INTRODUCTION. 5 



reached Drb'bak, we were compelled to anchor in Vindfangerbugten, 

 where we said farewell to our last guests. During the course of 

 the evening, when the wind had gone down a little, we weighed 

 anchor, and slipped down to Horten, where we finally got ready 

 for sea. 



On Sunday, June 26, we reached Chris tiansand, where we 

 were to ship some things which had come for us from England. 

 On Monday morning I sent off the last letters and telegrams, 

 among them telegrams to the King and the ' Storting,' and at 

 three o'clock of the same day the ' Fram ' got finally under way, 

 and set a course for the southernmost point of Greenland. Soon 

 we lost from sight the last Norwegian haven, and with the night 

 the blue coast of Norway sank into the sea and disappeared 

 from view. 



There was many a one of us who, now that land had faded 

 from sight, thought how strange was the sensation, and who now 

 and then stole away to gaze across the wake which our craft 

 left behind her. But we knew before we started that we had 

 the Norwegian people behind us, and that gave the backbone to 

 the expedition; and so each of us made a promise in his mind 

 that we would not return without having done, at any rate, so 

 much that our land and folk should not be put to shame. 



Wind and weather were favourable to us at first ; the breeze 

 was fresh, the waves broke briskly round the bows, and the crew 

 were in capital spirits. As the day went on, however, the old 

 ' Fram/ in spite of the overhauling she had recently had in Larvik, 

 began to roll as badly as she had ever done before. The usual 

 consequences were not wanting; the members of the expedition 

 who were not much used to the sea turned very white and looked 

 extremely serious. They trooped to the doctor and complained of 

 various symptoms ; some had headache, some shivering fits, and 

 some pains in the stomach, which they had contracted they knew 

 not how ; but none of them mentioned the malady by its right 

 name. The doctor, however, came to the conclusion that the 

 complaint with the many different aspects had a single and fairly 

 simple name, to wit, sea-sickness ; and for it there was but one 

 and an equally simple remedy, dry land. Unhappily, we had 



