iv PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE 87 



geographers, but Dr. Nansen persisted in his plans, and 

 sailed from Norway in his famous vessel the Fram, with 

 a crew of twelve, in July, 1893. He disappeared from 

 the civilised world a few weeks later and was not 

 heard of again until June, 1896, when he was met by 

 Major F. G. Jackson on the ice to the south-south-east 

 of Cape Flora. Nansen and his companion, Lieut. 

 Johansen, had left the Fram in March, 1895, in latitude 

 84 N., with the object of exploring the sea to the north, 

 to reach the highest latitude possible, and then go to 

 Spitsbergen via Franz Josef Land. These two hardy 

 men spent fifteen months together amid the Arctic ice, 

 and reached a point in lat. 86 14' N. before they returned 

 and were met by members of the Jackson-Harmsworth 

 expedition. The Fram drifted a little northwards after 

 they left it, and remained in the ice until August, 1896, 

 when she was steered through the last ice-floes out into 

 open water. Shortly after Nansen reached Norway, 

 the Fram touched at Spitsbergen, and a week later the 

 leader and his men met again. 



Since Nansen's journey the North Pole has been 

 reached by Rear- Admiral Peary, but the attainment of 

 this geographical point, though it appeals to popular 

 sentiment, is not of such scientific interest as Nansen's 

 voyage in which inferences derived from observations 

 were proved to be correct. 



The pursuit of knowledge in Polar regions has cost 

 many lives, and the dangers of the ice have enriched 

 heroic literature with the stories of the efforts of many 

 great men, " The famous ones of old." 



How of the field's fortune ? That concerned our Leader ! 

 Led, we struck our stroke, nor cared for doings left and right : 

 Each as on his sole head, failer or succeeder, 

 Lay the blame or lit the praise : no care for cowards : fight ! 



Robert Browning. 



