514 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



generally believed by those writers forced to rely on books for their 

 information.* But Nansen's ice experiences were of a particular 

 and limited sort. All those who have made journeys out over the 

 ice from a base on land have noted that the pressure ridges are 

 highest near shore and get lower as you proceed to seaward. They 

 are also, by more elementary logic, most numerous near shore and 

 get fewer farther away from land. Captain Sverdrup was with 

 Nansen both on his crossing of Greenland and in the drift in the 

 Fram, so that Nansen's only ice experiences which were not the 

 same as Sverdrup's were on his journey with Johansen after they 

 left the Fram, first north and then back to Franz Josef Land. 

 But they arrived in the vicinity of land in summer when they do 

 not seem to have met much if any landfast pressure ice. It is, 

 then, interesting to quote Sverdrup who, after Nansen had retired 

 from active ice exploration, had extensive experiences during his 

 expedition of 1898-1902. He says: ** "During the day we passed 

 pressure ridges which for height surpassed anything we had yet 

 seen. We thought of measuring them but the wind was so strong 

 and keen that we decided to leave it till we drove south again, 

 hoping then to have a better opportunity. However, to have some 

 idea of their height, I asked Isachsen what he would put it at, and 

 to be sure of his not overstepping the mark I guessed first, saying, 

 'That pressure ridge is about eighty feet high, I suppose?' 'No,' 

 answered Isachsen, 'it's 120 feet if it's a foot.' How high it may 

 have been is difficult to say since we did not measure it." 



Several captains of the Beaufort Sea whaling fleet have told me 

 that when they have been in the crow's-nests of their ships they 

 have seen ice so high that they could not see the horizon beyond. 

 Such cakes would be from sixty to a hundred feet high according 

 to which ship was involved. I remember one of the captains say- 

 ing that his crow's-nest was a hundred and ten feet from the water. 



The ice ridge from which we had seen the seals that Charlie 

 later went after was rather high although I have seen several 

 higher. We measured it seventy-three feet above the level of the 

 ice on which the tent stood, or about seventy-eight feet above 

 water level. 



On all our ice trips and at every distance from shore we have 

 found ice with a certain amount of earth or gravel upon it and 

 sometimes fragments of rock or small boulders. The day after 



*See p. 287, "Earth Features and Their Meaning," by Professor William 

 H. Hobbs. 



** "New Land," by Otto Sverdrup, London, 1904, Vol. I, p. 375. 



