8 FAR THE S 7' NORTH 



you have already thought it seriously over — thought 

 what risks you expose yourself to — the chance, for in- 

 stance, that neither of us may ever see the face of man 

 again — and if you have reflected that even if we get 

 through safe and sound you must necessarily face a great 

 deal of hardship on an expedition like this — if you have 

 made up your mind to all this I don't insist on your re- 

 flecting any lono^er about it/ ' Yes, that I have.' ' Well, 

 then, that is settled. To-niorro\v we shall begin our 

 preparations for the trip. Hansen must see about ap- 

 pointing another meteorological assistant.' 



" Tuesday, November 20th. This evening I delivered 

 an address to the whole ship's company, in which I an- 

 nounced the determination that had been arrived at, and 

 explained to them the projected expedition. First of all, 

 I briefly went through the whole theory of our under- 

 taking, and its history from the beginning, laying stress 

 on the idea on which my plans had been built up — namely, 

 that a vessel which got frozen in north of Siberia must 

 drift across the Polar Sea and out into the Atlantic, and 

 must pass somewhere or other north of Franz Josef 

 Land and between it and the Pole. The object of 

 the expedition was to accomplish this drift across the 

 unknown sea, and to pursue investigations there. I 

 pointed out to them that these investigations would 

 be of equal importance whether the expedition actually 

 passed across the Pole itself or at some distance from it. 

 Judging from our experiences hitherto, we could not en- 



