope, and our large theodolite.
Hansen, Johansen, and myself took it by turns to sit for
five minutes each at the instruments, watching the rim of
the sun, as we expected a shadow would become visible
on its lower western edge, while another stood by with
The Winter Night. 385
the watch. We remained thus full two hours without
anything occurring. The exciting moment was now at
hand, when, according to calculation, the shadow should
first be apparent. Hansen was sitting by the large tele-
scope, when he thought he could discern a quivering in
the sun's rim ; ^^ seconds afterwards he cried out, ' Now ! '
as did Johansen simultaneously. The watch was then at
12 hrs. 56 m. 7*5 s. A dark body advanced over the
border of the sun 7^ seconds later than we had cal-
culated on. It was an immense satisfaction for us all,
especially for Hansen, for it proved our chronometers
to be in excellent order. Little by little the sunlight
sensibly faded away, while we went below to dinner.
At 2 o'clock the eclipse was at its height, and we
could notice even down in the saloon how the daylight
had diminished. After dinner we observed the moment
when the eclipse ended, and the moon's dark disc cleared
the rim of the sun.
" Sunday, April 8th. I was lying awake yesterday
morning thinking about getting up, when all at once I
heard the hurried footsteps of some one running over the
half-deck above me, and then another followed. There
was something in those footsteps that involuntarily
made me think of bears, and I had a hazy sort of an
idea that I ought to jump up out of bed, but I lay
still listening for the report of a gun. I heard nothing,
however, and soon fell a-dreaming again. Presently
Johansen came tearing down into the saloon, crying out
2 c
386 Chapter VI.
that a couple of bears were lying half or quite dead on
the large ice hummock astern of the ship. He and
Mogstad had shot at them, but they had no more
cartridges left. Several of the men seized hold of their
guns and hurried up. I threw on my clothes and came
up a little after, when I gathered that the bears had taken
to flight, as I could see the other fellows following them
over the ice. As I was putting on my snow-shoes they
returned, and said that the bears had made off. However,
I started after them as fast as my snow-shoes would take
me across the floes and the pressure-ridges. I soon got
on their tracks, which at first were a little bloodstained.
It was a she-bear, with her cub, and, as I believed, hard
hit — the she-bear had fallen down several times after
Johansen's first bullet. I thought, therefore, it would be
no difficult matter to overtake them. Several of the dogs
were on ahead of me on their tracks. They had taken
a north-westerly course, and I toiled on, perspiring
profusely in the sun, while the ship sank deeper and
deeper down below the horizon. The surface of the
snow, sparkling with its eternal whiteness all around me,
tried my eyes severely, and I seemed to get no nearer
the bears. My prospects of coming up with them were
ruined by the dogs, who were keen enough to frighten
the bears, but not so keen as to press on and bring them
to bay. I would not, however, give up. Presently a
fog came on, and hid everything from view except the
bear-tracks, which steadily pointed forward ; then it lifted,
The Winter Night. 387
and the sun shone out again clear and bright as before.
The Franis masts had long since disappeared over the
edge of the ice, but still I kept on. Presently, however,
I began to feel faint and hungry, for in my hurry I had
not even had my breakfast, and at last had to bite the
sour apple and turn back without any bears.
" On my way I came across a remarkable hummock.
It was over 20 feet in height (I could not manage to
measure it quite to the top) ; the middle part had fallen
in, probably from pressure of the ice, while the remaining
part formed a magnificent triumphal arch of the whitest
marble, on which the sun glittered with all its brilliancy.
Was it erected to celebrate my defeat ? I got up on it
to look out for the Fram, but had to go some distance
yet before I could see her rigging over the horizon. It
was not till half-past five in the afternoon that I found
myself on board again, worn out and famished from this
sudden and unexpected excursion. After a day's fasting,
I heartily relished a good meal. During my absence
some of the others had started after me with a sledge to
draw home the dead bears that I had shot; but they had
barely reached the spot where the encounter had taken
place, when Johansen and Blessing, who were in advance
of the others, saw two fresh bears spring up from behind
a hummock a little way off. But before they could get
their guns in readiness the bears were out of range ; so a
new hunt began. Johansen tore after them in his snow-
shoes, but several of the dogs got in front of him and
2 c 2
588 Chapter VI.
kept the bears going, so that he could not get within
range, and his chase ended as fruitlessly as mine.
"Has good luck abandoned us ? I had plumed myself
on our never having shot at a single bear without
bagging it, but to-day . . . . ! Odd that we should get
a visit from four bears on one day, after having seen
nothing of them for three months ! Does it signify
something? Have we got near the land in the north-
west which I have so long expected ? There seems to
be change in the air. An observation the day before
yesterday gave 80° 15' N. lat., the most northerly we
have had yet.
"Sunday, April 15th. So we are in the middle ot
April ! What a ring of joy in that word, a wellspring
of happiness ! Visions of spring rise up in the soul at its
very mention — a time when doors and windows are
thrown wide open to the spring air and sun, and the
dust of winter is blown away ; a time when one can no
longer sit still, but must perforce go out of doors to
inhale the perfume of wood and field and fresh-dug
earth, and behold the fjord, free from ice, sparkling
in the sunlight. What an inexhaustible fund of the
awakening joys of nature does that word April contain !
But here — here that is not to be found. True, the sun
shines long and bright, but its beams fall not on forest
or mountain or meadow, but only on the dazzling white-
ness of the fresh-fallen snow. Scarcely does it entice one
out from one's winter retreat. This is not the time of
The Winter Night. 389
revolutions here. If they come at all, they will come much
later. The days roll on uniformly and monotonously ; here
I sit, and feel no touch of the restless longings of the
spring, and shut myself up in the snail-shell of my
studies. Day after day I dive down into the world of
the microscope, forgetful of time and surroundings.
Now and then, indeed, I may make a little excursion
from darkness to light — the daylight beams around
me, and my soul opens a tiny loophole for light
and courage to enter in — and then down, down into
the darkness, and to work once more. Before
turning in for the night I must go on deck. A little
while ago the daylight would by this time have
vanished, a few solitary stars would have been faintly
twinkling, while the pale moon shone over the ice. But
now even this has come to an end. The sun no longfer
sinks beneath the icy horizon ; it is continual day. I
gaze into the far distance, far over the barren plain
of snow, a boundless, silent, and lifeless mass of ice in
imperceptible motion. No sound can be heard save the
faint murmur of the air through the rigging, or perhaps
far away the low rumble of packing ice. In the midst of
this empty waste of white there is but one little dark
spot, and that is the Fram.
" But beneath this crust, hundreds of fathoms down,
there teems a world of chequered life in all its changing
forms, a world of the same composition as ours, with the
same instincts, the same sorrows, and also, no doubt, the
390 Chapter VI.
same joys ; everywhere the same struggle for existence.
So it ever is. If we penetrate within even the hardest
shell, we come upon the pulsations of life, however thick
the crust may be.
" I seem to be sitting here in solitude listening to
the music of one of nature's mighty harp-strings. Her
grand symphonies peal forth through the endless ages of
the universe, now in the tumultuous whirl of busy life,
now in the stiffening coldness of death, as in Chopin's
Funeral March ; and we — we are the minute, invisible
vibrations of the strings in this mighty music of the
universe, ever changing, yet ever the same. Its notes
are worlds ; one vibrates for a longer, another for a
shorter period, and all in turn give way to new
ones
" The world that shall be ! . . . . Again and again this
thought comes back to my mind. I gaze far on through
the ages
" Slowly and imperceptibly the heat of the sun
declines, and the temperature of the earth sinks by
equally slow degrees. Thousands, hundreds of thousands,
millions of years pass away, glacial epochs come and go ;
but the heat still grows ever less ; little by little these
drifting masses of ice extend far and wide, ever towards
more southern shores, and no one notices it, but at last
all the seas of earth become one unbroken mass of ice.
Life has vanished from its surface, and is to be found in
the ocean depths alone.
The Winter Night. 391
" But the temperature continues to fall, the ice grows
thicker and ever thicker ; life's domain vanishes. Millions
of years roll on, and the ice reaches the bottom. The
last trace of life has disappeared ; the earth is covered
with snow. All that we lived for is no longer ; the fruit
of all our toil and sufferincrs has been blotted out millions
and millions of years ago, buried beneath a pall of snow.
A stiffened, lifeless mass of ice this earth rolls on in
her path through eternity. Like a faintly glowing disc, the
sun crosses the sky ; the moon shines no more, and is
scarcely visible. Yet still, perhaps, the northern lights
flicker over the desert, icy plain, and still the stars
twinkle in silence, peacefully as of yore. Some have
burnt out, but new ones usurp their place ; and round
them revolve new spheres, teeming with new life, new
sufferings without any aim. Such is the infinite cycle of
eternity ; such are nature's everlasting rhythms.
" Monday, April 30th. Drifting northwards. Yester-
day observations gave 80° 42^ and to-day 80° 444'- The
wind steady from the south and south-east.
"It is lovely spring weather. One feels that spring-
time must have come, though the thermometer denies it.
* Spring cleaning ' has begun on board ; the snow and
ice along the Fram s sides are cleared away, and she
stands out like the crags from their winter covering
decked with the flowers of spring. The snow lying on
the deck is little by little shovelled overboard ; her
rigging rises up against the clear sky clean and dark,
392
Chapter VI.
and the gilt trucks at her mastheads sparkle in the sun.
We go and bathe ourselves in the broiling sun along her
warm sides, where the thermometer is actually above
freezing point, smoke a peaceful pipe, gazing at the
white spring clouds that lightly fleet across the blue
expanse. Some of us perhaps think of spring-time
yonder at home, when the birch trees are bursting into
leaf"
A SUMMER EVENING. I4 JULY, 1894.
(From a photograph.)
CHAPTER VII.
The Spring and Summer of 1894.
So came the season which we at home call spring, the
season of joy and budding life, when nature awakens
after her long winter sleep. But there it brought no
change ; day after day we had to gaze over the same
white lifeless mass, the same white boundless ice-plains.
Still we wavered between despondency, idle longing,
and eager energy, shifting with the winds as we drift
forwards to our goal or are driven back from it. As
before, I continued to brood upon the possibilities of the
future and of our drift. One day I would think that
everything was going on as we hoped and anticipated.
Thus on April 17th I was convinced that there must be
a current through the unknown polar basin, as we were
unmistakably drifting northwards. The midday obser-
vation gave 80° 20' N.E., that is 9' since the day before
yesterday. Strange ! A north wind of four whole days
took us to the south, while twenty-four hours of this
scanty wind drifts us 9' northwards. This is remarkable ;
it looks as if we were done with drifting southwards.
And when, in addition to this, I take into consideration
the striking warmth of the water deep down, it seems
394 Chapter VII.
to me that things are really looking brighter. The
reasoning runs as follows : — The temperature of the
water in the East Greenland current, even on the
siirface, is nowhere over zero (the mean temperature for
the year), and appears generally to be — i° C. (30'2° F.),
even in 70° N. lat. In this latitude the temperature
steadily falls as you get below the surface : nowhere at a
greater depth than 100 fathoms is it above — 1° C, and
generally from — I's"" (29-30° F.) to — 17° C. (28-94° F-)
right to the bottom. Moreover, the bottom temperature
of the whole sea north of the 60th degree of latitude is
under — 1° C, a strip along the Norwegian coast and
between Norway and Spitzbergen alone excepted, but
here the temperature is over — 1° C, from 86 fathoms
(160 metres) downward, and 135 fathoms (250 metres)
the temperature is already + 0-55° C. (32-99° F.), and
that, too, be it remarked, north of the 80th degree
of latitude, and in a sea surrounding the pole of
maximum cold.
This warm water can hardly come from the Arctic Sea
itself, while the current issuing thence towards the south
has a general temperature of about —1-5° C. It can
hardly be anything other than the Gulf Stream that finds
its way hither, and replaces the water which in its upper
layers flows towards the north, forming the sources of
the East Greenland polar current. All this seems to
chime in with my previous assumptions, and supports the
theory on which this expedition was planned. And
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 395
when, in addition to this, one bears in mind that the
winds seem, as anticipated, to be as a rule south-easterly,
as was, moreover, the case at the international station at
Sagastyr (by the Lena mouth), our prospects do not
appear to be unfavourable.
Frequently, moreover, I thought I could detect
unmistakable symptoms of a steadily flowing north-
westerly current under the ice, and then, of course,
my spirits rose ; but at other times, when the drift again
bore southwards — and that was often — my doubts would
return, and it seemed as if there was no prospect of
getting through within any reasonable time. Truly such
drifting in the ice is extremely trying to the mind ; but
there is one virtue it fosters, and that is patience ; the
whole expedition was in reality one long course of
training in this useful virtue.
Our progress as the spring advanced grew somewhat
better than it had been during the winter, but on the
whole it was always the same sort of crablike locomo-
tion ; for each time we made a long stretch to the north,
a longer period of reaction was sure to follow. It was,
in the opinion of one of our number, who was somewhat
of a politician, a constant struggle between the Left and
Right, between Progressionists and Recessionists. After
a period of Left wind and a glorious drift northwards,
as a matter of course the " Radical Right " took the helm,
and we remained lying in dead water or drifted back-
wards, thereby putting Amundsen into a very bad.
396 Chapter VII.
temper. It was a remarkable fact that during the whole
time, the Franis bow turned towards the south, generally
S. ^ W., and shifted but very little during the whole
drift. As I say on May 14th : " She went backwards
towards her goal in the north, with her nose ever turned
to the south. It is as though she shrank from increasing
her distance from the world ; as though she were longing
for southern shores, while some invisible power is draw-
ing her on towards the unknown. Can it be an ill omen,
this backward advance towards the interior of the Polar
Sea ? I cannot think it ; even the crab ultimately
reaches its goal."
. A statement of our latitude and longitude on different
days will best indicate the general course of our drift : —
May I St, 80° 46' N. lat. ; May 4th, 80° 50' ; May 6th,
80° 49'; May 8th, 80° 55' N. lat., 129° 58' E. long. ;
May i2th, 80° 52' N. lat.; May 15th, 129° 20' E.
long. ; May 21st, 81° 20' N. lat, 125° 45' E. long. ; May
23rd, 81° 26' N. lat.; May 27th, 81° 31'; June 2nd,
8i°3i'N. lat, 121° 47' E. long. ; June 13th, 81^46';
June 1 8th, 81° 52'. Up to this we had made fairly
satisfactory progress towards the north, but now came
the reaction: June 24th, 81° 42'; July 1st, 81° 33';
July loth, 81° 20'; July 14th, 81° 32' ; July i8th, 81°
26'; July 31st, 81° 2' N. lat, 126° 5' 5" E. long.;
August 8th, 81° 8'; August 14th, 81° 5' N. lat, 127°
38' E. long.; August 26th, 81° i'; September 5th, .81°
14' N. lat., 123° 36' E. long.
Q 5
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 397
After this we began once more to drift northwards,
but not very fast.
As before, we were constantly on the look-out for
land, and were inclined first from one thing, then from
another, to think we saw signs of its proximity ; but
they always turned out to be imaginary, and the great
depth of the sea, moreover, showed that at all events
land could not be near.
Later on — on August 7th — when I had found over
2,085 fathoms (3,850 metres) depth, I say in my diary :
" I do not think we shall talk any more about the shallow
Polar Sea, where land may be expected anywhere. We
may very possibly drift out into the Atlantic Ocean
without having seen a single mountain-top. An eventful
series of years to look forward to ! "
The plan already alluded to of travelling over the ice
with dogs and sledges occupied me a good deal, and
during my daily expeditions partly on snow-shoes,
partly with dogs, my attention was constantly given to
the condition of the ice and our prospects of being able
to make our way over it. During April it was specially
well adapted for using dogs. The surface was good, as
the sun's power had made it smoother than the heavy
drift-snow earlier in the winter ; besides, the wind had
covered the pressure-ridges pretty evenly, and there
were not many crevasses or channels in the ice, so that
one could proceed for miles without much trouble from
them. In May, however, a change set in. So early as
398 Chapter VII.
May 8th the wind had broken up the ice a good deal,
and now there were lanes in all directions, which proved
a great obstacle when I went out driving with the dogs.
The temperature, however, was still so low that the
channels were quickly frozen over again and became
passable ; but later on in the month the temperature
rose, so that ice was no longer so readily formed on the
water, and the channels became ever more and more
numerous.
On May 20th I write : " Went out on snow-shoes
in the forenoon. The ice has been very much broken
up in various directions, owing to the continual winds
during the last week. The lanes are difficult to cross
over, as they are full of small pieces of ice, that lie
dispersed about, and are partly covered with drift-snow.
This is very deceptive, for one may seem to have firm
ice under one at places where, on sticking one's staff
in, it goes right down without any sign of ice." On
many occasions I nearly got into trouble in crossing
over snow like this on snow-shoes. I would suddenly
find that the snow was giving way under me, and would
manage with no little difficulty to get safely back on to
the firm ice.
On June 5th the ice and the snow surface were
about as before. I write : " Have just been out on a
snow-shoe excursion with Sverdrup in a southerly
direction, the first for a long while. The condition
of the ice has altered, but not for the better ; the sur-
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 399
face, indeed, is hard and good, but the pressure-ridges
are very awkward, and there are crevasses and hummocks
in all directions. A sledge expedition would make poor
enough progress on such ice as this,"
Hitherto, however, progress had always been possible,
but now the snow began to melt, and placed almost
insuperable difficulties in the way. On June T3th I
write : " The ice gets softer and softer every day, and
large pools of water are formed on the floes all around
us. In short, the surface is abominable. The snow-
shoes break through into the water everywhere. Truly
one would not be able to get far in a day now should
one be obliged to set off towards the south or west. It
is as if every outlet were blocked, and here we stick —
we stick. Sometimes it strikes me as rather remarkable
that none of our fellows have become alarmed, even
when we are bearing farther and farther northwards,
farther and farther into the unknown ; but there is no
sign of fear in any one of them. All look gloomy when
we are bearing south or too much to the west, and all
are beaming with joy when we are drifting to the north-
ward, the farther the better. Yet none of them can be
blind to the fact that it is a matter of life and death, if
anything of what nearly every one prophesied should
now occur. Should the ship be crushed in this ice and
go to the bottom, like the Jeannette, without our being
able to save sufficient supplies to continue our drift on
the ice, we should have to turn our course to the south.
400 Chapter VII.
and then there would he little doubt as to our fate.
The Jeannette people fared badly enough, but their ship
went down in ']'j° N. lat., while the nearest land to us is
many times more than double the distance it was in their
case, to say nothing of the nearest inhabited land. We
are now more than 70 miles from Cape Chelyuskin,
while from there to any inhabited region we are a long
way farther. But the Fram will not be crushed, and
nobody believes in the possibility of such an event.
We are like the kayak-rower, who knows well enough
that one faulty stroke of his paddle is enough to capsize
him and send him into eternity ; but none the less he
goes on his way serenely, for he knows that he will
not make a faulty stroke. This is absolutely the
most comfortable way of undertaking a polar expedition ;
what possible journey, indeed, could be more comfort-
able ? Not even a railway journey, for then you have
the bother of changing carriages. Still a change now
and then would be no bad thing."
Later on — in July — the surface was even worse. The
floes were everywhere covered wich slush, with water
underneath, and on the pressure-ridges and between
the hummocks where the snow-drifts were deep one
would often sink in up to the middle, not even the
snow-shoes bearing one up in this soft snow. Later on
in July matters improved, the snow having gradually
melted away, so that there was a firmer surface of ice
to go on.
^ I
The Spring and Summer of 1894.
401
But large pools of water now formed on the ice-floes.
Already on the 8th and 9th of June such a pool had
begun to appear round the ship, so that she lay in a little
lake of fresh water, and we were obliged to make use
!
H
f^yH^M|M||^^^^^ "'^^
^'^^ ^fluffs m^
m 1
Hi 1
CJ^J-:
!■ .^
' "^^^'''^t^^^^^^^^^^^^^B^
SAILING ON THE FRESH-WATER POOL (jULY 1 2TH, 1 894).
(From a Photograph.)
of a bridge in order to reach a dry spot on the ice.
Some of these fresh-water pools were of respectable
dimensions and depth. There was one of these on the
starboard side of the ship, so large that in the middle
of July we could row and sail on it with the boats
2 D
402 Chapter VII.
This was a favourite evening amusement with some of
us, and the boat was fully officered with captain, mate,
and second mate, but had no common sailors. They
thought it an excellent opportunity of practising sailing
with a square sail ; while the rest of our fellows standing
on the icy shore, found it still more diverting to bombard
the navigators with snowballs and lumps of ice. It
was in this same pool that we tried one day if one of
ouf boats could carry all thirteen of us at once. When
the dogs saw us all leave the ship to go to the pool
they followed us in utter bewilderment as to what
this unusual movement could mean ; but when we got
into the boat they, all of them, set to work and howled
in wild despair ; thinking, probably, that they would
never see us again. Some of them swam after us,
while two cunning ones, "Pan" and " Kvik," conceived
the brilliant idea of galloping round the pool to the
opposite side to meet us. A few days afterwards I
was dismayed to find the pool dried up ; a hole had
been worn through the ice at the bottom, and all the
fresh water had drained out into the sea. So that
amusement came to an end.
In the summer when we wanted to make an
excursion over the ice, in addition to such pools we
met with lanes in the ice in all directions, but as a
rule could easily cross them by jumping from one loose
floe to another, or leaping right across at narrow
places.
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 403
These lanes never attained any great width, and
there was consequently no question of getting the
Frani afloat in any of them ; and even could we have
done so, it would have been of very little avail, as
none of them was large enough to have taken her
more than a few cable-lengths further north. Some-
times there were indications in the sky that there must
be large stretches of open water in our vicinity, and
we could now and then see from the crow's-nest large
spaces of clear water in the horizon ; but they could
not have been large enough to be of much use when
it came to a question of pushing forward with a ship.
Sanguine folk on board, however, attached more
importance to such open stretches. June 15th I wrote
in my diary : — ** There are several lanes visible in
different dii-ections, but none of them is wide or of
any great extent. The mate, however, is always
insisting that we shall certainly get open water before
autumn, and be able to creep along northwards, while,
with the rest, Sverdrup excepted, it seems to be a
generally accepted belief. Where they are to get their
open water from I do not know. For the rest, this
is the first ice-bound expedition that has not spent the
summer spying after open water, and sighing and
longing for the ice to disperse. I only wish it may
keep together, and hurry up and drift northwards.
Everything in this life depends on what one has made
up one's mind to. One person sets forth to sail in open
2 D 2
404 Chapter VII.
water, perhaps to the very Pole, but gets stuck in the
ice and laments ; another is prepared to get stuck in
the ice, but will not grumble even should he find open
water. It is ever the safest plan to expect the least
of life, for then one often gets the most."
The open spaces, the lanes, and the rifts in the ice
are, of course, produced, like the pressure and packing,,
by the shifting winds and the tidal currents that set
the ice drifting first in one direction, then in another.
And they best prove, perhaps, how the surface of the
Polar Sea must be considered as one continuous mass
of ice-floes in constant motion, now frozen together, now
torn apart, or crushed against each other.
During the whole of our drift I paid great attention to
this ice, not only with respect to its motion, but to its
formation and growth as well. In the Introduction
of this book I have pointed out that, even should the
ice pass year after year in the cold Polar Sea, it could
not by mere freezing attain more than a certain thick-
ness. From measurements that were constantly being
made, it appeared that the ice which was formed
during the autumn in October or November continued
to increase in size durinof the whole of the winter and
out into the spring, but more slowly the thicker it became.
On April loth it was about 2 '31 metres ; April 21st, 2 "41
metres; May 5th, 245 m.etres ; May 31, 2*52 metres;
June 9th, 2*58 metres. It was thus continually increasing
in bulk, notwithstanding that the snow now melted
The Spring- and Summer of 1894. 405
quickly on the surface, and large pools of fresh
water were formed on the floes. On June 20th
the thickness was the same, although the melting
on the surface had now increased considerably.
On July 4th the thickness was 2*57 metres. On July loth
I was amazed to find that the ice had increased to 276
metres, notwithstanding that it would now diminish several
centimetres daily from surface melting. I bored in many
places, but found it everywhere the same — a thin, some-
what loose, ice mass lay under the old floe. I first
thought it was a thin ice-floe that had got pushed under,
but subsequently discovered that it was actually a new
formation of fresh-water ice on the lower side of the
old ice, due to the layer of fresh water of about 9 feet
9 inches (3 metres) in depth, formed by the melting of
the snow on the ice. Owing to its lightness this warm
fresh water floated on the salt sea water, which was at a
temperature of about ( — 1*5° C.) on its surface. Thus
by contact with the colder sea water the fresh water
became cooler, and so a thick crust of ice was formed on
the fresh water, where it came in contact with the salt
water lying underneath it. It was this ice crust then
that augmented the thickness of the ice on its under side.
Later on in the summer, however, the ice diminished
somewhat, owing to melting on the surface. On July 23rd,
the old ice was only 2*33 metres, and with the newly-formed
layer 2*49 metres. On August loth the thickness of the old
ice had decreased to 1*94 metres, and together the aggre-
4o6 Chapter VII.
gate thickness to 3' 1 7 metres. On August 22nd the old ice
was I '86 metres, and the aggregate thickness 3'o6 metres.
On September 3rd the aggregate thickness was 2*02
metres, and on September 30th i '98 metres. On October
3rd it was the same ; the thickness of the old ice was then
1 75 metres. On October 1 2th the aggregate thickness was
2 "08 metres, while the old ice was i"8 metres. On
November loth it was still about the same, with only a
slight tendency to increase. Further on in November and
in December it increased quite slowly. On December i ith
the aggregate thickness reached 2'i i metres. On January
3rd, 1895, 2 "3 2 metres ; January loth, 2*48 metres ;
February 6th, 2*59 metres. Hence it will be seen
that the ice does not attain any enormous thickness by
direct freezing. The packing caused by pressure can,
however, produce blocks and floes of a very different
size. It often happens that the floes get shoved in
under each other in several layers, and are frozen
together so as to appear like one originally continuous mass
of ice. Thus the Fram had got a good bed under her.
Juell and Peter had often disputed together during the
winter as to the thickness of ice the Fram had under
her. Peter, who had seen a good deal of the ice before,
maintained that it must at least be 20 feet thick, while
Juell would not believe it, and betted 20 kroner that it
was not as thick as that. On April 19th this dispute
again broke out, and I say of it in my diary: " Juell has
undertaken to make a bore, but unfortunately our borer
" tj.
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 407
reaches no farther than 16 feet down. Peter, however,
has undertaken to cut away the 4 feet that are lacking.
There has been a lot of talk about this wager during
the whole winter, but they could never agree about it.
Peter says that Juell should begin to bore, while Juell
maintains that Peter ought to cut the 4 feet first. This
evening it ended in Juell incautiously offering 10 kroner
to anyone who would bore. Bentzen took him at
his word, and immediately set to work at it with
Amundsen ; he thought one did not always have the
chance of earning 10 kroner so easily. Amundsen
offered him a kroner an hour, or else payment per foot ;
and time payment was finally agreed to. They worked
till late on into the night, and when they had got down
12 feet, the borer slipped a little way, and water rose in
the hole, but this did not come to much, and presently
the borer struck on ice again. They went on for some
time, but now the borer would reach no further, and
Peter had to be called up to cut his four feet. He and
Amundsen worked away at cutting till they were
dripping with perspiration. Amundsen, as usual, was
very eager and vowed he would not give in till he had
got through it, even if it were 30 feet thick. Meanwhile
Bentzen had turned in, but a message was sent to him to
say that the hole was cut, and that boring could now
begin again. When it was only an inch or an inch-and-
a-half short of 20 feet, the borer slipped through, and the
water spurted up and filled the hole. They now sank a
4o8 Chapter VII.
lead line down it, and at 30 feet it again brought up
against ice. Now they were obliged to give it up. A
fine lump of ice we are lying on ! Not taking into
account a large, loose ice-floe that is lying packed up on
the ice, it is 16 inches above the water ; and adding to
this the 2 feet which the Fram is raised up above the ice,
there is no small distance between her and the water.
The temperature on the ice in summer is about
thawing point, but gradually as the winter cold comes
on, it, of course, falls rapidly on the surface, whence the
cold slowly penetrates deeper and deeper down towards
the lower surface, where it naturally keeps at an even
temperature with the underlying water. Observations
of the temperature of the ice in its different layers were
constantly taken in order to ascertain how quickly this
cooling-down process of the ice took place during the
winter, and also how the temperature rose again towards
spring. The lowest temperature of the ice occurred in
March and the beginning of April, when at i'2 metres it
was about 3"2° F. (—16° C). and at o*8 metre about
22° F. below zero ( — 30° C). After the beginning of
April it began to rise slowly.
At these low temperatures the ice became very hard
and brittle, and was readily cracked or broken up by a
blow or by packing. In the summer, on the other hand,
when its temperature was near melting-point, the ice
became tough and plastic, and was not so readily broken
up under packing. This difference between the condition
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 409
of the ice in summer and winter was apparent also to
the ear, as the ice-packing in winter was always accom-
panied by the frequently mentioned loud noises, while
the packing of the tough summer ice was almost noiseless,
so that the most violent convulsions might take place
close to us without our noticing them.
In the immediate vicinity of the J^ra?H the ice remained
perfectly at rest the whole year through, and she was
not at this time exposed to any great amount of pressure ;
she lay safe and secure on the ice-floe to which she was
firmly frozen ; and gradually as the surface of the ice
thawed under the summer sun she rose up higher and
higher. In the autumn she again began to sink a little,
either because the ice gave way under her weight, or
because it melted somewhat on the under surface, so
that it no longer had so much buoyancy as before.
Meanwhile, life on board went on in its usual way.
Now that we had daylight there was of course more
work of various descriptions on the ice than had been
the case during the winter. I have already alluded more
than once to our unsuccessful endeavours to reach the
bottom by sounding. Unfortunately we were not pre-
pared for such great depths, and had not brought any
deep-sea sounding apparatus with us. We had, there-
fore, to do the best we could under the circumstances ;
and that was to sacrifice one of the ship's steel cables in
order to make a lead-line. It was not difficult to find
sufficient space on the ice for a rope walk, and although
4IO Chapter VII.
a temperature of from 22° F. below zero (— 30° C.) to
40° F. below zero (— 40"^ C.) is not the pleasantest in
which to manipulate such things as steel-wire, yet for
all that the work went on well. The cable was unlaid
into its separate strands, and a fresh, pliant lead-line
manufactured by twisting two of these strands together.
In this way we made a line of between 4,000 to 5,000
metres (2,150 to 2,700 fathoms) long, and could now at
last reach the bottom. The depth proved to range
between 3,300 and 3,900 metres (1,800 to 2,100 fathoms).
This was a remarkable discovery, for, as I have
frequently mentioned, the unknown polar basin has
always been supposed to be shallow, with numerous
unknown lands and islands. I, too, had assumed it to
be shallow when I sketched out my plan (see page 24),
and had thought it was traversed by a deep channel
which might possibly be a continuation of the deep
channel in the North Atlantic (see page 28).
From this assumption of a shallow Polar Sea it was
concluded that the regions about the Pole had formerly
been covered with an extensive tract of land, of which
the existing islands are simply the remains. This
extensive tract of polar land was furthermore assumed to
have been the nursery of many of our animal and plant
forms, whence they had found their way to lower
latitudes. These conjectures now appear to rest on a
somewhat infirm basis.
This great depth indicates that here, at all events,
The Spring and Summer of 1894.
411
there has not been land in any very recent geological
period ; and this depth is, no doubt, as old as the depth
of the Atlantic Ocean, of which it is almost certainly a
part.
Another task to which I attached great importance
SCOTT-HANSEN. JOHANSEN.
TAKING WATER TEMPERATURES.
and to which I have frequently alluded, was the obser-
vation of the temperature of the sea at different depths,
from the surface down to the bottom. These observa-
tions we took as often as time permitted, and, as already
mentioned, they gave some surprising results, showing
412
Chapter VII.
the existence of warmer water below the cold surface
stratum. This is not the place to give the results of
the different measurements, but as they are all very
similar I will instance one of them in order that an
idea may be formed how the temperature is distributed.
This series of temperatures, of which an extract is
given here, was taken from the 13th to the 17th of
August.
Table of Temperatures.
Depths.
Temperature.
Fathoms.
Degrees
Centigrade.
Fahrenheit.
Surface
-f I'02
= 33*83
2 metres
= 1
— I '32
29'62
20 „
10
- I "33
2961
40 „
21
- 1-50
293
60 „
32
- 1-50
29'3
80 „
43
- 1-50
29*3
100 „
54
— 1*40
29-48
120 „
65
— 1-24
2977
T40 „
76
-097
30-254
160 „
87
-0-58
30-96
180 „
98
-0-31
3144
200 ,,
109
— 0-03
31-95
220 „
120
+ 0-19
32-34
240 „
131
+ 0"20
32-36
260 „
142
+ 0-34
32-61
280 „
153
+ 0-42
32-76
300 „
164
+ o"34
32-61
350 „
191
+ o"44
32-79
400 „
218
+ 0-35
32-63
450 »
246
■+■ 0-36
3266
500 »
273
+ o'34
32-61
600 „
328
+ 0*26
32-47
700 „
382
+ 0-14
32-25
800 „
437
+ 0-07
32-126
The Spring and Summer of 1894.
Table of Temper.\tures — continued.
413
Depths.
Temperature.
Fathoms.
Degrees.
Centigrade.
Fahrenheit.
900 1
metres
492
— o'04
31-928
1,000
)>
546
— o"io
31-82
1,200
ii
656
— 0-28
3i'496
1,400
>,
765
— 0-34
3 1 '39
1,6 00
)5
874
— 6*46
31-17
1,800
■>■>
984
— o*6o
39"92
2,000
11
1,093
-0-66
30-81
2,600
11
1,421
— 074
30-67
2,900
»
1,585
— 076
30-63
3,000
>»
1,640
-073
30-69
3>4oo
>>
1,859
— 0*69
30-76
3,700
11
2,023
— 0-65
30-83
3,800
11
2,077
— 064
30-85
325
11
177
+ 0-49
+ 085
+ 076
+ 078
+ 0-62
32-88
33'53
33-37
33'4o
33-12
These temperatures of the water are in many
respects remarkable. In the first place the temperature
falls, as will be seen, from the surface downwards to a
depth of 80 metres, after which it rises to 280 metres,
falls again at 300 metres, then rises again at 326 metres,
where it was + 0*49° ; then falls to rise again at 450
metres, then falls steadily down to 2,000 metres, to rise
once more slowly at the bottom. Similar risings and
fallings were to be found in almost all the series of
temperatures taken, and the variations from one month
414 Chapter VII.
to another were so small that at the respective depths
they often merely amounted to the two-hundredth part of
a degree. Occasionally the temperature of the warm
strata mounted even higher than mentioned here. Thus
on October 17th at 300 metres it was -J- 0*85°, at
350 metres + 076°, at 400 metres + 078, and at 500
metres + 0*62°, after which it sank evenly until, towards
the bottom, it again rose as before.
We had not expected to meet with much bird life in
these desolate regions. Our surprise, therefore, was not
small when on Whit Sunday, May 1 3th, a gull paid us a
visit. After that date we regularly saw birds of different
kinds in our vicinity, till at last it became a daily occur-
rence, to which we did not pay any particular attention.
For the most part they were ice mews {larus eburneus),
kitti wakes {rissa tridactyla), fulmars {procellaria glacialis),
and now and then a blue gull (/. glaucus), a herring gull
(/. argentatus ?), or a black guillemot {urza grylle) ; once
or twice we also saw a skua (probably lestris parasitica),
(for instance, on July 14th). On July 21st we had a visit
from a snow bunting.
On August 3rd a remarkable occurrence took place,
we were visited by the Arctic rose gull [rhodostethia rosea).
I wrote as follows about it in my diary : — " To-day my
longing has at last been satisfied. I have shot Ross's
gull,"* three specimens in one day. This rare and
* This gull is often called by this name, after its first discoverer. It
has acquired its other name, " rose gull," from its pink colour.
i3 .2 D 5
H^d
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 415
mysterious inhabitant of the unknown north, which is
only occasionally seen, and of which no one knows whence
it Cometh or whither it goeth, which belongs exclusively
to the world to which the imagination aspires, is what,
from the first moment I saw these tracts, I had always
hoped to discover, as my eyes roamed over the lonely
plains of ice. And now it came when I was least
thinkinof of it. I was out for a little walk on the ice
by the ship, and as I was sitting down by a hummock
my eyes wandered northwards and lit on a bird hovering
over the great pressure-mound away to the north-west.
At first I took it to be a kittiwake, but soon discovered
it rather resembled the skua by its swift flight, sharp
wings, and pointed tail. When I had got my gun,
there were two of them together flying round and round
the ship. I now got a closer view of them and
discovered that they were too light coloured to be
skuas. They were by no means shy, but continued
flying about close to the ship. On going after them
on the ice I soon shot one of them, and was not a
little surprised on picking it up to find it was a little
bird about the size of a snipe ; the mottled back, too,
reminded me also of that bird. Soon after this I shot
the other. Later in the day there came another which
was also shot. On picking this one up I found it was
not quite dead, and it vomited up a couple of large
shrimps, which it must have caught in some channel
or other. All three were young birds, about 12 inches
4i6 Chapter VII.
in length, with dark mottled grey plumage on the
bSck and wings ; the breast and. under-side white, with a
scarcely perceptible tinge of orange-red, and round the
neck a dark ring sprinkled with grey." At a somewhat
later age this mottled plumage disappears ; they then
become blue on the back, with a black ring- round the
neck, while the breast assumes a delicate pink hue-
Some few days afterwards (August 6th and 8th) some
more of these birds were shot, making eight specimens
in all.
While time was passing on, the plan I had been
revolving in my mind during the winter was ever upper-
most in my thoughts — the plan, that is to say, of ex-
ploring the unknown sea apart from the track in which the
Fram was drifting. I kept an anxious eye upon the
dogs, for fear anything should happen to them, and also
to see that they continued in good condition, for all my
hopes centered in them. Several of them, indeed, had
been bitten to death, and two had been killed by bears ;
but there were still twenty-six remaining, and as a set-
off against our losses we had the puppies, eight of which
had been permitted to live. As spring advanced, they
were allowed to roam the deck, but on May 5th their
world was considerably extended. I wrote thus : " In
the afternoon we let the puppies loose on the ice, and
' Kvik ' at once took long expeditions with them to fami-
liarise them with their surroundings. First she introduced
them to our meteorological apparatus, then to the bear-
RHODOSTETHIA ROSEA.
(From a photograph.)
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 417
trap, and after that to different pressure-mounds. They
were very cautious at first, staring timidly all around,
and venturing out very slowly, a step at a time from
the ship's side ; but soon they began to run riot in
their newly-discovered world.
" ' Kvik ' was very proud to conduct her litter out into
the world, and roamed about in the highest of spirits,
though she had only just returned from a long driving
expedition, in which, as usual, she had done good work
in harness. In the afternoon, one of the black and white
puppies had an attack of madness. It ran round the
ship, barking furiously ; the others set on it, and it bit at
everything that came in its way. At last we got it shut
in on the deck forward, where it was furious for a while,
then quieted down, and now seems to be all right again.
This makes the fourth that has had a similar attack.
What can it possibly be ? It cannot be hydrophobia, or
it would have appeared among the grown-up dogs. Can
it be toothache, or hereditary epilepsy — or some other
infernal thing ?" Unfortunately, several of them died
from these strange attacks. The puppies were such fine,
nice animals, that we were all very sorry when a thing
like this occurred.
On June 3rd I write : — "Another of the puppies died
in the forenoon from one of those mysterious attacks,
and I cannot conceal from myself that I take it greatly
to heart, and feel low-spirited about it. I have been so
used to these small polar creatures living their sorrowless
2 E
41 8 Chapter VII.
life on deck, romping and playing around us from
morning to evening and a little of the night as well. I
can watch them with pleasure by the hour together, or
play with them as with little children — have a game at
hide and seek with them round the skylight, the while they
are beside themselves with glee. It is the largest and
strongest of the lot that has just died, a handsome dog ;
I called him * Lova ' (LionV He was such a confiding,
gentle animal, and so affectionate. Only yesterday
he was jumping and playing about and rubbing himself
against me, and to-day he is dead. Our ranks are
thinning, and the worst of it is we try in vain to make
out what it is that ails them. This one was apparently
quite in his normal condition and as cheerful as ever
until his breakfast was given him ; then he began to cry
and tear round yelping and barking as if distracted, just
as the others had done. After this convulsions set in,
and the froth poured from his mouth. One of these-
convulsions no doubt carried him off. Blessing and I
held a post mortem upon him in the afternoon, but we
could discover no signs of anything unusual. It does
not seem to be an infectious ailment. I cannot under-
stand it.
"'Ulenka,' too, the handsomest dog in the whole
pack, our consolation and our hope, suddenly became ill
the other day. It was the morning of May 24th that
we found it paralyzed and quite helpless, lying in its
cask on deck. It kept trying to get up but couldn't, and
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 419
immediately fell down again — just like a man who has
had a stroke and has lost all power over his limbs. It
was at once put to bed in a box and nursed most care-
fully ; except for being unable to walk, it is apparently
quite well." It must have been a kind of apoplectic
seizure that attacked the spinal cord in some spot or
other, and paralysed one side of the body. The dog
recovered slowly, but never got the complete use of its
legs again. It accompanied us, however, on our
subsequent sledge expedition.
The dogs did not seem to like the summer, it was
so wet on the ice, and so warm. On June nth I
write : — " To-day the pools on the ice all round us have
increased wonderfully in size, and it is by no means
agreeable to go off the ship with shoes that are not
water-tight ; it is wetter and wetter for the dogs in the
daytime, and they sweat more and more from the heat,
though it as yet only rarely rises above zero (C.) A few
days ago they were shifted on to the ice, where two long
kennels were set up for them.""^^' They were made out
of boxes, and really consist of only a wall and a roof.
Here they spend the greater part of the twenty- four
hours, and we are now rid of all uncleanliness on board,
except for the four puppies which still remain, and lead
a glorious life of it up there between sleep and play.
"Ulenka" is still on deck, and is slowly recovering.
* Up to now they had their kennels on deck.
2 E 2
420
Chapter VII.
There is the same daily routine for the dogs as in the
winter. We let them loose in the morning about half-
past eight, and as the time for their release draws near
they begin to get very impatient. Every time any one
Froma-\ OUR KENNELS (SEPTEMBER 2 7TH, 1 894). iPhotograph.
shows himself on deck a wild chorus of howls issues from
twenty-six throats, clamouring for food and freedom.
After being let loose they get their breakfast, consisting
of half a dried fish, or three biscuits a-piece. The rest
The Spring and Summer of 1894.
421
of the forenoon is spent in rooting round among all the
refuse heaps they can find ; and they gnaw and lick all
the empty tin cases which they have ransacked hundreds
of times before. If the cook sends a fresh tin dancing
along the ice a battle immediately rages aroun d the prize
THE DOGS BASKING IN THE SUN (jUNE 13TH, 1 894).
From a Photograph.
It often happens that one or another of them trying to
get at a tempting piece of fat at the bottom of a deep,
narrow tin, sticks his head so far down into it that the
tin sits fast, and he cannot release himself again ; so with
this extinguisher on his head he sprawls about blindly
42 2 Chapter VII.
over the ice, indulging in the most wonderful antics in
the effort to get rid of it, to the great amusement of us,
the spectators. When tired of their work at the rubbish
heaps they stretch out their round, sausage-like bodies,
panting in the sun, if there is any, and if it is too warm
they get into the shade. They are tied up again before
dinner; but " Pan," and others like-minded, sneak away
a little before that time, and hide up behind a hummock,
so that one can only see a head or an ear sticking up
here and there. Should anyone go to fetch him in he
will probably growl, show his teeth, or even snap ; after
which he will lie flat down, and allow himself to be
dragged off to prison. The remainder of the twenty-four
hours they spend sleeping, puffing and panting in the
excessive heat, which, by the way, is two degrees of cold.
Every now and then they set up a chorus of howls
that certainly must be heard in Siberia, and quarrel
amongst themselves till the fur flies in all directions.
This removal of the dogs on to the ice has imposed
upon the watch the arduous duty of remaining on deck
at nights, which was not the practice before. But a
bear having once been on board and taken off two of our
precious animals, we don't want any more such visitors.
" On July 31st ' Kvik ' again increased our population
by bringing eleven puppies into the world, one of which
was deformed, and was at once killed ; two others died
later, but most of them grew up and became fine
handsome animals. They are still living.
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 423
" Few or no incidents occurred during this time,
except, naturally, the different red-letter days were
celebrated with great ceremony."
May 17th* we observed with special pomp ; the
following description of which I find in my journal : —
"Friday, May i8th. May 17th was celebrated
yesterday with all possible festivity. In the morning
we were awakened with organ music— the enlivening
strains of the 'College Hornpipe.' After this a
splendid breakfast off smoked salmon, ox tongues,
etc., etc. The whole ship's company wore bows of
ribbon in honour of the day — even old ' Suggen ' had
one round his tail. The wind whistled, and the
Norwegian flag floated on high, fluttering bravely at the
masthead. About 1 1 o'clock the company assembled
with their banners on the ice on the port side of the
ship, and the procession arranged itself in order. First
of all came the leader of the expedition with the ' pure '
Norwegian flag ;t after him Sverdrup with the Franis
pennant, which, with its ' FRAM ' on a red ground,
3 fathoms long, looked splendid. Next came a dog-
sledge, with the band (Johansen with the accordion), and
Mogstad, as coachman ; after them came the mate, with
rifles and harpoons, Henriksen carrying a long harpoon ;
then Amundsen and Nordahl, with a red banner. The
* The anniversary of the Norwegian Constitution,
t Without the mark of the " union " with Sweden.
424
Chapter VII,
doctor followed, with a demonstration flag in favour of a
normal working day. It consisted of a woollen jersey,
with the letters ' N. A.'* embroidered on the breast,
and at the top of a very long pole it looked most
impressive. After him followed our chef, Juell, with
Froma-\ THE I 7TH OF MAY PROCESSION, I 894. [Photograph.
' peik's 't saucepan on his back ; and then came the
meteorologists, with a curious apparatus, consisting of a
large tin scutcheon, across which was fastened a red band,
* " Normal Arbeidsdage" = normal working day.
t The pet name of the cooking range in the galley.
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 4^5
with the letters ' Al. St., signifying 'ahiiindelig stem-
meret,' or ' universal suffrage.' "*
" At last the procession began to move on. The dogs
marched demurely, as if they had never done anything
else in all their lives than walk in procession, and the
band played a magnificent festive march, not composed
for the occasion. The statelv corteo^e marched twice
round the Frain, after which with great solemnity it
moved off in the direction of the large hummock, and
was photographed on the way by the photographer of
the expedition. At the hummock a hearty cheer was
given for the Fram, which had brought us hither so
well, and which would, doubtless, take us equally well
home again. After this the procession turned back,
cutting across the Frairts bow. At the port gangway a
halt was called, and the photographer, mounting the
bridge, made a speech in honour of the day. This was
succeeded by a thundering salute, consisting of six shots,
the result of which was that five or six of the dogs
rushed off over hummocks and pressure-ridges, and hid
themselves for several hours. Meanwhile we went
down into the cosy cabin, decorated with flags for the
* Up to this day I am not quite clear as to what these emblems were
intended to signify. That the doctor, from want of practice, would
have been glad of a normal day's work ("normal Arbeidsdag ") can
readily be explained, but why the meteorologists should cry out for
universal suffrage passes my comprehension. Did they want to
overthrow despotism ?
426 Chapter VII.
occasion in a right festive manner, where we partook of
a splendid dinner, preluded by a lovely valse. The
menu was as follows : — Minced fish with curried lobster,
melted butter and potatoes ; music ; pork cutlets, with
green peas, potatoes, mango chutney, and Worcester
sauce ; music ; apricots and custard, with cream ; much
music. After this a siesta ; then coffee, currants, figs,
cakes ; and the photographer stood cigars. Great
enthusiasm, then more siesta. After supper the violinist,
Mogstad, gave a recital, when refreshments were served
in the shape of figs, sweetmeats, apricots, and ginger-
bread (honey cakes). On the whole a charming and
very successful Seventeenth of May, especially consider-
ing that we had passed the 8 1 st degree of latitude.
"Monday, May 28th. Ugh, I am tired of these
endless, white plains — cannot even be bothered snow-
shoeing over them, not to mention that the lanes
stop one on every hand. Day and night I pace up
and down the deck, along the ice by the ship's
sides, revolving the most elaborate scientific problems.
For the past few days it is especially the shifting of
the Pole that has fascinated me. I am beset by the
idea that the tidal wave, along with the unequal distri-
bution of land and sea, must have a disturbing effect on
the situation of the earth's axis. When such an idea
gets into one's head, it is no easy matter to get it out
again. After pondering over it for several days, I
have finally discovered that the influence of the moon
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 427
on the sea must be sufficient to cause a shifting of
the Pole to the extent of one minute in 800,000 years.
In order to account for the European Glacial Age, which
was my main object, I must shift the Pole at least ten or
twenty degrees. This leaves an uncomfortably wide
interval of time since that period, and shows that the
human race must have attained a respectable age. Of
course, it is all nonsense. But while I am indefatigably
tramping the deck in a brown study, imagining myself no
end of a great thinker, I suddenly discover that my thoughts
are at home, where all is summer and loveliness, and those
I have left are busy building castles in the air for the day
when I shall return. Yes, yes. I spend rather too
much time on this sort of thing ; but the drift goes as
slowly as ever, and the wind, the all-powerful wind, is
still the same. The first thing my eyes look for when I
set foot on deck in the morning is the weathercock on the
mizentop, to see how the wind lies ; thither they are for
ever straying during the whole day, and there again they
rest, the last thing before I turn in. But it ever points in
the same direction, west and south-west, and we drift
now quicker, now more slowly westwards, and only a
little to the north. I have no doubt now about the
success of the expedition, and my miscalculation was not
so great after all ; but I scarcely think we shall drift
higher than 85°, even if we do that. It will depend
on how far Franz Josef Land extends to the north. In
that case it will be hard to give up reaching the Pole ; it
428 Chapter VII.
is in reality a mere matter of vanity, merely child's play,
in comparison with what we are doing and hoping to do ;
and yet I must confess that I am foolish enough to want
to take in the Pole while I am about it, and shall probably
have a try at it if we get into its neighbourhood within
any reasonable time.
" This is a mild May ; the temperature has been
about zero several times of late, and one can walk up
and down and almost imagine one's self at home.
There is seldom more than a few degrees of cold ; but
the summer fogs are beginning, with occasional hoar
frost. As a rule, however, the sky with its light, fleeting
clouds is almost like a spring sky in the south.
" We notice, too, that it has become milder on board ;
we no longrer need to lisfht a fire in the stove to make
ourselves warm and cosy ; though, indeed, we have
never indulged in much luxury in this respect. In the
store-room, the rime frost and ice that had settled on
the ceiling and walls are beginning to melt ; and in
the compartments astern of the saloon, and in the hold,
we have been obliged to set about a grand cleaning-up,
scraping off and sweeping away the ice and rime, to
save our provisions from taking harm, through the
damp penetrating the wrappings, and rusting holes in
the tin cases. We have, moreover, for a long time
kept the hatchways in the hold open, so that there
has been a thorough draught through it, and a good
deal of the rime has evaporated. It is remarkable
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 429
how little damp we have on board. No doubt this is
due to the Fra7ns solid construction, and to the deck
over the hold being panelled on the underside. I am
getting fonder and fonder of this ship."
" Saturday, June 9th. Our politician, Amundsen, is
celebrating the day with a white shirt and collar.'"'
To-day I have moved with my work up into the deck-
house aofain, where I can sit and look out of the window
in the day-time, and feel that I am living in the world
and not in a cavern, where one must have lamplight
night and day. I intend remaining here as long as
possible out into the winter : it is so cosy and quiet,
and the monotonous surroundings are not constantly
forcing themselves in upon me.
"I really have the feeling that summer has come.
I can pace up and down the deck by the hour together
with the sun, or stand still and roast myself in it, while
I smoke a pipe, and my eyes glide over the confused
-masses of snow and ice. The snow is everywhere wet
now, and pools are beginning to form every here and
there. The ice too is getting more and more permeated
with salt water ; if one bores ever so small a hole in it,
it is at once filled with water. The reason, of course,
is that owing to the rise in the temperature, the particles
of salt contained in the ice begin to melt their sur-
*■ With reference to the resolution of the Storthing, on June 9th,
5o.
430 Chapter VII.
roundings, and more and more water is formed with
a good admixture of salt in it, so that its freezing point
is lower than the temperature of the ice around it. This,
too, had risen materially ; at about 4 feet depth it is only
25*2° F. (— 3 "8° C), at 5 feet it is somewhat warmer
again, 26-5° F. (- 3-1° C).
' ' "Sunday, June loth. Oddly enough we have had no
cases of snow-blindness on board, with the exception of
the doctor, who, a couple of days ago, after we had
been playing at ball, got a touch of it in the evening.
The tears poured from his eyes for some time, but he
soon recovered. Rather a humiliating trick of fate that
he should be the first to suffer from this ailment."
Subsequently we had a few isolated cases of slight
snow-blindness, so that one or two of our men had to go
about with dark spectacles ; but it was of little im-
portance and was due to their not thinking it worth
while to take the necessary precautions.
"Monday, June nth. To-day I made a joyful dis-
covery. I thought I had begun my last bundle of cigars
and calculated that by smoking one a day they would
last a month, but found quite unexpectedly a whole box
in my locker. Great rejoicing ! it will help to while
away a few more months, and where shall we be then ?
Poor fellow, you are really at a low ebb ! * To while
away time ' — that is an idea that has scarcely ever
entered your head before. It has always been your
great trouble that time flew away so fast, and now it
•T. o
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 431
cannot go fast enough to please you. And then so
addicted to tobacco — you wrap yourself in clouds of
smoke to indulge in your everlasting day dreams.
Hark to the south wind, how it whistles in the rigging ;
it is quite inspiriting to listen to it. On Midsummer
Eve we ought, of course, to have had a bonfire as usual,
but from my diary it does not seem to have been the
sort of weather for it.
"Saturday, June 23rd, 1894.
" 'Mid the shady vales, and the leafy trees,
How sweet the approach of the summer breeze ;
When the mountain slopes in the sunlight gleam,
And the eve of St. John comes in like a dream.
The north wind continues with sleet. Gloomy weather.
Drifting south. 81° 43' N. lat, that is 9' southward since
Monday.
" I have seen many midsummer eve's under different
skies, but never such a one as this. So far, far from all
that one associates with this evening. I think of the
merriment round the bonfires at home, hear the scraping
of the fiddle, the peals of laughter, and the salvoes of the
guns, with the echoes answering from the purple tinted
heights. And then I look out over this boundless, white
expanse into the fog and sleet, and the driving wind.
Here is truly no trace of midsummer merriment. It is a
gloomy look-out altogether! Midsummer is past — and
now the days are shortening again, and the long night of
432 Chapter VII.
winter approaching, which, maybe, will find us as far
advanced as it left us.
" I was busily engaged with my examination of the
salinity of the sea water this afternoon, when Mogstad
stuck his head in at the door, and said that a bear must
be prowling about in the neighbourhood. On returning
after dinner to their work at the great hummock, where
they were busy making an ice-cellar for fresh meat,* the
men found bear tracks which were not there before. I
put on my snow-shoes and went after it. But what
terrible going it had been the last few days ! Soft slush,
in which the snow-shoes sink helplessly. The bear had
come from the west right up to the Fram, had stopped
and inspected the work that was going on, had then
retreated a little, made a considerable detour, and set off
eastwards at its easy, shambling gait, without deigning
to pay any further attention to such a trifle as a ship.
It had rummaged about in every hole and corner where
there seemed to be any chance of finding food, and had
rooted in the snow after anything the dogs had left, or
whatever else it might be. It had then gone to the
* It was seal, walrus, and bear's flesh from last autumn, which was
used for the dogs. During the winter it had been hung up in the ship,
and was still quite fresh. But henceforth it was stored on the ice until,
before autumn set in, it was consumed. It is remarkable how well
meat keeps in these regions. On June 28th we had reindeer-steak for
dinner that we had killed on the Siberian coast in September of the
previous year.
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 433
lanes in the ice, and skirted them carefully, no doubt in
the hope of finding a seal or two, and after that it had
gone off between the hummocks and over floes, with a
surface of nothing but slush and water. Had the surface
been good I should no doubt have overtaken Master
Bruin, but he had too long a start in the slushy snow.
" A dismal, dispiriting landscape — nothing but white
and grey. No shadows — merely half obliterated forms
melting into the fog and slush. Everything is in a state
of disintegration, and one's foothold gives way at every
step. It is hard work for the poor snow-shoer who
stamps along through the slush and fog after bear tracks
that wind in and out among the hummocks, or over them.
The snow-shoes sink deep in, and the water often
reaches up to the ankles, so that it is hard work to get
them up or to force them forward ; but without them
one would be still worse off".
" Every here and there this monotonous greyish-white-
ness is broken by the coal-black water, which winds, in
narrower or broader lanes, in between the high hum-
mocks. White, snow-laden floes and lumps of ice float
on the dark surface, looking like white marble on a
black ground. Occasionally there is a larger dark-
coloured pool, where the wind gets a hold of the water
and forms small waves that ripple and plash against the
edge of the ice, the only signs of life in this desert tract.
It is like an old friend the sound of these playful wave-
lets ! And here, too, they eat away the floes and hollow
2 F
434 Chapter VII.
out their edges. One could almost imagine one's self in
more southern latitudes. But all around is wreathed
with ice, towering aloft in its ever-varying fantastic
forms, in striking contrast to the dark water on which
a moment before the eye had rested. Everlastingly is
this shifting ice modelling, as it were, in pure, grey
marble, and, with nature's lavish prodigality, strewing
around the most glorious statuary which perishes, with-
out any eye having seen it. Wherefore ? To what end
all this shifting pageant of loveliness ? It is governed by
the mere caprices of nature, following out those ever-
lasting laws, that pay no heed to what we regard as aims
and objects.
"In front of me towers one pressure-ridge after
another, with lane after lane between. It was in June
xh& Jeannette was crushed and sank ; what if the Fram
were to meet her fate here ! No, the ice will not get
the better of her. Yet, if it should in spite of every-
thing ! As I stood gazing around me I remembered it
was Midsummer Eve. Far away yonder, her masts
pointed aloft, half lost to view in the snowy haze. They
must, indeed, have stout hearts those fellows on board
that craft. Stout hearts, or else blind faith in a man's
word.
"It is all very well that he who has hatched a plan,
be it never so wild, should go with it to carry it out ; he
naturally does his best for the child to which his thoughts
have given birth. But they — they had no child to tend,
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 435
and could, without feeling any yearning baulked, have
refrained from taking part in an expedition like this.
Why should any human being renounce life to be wiped
out here ? "
" Sunday, June 24th. The anniversary of our depar-
ture from home. Northerly wind ; still drifting south.
Observations to-day gave 81° 41' 7" N. lat, so we are
not going at a breakneck speed.
"It has been a long year — a great deal has been gone
through in it — though we are quite as far advanced as I
had anticipated. I am sitting, and look out of the
window at the snow, whirling round in eddies as it is swept
along by the north wind. A strange Midsummer Day !
One might think we had had enough of snow and ice ; I
am not, however, exactly pining after green fields — at all
events, not always. On the contrary, I find myself
sitting by the hour laying plans for other voyages into
the ice after our return from this one. . . . Yes,
I know what I have attained, and, more or less,
what awaits me. It is all very well for me to sketch
plans for the future. But those at home. . . . No,
I am not in a humour for writing this evening ; I will
turn in."
''Wednesday, July nth. Lat. 81° 18' 8". At last
the southerly wind has returned, so there is an end of
drifting south for the present.
** Now I am almost longing for the polar night, for the
everlasting wonderland of the stars with the spectral
2 F 2
436 Chapter VII.
northern lights, and the moon sailing through the pro-
found silence. It is like a dream, like a glimpse into the
realms of fantasy. There are no forms, no cumbrous
reality — only a vision woven of silver and violet ether,
rising up from earth and floating out into infinity. . . .
But this eternal day, with its oppressive actuality,
interests me no longer — does not entice me out of my
lair. Life is one incessant hurrying from one task to
another, everything must be done and nothing neglected,
day after day, week after week ; and the working day is
long, seldom ending till far over midnight. But through
it all runs the same sensation of longing and emptiness,
which must not be ftoted. Ah, but at times there is
no holding it aloof, and the hands sink down without will
or strength — so weary, so unutterably weary.
" Ah ! life's peace is said to be found by holy men in
the desert. Here, indeed, there is desert enough ;
but peace — of that I know nothing. I suppose it is
the holiness that is lacking.
" Wednesday, July i8th. Went on excursion with
Blessing in the forenoon to collect specimens of the
brown snow and ice, and gather seaweed and diatoms
in the water. The upper surface of the floes is nearly
everywhere of a dirty brown colour, or, at least, this
sort of ice preponderates, while pure white floes, without
any traces of a dirty brown on their surface, are rare.
I imagined this brown colour must be due to the
organisms I found in the newly-frozen, brownish-red
The Spring and Summer of 1894.
437
ice last autumn (October) ; but the specimens I took
to-day consist for the most part of mineral dust
mingled with diatoms and other ingredients of organic
origin.*
From a\ BLESSING GOES OFF IN SEARCH OF ALG^. {Photograph.
" Blessing collected several specimens on the upper
surface of the ice earlier in the summer, and came to
the same conclusions. I must look farther into this, in
* The same kind of dust that I found on the ice on the east coast ot
Greenland, which is mentioned in the Introduction to this book, p. 33.
438 Chapter VII.
order to see whether all this brown dust is of a mineral
nature, and consequently originates from the land.* We
found in the lanes quantities of algse like what we had
often found previously. There were large accumu-
lations of them in nearly every little channel. We
could also see that a brown surface layer spread
itself on the sides of the floes far down into
the water. This is due to an alga that grows on the
ice. There were also floating in the water a number
of small viscid lumps, some white, some of a yellowish-
red colour ; and of these I collected several. Under the
microscope they all appeared to consist of accumulations
of diatoms, among which, moreover, were a number of
larger cellular organisms of a very characteristic appear-
ance.t All of these diatomous accumulations kept at a
certain depth, about a yard below the surface of the
water ; in some of the small lanes they appeared in large
* This dust, which is to be seen in summer on the upper surface of
almost all polar ice of any age, is, no doubt, for the most part, dust
that hovers in the earth's atmosphere. It probably descends with the
falling snow, and gradually accumulates into a surface layer as the snow
melts during the summer. Larger quantities of mud, however, are also
often to be found on the ice, which strongly resemble this dust in
colour, but are doubtless more directly connected with land, being
formed on floes that have originally lain in close proximity to it.
(Compare Wtsse/isch. Ergebnisse von Dr. F. Nansens durchquerung von
Gronland. Ergdnzungsheft No. 105, zu Peternia7ins Mittheilungen.)
t I have not yet had time to examine them closely.
» -s
The Spring and Summer of 1894.
439
masses. At the same depth the above-named alga
seemed especially to flourish, while parts of it rose up to
the surface. It was evident that these accumulations of
diatoms and alga remained floating exactly at the depth
From <r]
BLESSING FISHING FOR ALG^.
\Photograph.
where the upper stratum of fresh water rests on the sea
water. The water on the surface was entirely fresh, and
the masses of diatoms sank in it, but floated on reaching
the salt water below. *
440
Chapter VII.
"Thursday, July 19th. It is as I expected. I am
beginning to know the ways of the wind up here pretty
well now. After having blown a ' windmill breeze '
PRESSURE-RIDGE ON THE PORT QUARTER OF THE
(jULY 1ST, 1894).
(From a Photosp^aih.)
FRAM
to-day it falls calm in the evening, and to-morrow we
shall probably have wind from the west or north-west.
" Yesterday evening the last cigar out of the old box !
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 441
And now I have smoked the first out of the last box
I have got. We were to have got so far by the time
that box was finished ; but are scarcely any further
advanced than when I began it, and goodness knows
if we shall be that when this, too, has disappeared.
But enough of that. Smoke away."
" Sunday, July 22nd. The north-west wind did not
come quite up to time ; on Friday we had north-east
instead, and during the night it gradually went round
to N.N.E., and yesterday forenoon it blew due north.
To-day it has ended in the west, the old well known
quarter, of which we have had more than enough. This
evening the line* shows about N.W. to N., and it is
strong, so we are moving south again.
" I pass the day at the microscope. I am now busied
with the diatoms and algae of all kinds that grow on the
ice in the uppermost fresh stratum of the sea. These are
undeniably most interesting things, a whole new world of
organisms that are carried off by the ice from known
shores across the unknown Polar Sea, there to awaken
every summer, and develop into life and bloom. Yes, it
is very interesting work, but yet there is not that same
burning interest as of old, although the scent of oil of
cloves, Canada balsam, and wood-oil, awakens many
* We always had a line, with a net at the end, hanging out, in order
to see the direction we were drifting in, or to ascertain whether there
was any perceptible current in the water.
442 Chapter VII.
dear reminiscences of that quiet laboratory at home, and
every morning as I come in here the microscope and
glasses and colours on the table invite me to work. But
though I work indefatigably day after day till late in the
night, it is mostly duty work, and I am not sorry when
it is finished, to go and lie for some few hours in my
berth reading a novel and smoking a cigar. With what
exultation would I not throw the whole aside, spring up,
and lay hold of real life, fighting my way over ice and
sea with sledges, boats, or kayaks. It is more than true
that it is ' easy to live a life of battle ' ; but here there
is neither storm nor battle, and I thirst after them. I long
to enlist titanic forces and fight my way forward — that
would be living ! But what pleasure is there in strength
when there is nothing for it to do ? Here we drift
forward, and here we drift back, and now we have been
two months on the same spot.
" Everything, however, is being got ready for a possible
expedition, or for the contingency of its becoming neces-
sary to abandon the ship. All the hand-sledges are
lashed together, and the iron fittings carefully seen to.
Six dog-sledges are also being made, and to-morrow we
shall begin building * kayaks ' ready for the men. They
are easy to draw on hand-sledges in case of a retreat
over the ice without the ship. For a beginning we are
making ' kayaks ' to hold two men each. I intend to
have them about 12 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 18 inches
in depth. Six of these are to be made. They are to be
s z
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 443
covered with sealskin or sailcloth, and to be decked all
over, except for two holes — one for each man.
'* I feel that we have, or rather shall have, everything
needful for a brilliant retreat. Sometimes I seem almost
to be lonoringr for a defeat — a decisive one — so that we
might have a chance of showing what is in us, and
putting an end to this irksome inactivity.
" Monday, July 30th. Westerly wind, with north-
westerly by way of a pleasant variety ; such is our daily
fare week after week. On coming up in the morning, I
no longer care to look at the weather-cock on the mast-
head, or at the line in the water ; for I know beforehand
that the former points east or south-east, and the line in
the contrary direction, and that we are ever bearing to
the south-east. Yesterday it was 81° 7' N. lat., the day
before 81° 11', and last Monday, July 25th, 81° 26'.
•' But it occupies my thoughts no longer. I know well
enough there will be a change some time or other, and
the way to the stars leads through adversity. I have
found a new world ; and that is the world of animal
and plant life that exists in almost every fresh-water
pool on the ice-floes. From morning till evening and
till late in the night I am absorbed with the microscope,
and see nothing around me ; I live with these tiny
beings in their separate universe, where they are born
and die, generation after generation, where they pursue
each other in the struggle for life, and carry on their
love affairs with the same feelings, the same sufferings,
444 Chapter VII.
and the same joys that permeate every living being,
from these microscopic animalcules up to man — self-
preservation and propagation, that is the whole story.
Fiercely, as we human beings struggle to push our way
on through the labyrinth of life, their struggles are
assuredly no less fierce than ours — one incessant, rest-
less hurrying to and fro, pushing all others aside, to
burrow out for themselves what is needful to them. And
as to love, only mark with what passion they seek each
other out. With all our brain-cells we do not feel more
strongly than they, never live so entirely for a sensation.
But what is life ? What matters the individual's suffer-
ing so long as the struggle goes on.
" And these are small, one-celled lumps of viscous
matter, teeming in thousands and millions, on nearly
every single floe over the whole of this boundless
sea, which we are apt to regard as the realm of
death. Mother Nature has a remarkable power of
producing life everywhere — even this ice is a fruitful soil
for her.
"In the evening a little variety occurred in our
uneventful existence, Johansen having discovered a bear
to the south-east of the ship, but out of range. It had,
no doubt, been prowling about for some time while we
were below at supper, and had been quite near us ; but
being alarmed by some sound or other, had gone off
eastwards. Sverdrup and I set out after it, but to no
purpose ; the lanes hindered us too much, and more-
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 445
over a fosf came on, so that we had to return after
having gone a good distance."
The world of organisms I above alluded to was the
subject of special research through the short summer,
and in many respects was quite remarkable. When the
sun's rays had gained power on the surface of the ice,
and melted the snow, so that pools were formed, there
was soon to be seen at the bottom of these pools small
yellowish-brown spots, so small that at first one hardly
noticed them. Day by day they increased in size, and
absorbing, like all dark substances, the heat of the sun's
rays, they gradually melted the underlying ice and
formed round cavities, often several inches deep. These
brown spots were the above mentioned algae and diatoms.
They developed speedily in the summer light, and would
fill the bottoms of the cavities with a thick layer. But
there were not plants only, the water also teemed with
swarms of animalcules, mostly infusoria and flagellata,
which subsisted on the plants. I actually found bacteria
— even these regions are not free from them !
But I could not always remain chained by the micro-
scope. Sometimes when the fine weather tempted me
irresistibly, I had to go out and bake myself in the sun,
and imagine myself in Norway.
" Saturday, August 4th. Lovely weather yesterday
and to-day. Light, fleecy clouds sailing high aloft
through the sparkling, azure sky — filling one's soul with
longings to soar as high and as free as they. I have just
446 Chapter VII.
been out on deck this evening ; one could almost imagine
oneself at home by the fjord. Saturday evening's peace
seemed to rest on the scene and on one's soul.
" Our sailmakers, Sverdrup and Amundsen, have to-
day finished covering the first double kayak with sail-cloth.
Fully equipped, it weighs 30*5 kilos. (60 lbs.). I think it
will prove a first rate contrivance. Sverdrup and I tried
it on a pool. It carried us splendidly, and was so stiff that
even sitting on the deck we could handle it quite com-
fortably. It will easily carry two men with full equip-
ment for 100 days. A handier or more practical craft
for regions like this I cannot well imagine."
"Sunday, August 5th. 81° "j'l N. lat.
" I can't forget the sparkling fjord
When the church boat rows in the morning."^
" Brilliant summer weather. I bathe in the sun and
dream I am at home either on the high mountains or
— heaven knows why — on the fjords of the west coast.
The same white fleecy clouds in the clear blue summer
sky ; heaven arches itself overhead like a perfect dome,
there is nothing to bar one's way, and the soul rises
up unfettered beneath it. What matters it that the
world below is different, the ice no longer single
glittering glaciers, but spread out on every hand ? Is
it not these same fleecy clouds far away in the blue
expanse that the eye looks for at home on a bright
summer day ? Sailing on these, fancy steers its course
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 447
to the land of wistful longing. And it is just at these
glittering glaciers in the distance that we direct our
longing gaze. Why should not a summer day be as
lovely here ? Ah, yes ! it is lovely, pure as a dream,
without desire, without sin, a poem of clear white
sunbeams refracted in the cool crystal blue of the ice.
How unutterably delightful does not this world appear
to us on some stifling summer day at home ?
** Have rested and ' kept Sunday.' I could not
remain in the whole day, so took a long trip over the
ice. Progress is easy except for the lanes.
" Hansen practised kayak-paddling this afternoon on
the pool around the ship, from which several channels
diverge over the ice, but he was not content with
paddling round in them, but must, of course, make an
experiment in capsizing and recovering himself as the
Eskimos do. It ended by his not coming up again,
losing his paddle, remaining head downwards in the
water, and beating about with his hands till the ' kayak '
filled, and he got a cold bath from top to toe. Nordahl,
who was standing by on the ice to help him, at last
found it necessary to go in after him and raise him
up on an even keel again, to the great amusement of
us others.
" One can notice that it is summer. This evening a
game of cards is being played on deck, with * Peik's ' *
* The name given to the cooking-stove.
448 Chapter VII.
big pot for a card-table. One could almost think it was
an August evening at home ; only the toddy is wanting,
but the pipes and cigars we have."
" Sunday, August 1 2th. We had a shooting com-
petition in the forenoon.
"A glorious evening. I took a stroll over the ice
among the lanes and hummocks. It was so wonderfully
calm and still. Not a sound to be heard but the drip,
drip of water from a block of ice, and the dull sound of
a snow-slip from some hummock in the distance. The
sun is low down in the north, and overhead is the pale
blue dome of heaven, with gold-edged clouds. The
profound peace of the Arctic solitudes. My thoughts
fly free and far. If one could only give utterance to all
that stirs one's soul on such an evening as this ! What
an incomprehensible power one's surroundings have
over one !
"Why is it that at times I complain of the loneliness.'*
With Nature around one, with one's books and studies,
one can never be quite alone."
"Thursday, August i6th. Yesterday evening, as I
was lying in my berth reading, and all except the watch
had turned in, I heard the report of a gun on deck
over my head. Thinking it was a bear, I hurriedly
put on my sea boots and sprang on deck. There I
saw Johansen bare-headed, rifle in hand. 'Was it you
that fired the shot .'* ' ' Yes. I shot at the big hummock
yonder — I thought something was stirring there, and
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 449
I wanted to see what it was, but it seems to have
been nothing.' I went to the railings, and looked out.
' I fancied it was a bear that was after our meat — but
it was nothing.' As we stood there one of the dogs
came jogging along from the big hummock. ' Then
you see what you have shot at,' I said, laughing. ' I'm
bothered if it wasn't a dog!' he replied. 'Ice-bear'
it was, true enough, for so we called this dog. It
had seemed so large in the fog, scratching at the
meat-hummock. ' Did you aim at the dog and miss ?
That was a lucky chance ! ' ' No ! I simply fired at
random in that direction, for I wanted to see what it
was.' I went below and turned in again. At breakfast
to-day he had, of course, to run the gauntlet of some
sarcastic questions about his 'harmless thunder-bolt,' but
he parried them adroitly enough.
"Tuesday, August 21. North latitude, 81° 4*2'.
Strange how little alteration there is — we drift a little to
the north, then a little to the south, and keep almost to
the same spot. But I believe, as I have believed all
along, since before we even set out, that we should be
away three years, or rather three winters and four
summers, neither more nor less, and that in about two
years' time from this present autumn we shall reach
home." The approaching winter will drift us further,
* It was two years later to a day that the J^ra//i put in at Skiervo, on
the coast of Norway.
2 G
450 Chapter VII.
however slowly, and it begins already to announce itself,
for there were four degrees of cold last night."
"Sunday, August 26th, It seems almost as if winter
had come, the cold has kept on an average between
24-8° F. (-4° C.)and 21-2° F. (-6° C.) since Thursday.
There are only slight variations in the temperature up
here, so we may expect it to fall regularly from this time
forth, though it is rather early for winter to set in. All
the pools and lanes are covered with ice, thick enough
to bear a man, even without snow-shoes.
" I went out on my snow-shoes both morning and
afternoon. The surface was beautiful everywhere.
Some of the lanes had opened out, or been com-
pressed a little, so that the new ice was thin, and bent
unpleasantly under the snow-shoes ; but it bore me,
though two of the dogs fell through. A good deal of
snow had fallen, so there was fine, soft new snow to
travel over. If it keeps on as it is now, there will be
excellent snow-shoeing in the winter ; for it is fresh water
that now freezes on the surface, so that there is no salt
that the wind can carry from the new ice to spoil the
snow all around, as was the case last winter. Such snow
with salt in it makes as heavy a surface as sand.
" Monday, August 27th. Just as Blessing was going
below after his watch to-night, and was standing by the
rail looking out, he saw a white form that lay rolling in
the snow a little way off to the south-east. Afterwards
it remained for a while lying quite still. Johansen, who
A SUMMER EVENING. I4 JULY, 1894.
(From a photograph.)
The Spring and Summer of 1894. 451
was to relieve Blessing, now joined him, and they both
stood watching the animal intently. Presently it got up,
so there was no longer any doubt as to what it was.
Each got hold of a rifle and crept stealthily towards the
forecastle, where they waited quietly while the bear
cautiously approached the ship, making long tacks
against the wind, A fresh breeze was blowing, and the
windmill going round at full speed ; but this did not
alarm him at all ; very likely it was this very thing he
wanted to examine. At last he reached the lane in
front, when they both fired and he fell down dead on the
spot. It was nice to get fresh meat again. This was
the first bear we had shot this year, and of course we
had roast bear for dinner to-day. Regular winter with
snowstorms."
" Wednesday, August 29th. A fresh wind ; it rattles
and pipes in the rigging aloft. An enlivening change
and no mistake ! The snow drifts as if it were mid-
winter. Fine August weather ! But we are bearing
north again, and we have need to ! Yesterday our
latitude was 80° 53 '5'. This evening I was standing in
the hold at work on my new bamboo kayak, which will
be the very acme of lightness. Pettersen happened to
come down and gave me a hand with some lashings
that I was busy with. We chatted a little about things
in general ; and he was of opinion ' that we had a good
crib of it on board the Fram, because here we had
everything we wanted, and she was a devil of a ship —
2 G 2
452
Chapter VI I.
and any other ship would have been crushed flat long
ago.' But for all that he would not be afraid, he said, to
leave her, when he saw all the contrivances, such as
these new kayaks, we had been getting ready. He was
sure no former expedition had ever had such con-
trivances, or been so equipped against all possible
emergencies as we. But, after all, he would prefer to
return home on the Framr Then we talked about
what we should do when we did get home.
" 'Oh, for your part, no doubt you'll be off to the South
Pole,' he said.
"'And you?' I replied. 'Will you tuck up your
sleeves and begin again at the old work ? '
" ' Oh, very likely ! but on my word I ought to have a
week's holiday first. After such a trip I should want it,
before buckling to at the sledge hammer again.' "
CHAPTER VIII.
Second Autumn in the Ice.
So summer was over, and our second autumn and winter
were beginning. But we were now more inured to the
trials of patience attendant on this life, and time passed
quickly. Besides, I myself was now taken up with
new plans and preparations. Allusion has several
times been made to the fact that we had, during the
course of the summer, got everything into readiness for
the possibility of having to make our way home across
the ice. Six double kayaks had been built, the hand
sledges were in good order, and careful calculation had
been made of the amount of food, clothing, fuel, etc.,
that it would be necessary to carry. But I had also
quietly begun to make preparations for my own medi-
tated expedition north. In August, as already mentioned,
I had begun to work at a single kayak, the framework
made of bamboo. I had said nothing about my plan
yet, except a few words to Sverdrup ; it was impossible
to tell how far north the drift would take us, and so
many things might happen before spring.
454 Chapter VIII
In the meantime life on board went on as usual.
There were the regular observations and all sorts of
occupations, and I myself was not so absorbed in my
plans that I did not find time for other things too.
Thus I see from my diary that in the end of August
and in September I must have been very proud of a
new invention that I made for the galley. All last
year we had cooked on a particular kind of copper
range, heated by petroleum lamps. It was quite satis-
factory, except that it burned several quarts of petroleum
a day. I could not help fearing sometimes that our
lighting supply might run short, if the expedition lasted
longer than was expected, and always wondered if it
would not be possible to construct an apparatus that
would burn coal-oil — " black-oil," as we call it on board
— of which we had 20 tons, originally intended for the
engine. And I succeeded in making such an apparatus.
On August 30th I write : " Have tried my newly-invented
coal-oil apparatus for heating the range, and it is beyond
expectation successful. It is splendid that we shall be
able to burn coal-oil in the galley. Now there is no fear
of our having to cry ourselves blind for lack of light bye-
and-bye. This adds more than 4,000 gallons to our
stock of oil ; and we can keep all our fine petroleum now
for lighting purposes,- and have lamps for many a year,
even if we are a little extravagant. The 20 tons of coal-
oil ought to keep the range going for 4 years, I think.
" The contrivance is as simple as possible. From a
Second Autumn in the Ice. 455
reservoir of oil a pipe leads down and in to the fireplace ;
the oil drips down from the end of this pipe into an iron
bowl, and is here sucked up by a sheet of asbestos, or
by coal ashes. The flow of oil from the pipe is regulated
by a fine valve cock. To ensure a good draught, I bring
a ventilating pipe from outside right by the range door.
Air is pressed through this by a large wind-sail on deck,
and blows straight on to the iron bowl, where the oil
burns briskly with a clear, white flame. Whoever lights
the fire in the morning has only to go on deck and see
that the wind-sail is set to the wind, to open the venti-
lator, to turn the cock so that the oil runs properly, and
then set it burning w4th a scrap of paper. It looks after
itself, and the water is boiling in twenty minutes or half-
an-hour. One could not have anything much easier than
this, it seems to me. But of course in our as in other
communities, it is difficult to introduce reforms ; every-
thing new is looked upon with suspicion."
Somewhat later I write of the same apparatus : "We
are now using the galley again, with the coal-oil fire ;
the moving down took place the day before yesterday, "^^
and the fire was used yesterday. It works capitally ;
a 3 -foot wind is enough to give a splendid draught.
The day before yesterday, when I was sitting with some
* During the summer we had made a kitchen of the chart-room on
deck, because of the good daylight there; and besides the galley
proper was to be cleaned and painted
456 Chapter VIII.
of the others in the saloon in the afternoon, I heard a dull
report out in the galley, and said at once that it sounded
like an explosion. Presently Pettersen* stuck a head in
at the door as black as a sweep's, great lumps of soot all
over it, and said that the stove had exploded right into his
face ; he was only going to look if it was burning rightly,
and the whole fiendish thing fiew out at him. A stream
of words not unmingled with oaths flowed like peas out
of a sack, while the rest of us yelled with laughter. In
the galley it was easy to see that something had
happened ; the walls were covered with soot in lumps
and stripes pointing towards the fire-place. The
explanation of the accident was simple enough. The
draught had been insufficient, and a quantity of gas had
formed which had not been able to burn until air was
let in by Pettersen opening the door.
" This is a good beginning. I told Pettersen in the
evening that I would do the cooking myself next day,
when the real trial was to be made. But he would
not hear of such a thing ; he said * I was not to think
that he minded a trifle like that ; I might trust to its
being all right' — and it was all right. From that day
I heard nothing but praise of the new apparatus, and
it was used until the Fram was out in the open sea
again.
* Pettersen had been advanced from smith to cook, and he and
Juell took turns of a fortnight each in the galley.
PETTERSEN AFTER THE EXPLOSION.
Second Autumn in the Ice. 457
"Thursday, September 6th. 81° 137' N. lat. Have
I been married five years to-day ? Last year this was
a day of victory — when the ice-fetters burst at Taimur
Island — but there is no thought of victory now ; we
are not so far north as I had expected ; the north-west
wind has come again, and we are drifting south.
And yet the future does not seem to me so long and
so dark as it sometimes has done. Next September
6th, .... can it be possible that then every fetter
will have burst, and we shall be sitting together
talking of this time in the far north and of all the
longing, as of something that once was and that will
never be again. The long, long night is past ; the
morning is just breaking, and a glorious new day lies
before us. And what is there against this happening
next year ? Why should not this winter carry the Fram
west to some place north of Franz Josef Land ^ . . and
then my time has come, and off I go with dogs and
sledges — to the north. My heart beats with joy at the
very thought of it. The winter shall be spent in
making every preparation for that expedition, and it
will pass quickly.
" I have already spent much time on these prepara-
tions. I think of everything that must be taken, and
how it is to be arranged, and the more I look at the
thing from all points of view, the more firmly convinced
do I become that the attempt will be successful, if only
the Fram can get north in reasonable time, not too
458 Chapter VIII.
late in the spring. If she could just reach 84° or 85°,
then I should be off in the end of February or the first
days of March, as soon as the daylight comes, after the
long winter night, and the whole would go like a dance.
Only four or five months, and the time for action will
have come again. What joy ! When I look out over
the ice now, it is as if my muscles quivered with longing
to be striding off over it in real earnest — fatigue and
privation will then be a delight. It may seem foolish
that I should be determined to go off on this expedition,
when, perhaps, I might do more important work quietly
here on board. But the daily observations will be carried
on exactly the same.
" I have celebrated the day by arranging my work-
room for the winter. I have put in a petroleum stove,
and expect that this will make it warm enough even
in the coldest weather, with the snow walls that I intend
to build round the outside of it, and a good roof-covering
of snow. At least, double the amount of work will
be done if this cabin can be used in winter, and I can sit
up here instead of in the midst of the racket below.
I have such comfortable times of it now, in peace and
quietness, letting my thoughts take their way unchecked.
"Sunday, September 9th. 81° 4' N. lat. The mid-
night sun disappeared some days ago, and already the
sun sets in the north-west ; it is gone by 10 o'clock in
the evening, and there is once more a glow over the
eternal white. Winter is coming fast.
Second Autumn in the Ice. 459
'* Another peaceful Sunday, with rest from work, and
a little reading. Out snow-shoeing to-day I crossed
several frozen-over lanes, and very slight packing has
begun here and there. I was stopped at last by a broad
open lane lying pretty nearly north and south ; at places
it was 400 to 500 yards across, and I saw no end to it
either north or south. The surface was good ; one got
along quickly, with no exertion at all when it was in the
direction of the wind.
" This is undeniably a monotonous life. Sometimes it
feels to me like a long dark night, my life's ' Ragnarok.'"*^
dividing it into two ' The sun is darkened, the
summers with it, all weather is weighty with woe ' ; snow
covers the earth, the wind whistles over the endless
plains, and for three years this winter lasts, till comes the
time for the great battle, and ' men tramp Hel's way/
There is a hard struggle between life and death ; but
after that comes the reign of peace. The earth rises
from the sea again, and decks itself anew with verdure.
' Torrents roar, eagles hover over them watching for fish
among the rocks,' and then ' Valhalla,' fairer than the
sun and long length of happy days.
" Pettersen, who is cook this week, came in here this
evening, as usual, to get the bill of fare for next day.
When his business was done, he stood for a minute, and
then said that he had had such a strange dream last
* *' Twilight of the gods."
46o Chapter VIII.
night ; he had wanted to be taken as cook with a new
expedition, but Dr. Nansen wouldn't have him.
'"And why not.?'
** * Well, this was how it was. I dreamed that Dr.
Nansen was going off across the ice to the Pole with four
men, and I asked to be taken, but you said that you
didn't need a cook on this expedition, and I thought that
was queer enough, for you would surely want food on
this trip as well. It seemed to me that you had ordered
the ship to meet you at some other place ; anyhow you
were not coming back here, but to some other land. It's
strange that one can lie and rake up such a lot of
nonsense in one's sleep.'
" ' That was perhaps not such very great nonsense,
Pettersen ; it is quite possible that we might have to
make such an expedition, but if we did, we should
certainly not come back to the Fram'
" ' Well, if that happened, I would ask to go, sure
enough ; for it's just what I should like. I'm no great
snow-shoer, but I would manage to keep up somehow.'
" ' That's all very well ; but there's a great deal of
weary hard work on a journey like that ; you needn't
think it's all pleasure.'
" ' No, no one would expect that ; but it would be all
right if I might only go.'
" ' But there might be worse than hardships, Pettersen.
It would more than likely mean risking your life.'
" ' I don't care for that either. A man has eot to die
some time.'
Second Autumn in the Ice. 461
" * Yes, but you don't want to shorten your life ? '
*' ' Oh, I would take my chance of that. You can lose
your life at home, too, though, perhaps, not quite so
easily as here. But if a man was always to be thinking
about that he would never do anything.'
" 'That's true. Anyhow he would not need to come
on an expedition like this. But remember that a journey
northward over the ice would be no child's play.'
" ' No, I know that well enough, but if it was with you
I shouldn't be afraid. It would never do if we had to
manage alone. We'd be sure to go wrong ; but it's
quite a different thing, you see, when there is one to
lead that you know has been through it all before.'
"It is extraordinary the blind faith such men have in
their leader ! I believe they would set off without a
moment's reflection if they were asked to join in an
expedition to the Pole now, with black winter at the
door. It is grand as long as the faith lasts, but God be
merciful to him on the day that it fails ! "
"Saturday, September 15th. This evening we have
seen the moon again for the first time — beautiful full
moon, and a few stars were also visible in the night sky,
which is still quite light.
" Notices were posted up to-day in several places.
They ran as follows : —
" As fire here on board might be followed by the
most terrible consequences, too great precaution cannot
462 Chapter VIII.
be taken. For this reason every man is requested to
observe the following rules most conscientiously : —
1. No one is to carry matches.
2. The only places where matches may be kept are : —
(i) The galley, where the cook for the time being
is responsible for them.
(2) The four single cabins, where the inmate of
each is responsible for his box.
(3) The work-cabin, when work is going on.
(4) On the mast in the saloon, from which neither
box nor single matches must be taken away
under any circumstances.
3. Matches must not be struck anywhere except in the
places above named.
4. The one exception to the above rules is made when
the forge has to be lighted.
5. All the ship's holds are to be inspected every
evening at 8 o'clock by the fire-inspector, who will
give in his report to the undersigned. After that
time no one may, without special permission, take
a light into the holds or into the engine-room.
6. Smoking is only allowed in the living-rooms and
on deck. Lighted pipes or cigars must on no
account be seen elsewhere.
Fridtjof Nansen.
Fram, September 15th, 1894.
Second Autumn in the Ice. 463
" Some of these regulations may seem to infringe on
the principle of equality which I have been so anxious
to maintain ; but these seem to me the best arrange-
ments I can make to ensure the good of all — and that
must come before everything else."
" Friday, September 21st. We have had tremendously
strong wind from the north-west and north for some days,
with a velocity at times of 39 and 42 feet. During this
time we must have drifted a good way south. ' The
Radical Right ' had got hold of the helm, said Amundsen ;
but their time in power was short ; for it fell calm yester-
day, and now we are going north again, and it looks as
if the ' Left ' were to have a spell at the helm, to repair
the wrongs done by the ' Right.'
" Kennels for the dogs have been built this week — a
row of splendid ice-houses along the port side of the
ship ; four dogs in each house ; good warm winter
quarters. In the meantime our eight little pups are
thriving on board ; they have a grand world to wander
round — the whole fore-deck, with an awning over it.
You can hear their little barks and yelps as they rush
about among shavings, hand-sledges, the steam-winch,
mill axle, and other odds and ends. They play a little,
and they fight a little, and forward under the forecastle
they have their bed among the shavings, a very cosy
corner, where ' Kvik ' lies stretched out like a lioness in
all her majesty. There they tumble over each other in a
heap round her, sleep, yawn, eat, and pull each other's
464 Chapter VIII.
tails. It is a picture of home and peace here near the
Pole, which one could watch by the hour.
" Life goes its regular, even, uneventful way, quiet as
the ice itself ; and yet it is wonderful how quickly the
time passes. The equinox has come, the nights are
beginning to turn dark, and at noon the sun is only
9 degrees above the horizon. I pass the day busily here
in the work cabin, and often feel as if I were sitting
in my study at home, with all the comforts of civilisation
round me. If it were not for the separation, one could
be as well off here as there. Sometimes I forget where
I am. Not infrequently in the evening, when I have
been sitting absorbed in work, I have jumped up to
listen when the dogs barked, thinking to myself: who
can be coming ? Then I remember that I am not at
home, but drifting out in the middle of the frozen Polar
Sea, at the commencement of the second long Arctic
night.
"The temperature has been down to 1*4° F. below
zero (— 17° C.) to-day ; winter is coming on fast. There
is little drift just now, and yet we are in good spirits.
It was the same last autumn equinox ; but how many
disappointments we have had since then ! How terrible
it was in the later autumn when every calculation
seemed to fail, as we drifted farther and farther south !
Not one bright spot on our horizon ! But such a time
will never come again. There may still be great
relapses ; there may be slow progress for a time ; but
Second Autumn in the Ice. 465
there is no doubt as to the future ; we see it dawning
bright in the west, beyond the Arctic night."
" Sunday, September 23rd. It was a year yesterday
since we made fast for the first time to the great
hummock in the ice. Hansen improved the occasion
by making a chart of our drift for the year. It does
not look so very bad, though the distance is not great,
the direction is almost exactly what I had expected.
But more of this to-morrow ; it is so late that I cannot
write about it now. The nights are turning darker and
darker ; winter is settling down upon us."
" Tuesday, September 25th. I have been looking
more carefully at the calculation of our last year's drift.
If we reckon from the place where we were shut in on
the 22nd of September last year, to our position on the
22nd of September this year, the distance we have drifted
is 189 miles, equal to 3° 9' lat. Reckoning from the
same place, but to the farthest north point we reached
in summer (July i6th), makes the drift 225 miles, or
3° 46'. But if we reckon from our most southern point
in the autumn of last year (November 7th), to our
most northern point this summer, then the drift is
305 miles, or 5^ 5'. We got fully 4° north, from 'j']'^ 43'
to 81° 53'. To give the course of the drift is a difficult
task in these latitudes, as there is a perceptible deviation
of the compass with every degree of longitude as one
passes east or west ; the change, of course, given in
degrees will be almost exactly the same as the number
2 H
466 Chapter VIII.
of degrees of longitude that have been passed. Our
average course will be about N. 36° W. The direction
of our drift is consequently a much more northerly one
than the Jeannettes was, and this is just what we
expected ; ours cuts hers at an angle of 59°. The line
of this year's drift continued will cut the north-east
island of Spitzbergen, and take us as far north as 84° 7',
in 75° E. long., somewhere N.N.E. of Franz Josef Land.
The distance by this course to the North East Island is
827 miles. Should we continue to progress only at the
rate of 189 miles a year, it would take us 4*4 years to do
this distance. But assuming our progress to be at the
rate of 305 miles a year, we shall do it in 27 years.
That we should drift at least as quickly as this seems
probable, because we can hardly now be driven back as
we were in October last year, when we had the open
w^ater to the south, and the great mass of ice to the north
of us.
" The past summer seems to me to have proved that
while the ice is very unwilling to go back south, it is most
ready to go north-west as soon as there is ever so little
easterly, not to mention southerly wind. I therefore
believe, as I always have believed, that the drift will
become faster as we get farther north-west, and the
probability is that the Fram will reach Norway in two
years, the expedition having lasted its full three years,
as I somehow had a feeling that it would. As our
drift is 59° more northerly than the Jeannettes, and
Second Autumn in the Ice. 467
as Franz Josef Land must force the ice north (taking for
granted that all that comes from this great basin goes
round to the north of Franz Josef Land), it is probable
that our course will become more northerly the farther
on we go, until we are past Franz Josef Land, and that we
shall consequently reach a higher latitude than our drift
so far would indicate. I hope 85° at least. Everything
has come right so far ; the direction of our drift is exactly
parallel with the course which I conjectured to have been
taken by the floe with the Jeannette relics, and which I
pricked out on the chart prepared for my London
Address.*" This course touched about 87^° N. lat. I
have no right to expect a more northerly drift than
parallel to this, and have no right to be anything but
happy if I get as far. Our aim, as I have so often tried
to make clear, is not so much to reach the point ' in
which the earth's axis terminates,' as to traverse and
explore the unknown Polar Sea ; and yet I should like
to get to the Pole, too, and hope that it will be possible
to do so, if only we can reach 84° or 85° by March — and
why should we not } "
" Thursday, September 27th. Have determined that,
beginning from to-morrow, every man is to go out snow-
shoeing two hours daily, from 11 to i , so long as the
* See Geographical journal, London, 1893. See also the map in
Naturen, 1890, and the Norwegian Geographical Society's Year Book,
I, 1890.
2 H 2
468
Chapter VIII.
daylight lasts. It is necessary. If anything happened
that obliged us to make our way horrie over the ice, I am
afraid some of the company would be a terrible hind-
rance to us, unpractised as they are now. Several of
them are first-rate snow-shoers, but five or six of them
SNOW-SHOE PRACTICE (SEPTEMBER 28Tn, 1 894).
(Bv H. Egidius, front a Photograph.)
would soon be feeling the pleasures of learning ; if they
had to go out on a long course, and without snow-shoes,
it would be all over with us.
"'After this we used to go out regularly in a body.
Besides being good exercise, it was also a great pleasure ;
every one seemed to thrive on it, and they all became
Second Autumn in the Ice. 469
accustomed to the use of the shoes on this ground, even
though they often got them broken in the unevennesses
of the pressure-ridges ; we just patched and riveted them
together to break them again."
RETURN FROM A SNOW-SHOE RUN (SEPTEMBER 28tH, I 894).
(From a Photograph.)
" Monday, October ist. We tried a hand-sledge to-
day with a load of 250 lbs. It went along easily, and yet
was hard to draw, because the snow-shoes were apt to
slip to the side on the sort of surface we had. I almost
470 Chapter VIII.
believe that Indian snow-shoes would be better on this
ground, where there are so many knobs and smooth
hillocks to draw the sledges over. When Amundsen first
began to pull the sledge, he thought it was nothing at
all ; but when he had gone on for a time, he fell into a
fit of deep and evidently sad thought, and went silently
home. When he got on board, he confided to the others
that if a man had to draw a load like that, he might just
as well lie down at once — it would come to the same
thing in the end. That is how practice is apt to go. In
the afternoon I yoked three dogs to the same little
sledge with the 250 lbs. load, and they drew it along
as if it were nothing at all."
" Tuesday, October 2nd. Beautiful weather, but
coldish ; 49° F. of frost ( — 27° C.) during the night, which
is a good deal for October, surely. It will be a cold
winter if it goes on at the same rate. But what do we
care whether there are 90° of frost or 1 20° } A good
snow-shoeing excursion to-day. They are all becoming
most expert now ; but darkness will be on us presently,
and then there will be no more of it. It is a pity ; this
exercise is so good for us — we must think of something
to take its place.
" I have a feeling now as if this were to be my last
winter on board. Will it really come to my going off
north in spring ? The experiment in drawing a loaded
hand-sledge over this ice was certainly anything but
promising ; and if the dogs should not hold out, or
Second Autumn in the Ice. 471
should be of less use than we expect ; and if we should
come to worse ice instead of better — well, we should
only have ourselves to trust to. But if we can just get
so far on with the Fram that the distance left to be
Fromd\ BLOCK OF ICE (SEPTEMBER 28tH, 1 894). IPhotograpk. ,
covered is at all a reasonable one, I believe that it is my
duty to make the venture, and I cannot imagine any
difficulty that will not be overcome when our choice lies
between death — and onward and home ! "
472 Chapter VI 1 1.
" Thursday, October 4th. The ice is rather impassable
in places, but there are particular lanes or tracts ; taking it
altogether, it is in good condition for sledging and snow-
shoeing, though tfle surface is rather soft, so that the
dogs sink in a little. This is probably chiefly owing to
there having been no strong winds of late, so that the
snow has not been well packed together.
" Life goes onrin the regular routine ; there is always
some little piece of work turning up to be done.
Yesterday the breaking in of the young dogs began.*
It was just the three — 'Barbara,' ' Freia,' and 'Susine.'
' Gulabrand ' is such a miserable, thin wretch, that he is
escaping for the present. They were unmanageable at
first, and rushed about in all directions ; but in a little while
they drew like old dogs, and were altogether better than
we expected. ' Kvik,' of course, set them a noble
example. It fell to Mogstad's lot to begin the training,
as it was his week for looking after the dogs. This duty
is taken in turns now, each man has his week of attending
to them both morning and afternoon.
"It seems to me that a very satisfactory state of feeling
prevails on board at present, when we are just entering
on our second Arctic night, which we hope is to be a
longer, and probably also a colder one, than any people
before us have experienced. There is appreciably less
* These were the puppies born on December 13th, 1893 ; only four
of them were now alive.
Second Autumn in the Ice.
47
light every day ; soon there will be none ; but the good
spirits do not wane with the light. It seems to me
that we are more uniformly cheerful than we have ever
been. What the reason of this is I cannot tell ; perhaps
J^roma] THE WANING DAY (oCTOBER, 1 894). lPlwtos>-aj>h.
just custom. But certainly, too, we are well off — in
clover, as the saying is. We are drifting gently, but it
is to be hoped surely, on through the dark unknown
Nivlheim, where terrified fancy has pictured all possible
474 Chapter VIII.
horrors. Yet we are living a life of luxury and plenty,
surrounded by all the comforts of civilisation. I think
we shall be better off this winter than last.
" The firing apparatus in the galley is working
splendidly, and the cook himself is now of opinion that
it is an invention which approaches perfection. So we
shall burn nothing but coal-oil there now ; it warms the
place well, and a good deal of the heat comes up here
into the work-room, where I sometimes sit and perspire
until I have to take off one garment after another,
although the window is open and there are 30 odd
degrees of cold outside. I have calculated that the
petroleum which this enables us to keep for lighting
purposes only, will last at least 10 years, though we
burn it freely 300 days in the year. At present we are
not using petroleum lamps at the rate assumed in my
calculation, because we frequently have electric light ;
and then even here summer comes once a year, or, at
any rate, something which we must call summer. Even
allowing for accidents, such as the possibility of a tank
springing a leak and the oil running out, there is still
no reason whatever for being sparing of light, and every
man can have as much as he wants. What this means
can best be appreciated by one who, for a whole year,
has felt the stings of conscience every time he went
to work or read alone in his cabin, and burned a lamp
that was not absolutely necessary, because he could have
used the general one in the saloon.
Second Autumn in the Ice. 475
'* As yet the coals are not being touched, except for
the stove in the saloon, where they are to be allowed
to burn as much as they like this winter. The quantity
thus consumed will be a trifle in comparison with our
store of about 100 tons, for which we cannot well have
any other use until the Frmn once more forces her
way out of the ice on the other side. Another thing
that is of no little help in keeping us warm and
comfortable, is the awning that is now stretched over
the ship.* The only part I have left open is the stern,
abaft the bridge, so as to be able to see round over
the ice from there.
" Personally, I must say that things are going well with
me ; much better than I could have expected. Time
is a good teacher : that devouring longing does not
gnaw so hard as it did. Is it apathy beginning ?
Shall I feel nothing at all by the time ten years have
passed ? Oh ! sometimes it comes on with all its old
strength — as if it would tear me in pieces ! But this is
a splendid school of patience. Much good it does to sit
wondering whether they are alive or dead at home ; it
only almost drives one mad.
" All the same, I never grow quite reconciled to this
* We had no covering over the ship the first winter, as we thought it
would make it so dark, and make it difficult to find one's way about on
deck. But when we put in one the second winter, we found that it was
an improvement.
476 Chapter VIII.
life. It is really neither life nor death, but a state
between the two. It means never being at rest about
anything or in any place — a constant waiting for what is
conning ; a waiting in which, perhaps, the best years of
one's manhood will pass. It is like what a young boy
sometimes feels when he goes on his first voyage. The
life on board is hateful to him ; he suffers cruelly from all
the torments of sea-sickness ; and being shut in within
the narrow walls of the ship is worse than prison ; but
it is something that has to be gone through. Beyond it
all lies the south, the land of his youthful dreams, tempt-
mg with its sunny smile. In time he arises, half dead.
Does he find his south ? How often it is but a barren
desert he is cast ashore on ! "
" Sunday, October 7th. It has cleared up this
•evening, and there is a starry sky and aurora borealis.
It is a little change from the constant cloudy weather,
with frequent snow-showers, which we have had these
last days.
" Thoughts come and thoughts go. I cannot forget,
and I cannot sleep. Everything is still ; all are asleep.
I only hear the quiet step of the watch on deck ; the
wind rustling in the rigging and the canvas, and the
clock gently hacking the time in pieces there on the wall.
If I go on deck there is black night, stars sparkling
high overhead, and faint aurora flickering across the
gloomy vault, and out in the darkness I can see the
glimmer of the great monotonous plain of the ice, it is all
Second Autumn in the Ice. 477
so inexpressibly forlorn, so far, far removed from the
noise and unrest of men and all their striving. What
is life thus isolated ? A strange, aimless process ; and
man a machine which eats, sleeps, awakes; eats and
sleeps again, dreams dreams, but never lives. Or is life
really nothing else ? And is it just one more phase of
the eternal martyrdom, a new mistake of the erring
human soul, this banishing of one's self to the hopeless
wilderness, only to long there for what one has left
behind ? Am I a coward ? Am I afraid of death ? Oh,
no ! but in these nights such longing can come over
one for all beauty, for that which is contained in a single
word, and the soul flees from this interminable and rigid
world of ice. When one thinks how short life is, and
that one came away from it all of one's own free will, and
remembers, too, that another is suffering the pain of
constant anxiety, 'true, true till death.' 'Oh, mankind,
thy ways are passing strange ! We are but as flakes of
foam, helplessly driven over the tossing sea.'
"Wednesday, October loth. Exactly t,t, years old,
then. There is nothing to be said to that, except that
life is moving on, and will never turn back. They have
all been touchingly nice to me to-day, and we have held
fete. They surprised me in the morning by having the
saloon ornamented with flags. They had hung the
' Union' above Sverdrup's place.* We accused Amundsen
* An allusion, no doubt, to his political opinions {Trans.).
478 Chapter VIII.
of having done this, but he would not confess to it.
Above my door and over Hansen's they had the
pennant with Fram in big letters. It looked most
festive when I came into the saloon, and they all stood
up and wished me * Many happy returns.' When I
went on deck the flag was waving from the mizzen mast-
head.
"We took a snow-shoeing excursion south in the
morning. It was windy, bitter weather ; I have not felt so
cold for long. The thermometer is down to 24° F. below
zero ( — 31° C.) this evening ; this is certainly the coldest
birthday I have had yet. A sumptuous dinner : i. Fish-
pudding. 2. Sausages and tongue, with potatoes, haricot
beans, and peas. 3. Preserved strawberries, with rice
and cream. Crown extract of malt. Then, to everyone's
surprise, our doctor began to take out of the pocket of
the overcoat he always wears, remarkable-looking little
oflasses — medicine sflasses, measurinof grlasses, test o-lasses
— one for each man, and lastly a whole bottle of Lyshol-
mer liqueur, real native Lysholmer, which awakened
general enthusiasm. Two drams of that per man was
not so bad, besides a quarter of a bottle of extract of
malt. Coffee after dinner, with a surprise in the shape
of apple cake, baked by our excellent cook, Pettersen,
formerly smith and engineer. Then I had to produce my
cigars, which were also much enjoyed ; and of course we
kept holiday all the afternoon. At supper there was
another surprise, a large birthday cake, from the same
Second Autumn in the Ice.
479
baker, with the inscription : ' T. L. M. D.' (Til lykke
med dagen, the Norwegian equivalent for : Wishing a
happy birthday) ' 10.10.94.' In the evening came pine-
apples, figs, and sweets. Many a worse birthday might
be spent in lower latitudes than 81°. The evening is
From a-\ A SNOW-SHOE EXCURSION (oCTOBER, I 894). IPhotograph.
passing with all kinds of merriment, every one is in good
spirits ; the saloon resounds with laughter — how many a
merry meeting it has been the scene of!
" But when one has said good-night and sits here
alone, sadness comes ; and if one goes on deck, there are
48o Chapter VIII.
the stars high overhead in the clear sky. In the south
is a smouldering aurora arch, which from time to time
sends up streamers; a constant restless flickering.
- " We have been talking a little about this expedition,
Sverdrup and I. When we were out on the ice in the after-
noon he suddenly said : ' Yes, next October you will, per-
haps, not be on board the Fram.' To which I had to answer
that, unless the winter turned out badly, I probably should
not. But still I cannot believe in this rightly myself
" Every night I am at home in my dreams, but when
the morning breaks I must again, like Helge, gallop
back on the pale horse by the way of the reddening
dawn, not to the joys of Valhalla, but to the realm of
eternal ice : —
" For thee alone Sigrun,
Of the Saeva Mountain,
Must Helge swim
In the dew of sorrow."
"Friday, October 12th. A regular storm has been
blowing from the E.S.E. since yesterday evening. Last
night the mill went to bits ; the teeth broke off one of
the toothed wheels, which has been considerably worn by
a year's use. The velocity of the wind was over
40 feet this morning, and it is long since I have heard
it blow as it is doing this evening. We must be making
good progress north just now. Perhaps October is not
to be such a bad month as I expected from our experi-
ences of last year. Was out snow-shoeing before
Second i\utumn in the Ice. 481
dinner. The snow was whistling about my ears. I had
not much trouble in getting back ; the wind saw to that.
A tremendous snow squall is blowing just now. The
moon stands low in the southern sky, sending a dull
glow through the driving masses. One has to hold on
to one's cap. This is a real dismal polar night, such as
one imagines it to oneself sitting at home far away in
the south. But it makes me cheerful to come on deck,
for I feel that we are moving onward.
"Saturday, October 13th. Same wind to-day;
velocity up to 39 feet and higher, but Hansen has taken
an observation this evening in spite of it. He is, as
always, a fine, indefatigable fellow. We are going north-
west (81° 32' 8" N. lat., 118° 28' E. long.).
"Sunday, October 14th. Still the same storm going
on. I am reading of the continual sufferings which
the earlier Arctic explorers had to contend with for
every degree, even for every minute, of their northward
course. It gives me almost a feeling of contempt for
us, lying here on sofas, warm and comfortable, passing
the time reading, and writing, and smoking, and
dreaming, while the storm is tugging and tearing at the
rigging above us, and the whole sea is one mass of
driving snow, through which we are carried degree by
degree northwards to the goal our predecessors
struggled towards, spending their strength in vain. And
yet ....
' Now sinks the sun, now comes the night.'
2 I
482 Chapter VIII.
"Monday, October 15th. Went snow-shoeing east-
wards this morning, still against the same wind and the
same snowfall. You have to pay careful attention to
your course these days, as the ship is not visible any
great distance, and, if you did not find your way back,
well . But the tracks remain pretty distinct, as
the snow-crust is blown bare in most places, and the
drifting snow does not fasten upon it. We are moving
northwards, and meanwhile the Arctic night is making
its slow and majestic entrance. The sun was low to-day ;
I did not see it because of banks of cloud in the south,
but it still sent its light up over the pale sky. There the
full moon is now reigning, bathing the great ice plain and
the drifting snow in its bright light. How a night such
as this raises one's thougfhts ! It does not matter if
one has seen the like a thousand times before : it makes
the same solemn impression when it comes again ; one
cannot free one's mind from its power. It is like entering
a still, holy temple, where the spirit of nature hovers
through the place on glittering silver beams, and the
soul must fall down and adore — adore the infinity of the
universe.
"Wednesday, October 17th. We are employed in
taking deep-water temperatures. It is a doubtful
pleasure at this time of year. Sometimes the water-
lifter gets coated with ice, so that it will not close
down below in the water, and has therefore to hang for
ever so long each time ; and sometimes it freezes tight
^ „
Second Autumn in the Ice. 483
during the observation after it is brought up, so that the
water will not run out of it into the sample bottles, not
to mention all the bother there is getting the apparatus
ready to lower. We are liicky if we do not require to
take the whole thing into the galley every time to thaw
it. It is slow work ; the temperatures have sometimes
to be read by lantern light. The water samples are not
so reliable, because they freeze in the lifter. But the
thing can be done, and we must just go on doing it.
The same easterly wind is blowing, and we are drifting
onwards. Our latitude this evening is about 81° 47' N.
"Thursday, October i8th. I continue taking the tem-
peratures of the water, rather a cool amusement with the
thermometer down to — 29° C. (20*2° F. below zero) and
a wind blowing. Your fingers are apt to get a little stiff
and numb when you have to manipulate the wet or
ice-covered metal screws with bare hands and have
to read off the thermometer with a magnifying-glass
in order to ensure accuracy to the hundredth part of a
degree, and then to bottle the samples of water, which
you have to keep close against your breast, to prevent
the water from freezing. It is a nice business !
" There was a lovely aurora borealis at 8 o'clock
this evening. It wound itself like a fiery serpent in
a double coil across the sky. The tail was about
10° above the horizon in the north. Thence it turned
off with many windings in an easterly direction, then
round again, and westwards in the form of an arch
2 I 2
484 Chapter VIII.
from 30° to 40° above the horizon, sinking down again
to the west and rolling itself up into a ball, from which
several branches spread out over the sky. The arches
were in active motion, while pencils of streamers shot
out swiftly from the west towards the east, and the
whole serpent kept incessantly undulating into fresh
curves. Gradually it mounted up over the sky nearly
to the zenith, while at the same time the uppermost
bend or arch separated into several fainter undulations,
the ball in the north-east glowed intensely, and brilliant
streamers shot upwards to the zenith from several places
in the arches, especially from the ball and from the bend
farthest away in the north-east. The illumination was
now at its highest, the colour being principally a strong
yellow, though at some spots it verged towards a
yellowish-red, while at other places it was a greenish-
white. When the upper wave reached the zenith, the
phenomenon lost something of its brilliancy, dispersing
little by little, leaving merely a faint indication of an
aurora in the southern sky. On coming up again on
deck later in the evening, I found nearly the whole of
the aurora collected in the southern half of the sky. A
low arch, 5° in height, could be seen far down in the
south over the dark segment of the horizon. Between
this and the zenith were four other vague, wavy arches,
the topmost of which passed right across it ; here and
there vivid streamers shot flaming upwards, especially
from the undermost arch in the south. No arch was to
Second Autumn in the Ice. 485
be seen in the northern part of the sky, only streamers
every here and there. To-night, as usual, there are
traces of aurora to be seen over the whole sky ; light
mists or streamers are often plainly visible, and the sky
seems to be constantly covered with a luminous veil,* in
which every here and there are dark holes.
There is scarcely any night, or rather I may safely
say there is no night, on which no trace of aurora can
be discerned as soon as the sky becomes clear, or even
when there is simply a rift in the clouds large enough for
it to be seen ; and as a rule we have strong light
phenomena dancing in ceaseless unrest over the firma-
ment. They mainly appear, however, in the southern
part of the sky,
" Friday, October 19th. A fresh breeze from E.S.E.
Drifting northwards at a good pace. Soon we shall
probably have passed the long-looked-for 82° and
that will not be far from 82° 27', when the Fram will
be the vessel that will have penetrated farthest to the
north on this globe. But the barometer is falling ; the
wind probably will not remain in that quarter long, but
* This luminous veil, which was always spread over the sky, was less
distinct on the firmament immediately overhead, but became more and
more conspicuous near the horizon, though it never actually reached
down to it ; indeed, in the north and south it generally terminated in a
low, faintly outlined arch over a kind of dark segment. The luminosity
of this veil was so strong that through it I could never with any
certainty distinguish the Milky Way.
486
Chapter VIII.
will shift round to the west. I only hope for this once
the barometer may prove a false prophet. I have
become rather sanguine ; things have been going pretty
well for so long ; and October, a month which last year's
ON THE AFTER-DECK OF THE " FRAM " (OCTOBER, 1 894).
{From a Photograph.)
experience had made me dread, has been a month of
marked advance, if only it doesn't end badly.
" The wind to-day, however, was to cost a life. The
mill, which had been repaired after the mishap to the
Second Autumn in the Ice. 487
cog-wheel the other day, was set going again. In the
afternoon a couple of the puppies began fighting over a
bone, when one of them fell underneath one of the cog-
wheels on the axle of the mill, and was dragged in between
it and the deck. Its poor little body nearly made the
whole thing come to a standstill ; and, unfortunately, no
one was on the spot to stop it in time. I heard the
noise, and rushed on deck ; the puppy had just been
drawn out nearly dead ; the whole of its stomach was
torn open. It gave a faint whine, and was at once put out
of its misery. Poor little frolicsome creature ! Only a
little while ago you were gambolling around, enjoying an
innocent romp with your brothers and sisters ; then came
the thigh-bone of a bear trundling along the deck from
the galley ; you and the others made a headlong rush for
it, and now there you lie, cruelly lacerated and dead as
a herring. Fate is inexorable !
"Sunday, October 31st. N. lat. 82° 0*2' ; E. long.
114° 9'. It is late in the evening, and my head is
bewildered, as if I had been indulging in a regular
debauch, but it was a debauch of a very innocent nature.
" A grand banquet to-day to celebrate the eighty-second
degree of latitude. The observation gave 82° O'2'last night,
and we have now certainly drifted a little farther north.
Honey-cakes (gingerbread) were baked for the occasion,
first-class honey- cakes, too, you may take my word for
it ; and then, after a refreshing snow-shoe run, came a
festal banquet. Notices were stuck up in the saloon
488 Chapter VIII.
requesting the guests to be punctual at dinner-time, for
the cook had exerted himself to the utmost of his power.
The following deeply felt lines by an anonymous poet
also appeared on a placard : —
' When dinner is punctually served at the time,
No fear that the milk soup will surely be prime ;
But the viands are spoilt if you come to it late,
The fish-pudding will lie on your chest a dead weight ;
What's preserved in tin cases, there can be no doubt.
If you wait long enough will force its way out.
Even meat of the ox, of the sheep, or of swine,
Very different in this from the juice of the vine !
Ramornie, and Armour, and Thorne, and Herr Thiis,
Good meats have preserved, and they taste not amiss ;
So I'll just add a word, friends, of warning to you :
If you want a good dinner, come at one, not at two.'
The lyric melancholy which here finds utterance
must have been the outcome of many bitter disappoint-
ments, and furnishes a valuable internal evidence as to
the anonymous author's profession. Meanwhile the
guests assembled with tolerable punctuality, the only
exception being your humble servant, who was obliged
to take some photographs in the rapidly waning day-
light. The menu was splendid: (i) ox-tail soup;
(2) fish-pudding with melted butter and potatoes ;
(3) turtle with marrowfat, peas, etc., etc. ; (4) rice with
multer (cloudberries) and cream. Crown malt extract.
After dinner, coffee and honey-cakes. After supper,
which also was excellent, there was a call for music,
which was liberally supplied throughout the whole even-
» ^
Second Autumn In the Ice. 489
ing by various accomplished performers on the organ,
among whom Bentzen specially distinguished himself,
his late experiences on the ice with the crank-handle'^'
having put him in first-rate training. Every now and
then the music dragged a bit, as though it were being
hauled up from an abyss some 1,000 or 1,500 fathoms
deep ; then it would quicken and get more lively, as it
came nearer to the surface. At last the excitement rose
to such a pitch, that Pettersen and I had to get up and
have a dance, a waltz, and a polka or two ; and we really
executed some very tasteful pas de deux on the limited
floor of the saloon. Then Amundsen also was swept
into the mazes of the dance, while the others played
cards. Meanwhile refreshments were served in the form
of preserved peaches, dried bananas, figs, honey-cakes,
etc., etc. In short, we made a jovial evening of it, and
why should we not ? We are progressing merrily
towards our goal, we are already half-way between the
New Siberian Islands and Franz Josef Land, and there is
not a soul on board who doubts that we shall accomplish
what we came out to do ; so long live merriment.
" But the endless stillness of the polar night holds its
sway aloft ; the moon, half full, shines over the ice, and
the stars sparkle brilliantly overhead ; there are no
restless northern lights, and the south wind sighs mourn-
fully through the rigging. A deep, peaceful stillness
Used in hoisting up the lead-line.
490 Chapter VIII.
prevails everywhere. It is the infinite loveliness of death
— Nirvana."
"Monday, October 22nd. It is beginning to be cold
now ; the thermometer was — 34'6° C. (30*2° F. below
zero) last night, and this evening it is — 36° C. (3 2 "8° F.
below zero).
"A lovely aurora this evening (11.30). A brilliant
corona encircled the zenith with a wreath of streamers
in several layers, one outside the other ; then larger and
smaller sheaves of streamers spread over the sky,
especially low down towards S.W. and E.S.E. All of
them, however, tended upwards towards the corona,
which shone like a halo. I stood watching it a long
while. Every now and then I could discern a dark patch
in its middle, at the point where all the rays converged.
It lay a little south of the Pole Star, and approached
Cassiopeia in the position it then occupied. But the
halo kept smouldering and shifting just as if a gale in
the upper strata of the atmosphere were playing the
bellows to it. Presently fresh streamers shot out of the
darkness outside the inner halo, followed by other bright
shafts of light in a still wider circle, and meanwhile the
dark space in the middle was clearly visible ; at other
times it was entirely covered with masses of light. Then
it appeared as if the storm abated, and the whole turned
pale, and glowed with a faint whitish hue for a little
while, only to shoot wildly up once more and to begin
the same dance over again. Then the entire mass of
Second Autumn in the Ice. 491
light around the corona began to rock to and fro in large
waves over the zenith and the dark central point,
whereupon the gale seemed to increase and whirl the
streamers into an inextricable tangle, till they merged
into a luminous vapour, that enveloped the corona and
drowned it in a deluge of light, so that neither it, nor
the streamers, nor the dark centre could be seen —
nothing, in fact, but a chaos of shining mist. Again it
became paler, and I went below. At midnight there was
hardly anything of the aurora to be seen.
" Friday, October 26th. Yesterday evening we were
n 82° 3' N. lat. To-day the Fram is two years old.
The sky has been overcast during the last two days, and
it has been so dark at midday that I thought we should
soon have to stop our snow-shoe expeditions. But this
morning brought us clear, still weather, and I went out
on a delightful trip to the westward, where there had
been a good deal of fresh packing, but nothing of any
importance. In honour of the occasion we had a par-
ticularly good dinner, with fried halibut, turtle, pork
chops with haricot beans and green peas, plum-pudding
(real burning plum-pudding for the first time) with
custard sauce, and wound up with strawberries. As
usual, the beverages consisted of wine (that is to say,
lime-juice, with water and sugar) and Crown malt
extract. I fear there was a general overtaxing of the
digestive apparatus. After dinner, coffee and honey- cakes,
with which Nordahl stood cigarettes. General holiday.
492 Chapter VIII.
" This evening it has begun to blow from the north,
but probably this does not mean much ; I must hope so,
at all events, and trust that we shall soon get a south
wind again. But it is not the mild zephyr we yearn for,
not the breath of the blushing dawn. No, a cold, biting
south wind, roaring with all the force of the Polar Sea,
so that the Fram, the two-year-old Fram, may be buried
in the snowstorm, and all around her be but a reeking
frost — it is this we are waiting for, this that will drift us
onwards to our goal. To-day, then, Fram, thou art two
years old. I said at the dinner-table that if a year ago
we were unanimous in believing that the Fram was a
good ship, we had much better grounds for that belief
to-day, for safely and surely she is carrying us onwards,
even if the speed be not excessive ; and so we drank the
Fram's good health and good progress. I did not say too
much. Had I said all that was in my heart, my words would
not have been so measured ; for, to say the truth, we all
of us dearly love the ship, as much as it is possible to
love any impersonal thing. And why should we not love
her ? No mother can give her young more warmth and
safety under her wings than she affords to us. She is
indeed like a home to us. We all rejoice to return to her
from out on the icy plains, and when I have been far
away and have seen her masts rising over the everlasting
mantle of snow, how often has my heart glowed with
warmth towards her. To the builder of this home
grateful thoughts often travel during the still nights.
Second Autumn in the Ice. 493
He, I feel certain, sits yonder at home often thinking
of us ; but he knows not where his thought can seek
the Fram in the great white tract around the Pole.
But he knows his child ; and though all else lose faith
in her, he will believe that she will hold out. Yes,
Colin Archer, could you see us now, you would know
that your faith in her is not misplaced.
" I am sitting alone in my berth, and my thoughts
glide back over the two years that have passed. What
demon is it that weaves the threads of our lives,
that makes us deceive ourselves, and ever sends us
forth on paths we have not ourselves laid out, paths
on which we have no desire to walk ? Was it a mere
feeling of duty that impelled me ? Oh, no ! I was
simply a child yearning for a great adventure out in
the unknown, who had dreamed of it so long that at
last I believed it really awaited me ; and it has, indeed,
fallen to my lot, the great adventure of the ice, deep
and pure as infinity, the silent, starlit polar night,
nature itself in its profundity, the mystery of life, the
ceaseless circling of the universe, the feast of death,
without suffering, without regret, eternal in itself. Here
in the great night thou standest in all thy naked
pettiness, face to face with nature ; and thou sittest
devoutly at the feet of eternity, intently listening ; and
thou knowest God the all-ruling, the centre of the
universe. All the riddles of life seem to grow clear to
thee, and thou laughest at thyself that thou couldst be
494 Chapter VIII.
consumed by brooding, it is all so little, so unutterably
little ' Whoso sees Jehovah dies.'
" Sunday, November 4th. At noon I had gone out
on a snow-shoe expedition, and had taken some of the
dogs with me. Presently I noticed that those that had
been left behind at the ship began to bark. Those with
me pricked up their ears, and several of them started off
back, with ' Ulenka ' at their head. Most of them soon
stopped, listening and looking behind them to see if I
were following. I wondered for a little while whether it
could be a bear, and then continued on my way ; but at
length I could stand it no longer, and set off homewards,
with the dogs dashing wildly on in front. On approach-
ing the ship I saw some of the men setting off with
guns ; they were Sverdrup, Johansen, Mogstad, and
Henriksen. They had got a good start of me in the
direction in which the dogs were barking before I, too,
got hold of a gun and set off after them. All at once I
saw through the darkness the flash of a volley from those
in front, followed by another shot, then several more,
until at last it sounded like regular platoon firing. What
the deuce could it be ? They were standing on the
same spot, and kept firing incessantly. Why on earth
did they not advance nearer ? I hurried on, thinking it
was high time I came up with my snow-shoes to follow
the game, which must evidently be in full flight. Mean-
while they advanced a little, and then there was another
flash to be seen through the darkness, and so they went
Second Autumn in the Ice. 495
on two or three times. One of the number at last
dashed forward over the ice and fired straight down in
front of him, while another knelt down and fired towards
the east. Were they trying their guns ? But surely it
was a strange time for doing so, and there were so many
shots. Meanwhile the dogs tore around over the ice,
and gathered in clumps, barking furiously. At length I
overtook them, and saw three bears scattered over the
ice, a she-bear and two cubs, while the dogs lay over
them, worrying them like mad and tearing away at
paws, throat, and tail. Ulenka especially was beside
herself. She had gripped one of the cubs by the throat,
and worried it like a mad thing, so that it was difficult to
get her away. The bears had gone very leisurely away
from the dogs, which dared not come to sufficiently close
quarters to use their teeth till the old she-bear had been
wounded and had fallen down. The bears, indeed, had
acted in a very suspicious manner. It seemed just as if
the she-bear had some deep design, some evil intent, in
her mind, if she could only have lured the dogs near
enough to her. Suddenly she halted, let the cubs go on
in front, sniffed a little, and then came back to meet the
dogs, who at the same time, as if at a word of com-
mand, all turned tail, and set off towards the west. It
was then that the first shot was fired, and the old bear
tottered and fell headlong, when immediately some
of the dogs set to and tackled her. One of the cubs
then got its quietus, while the other one was fired at and
496 Chapter VIII.
made off over the ice, with three dogs after it. They
soon overtook it and pulled it down, so that when Mog-
stad came up he was obliged first of all to get the dogs
off before he could venture to shoot. It was a glorious
slaughter, and by no means unwelcome, for we had that
very day eaten the last remains of our last bear in the
shape of meat cakes for dinner. The two cubs made
lovely Christmas pork.
"In all probability these were the same bears whose
tracks we had seen before. Sverdrup and I had followed
on the tracks of three such animals on the last day of
October, and had lost them to N.N.W. of the ship.
Apparently they had come from that quarter now.
" When they wanted to shoot, Peter's gun, as usual,
would not go off; it had again been drenched with
vaseline, and he kept calling out : ' Shoot ! shoot ! Mine
won't go off.' Afterwards, on examining the gun I had
taken with me to the fray, I found there were no cart-
ridges in it. A nice account I should have given of
myself had I come on the bears alone with that weapon.
" Monday, November 5th. As I was sitting at work
last night I heard a dog on the deck howling fearfully. I
sprang up and found it was one of the puppies, that had
touched an iron bolt with its tongue and was frozen fast
to it. There the poor beast was, straining to get free,
with its tongue stretched out so far that it looked like a
thin rope proceeding out of its throat ; and it was howling
piteously. Bentzen, whose watch it was, had come up.
o --
Second Autumn in the Ice. 497
but scarcely knew what to do. He took hold of it,
however, by the neck, and held it close to the bolt,
so that its tongue was less extended. After having
warmed the bolt somewhat with his hand, he managed to
get the tongue free. The poor little puppy seemed
overjoyed at its release, and, to show its gratitude, licked
Bentzen's hand with its bloody tongue, and seemed as if
it could not be grateful enough to its deliverer. It is to
be hoped that it will be some time before this puppy, at
any rate, gets fast again in this way; but such things
happen every now and then.
" Sunday, November i ith. I am pursuing my studies
as usual day after day ; and they lure me, too, deeper and
deeper into the insoluble mystery that lies behind all these
inquiries. Nay ! why keep revolving in this fruitless
circle of thought ? Better go out into the winter night.
The moon is up, great and yellow and placid ; the stars
are twinkling overhead through the drifting snow-dust. . . .
Why not rock yourself into a winter night's dream, filled
with memories of summer ?
" Ugh, no ! The wind is howling too shrilly over the
barren ice-plains, there are 33 degrees of cold, and
summer, with its flowers, is far, far away. I would give a
year of my life to hold them in my embrace ; they loom
far away in the distance, as if I should never come back
to them.
" But the northern lights, with their eternally shifting
loveliness, flame over the heavens each day and each.
2 K
498 Chapter VIII.
night. Look at them ; drink oblivion and drink hope
from them : they are even as the aspiring soul of man.
Restless as it, they will wreathe the whole vault of
heaven with their glittering, fleeting light, surpassing
all else in their wild loveliness, fairer than even the
blush of dawn ; but, whirling idly through empty space,
they bear no message of a coming day. The sailor
steers his course by a star. Could you but concentrate
yourselves, you, too, oh, northern lights, might lend your
aid to guide the wildered wanderer. But dance on, and
let me enjoy you ; stretch a bridge across the gulf
between the present and the time to come, and let me
dream far, far ahead into the future.
" Oh, thou mysterious radiance, what art thou, and
whence comest thou? Yet why ask ? Is it not enough
to admire thy beauty and pause there ? Can we at best
get beyond the outward show of things ? What would
it profit even if we could say that it is an electric dis-
charge or currents of electricity through the upper
regions of the air, and were able to describe in minutest
detail how it all came to be ? It would be mere words.
We know no more what an electric current really is, than
what the aurora borealis is. Happy is the child
We, with all our views and theories, are not in the
last analysis a hair's-breadth nearer the truth than it.
"Tuesday, November 13th. Thermometer —38° C.
(— 36*4° F.). The ice is packing in several quarters
during the day, and the roar is pretty loud, now that the
Second Autumn in the Ice. 499
ice has become colder. It can be heard from afar — a
strange roar, which would sound uncanny to any one who
did not know what it was.
" A delightful snow-shoe run in the light of the full
moon. Is life a vale of tears ? Is it such a deplorable
fate to dash off like the wind, with all the dogs skipping
around one, over the boundless expanse of ice through a
night like this in the fresh, crackling frost, while the
snow-shoes glide over the smooth surface, so that you
scarcely know you are touching the earth, and the stars
hang high in the blue vault above ? This is more,
indeed, than one has any right to expect of life ; it is a
fairy-tale from another world, from a life to come.
" And then to return home to one's cosy study-cabin,
kindle the stove, light the lamp, fill a pipe, stretch one-
self on the sofa, and send dreams out into the world with
the curlinof clouds of smoke — is that a dire infliction ?
Thus I catch myself sitting staring at the fire for hours
together, dreaming myself away — a useful way of em-
ploying the time. But at least it makes it slip unnoticed
by, until the dreams are swept away in an ice-blast of
reality, and I sit here in the midst of desolation, and
nervously set to work again.
" Wednesday, November 14th. How marvellous
are these snow-shoe runs through this silent nature.
The ice-fields stretch all around bathed in the silver
moonlight ; here and there dark, cold shadows project
from the hummocks, whose sides faintly reflect the
2 K 2
500 Chapter VIII.
twilight. Far, far out a dark line marks the horizon,
formed by the packed-up ice, over it a shimmer of silvery
vapour and above all the boundless deep blue, starry
sky, where the full moon sails through the ether. But
in the south is a faint glimmer of day low down of a
dark, glowing red hue, and higher up a clear yellow and
pale green arch, that loses itself in the blue above. The
whole melts into a pure harmony, one and indescribable.
At times one longs to be able to translate such scenes
into music. What mighty chords, one would require
to interpret them !
" Silent, oh, so silent ! You can hear the vibrations of
your own nerves. I seem as if I were gliding over and
over these plains into infinite space. Is this'not an
image of what is to come ? Eternity and peace are here.
Nirvana must be cold and bright as such an eternal star-
night. What are all our research and understanding in
the midst of this infinity .'*
" Friday, November i6th. In the forenoon I went
out with Sverdrup on snow-shoes in the moonlight, and
we talked seriously of the prospects of our drift and of
the proposed expedition northwards over the ice in the
spring. In the evening we went into the matter
more thoroughly in his cabin. I stated my views,
in which he entirely coincided. I have of late
been meditating a great deal on what is the proper
course to pursue, supposing the drift does not take us so
far north by^the month of March as I had anticipated.
Second Autumn in the Ice. 501
But the more I think of it, the more firmly am I
persuaded that it is the thing to do. For if it be right
to set out at 85°, it must be no less right to set out at
82° or S^°. In either case we should penetrate into more
northerly regions than we should otherwise reach, and
this becomes all the more desirable if the Fra7n herself
does not get so far north as we had hoped. If we
cannot actually reach the Pole, why, we must turn back
before reaching it. The main consideration, as I must
constantly repeat, is not to reach that exact mathematical
point, but to explore the unknown parts of the Polar Sea,
whether these be near to or more remote from the Pole.
I said this before setting out, and I must keep it
continually in mind. Certainly there are many important
observations to be made on board during the further
drift of the ship, many which I would dearly like to
carry on myself ; but all the more important of these
will be made equally well here, even though two of our
number leave the ship ; and there can scarcely be any
doubt that the observations we shall make farther
north will not many times outweigh in value those I
could have made during the remainder of the time
on board. So far, then, it is absolutely desirable that we
set out.
" Then comes the question : What is the best time to
start ? That the spring, March at the latest, is the only
season for such a venture, there can be no doubt at all.
But shall it be next spring ? Suppose, at the worst,
502 Chapter VIII.
we have not advanced farther than to 83° N. lat. and 1 10^
E. long. ; then something might be said for waiting till
the spring of 1896 ; but I cannot but think that we should
thus in all probability let slip the propitious moment.
The drifting could not be so wearingly slow but that after
another year had elapsed we should be far beyond the
point from which the sledge expedition ought to set
out. If I measure the distance we have drifted from
November of last year with the compasses and mark
off the same distance ahead, by next November we
should be north of Franz Josef Land, and a little beyond
it. It is conceivable, of course, that we were no farther
advanced in February, 1896, either; but it is more
likely from all I can make out, that the drift will
increase rather than diminish as we work westwards,
and consequently in February, 1896, we should have
got too far ; while, even if one could imagine a better
starting-point than that which the Frani will probably
offer us by March ist, 1895, it will, at all events,
be a possible one. It must consequently be the safest
plan not to wait for another spring.
" Such then are the prospects before us of pushing
through. The distance from this proposed starting-point
to Cape Fligely, which is the nearest known land, I set
down at about 370 miles,* consequently not much more
* There must be an error here, as the distance to Cape Fligely from
the point proposed, 83° N. lat. and 110° E. long., is quite 460 miles;
I had probably taken the longitude as ico° instead ot 110°.
Second Autumn in the Ice. '503
than the distance we covered in Greenland, and that
would be easy work enough over this ice, even if it
did become somewhat bad towards land. If once a
coast is reached, any reasonable being can surely manage
to subsist by hunting, whether large or small game,
whether bears or sandhoppers. Thus we can always
make for Cape Fligely or Petermann's Land, which lies
north of it, if our situation becomes untenable. The
distance will, of course, be increased the farther we
advance northwards, but at no point whatever between
here and the Pole is it greater than we can and will
manage, with the help of our dogs. ' A line of retreat '
is therefore secured, though there are those doubtless
who hold that a barren coast, where you must first scrape
your food together before you can eat it, is a poor retreat
for hungry men ; but that is really an advantage, for
such a retreat would not be too alluring. A wretched
invention, forsooth, for people who wish to push on,
is a ' line of retreat,' an everlasting inducement to look
behind, when they should have enough to do in looking
ahead.
" But now for the expedition itself. It will consist
of 28 dogs, two men, and 2,100 lbs. of provisions and
equipments. The distance to the Pole from 83'^ is
483 miles. Is it too much to calculate that we may be
able to accomplish that distance in 50 days ? I do not
of course know what the staying powers of the dogs may
be ; but that, with two men to help, they should be able
504 Chapter VIII.
to do 9J miles a day with 75 lbs. each for the first few
days, sounds sufficiently reasonable, even if they arc not
very good ones. This, then, can scarcely be called a
wild calculation, always, of course, supposing the ice to
be as it is here, and there is no reason why it should
not be. It, indeed, steadily improves the farther north
we get ; and it also improves with the approach of
spring. In 50 days, then, we should reach the Pole (in
65 days we went 345 miles over the inland ice of Green-
land at an elevation of more than 8,000 feet without
dogs and with defective provisions, and could certainly
have gone considerably farther). In 50 days we shall
have consumed a pound of pemmican a day for each
dog,''" that is 1,400 lbs. altogether ; and 2 lbs. of pro-
visions for each man daily is 200 lbs. As some fuel also
will have been consumed during this time, the freight on
the sledges will have diminished to less than 500 lbs.,
but a burden like this is nothing for 28 dogs to draw,
so that they ought to go ahead like a gale of wind
during the latter part of the time, and thus do
it in less than the 50 days. However, let us
suppose that it takes this time. If all has gone
well, we shall now direct our course for the Seven
Islands, north of Spitzbergen. That is 9'', or 620 miles.
* During the actual expedition the dogs had to be content with a
much smaller daily ration, on an average scarcely more than 9 or
10 ozs.
Second Autumn in the Ice. 505
But if we are not in first-rate condition, it will be safer
to make for Cape Fligely or the land to the north of it.
Let us suppose we decide on this route. We set out
from the Frant on March ist (if circumstances are
favourable, we should start sooner), and therefore arrive
at the Pole April 30th. We shall have about 500 lbs. of
our provisions left, enough for another 50 days ; but we
can spare none for the dogs. We must, therefore, begin
killing some of them, either for food for the others or for
ourselves, giving our provisions to them. Even if my
figures are somewhat too low, I may assume that by the
time twenty-three dogs have been killed we shall have
travelled 41 days, and still have five dogs left. How far
south shall we have advanced in this time ? The weight
of baggage was, to begin with, less than 500 lbs., that is
to say less than 18 lbs. for each dog to draw. After
41 days this will at least have been reduced to 280 lbs.
(by the consumption of provisions and fuel and by dis-
pensing with sundry articles of our equipment, such as
sleeping-bags, tent, etc., etc., which will have become
superfluous). There remain, then, 56 lbs. for each of the
five dogs, if we draw nothing ourselves ; and should it
be desirable, our equipment might be still further
diminished. With a burden of from 18 to 56 lbs.
apiece (the latter would only be towards the end), the
dogs would on an average be able to do 1 3^ miles a day,
even if the snow-surface should become somewhat more
difficult. That is to say, we shall have gone 565 miles
5o6 Chapter VIII.
to the south, or we shall be i8J miles past Cape Fligely,
on June ist, with five dogs and nine days' provisions
left. But it is probable, in the first place, that we shall
long before this have reached land ; and, secondly, so
early as the first half of April the Austrians found open
water by Cape Fligely and abundance of birds. Con-
sequently in May and June we should have no difficulty
as regards food, not to mention that it would be strange
indeed if we had not before that time met with a bear,
or a seal, or some stray birds.
" That we should now be pretty safe I consider as
certain, and we can choose whichever route we please :
either along the north-west coast of Franz Josef Land
by Gillis Land towards North-East Island and Spitz-
bergen (and should circumstances prove favourable, this
would decidedly be my choice), or we can go south
through Austria Sound towards the south coast of Franz
Josef Land, and thence to Novaya Zemlya or Spitz-
bergen, the latter by preference. We may, of course,
find Englishmen on Franz Josef Land, but that we
must not reckon on.
" Such, then, is my calculation. Have I made it
recklessly ? No, I think not. The only difficulty would
be if during the latter part of the journey, in May, we
should find the surface like that we had here last spring,
at the end of May, and should be considerably delayed
by it. But this would only be towards the very end of
our time, and at worst it could not be entirely impassable.
Second Autumn in the Ice. 507
Besides, it would be strange if we could not manage
to average 11^ miles a-day during the whole of the
journey, with an average load for each dog of from
30 to 40 lbs. — it would not be more. However, if our
calculations should prove faulty, we can always, as afore-
said, turn back at any moment.
" What unforeseen obstacles may confi'ont us ?
" I. The ice may be more impracticable than was
supposed.
" 2. We may meet with land.
" 3. The dogs may fail us, may sicken, or freeze to
death.
" 4. We ourselves may suffer from scurvy.
" I and 2. That the ice may be more impracticable
further north is certainly possible, but hardly probable.
I can see no reason why it should be, unless we have
unknown lands to the north. But should this be so —
very well, we must take what chance we find. The ice
can scarcely be altogether impassable. Even Markham
was able to advance with his scurvy-smitten people.
And the coasts of this land may possibly be advanta-
geous for an advance ; it simply depends on their
direction and extent. It is difficult to say anything
beforehand, except that I think the depth of water we
have here, and the drift of the ice render it improbable
that we can have land of any^ extent at all close at hand.
In any case there must, somewhere or other, be a
5o8 Chapter VIII.
passage for the ice, and at the worst we can follow that
passage.
" 3. There is always a possibility that the dogs may fail
us, but, as may be seen, I have not laid out any scheme
of excessive work for them. And, even if one or two of
them should prove failures, that could not be the case
with all. With the food they have hitherto had they
have got through the winter and the cold without
mishap, and the food they will get on the journey will
be better. In my calculations, moreover, I have taken
no account of what we shall draw ourselves. And, even
supposing all the dogs to fail us, we could manage to get
along by ourselves pretty well.
" 4. The worst event would undeniably be that we our-
selves should be attacked by scurvy ; and, notwith-
standing our excellent health, such a contingency is
quite conceivable, when it is borne in mind how in the
English North Pole Expedition all the men, with the
exception of the officers, suffered from scurvy when the
spring and the sledge journeys began, although as long
as they were on board ship they had not the remotest
suspicion that anything of the kind was lying in wait for
them. As far, however, as we are concerned, I consider
this contingency very remote. In the first place, the
English Expedition was remarkably unfortunate, and
hardly any others can show a similar experience, although
they may have undertaken sledge journeys of equal
length — for example, M'Clintock's. During the retreat
Second Autumn in the Ice. 509
of the Jeannette party, so far as is known, no one was
attacked with scurvy. Peary and Astrup did not suffer
from scurvy either. Moreover our supply of pro-
visions has been more carefully selected, and offers
greater variety than has been the case in former expedi-
tions, not one of which has enjoyed such perfect health
as ours. I scarcely think, therefore, that we should take
with us from the Fram any germs of scurvy , and as
regards the provisions for the sledge journey itself, I
have taken care that they shall consist of good all-round,
nutritious articles of food, so that I can scarcely believe
that they would be the means of developing an attack of
this disease. Of course, one must run some risk ; but
in my opinion all possible precautions have been taken,
and, when that is done, it is one's duty to go ahead.
" There is yet another question that must be taken
into consideration. Have I the right to deprive the ship
and those who remain behind of the resources such an
expedition entails .-* The fact that there w ill be two men
less is of little importance, for the Fram can be handled
quite as well with eleven men. A more important
point is that we shall have to take with us all the dogs
except the seven puppies ; but they are amply supplied
with sledge provisions and first-class sledge equipments
on board, and it is inconceivable that in case anything
happened to the Fram they should be unable to reach
Franz Josef Land or Spitzbergen. It is scarcely likely
that in case they had to abandon her, it would be
5IO Chapter VIII.
further north than 85° ; probably not even so far
north. But suppose they were obliged to abandon her
at 85°, it would probably be about north of Franz
Josef Land, when they would be 207 miles from
Cape Fligely ; or if further to the east it would
be some 276 miles from the Seven Islands ; and
it is hard to believe that they could not manage a
distance like that with our equipments. Now, as before,
I am of opinion that the Fram will in all probability
drift right across the polar basin and out on the
other side without being stopped, and without being
destroyed ; but even if any accident should occur, I do
not see why the crew should not be able to make their
way home in safety, provided due measures of precaution
are observed. Consequently, I think there is no reason
why a sledge expedition should not leave the Fram ; and
I feel that as it promises such good results it ought
certainly to be attempted."
END OF VOL. I.
LONDON
Harrison and Sons, St. Martin's Lane,
Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
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