238 THE SIEGE OF THE NORTH POLE 



ahead as soon as the opportunity offered. Everything 

 that was on the ice was taken on board, and on the 18th 

 May the engine was made ready for getting up steam. 



Towards the end of May blasting operations were begun 

 to release the From from the ice, and on 2nd June, 

 Sverdrup and his crew had the satisfaction of seeing the 

 ship once more free. There was still, however, too much 

 ice all around for the Fram to make much use of her 

 freedom. It was not until the 12th June that a movement 

 could be made, and then only for a short distance. On 

 the 27th June the Fram was forced ahead about 2 miles. 

 On the 3rd July 3 miles were made, and on the 7th about 

 1 mile. On the 8th July, in latitude 83° 2', the bottom 

 was reached at 1841 fathoms. On the 19th July the 

 Fram made about 10 miles, and on the following day it 

 advanced from 83° 14' to 82° 39'. Good progress was 

 now made, and at midnight on the 27th July latitude 

 81° 32' had been reached. During the next fortnight 

 they made little headway, and on the 9th August the 

 latitude was found 16' farther north than on 27th July. 



On the 13 th August the Fram steered through the 

 last ice-floes into open water, north of the 80th degree of 

 latitude. 



Nansen's expedition lifted the veil of mystery from a 

 large portion of the Arctic regions. It proved that no 

 land existed over the long zigzag route traversed by the 

 Fram from the New Siberian Islands to a point north of 

 Spitzbergen within 350 miles of the Pole, nor over the 

 long sledge-route traversed by Nansen and Johansen. It 

 discovered that the Polar Sea, instead of being shallow as 

 hitherto supposed, is a deep basin, exceeding in many 

 places 11,000 feet. 



The Fram drifted very near the route sketched by 

 Nansen before the expedition set out, and although 



