PREPARATIONS AND EQUIPMENT 77 



Kara Sea and give us lOO tons of coal on parting com- 

 pany. As our departure was drawing nigh I learnt, how- 

 ever, that other arrangements had been made. It being 

 now too late to take any other measures, I chartered 

 the sloop Urania, of Bronosund, in Nordland, to bring 

 a caro^o of coals to Khabarova, on the Yusror Strait. 



No sooner did the plan of my expedition become 

 known than petitions poured in by the hundred from 

 all quarters of the earth — from Europe, America, Aus- 

 tralia — from persons who wished to take part in it, in 

 spite of the many warning voices that had been raised. 

 It was no easy thing to choose among all the brave men 

 who applied. As a matter of course, it was absolutely 

 essential that every man should be strong and healthy, 

 and not one was finally accepted till he had been care- 

 fully examined b}^ Professor Hialmar Heiberg, of Chris- 

 tiania. 



The following is a list of the members of the expe- 

 dition : 



Otto Ncuina7i7i Sverdriip, commander of the Frani, 

 was born in Bindal, in Helgeland, 1855. At the age of 

 seventeen he went to sea, passed his mate's examination 

 in 1878, and for some years was captain of a ship. In 

 1888-S9 he took part in the Greenland expedition. As 

 soon as he heard of the plan of the polar expedition he 

 expressed his desire to accompany it, and I knew that 

 I could not place the Fram in better hands. He is 

 married, and has one child. 



