Personal and Scientific JS'ews. 195 
Nansen's Polar Expeditiox. 
Tidings were received August 13tli from Vardoe island, 
Norway, by the steamer Windward, on her return from earr}'- 
ing supplies to the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition, announ- 
cing the arrival of Dr. Fridtjof Nansen in Franz Josef land. 
As reported by telegrams, he states that his steamer, the 
Frani, was frozen in the ice-pack near the end of September, 
1893, in latitude 78*^ 7' N. and longitude 133° 37' E.. near the 
northwestern shores of the New Siberia islands. During the 
winter and spring they drifted to the north and northwest, 
reaching 81'' 5'i' N. pn June 18, 1894, after which, during the 
summer, the course of the drift was southerly. Changing in 
the autumn again to northward drifting, the}' reached the 
latitude of 83*^ 24', the farthest ever previousl}^ attained (by 
Lockwood and Brainard), about Jan. 1, 1895. On Jan. 4 and 
5, while the Fram was frozen in floe ice thirty feet thick, 
this floe was overriden by ice masses which threatened to 
crush the steamer. After escaping safel}'-, however,- from this 
peril, the drift continued toward the northwest. 
Leaving the steamer and crew at 84° N. and 102" E., about 
midway between cape Chelyuskin and the pole, Nansen, with 
one companion, Lieut. Hansen, advanced afoot with sledges 
to latitude 86*^ 14', lacking only 226 geographical miles to 
reach the pole. Thence turning back, they came to the north 
coast of Franz Josef land, and built fv stone house in which 
they spent the winter of 1895-96. On June 17th of the pre- 
sent year, while Nansen and his comrade were setting out for 
a journey across the floe ice to Spitzbergen, they were met by 
Dr. Jackson, of the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition, who had 
wintered in a more southern part of Franz Josef land. Nan- 
sen believes that the Fram, in charge of Capt. Sverdrup and 
the others of the crew, whom he left in good health, will 
successfully endure the long ice drift, and that even this year, 
having been carried into open water, the Fram may safel}' re- 
turn to Norway. 
The drift carried the Fram more westward and less pole- 
M'ard than was hoped, and its release from the floe ice will be 
apparently between Franz Josef land and Spitzbergen. After 
passing latitude 79'^, northwest of the New Siberia islands, 
the sea, to that latitude no more than 90 fathoms deep, was 
found to increase rapidly in dej^th to soundings of 1,600 to 
1,900 fathoms. 
Postscript. On August 20th, just a week after the first news 
from Nansen, and after the foregoing had been written, the 
prophetic expectation of the intrepid explorer for the return 
of his ship and crew was verified b}^ a telegram from (Japt. 
Sverdrup, that the Fram, with all on board well, has reached 
the northern islands of Norway, on her way to the port of 
Tromsoe. w. u. 
