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Colored Plates in Vol. I.
Colored Plates in Vol. I.
The Author had not originally contemplated the publication of the colored sketches which are produced in this work. He has permitted their reproduction because they may be useful as showing color effects in the Arctic; but he wishes it understood that he claims no artistic merit for them....
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Publisher’s Note
Publisher’s Note
“A time will come in later years when the Ocean will unloose the bands of things, when the immeasurable earth will lie open, when seafarers will discover new countries, and Thule will no longer be the extreme point among the lands.”— Seneca . Unseen and untrodden under their spotless mantle of ice the rigid polar regions slept the profound sleep of death from the earliest dawn of time. Wrapped in his white shroud, the mighty giant stretched his clammy ice-limbs abroad, and dreamed his age-long d
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Farthest North Chapter I Introduction
Farthest North Chapter I Introduction
But the limits of the unknown had to recede step by step before the ever-increasing yearning after light and knowledge of the human mind, till they made a stand in the north at the threshold of Nature’s great Ice Temple of the polar regions with their endless silence. Up to this point no insuperable obstacles had opposed the progress of the advancing hosts, which confidently proceeded on their way. But here the ramparts of ice and the long darkness of winter brought them to bay. Host after host
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Statement of Accounts of the Expedition on its Setting Out, 1893.
Statement of Accounts of the Expedition on its Setting Out, 1893.
It will be evident from the plan above expounded that the most important point in the equipment of our expedition was the building of the ship that was to carry us through the dreaded ice regions. The construction of this vessel was accordingly carried out with greater care, probably, than has been devoted to any ship that has hitherto ploughed the Arctic waters. I found in the well-known shipbuilder, Colin Archer, a man who thoroughly understood the task I set him, and who concentrated all his
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Chapter III The Start
Chapter III The Start
And now a last farewell to home. Yonder it lies on the point—the fjord sparkling in front, pine and fir woods around, a little smiling meadow-land and long wood-clad ridges behind. Through the glass one could descry a summer-clad figure by the bench under the fir-tree.... It was the darkest hour of the whole journey. And now out into the fjord. It was rainy weather, and a feeling of melancholy seemed to brood over the familiar landscape with all its memories. It was not until noon next day (June
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Trontheim’s Narrative
Trontheim’s Narrative
“They noticed one marked contrast between the mountains in the northern and those in the southern part of the Ural chain. In the south the snow melts quickly in the lower regions and remains lying on the tops. Here (in the northern Ural), on the contrary, the mountain-tops are free from snow before the sun’s rays penetrate into the valleys and melt it there. In some valleys, especially those closed by mountains to the south, and more exposed to north winds, the snow lies the whole summer. When t
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Chapter V Voyage through the Kara Sea
Chapter V Voyage through the Kara Sea
An hour and a half later we were at the edge of the ice. It was so close that there was no use in attempting to go on through it. To the northwest it seemed much looser, and there was a good deal of blue in the atmosphere at the horizon there. 1 We kept southeast along the land through broken ice, but in the course of the day went further out to sea, the blueness of the atmosphere to the east and northeast promising more open water in that direction. However, about 3 P.M. the ice became so close
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‘“Winter in the Ice
‘“Winter in the Ice
(Contribution to the Infant Framsjaa ) Far in the ice there lies a ship, boys, Mast and sail ice to the very tip, boys; But, perfectly clear, If you listen you can hear, There is life and fun on board that ship, boys. What can it be? Come along and see— It is Nansen and his men that laugh, boys. Nothing to be heard at night but glasses’ clink, boys, Fall of greasy cards and counters’ chink, boys; If he won’t “declare,” Nordahl he will swear Bentzen is stupid as an owl, boys. Bentzen cool, boys,
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“‘To the New Year.
“‘To the New Year.
“‘And you, my boy, must give yourself trouble Of your old father to be the double; Your lineage, honor, and fight hard to merit Our praise for the habits we trust you inherit. On we must go if you want to please us; To make us lie still is the way to tease us. In the old year we sailed not so badly, Be it so still, or you’ll hear us groan sadly. When the time comes you must break up the ice for us; When the time comes you must win the great prize for us; We fervently hope, having reached our gre
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Table of Temperatures
Table of Temperatures
These temperatures of the water are in many respects remarkable. In the first place, the temperature falls, as will be seen, from the surface downward to a depth of 80 metres, after which it rises to 280 metres, falls again at 300 metres, then rises again at 326 metres, where it was +0.49°; then falls to rise again at 450 metres, then falls steadily down to 2000 metres, to rise once more slowly at the bottom. Similar risings and fallings were to be found in almost all the series of temperatures
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Chapter VIII Second Autumn in the Ice
Chapter VIII Second Autumn in the Ice
“This is a good beginning. I told Pettersen in the evening that I would do the cooking myself next day, when the real trial was to be made. But he would not hear of such a thing; he said ‘I was not to think that he minded a trifle like that; I might trust to its being all right’—and it was all right. From that day I heard nothing but praise of the new apparatus, and it was used until the Fram was out in the open sea again. Peterssen after the explosion ( From a photograph ) “Thursday, September
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Corrections
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Colored Plates in Vol. II.
Colored Plates in Vol. II.
Who are to be the two members of the expedition? Sverdrup and I have tested each other before at this sort of work, and we could manage very well; but we cannot both leave the Fram : that is perfectly clear without further argument. One of us must remain behind to take on himself the responsibility of bringing the others home in safety; but it is equally clear that one of us two must conduct the sledge expedition, as it is we who have the necessary experience. Sverdrup has a great desire to go;
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Farthest North Chapter I We Prepare for the Sledge Expedition
Farthest North Chapter I We Prepare for the Sledge Expedition
“Sunday, November 18th. It seems as if I could not properly realize the idea that I am really to set out, and that in three months’ time. Sometimes I delude myself with charming dreams of my return home after toil and victory, and then all is clear and bright. Then these are succeeded by thoughts of the uncertainty and deceptiveness of the future and what may be lurking in it, and my dreams fade away like the northern lights, pale and colorless. “‘Ihr naht euch wieder, schwankende Gestalten.’ “U
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Chapter II The New Year, 1895
Chapter II The New Year, 1895
“New-year’s-day was ushered in with the same wind, the same stars, and the same darkness as before. Even at noon one cannot see the slightest glimmer of twilight in the south. Yesterday I thought I could trace something of the kind; it extended like a faint gleam of light over the sky, but it was yellowish-white, and stretched too high up; hence I am rather inclined to think that it was an aurora borealis. Again to-day the sky looks lighter near the edge, but this can scarcely be anything except
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Chapter III We Make a Start
Chapter III We Make a Start
“I also know that you will hold everything in readiness to abandon the Fram in the shortest possible time in the event of her suffering sudden damage, whether through fire or ice-pressure. If the ice permits it, I consider it advisable that a depot, with sufficient provisions, etc., should be established at a safe place on the ice, such as we have lately had. All necessaries which cannot be kept on the ice ought to be so placed on board that they are easy to get at under any circumstances. As yo
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Chapter IV We Say Good-bye to the “Fram”
Chapter IV We Say Good-bye to the “Fram”
The others had no sleeping-bag with them, so they made themselves a cozy little hut of snow, into which they crawled in their wolfskin garments, and had a tolerably good night. I was awake early the next morning; but when I crept out of the tent I found that somebody else was on his legs before me, and this was Pettersen, who, awakened by the cold, was now walking up and down to warm his stiffened limbs. He had tried it now, he said; he never should have thought it possible to sleep in the snow,
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Chapter V A Hard Struggle
Chapter V A Hard Struggle
“The ridges and the lanes which had frozen together again, with rubble on either side, became worse and worse. Making one’s way through these new ridges is desperate work. One cannot use snow-shoes, as there is too little snow between the piled-up blocks of ice, and one must wade along without them. It is also impossible to see anything in this thick weather—everything is white—irregularities and holes; and the spaces between the blocks are covered with a thin, deceptive layer of snow, which let
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Chapter VI By Sledge and Kayak
Chapter VI By Sledge and Kayak
“The lane which stopped us yesterday did not close, but opened wider until there was a big sea to the west of us, and we were living on a floe in the midst of it without a passage across anywhere. So, at last, what we have so often been threatened with has come to pass: we must set to work and make our kayaks seaworthy. But first of all we moved the tent into a sheltered nook of the hummock, where we are lying to, so that the wind does not reach us, and we can imagine it is quite still outside,
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Chapter VII Land at Last
Chapter VII Land at Last
We thought this land so near that it could not possibly take long to reach it, certainly not longer than till next evening. Johansen was even certain that we should do it the same day, but nevertheless thirteen days were to elapse, occupied in the same monotonous drudgery over the drift-ice. On July 25th I write: “When we stopped in the fog yesterday evening we had a feeling that we must have come well under land. This morning, when we turned out, the first thing Johansen did when he went to fet
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Chapter VIII The New Year, 1896
Chapter VIII The New Year, 1896
“Saturday, February 1st. Here I am down with the rheumatism. Outside it is growing gradually lighter day by day; the sky above the glaciers in the south grows redder, until at last one day the sun will rise above the crest, and our last winter night be past. Spring is coming! I have often thought spring sad. Was it because it vanished so quickly, because it carried promises that summer never fulfilled? But there is no sadness in this spring; its promises will be kept; it would be too cruel if th
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The Mean Temperature of Every Month during Nansen and Johansen’s Sledge Journey
The Mean Temperature of Every Month during Nansen and Johansen’s Sledge Journey
As far back as February 26th Dr. Nansen had officially informed the crew that after he left the ship I was to be chief officer of the expedition, and Lieutenant Scott-Hansen second in command. Before starting, he handed me a letter, or set of instructions, which have been mentioned earlier in the volume. 1 The day after that on which the postscript to my instructions is dated— i.e. , on Thursday, March 14th, at 11.30 A.M. —Dr. Nansen and Johansen left the Fram and set forth on their sledge exped
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Chapter I March 15 to June 22, 1895
Chapter I March 15 to June 22, 1895
Digging out the “Fram.” March, 1895 Upon the “great hummock,” which had been formed by the violent ice-pressure on January 27, 1894, we had established our depot on the slope looking towards the ship. The depot consisted of piled-up tin boxes, containing provisions and other necessaries, and formed six or seven small mounds covered with sail-cloth. Moreover, our snow-shoes and sledges were stored there. Half-way between the vessel and the great hummock lay the petroleum launch, which, when the n
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Chapter II June 22 to August 15, 1895
Chapter II June 22 to August 15, 1895
With the fowling our luck was better, and so early as June 7th we shot so many black guillemots, gulls, fulmars, and little auks that we partook on that day of our first meal of fresh meat during the year. The flesh of these birds is not, as a rule, valued very much, but we ate it with ravenous appetites, and found that it had an excellent flavor—better than the tenderest young ptarmigan. Channel Astern of the “Fram.” June, 1895 One day three gulls appeared, and settled down at some distance fro
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Chapter III August 15 to January 1, 1896
Chapter III August 15 to January 1, 1896
Seventy Days’ Sledge Provisions for Eleven Men Besides these we took salt, pepper, and mustard . Provisions for Eleven Men During a Six Months’ Stay on the Ice Besides these, 2 tins of salt, 1 tin of mustard, and 1 tin of pepper. When all the stores were ready and packed, they were provisionally stowed at certain fixed points on deck, under the awning forward. I did not want them taken out on the ice until later in the year, or until circumstances rendered it necessary. We had still abundance of
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Chapter IV January 1 to May 17, 1896
Chapter IV January 1 to May 17, 1896
Scott-Hansen and I deliberated as to what was to be done. Although I did not believe it would do much good under the circumstances, we decided upon an attempt to blast the vessel free. We agreed to try some mines right aft, and all hands were at once put to this work. First we fired six powder-mines at about the same spot, but without much result. Then we made an unsuccessful trial with gun-cotton. At 3 o’clock in the morning we concluded operations for the time being, as the ice was so thick th
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Chapter V The Third Summer
Chapter V The Third Summer
During the dinner speeches were made in honor of the day, of Norway, of Nansen and Johansen, etc. During the days following May 17th we were occupied in getting the engine and its appurtenances ready for work and clearing the rudder-well and the propeller-well. First we attempted to pump water into the boiler through a hose let down into a hole out upon the ice. But the cold was still so intense that the water froze in the pump. We were obliged to carry water in buckets and pour it into the boil
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The Mean Temperature of the Twenty-four Hours for these Periods
The Mean Temperature of the Twenty-four Hours for these Periods
1 January 2 December Alexander’s Island, II, 378 (Note). Alexandra Land, II, 510 (Note). Algæ— Ice-water containing, I, 290, 503, 508, 513, 515; II, 356. Snow colored by, II, 356 (Note). Almquist’s Islands— Fram passes, I, 209. Position on Nordenskjöld’s Map, I, 189. American expeditions, sledges used on, I, 8. Ammonites, II, 553 (Note). Amphipoda, I, 254, 274, 399; II, 685. Amundsen, Anton, Chief Engineer of the Fram , I, 78. Devotion to engine, I, 238. Indifference to cold, II, 74. Andrée, vis
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TRAVEL, EXPLORATION, and DESCRIPTION A SELECT LIST OF BOOKS
TRAVEL, EXPLORATION, and DESCRIPTION A SELECT LIST OF BOOKS
The Congo , and the Founding of its Free State. A Story of Work and Exploration. With over 100 Illustrations. Colored Maps. 2 Vols. 8vo, Cloth, $7 50; Sheep, $9 50; Half Calf, $12 00. Coomassie and Magdala : The Story of Two British Campaigns in Africa. With Maps and Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50. By PAUL B. Du CHAILLU: The Land of the Midnight Sun. Summer and Winter Journeys through Sweden, Norway, Lapland, and Northern Finland. Map and Illustrations. 2 Vols. 8vo, Cloth, $7 50; Half Calf, $1
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