234 NATURAL SCIENCE. October, 



" Fram " reached the estuary of the river. It was then too late to risk 

 an approach to the land, so the ship's head was turned north-eastward 

 for the New Siberia Islands, which were passed on September i8. 

 Here the pack ice compelled the course to be changed to the north- 

 west, and thus the " Fram " was finally frozen into the ice-pack in 

 78° 50' N., 133° 37' E., or about 20° too much to the west. 



Thence the expedition floated to the north-west, although the 

 course was apparently irregular, changing with the winds. Up till 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 1,600 to 2,200 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 north-westward ; in the summer, 

 the direction was reversed, as the prevailing winds, following the 

 ordinary Arctic rule, were from the north. In the winter of 1894-5 

 the " Fram " again went northward, crossing the highest previous 

 record of 83° 24' (attained by Lockwood during the Greely Expedition) 

 on Christmas Eve. In the following month she ran her greatest risk 

 from ice-pressure. She had been designed so that if the lateral ice- 

 pressure exceeded a certain amount the ship should be squeezed 

 upward out of the ice ; Mr. CoUn Archer's calculations were found to 

 be reliable, and the ship rose above the ice as her skilled designer had 

 expected. On March 3, 1895, the latitude of 84° 4' was reached, and 

 the *' Fram " again drifted southward. Expecting that this would be 

 the highest latitude reached, Nansen and one companion. Lieutenant 

 Johansen, left the ship on a sledging expedition toward the Pole. 

 They took three sledges, two kayaks (Eskimo canoes), twenty-eight 

 dogs, and provisions for themselves for one hundred days. The two 

 explorers started on March 14 from 83° 59' N. and 102° 27' E. The 

 ice was almost stationary, and good progress was made to the north. 

 In eight days they advanced 1° 11' northward; after this, progress 

 was slower, as the ice moved southward — the average up till April 4 

 being a little over three miles a day. Three days later at latitude 

 86° 14', after only another eleven miles had been gained, it was 

 •deemed advisable to return. The explorers, however, had travelled 

 2° 15' northward in three weeks. On April 8 the return journey 

 toward Franz Josef Land was commenced. On June 4, at latitude 

 ■82° 18' N., the ice began to drift-northward, and by June 15 they had 

 been carried 8° further north. A week later they found the first sign 

 of proximity to land, as they shot a seal (PJioca harhata), and after- 

 wards at the same place got three bears. As the snow was in bad 

 condition and they now had plenty of food Nansen stayed there for a 

 month. They started again on July 22, and two days later sighted 

 land ; this, however, they could not reach until August 6. On August 

 12 they came to the first large island of the Franz Josef Archipelago, 

 and on August 26 went into winter quarters. They lived in Eskimo 



