THE INSTRUCTIONS 207 



of the Fram. This was, and would necessarily remain, 

 somewhat uncertain. No doubt we all had a great idea 

 of the Fram's capacity for keeping time, and Lieutenant 

 Nilsen had announced his intention of being back by 

 Christmas or the New Year; but nevertheless a year is 

 a long time, and there are many miles in a trip round 

 the world. If we assumed that no mishap had occurred 

 to the Fram, and that she had left Buenos Aires at the 

 time fixed in the plan — October 1, 1911 — she would in 

 all probability be able to arrive at the Bay of Whales 

 about the middle of January, 1912. On the basis of 

 this calculation we decided, if possible, to get the sledge 

 journey to King Edward Land done before Christmas, 

 while the surveying work around the bay would have to 

 be postponed to the first half of January, 1912. I 

 thought, however, seeing the advantages of working 

 while the bay was still frozen over, that it would pay to 

 devote a few days — immediately following the departure 

 of the southern party — to the preparatory work of 

 measuring. But this did not pay at all. We had 

 reckoned without the weather, and in consequence were 

 well taken in. When one thinks over it afterwards, 

 it seems reasonable enough that the final victory of mild 

 weather over the remains of the Antarctic winter cannot 

 be accomplished without serious disturbances of the 

 atmospheric conditions. The expulsion of one evil has 

 to be effected by the help of another ; and the weather 

 was bad with a vengeance. During the two weeks that 



