THE MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Research in Natural Science. 



Vol. II. 



ALBION, N. Y., OCTOBER 15, 1896. 



No. 12 



Notes on Arctic Work for 1896. 



The present year will lonf::; be re- 

 membered as a most remarkable one 

 for active Arctic research, and one 

 that has been crowned with great suc- 

 cess. Doubtless most every one has 

 read the accounts of Nansen's return, 

 and that he has made remarkable dis- 

 coveries. 



Dr. Gregory, one of Nansen's asso- 

 ciates, in October Natural Science, 

 outlines some of the results of the ex- 

 pedition, which we reproduce here- 

 with. 



"Nansen left Europe in 1893 in or- 

 der to reach the Pole by floating with 

 the ice pack from the north of Siberia 

 to the Greenland Sea. It was well 

 known that off the Arctic coast of eas- 

 tern Siberia the water drifts north- 

 ward; also that currents drift south- 

 ward from the Pole down each side of 

 Greenland and along the eastern coast 

 of Spitzbergen. Nansen thought it 

 probable that these movements were 

 all part of one great current, which 

 flowed right across the Pole. Support 

 was given to this idea by two consider- 

 ations; firstly, the marine fauna of the 

 Greenland coasts is remarkably similar 

 to that of Siberia; secondly, in 1881 

 the steamer "Jeannette" was crushed 

 by ice to the northwest of the New 

 Siberia Islands and some years later 

 various articles supposed to be the relics 

 of the "Jeannette" were found off 

 Cape Farewell, at the southern end of 

 Greenland. Accepting these two ar- 

 guments as rendering the existence of 

 the polar current most probable, Nan- 

 sen proposed to get frozen into the 

 pack near the point where the "Jean- 

 nette" was nipped, and then float 

 along the same course into the Green- 



land sea. The "Fram" was accord- 

 ingly designed with especial reference 

 to the capability of withstanding ice 

 pressure, and supplied with stores for 

 six years. Nansen left Norway early 

 in 1893 and the last news from him 

 was sent from Jugor Strait, the south- 

 western entrance to the Ara Sea, in 

 August of the same year. It had been 

 arranged that he should pick up a 

 further supply of dogs from the Olenek 

 river, but owing to some delays in 

 rounding Cape Chelyuskin, it was not 

 until September 15 that the "Fram" 

 reached the estuary of the river. It 

 was then too late to risk an approach 

 to the island, so the ship's head was 

 turned northeastward for the New Si- 

 beria Islands, which were passed on 

 September iSth. Here the packed 

 ice compelled the course to bechanged 

 to the Nortwest, and thus the "Fram" 

 was finally frozen into the ice pack, in 

 78 degrees and 50 minutes north, 138 

 degree, 37 minutes east, or about 20 

 degrees too much to the west." 



"Thence the expedition floated to 

 the northwest, although the course was 

 apparently irregular, changing with 

 the winds. Up to the point where the 

 "Fram" was beset by the floes, the 

 depth of the sea was only 90 fathoms; 

 but north of this it deepened rapidly, 

 and the depth varied from 160 to 220 

 fathoms, until the "Fram" approached 

 shallower water north of Spitzbergen. 

 All through the winter of, 1893 and the 

 spring of 1894, the resultant course of 

 the "Fram" was northwestward; in 

 the summer the direction was reversed, 

 as the prevailing winds, following the 

 arctic rule, were from the north. In 

 the winter of 1894-5 the "Fram"again 

 went northward crossing the highest 



