MARCH 15 TO JUNE 22, iSgs 613 



and I measured it and found that just astern of the vessel it was 

 975 yards, and farther north over 1500 yards (1432 metres) in 

 width. Had the Fram been loose at the time I should have 

 gone north in the channel as far as possible ; but this was not to 

 be thought of, seeing how the ship had been raised up on and 

 walled in by the ice. 



No later than May 2d the principal channel closed up again. 

 The mate, Nordahl, and Amundsen, who just then happened to 

 be out on a snow-shoe trip south along the channel, were eye- 

 witnesses of the jamming of the ice, which they described as 

 having been a grand sight. The fresh southeasterly wind had 

 imparted a considerable impetus to the ice, and when the edges 

 of the ice approached each other with considerable velocity and 

 force, two large projecting tongues first came into collision with 

 a crash like thunder, and in a moment were forced up in a hum- 

 mock about 20 feet high, only to collapse soon after, and disap- 

 pear with equal suddenness under the edge of the ice. Wher- 

 ever the ice was not forced up into the air, the one ice-edge 

 would slide over or under the other, while all the projecting 

 tongues and blocks of ice were crushed to thousands of frag- 

 ments, which filled up pretty evenly any small crevices still re- 

 maining of what had before been such a mighty opening. 



Our drift towards the north during the first month was al- 

 most nil. For instance, on April 19th we had not advanced 

 more than 4 minutes of latitude (about 4 miles) to the north. 

 Nor did we drift much to the west in the same period. Later 

 on we made better headway, but not, by a long way, as much as 

 in 1894. On May 23d I wrote in the Journal as follows: " We 

 are all very anxious to see what will be the net result of our 

 spring drift. If we could reach 60° east longitude by the sum- 

 mer or autumn, I believe we could be certain to get back home 

 about the autumn of 1896. The spring drift this year is con- 

 siderably less strong than last year, but perhaps it may continue 

 longer into the summer. If we were to drift this year as far as 

 last, during the time from May i6th to June i6th, we should reach 

 68° east longitude, but it will not be possible now to reach that 

 longitude so early. Possibly we may manage this year to escape 



