344 si rctic and A ntarctic Exploration [part i 
starting on the perilous voyage to Spitsbergen, when they 
had the extraordinary good fortune to be found by 
Jackson. They received most cordial hospitality, and 
embarked in Jackson's relief ship for Norway, which 
they reached safely in August 1896. 
Meanwhile the drift of the Fram had been ably 
continued by Captain Sverdrup, with deep-sea soundings 
and temperatures. On the 17th August 1895 the vessel 
sustained another severe nip, but rose to it easily. One 
more winter, that of 1895-96, was passed, and on May 7th 
1896 Sverdrup found that the Fram was in 83 0 45' N., 
and 12 0 50' R, with Spitsbergen to the south. He 
determined to force his way into open water, and in 
28 days he had worked the ship through 180 miles of 
closely-packed ice, reaching the navigable sea to the north 
of Spitsbergen and sighting land after 1041 days. 
The Fram arrived off Danes Island, where my friend 
Arnold Pike, who has all the makings, with opportunities, 
of a first-rate Arctic explorer, had built a house, wintering 
there in 1888-89. ^ n x $97 h e cruised east of Spitsbergen 
and landed on the Wiche Islands. His house in Danes 
Gat was used by the ill-fated An dree when he was preparing 
to start in his balloon, and Sverdrup and his companions 
found the latter there with the steamer Virgo. But the 
season was not favourable, and Andree returned to 
Sweden. In 1897 he was again at Pike's house, and on 
July nth ascended with two companions in the balloon 
Eagle, They were never more heard of. 
The Fram arrived in Norway a few days after Nansen, 
and the whole party were once more united, and were 
welcomed with unbounded enthusiasm by their country- 
men at Christiania. 
The drift of the Fram } with its continuous scientific 
observations, worked out exactly as Nansen hoped and 
expected. The results threw new light on the whole 
Arctic problem. Nansen lifted the veil, and his expedition 
was the most important in modern times. It was dis- 
covered that there was a deep ocean to the north of 
Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land, extending beyond 
the Pole, and the whole of the vast annual harvest of 
ice which drifts south between Spitsbergen and Green- 
land comes from the north of the Fram's track. Nansen 
