276 



THE MUSEUM. 



previous record of S3 degrees and 24 

 minutes ("attained by Lockwood, dur- 

 ing the Greely expedition) on Christ- 

 mas eve. In the following month she 

 run her greatest risk from ice pressure. 

 She had been designed so that if the 

 lateral ice pressure, exceeded a cer- 

 tain amount, the ship would be 

 squeezed upward out of the ice; Mr. 

 Colin Archer's calculations were found 

 to be reliable, and the ship rose above 

 the ice as her skilled designer had ex- 

 pected. On March 3, 1895 the lati- 

 tude of 84 degrees and 4 minutes was 

 reached, and the "Fram" again drifted 

 southward. Expecting that this would 

 be the highest altitude reached. Nan- 

 sen and one companion, Lieut. Johan- 

 sen, left the ship on a sledging expe- 

 dition towards the Pole. They took 

 three sledges, two kayaks, 28 dogs 

 and provisions for themselves for 100 

 days. The two explorers started on 

 March 14th from 83 degrees and 59 

 minutes and 12 degree and 27 min- 

 utes east. The ice was almost sta- 

 tionary, and good progress was made 

 to the north. In eight days they ad- 

 vanced one degree and 1 1 minutes 

 northward; after this, progress was 

 slower, as the ice moved southward, 

 the average up to April 4th being a 

 little over three miles a day. Three 

 days later at altitude 86 degrees and 

 14 minutes, after only another eleven 

 miles had been gained, it was deemed 

 advisable to return. 



The explorers, however, had trav- 

 eled 2 degrees and i 5 minutes north- 

 ward in three weeks. On April i8th 

 the return journey towards Franz josef 

 land began. On June 4th at altitude 

 82-18 the ice began to drift northward 

 and by June 15th they had been car- 

 ried 8 degrees further north. A week 

 later they found the first proximity to 

 land, as they shot a seal (Phoca bar- 

 bata) and afterwards at the same place 

 got three bears. As the snow was in 

 bad condition and they now had plen- 

 ty of food Nansen stayed there for a 

 month. They started again on July 

 22d and two days later sighted land; 



this, however, they could not reach 

 until August 6th. August 12th they 

 came to the first large island of the 

 Franz Josef Archipelago, and on Aug- 

 ust 26th went into winter quarters. 

 They lived in Eskimo fashion, m a hut 

 of skins, stones, earth and snow; used 

 blubber for fuel and fed on blubber 

 and bear meat. On May, i8g6 they 

 started for Spitzbergen, keeping south- 

 west down a broad, frozen sound, to 

 the open water and small islands to 

 the south of the archipelago. On June 

 16 they thought they heard dogs bark- 

 ing, and next day heard a shot fired. 

 Johansen stayed with the kayaks while 

 Nansen went off in search, and found 

 Jackson's party in their winter quar- 

 ters; the Norwegian explorers subse- 

 quently returned with the "Windward" 

 to Varfio. 



"While Nansen and Johansen were 

 making this daring march, the "Fram" 

 had again turned northward, and slow- 

 ly drifting, reached the latitude of 

 ''^5-S7- This was the furthest point 

 north at which an observation was 

 possible, for clouds prevented the ex- 

 act distance further from being deter- 

 mined, though it has been estimated 

 on the "Fram" at as much as 30 min- 

 utes north of the 85-57 point. The 

 ship then drifted to the southwest un- 

 til, in February, 1896, it reached a 

 point 84-9 and 15 east. There it re- 

 mained stationary until released by the 

 break-up of the pack in. July. After 

 that the vessel steamed southward 

 through the leads, until she reached 

 open water to the north of Spitzber- 

 gen on August I 2th." 



"It is as yet too early to discuss the 

 value of the fresh information brought 

 back by the "Fram" expedition; we 

 may, however, briefly refer to the 

 chief results. In the first place there 

 is no doubt that the area around the 

 North Pole is a deep ocean basin. In 

 a remarkable lecture delivered to the 

 Geographical Society in 1894, Profes- 

 sor Lapworth predicted, from geologi- 

 cal considerations, that his would be 

 found to be the case. As the ortho- 



