INTR OD UCTION 37 



between Greenland and Spitzbergen as surely as we can 

 reckon on getting into the Jcannette current off the New 

 Siberian Islands. 



" But if this Jcannette current does not pass right 

 across the Pole ? If, for instance, it passes between the 

 Pole and Franz Josef Land, as above intimated ? What 

 will the expedition do in that case to reach the earth's 

 axis ? Yes, this may seem to be the Achilles' heel of the 

 undertaking; for should the ship be carried past the 

 Pole at more than one degree's distance it may then 

 appear extremely imprudent and unsafe to abandon it in 

 mid-current and face such a long sledge-journey over un- 

 even sea-ice, which itself is drifting. Even if one reached 

 the Pole it would be very uncertain whether one could 

 find the ship again on returning. ... I am, however, of 

 opinion that this is of small import : // is not to seek for 

 the exact mathematical point that forms the northern ex- 

 tremity of the earth'' s axis that zve set out, for to reach this 

 point is intrinsically of small moment. Onr object is to 

 investigate the great nnknoivn region that sicrrounds the 

 Pole, and these investigations will be equally important, 

 from a scientific point of view, whether the expedition 

 passes over the polar point itself or at some distance 

 from it." 



In this lecture I had submitted the most important 

 data on which my plan was founded ; but in the follow- 

 ing years I continued to study the conditions of the 

 northern waters, and received ever fresh proofs that my 



