1 84 FARTHEST NORTH 



A boat would almost be able to row against it; anyhow 

 one could be eased away by a line from the stern, and 

 keep on taking soundings there, while we " kedged " the 

 Fram with her anchor just clear of the bottom. But 

 before having recourse to this last expedient I would 

 make another attempt to go against the wind and the 

 current. The engineers were ordered to put on as 

 much pressure of steam as they dared, and the Frmn 

 was urged on at her top speed. Our surprise was not 

 small when we saw that we were making way, and even 

 at a tolerable rate. Soon we were out of the sound or 

 *' Knipa " (nipper) as we christened it, and could beat out 

 to sea with steam and sail. Of course, we had, as usual, 

 contrary wind and thick weather. There is ample space 

 between every little bit of sunshine in these quarters. 



Next day we kept on beating northward between the 

 edge of the ice and the land. The open channel was 

 broad to begin with, but farther north it became so 

 narrow that we could often see the coast when we put 

 about at the edge of the ice. At this time we passed 

 many unknown islands and groups of islands. There 

 was evidently plenty of occupation here, for any one 

 who could spare the time, in making a chart of the 

 coast. Our voyage had another aim, and all that we 

 could do was to make a few occasional measurements of 

 the same nature as Nordenskiold had made before us. 



On August 25th I noted in my diary that in the 

 afternoon we had seven islands in sight. They were 



