444 NEW LAND. 



120 Ibs., and this answered well. At a pinch, therefore, there 

 would be no risk in lighting the fires, and for a time steaming 

 at a 70 to 80 Ibs. pressure ; at the same time we could use the 

 engines as a compound. 



This was an exceedingly annoying affair for us, who were in 

 such a hurry to get home ; but, on the other hand, if we were to be 

 disabled at all, it was a good thing that it had not happened until 

 we were clear of the ice. The whole of the Atlantic now lay open 

 and ice-free before us, and with the ' Fram's ' good sails it would 

 be easy enough for her to sail across it at a time of year when 

 favourable winds could be counted on. A few days more or less 

 would not make much difference in a voyage as long as ours had 

 been ; but to most of the members of the expedition it was a hard 

 blow, and as directly after this misfortune we had several days of 

 rough weather and contrary wind, the spirits of some of them sank 

 into their shoes. 



Things were not much better when, after the bad weather, we 

 were becalmed for a couple of days. But after that our tribula- 

 tions were at an end ; we had a fair wind, and made good way 

 east. On September 16 we lighted the fires in order to be able 

 to use the engines in case we should again be becalmed when 

 under land ; but on the afternoon of September 17 we passed Fair 

 Isle with a northerly breeze and seven knots' speed, and only 

 used the engines to pump free. From thence we shaped the 

 course for Utsire, the nearest point on the coast of Norway, and 

 on the afternoon of the 18th were off the light there ; but as we 

 could not get a pilot that evening and we did not care to go in to 

 Stavanger at night without one, we lay to for the night. 



On September 19, at eight in the morning, we got a pilot and 

 headed for Stavanger, with a fresh northerly breeze and the 

 engines at work. The pilot, when he came aboard, did not know 

 us, but as soon as he found out who we were, shouted the news 

 to his companion in the pilot-boat. 



If it is possible for a person to be questioned to death it must 

 be the first man to board a ship after a voyage like ours. There 

 was no end to all the things we wanted to know. Had the water 

 been just under the deck we could not have pumped more 



