FARTHEST NORTH
Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship "Fram"
1893-96 and of a Fifteen Months' Sleigh Journey by Dr. Nansen and
Lieut. Johansen
By
Dr. FRIDTJOF NANSEN
With an Appendix by Otto Sverdrup Captain of the Fram
About 120 Full-page and Numerous Text Illustrations 16 Colored
Plates in Facsimile from Dr. Nansen's Own Sketches, Etched Portrait,
and Photogravures
In two volumes
Vol. I.
New York and London
Harper & Brothers Publishers
Copyright, 1897, by Harper & Brothers.
All rights reserved.
TO
HER
WHO CHRISTENED THE SHIP
AND
HAD THE COURAGE TO REMAIN BEHIND
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
CHAP. PAGE
I. Introduction 1
II. Preparations and Equipment 54
III. The Start 81
IV. Farewell To Norway 104
V. Voyage Through the Kara Sea 146
VI. The Winter Night 237
VII. The Spring and Summer of 1894 442
VIII. Second Autumn in the Ice 525
ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOL. I.
PAGE.
Fridtjof Nansen Etched Frontispiece
Colin Archer 58
Design of the "Fram" 61
Sigurd Scott-Hansen 85
Adolf Juell 89
The "Fram" leaving Bergen 93
Otto Sverdrup 99
First drift-ice (July 28, 1893) 107
The new church and the old church at Khabarova 116
Peter Henriksen 119
Our trial trip with the dogs 127
Evening scene at Khabarova 131
O. Christofersen and A. Trontheim 135
Landing on Yalmal 148
The plain of Yalmal 150
In the Kara Sea 152
The "Fram" in the Kara Sea 155
Ostrova Kamenni (Rocky Island), off the coast
of Siberia 158
Theodor C. Jacobsen, mate of the "Fram" 161
Henrik Blessing 167
A dead bear on Reindeer Island (August 21, 1893) 172
"We first tried to drag the bears" 173
Bernard Nordahl 177
Ivar Mogstad 185
Bernt Bentzen 193
Lars Pettersen 205
Anton Amundsen 213
Cape Chelyuskin, the Northernmost point of
the Old World 218
On land East of Cape Chelyuskin (September 10, 1893) 219
A warm corner among the walruses, off East Taimur 223
The ice into which the "Fram" was frozen
(September 25, 1893) 234
The smithy on the "Fram" 239
The thermometer house 244
Magnetic observations 247
A smoke in the galley of the "Fram" 250
"The saloon was converted into a reading-room" 252
Scott-Hansen and Johansen inspecting the
barometers Facing p. 254
Dr. Blessing in his cabin 257
"I let loose some of the dogs" 263
The men who were afraid of frightening the bear.
"Off steals Blessing on tiptoe" 267
Dogs chained on the ice 272
We lay in open water 275
My first attempt at dog driving 289
A chronometer--observation with the theodolite
Facing p. 314
A lively game of cards 318
"'I took the lantern and gave him such a whack
on the head with it'" 330
A nocturnal visitant 336
Sverdrup's bear-trap (moonlight, December 20, 1893) 339
"He stared, hesitating, at the delicious morsel" 341
Promenade in times of peace with Sverdrup's
patent foot-gear 345
"Fram" fellows on the war-path: difference
between the Sverdrup and the Lapp foot-gear 346
"Fram" fellows still on the war-path 347
"It was strange once more to see the moonlight
playing on the coal-black waves" 351
A game of halma 355
First appearance of the sun 394
Diagrams of ice with layers 401
Johansen reading the anemometer 409
Two friends 418
Experiment in sledge sailing 421
At the coming of the Spring (March, 1894) 425
Returning home after sunset (March 31, 1894) 429
Observing the eclipse of the sun (April 6, 1894) 433
Tailpiece 441
Taking a sounding of 2058 fathoms 447
Home-sickness (June 16, 1894) 451
Sailing on the fresh-water pool (July 12, 1894) 454
Reading temperatures with lens Facing p. 456
Peter Henriksen in a brown study (July 6, 1894) 461
Taking water temperatures 466
Summer guests 469
Rhodos Tethia 473
Nansen takes a walk (July 6, 1894) 477
Our kennels (September 27, 1894) 480
The dogs basking in the sun (June 13, 1894) 482
The Seventeenth-of-May procession, 1894 485
The drift-ice in Summer (July 12, 1894) 487
A Summer scene (July 21, 1894) 493
The stern of the "Fram." Johansen and "Sultan"
(June 16, 1894) 499
Blessing goes off in search of algæ 503
A Summer evening (July 14, 1894) 505
Blessing fishing for algæ 507
Pressure-ridge on the port quarter of the "Fram"
(July 1, 1894) 509
Skeletons of a kayak for one man (bamboo) and of
a double kayak, lying on a hand-sledge 511
A Summer evening (July 14, 1894) 519
Tailpiece 524
Pettersen after the explosion 529
Snow-shoe practice (September 28, 1894) 542
Return from a snow-shoe run (September 28, 1894) 544
Block of ice (September 28, 1894) 546
The waning day (October, 1894) 548
A snow-shoe excursion (October, 1894) 553
In line for the photographer 555
Deep-water temperature. "Up with the
thermometer" (July 12, 1894) 559
On the after-deck of the "Fram" (October, 1894) 563
The return of snow-shoers Facing p. 566
COLORED PLATES IN VOL. I.
Facing p.
I. Walruses killed off the East coast of the
Taimur Peninsula (September 12, 1893) 220
II. Sleepy and cross (September 12, 1893) 228
III. Sunset off the North coast of Asia, North of
the mouth of the Chatanga (September 12, 1893) 232
IV. Off the edge of the ice.--Gathering storm
(September 14, 1893) 290
V. Evening among the drift-ice (September 22, 1893) 304
VI. At sunset (September 22, 1893) 324
VII. The waning polar day (September 22, 1893) 352
VIII. Moonlight (November 22, 1893) 576
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
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.
FARTHEST NORTH
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
"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 dreams.
Ages passed--deep was the silence.
Then, in the dawn of history, far away in the south, the awakening
spirit of man reared its head on high and gazed over the earth. To
the south it encountered warmth, to the north, cold; and behind the
boundaries of the unknown it placed in imagination the twin kingdoms
of consuming heat and of deadly cold.
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 marched on towards the north, only to suffer
defeat. Fresh ranks stood ever ready to advance over the bodies of
their predecessors. Shrouded in fog lay the mythic land of Nivlheim,
where the "Rimturser" [1] carried on their wild gambols.
Why did we continually return to the attack? There in the darkness
and cold stood Helheim, where the death-goddess held her sway;
there lay Nåstrand, the shore of corpses. Thither, where no living
being could draw breath, thither troop after troop made its way. To
what end? Was it to bring home the dead, as did Hermod when he
rode after Baldur? No! It was simply to satisfy man's thirst for
knowledge. Nowhere, in truth, has knowledge been purchased at greater
cost of privation and suffering. But the spirit of mankind will never
rest till every spot of these regions has been trodden by the foot
of man, till every enigma has been solved.
Minute by minute, degree by degree, we have stolen forward, with
painful effort. Slowly the day has approached; even now we are but in
its early dawn; darkness still broods over vast tracts around the Pole.
Our ancestors, the old Vikings, were the first Arctic voyagers. It has
been said that their expeditions to the frozen sea were of no moment,
as they have left no enduring marks behind them. This, however,
is scarcely correct. Just as surely as the whalers of our age, in
their persistent struggles with ice and sea, form our outposts of
investigation up in the north, so were the old Northmen, with Eric
the Red, Leif, and others at their head, the pioneers of the polar
expeditions of future generations.
It should be borne in mind that as they were the first ocean
navigators, so also were they the first to combat with the ice. Long
before other seafaring nations had ever ventured to do more than hug
the coast lines, our ancestors had traversed the open seas in all
directions, had discovered Iceland and Greenland, and had colonized
them. At a later period they discovered America, and did not shrink
from making a straight course over the Atlantic Ocean, from Greenland
to Norway. Many and many a bout must they have had with the ice along
the coasts of Greenland in their open barks, and many a life must
have been lost.
And that which impelled them to undertake these expeditions was not the
mere love of adventure, though that is, indeed, one of the essential
traits of our national character. It was rather the necessity of
discovering new countries for the many restless beings that could
find no room in Norway. Furthermore, they were stimulated by a real
interest for knowledge. Othar, who about 890 resided in England at
Alfred's Court, set out on an errand of geographical investigation;
or, as he says himself, "he felt an inspiration and a desire to learn,
to know, and to demonstrate how far the land stretched towards the
north, and if there were any regions inhabited by man northward beyond
the desert waste." He lived in the northernmost part of Helgeland,
probably at Bjarköi, and sailed round the North Cape and eastward,
even to the White Sea.
Adam of Bremen relates of Harald Hårdråde, "the experienced king of
the Northmen," that he undertook a voyage out into the sea towards
the north and "explored the expanse of the northern ocean with his
ships, but darkness spread over the verge where the world falls away,
and he put about barely in time to escape being swallowed in the
vast abyss." This was Ginnungagap, the abyss at the world's end. How
far he went no one knows, but at all events he deserves recognition
as one of the first of the polar navigators that were animated by
pure love of knowledge. Naturally, these Northmen were not free from
the superstitious ideas about the polar regions prevalent in their
times. There, indeed, they placed their Ginnungagap, their Nivlheim,
Helheim, and later on Trollebotn; but even these mythical and poetical
ideas contained so large a kernel of observation that our fathers may
be said to have possessed a remarkably clear conception of the true
nature of things. How soberly and correctly they observed may best
be seen a couple of hundred years later in Kongespeilet ("The Mirror
of Kings"), the most scientific treatise of our ancient literature,
where it is said that "as soon as one has traversed the greater
part of the wild sea, one comes upon such a huge quantity of ice
that nowhere in the whole world has the like been known. Some of the
ice is so flat that it looks as if it were frozen on the sea itself;
it is from 8 to 10 feet thick, and extends so far out into the sea
that it would take a journey of four or more days to reach the land
over it. But this ice lies more to the northeast or north, beyond
the limits of the land, than to the south and southwest or west....
"This ice is of a wonderful nature. It lies at times quite still, as
one would expect, with openings or large fjords in it; but sometimes
its movement is so strong and rapid as to equal that of a ship running
before the wind, and it drifts against the wind as often as with it."
This is a conception all the more remarkable when viewed in the light
of the crude ideas entertained by the rest of the world at that period
with regard to foreign climes.
The strength of our people now dwindled away, and centuries elapsed
before explorers once more sought the northern seas. Then it was
other nations, especially the Dutch and the English, that led the
van. The sober observations of the old Northmen were forgotten, and
in their stead we meet with repeated instances of the attraction of
mankind towards the most fantastic ideas; a tendency of thought that
found ample scope in the regions of the north. When the cold proved
not to be absolutely deadly, theories flew to the opposite extreme,
and marvellous were the erroneous ideas that sprang up and have
held their own down to the present day. Over and over again it has
been the same--the most natural explanation of phenomena is the very
one that men have most shunned; and, if no middle course was to be
found, they have rushed to the wildest hypothesis. It is only thus
that the belief in an open polar sea could have arisen and held its
ground. Though everywhere ice was met with, people maintained that
this open sea must lie behind the ice. Thus the belief in an ice-free
northeast and northwest passage to the wealth of Cathay or of India,
first propounded towards the close of the 15th century, cropped up
again and again, only to be again and again refuted. Since the ice
barred the southern regions, the way must lie farther north; and
finally a passage over the Pole itself was sought for. Wild as these
theories were, they have worked for the benefit of mankind; for by
their means our knowledge of the earth has been widely extended. Hence
we may see that no work done in the service of investigation is ever
lost, not even when carried out under false assumptions. England has
to thank these chimeras in no small degree for the fact that she has
become the mightiest seafaring nation of the world.
By many paths and by many means mankind has endeavored to penetrate
this kingdom of death. At first the attempt was made exclusively by
sea. Ships were then ill adapted to combat the ice, and people were
loath to make the venture. The clinker-built pine and fir barks of
the old Northmen were no better fitted for the purpose than were
the small clumsy carvels of the first English and Dutch Arctic
explorers. Little by little they learnt to adapt their vessels to
the conditions, and with ever-increasing daring they forced them in
among the dreaded floes.
But the uncivilized polar tribes, both those that inhabit the Siberian
tundras and the Eskimo of North America, had discovered, long before
polar expeditions had begun, another and a safer means of traversing
these regions--to wit, the sledge, usually drawn by dogs. It was in
Siberia that this excellent method of locomotion was first applied
to the service of polar exploration. Already in the 17th and 18th
centuries the Russians undertook very extensive sledge journeys, and
charted the whole of the Siberian coast from the borders of Europe
to Bering Strait. And they did not merely travel along the coasts,
but crossed the drift-ice itself to the New Siberian Islands, and
even north of them. Nowhere, perhaps, have travellers gone through
so many sufferings, or evinced so much endurance.
In America, too, the sledge was employed by Englishmen at an early date
for the purpose of exploring the shores of the Arctic seas. Sometimes
the toboggan or Indian sledge was used, sometimes that of the
Eskimo. It was under the able leadership of M'Clintock that sledge
journeys attained their highest development. While the Russians had
generally travelled with a large number of dogs, and only a few men,
the English employed many more men on their expeditions, and their
sledges were entirely, or for the most part, drawn by the explorers
themselves. Thus in the most energetic attempt ever made to reach high
latitudes, Albert Markham's memorable march towards the north from the
Alert's winter quarters, there were 33 men who had to draw the sledges,
though there were plenty of dogs on board the ship. It would appear,
indeed, as if dogs were not held in great estimation by the English.
The American traveller Peary has, however, adopted a totally different
method of travelling on the inland ice of Greenland, employing as
few men and as many dogs as possible. The great importance of dogs
for sledge journeys was clear to me before I undertook my Greenland
expedition, and the reason I did not use them then was simply that
I was unable to procure any serviceable animals. [2]
A third method may yet be mentioned which has been employed in the
Arctic regions--namely, boats and sledges combined. It is said of the
old Northmen in the Sagas and in the Kongespeilet, that for days on
end they had to drag their boats over the ice in the Greenland sea,
in order to reach land. The first in modern times to make use of
this means of travelling was Parry, who, in his memorable attempt
to reach the Pole in 1827, abandoned his ship and made his way over
the drift-ice northward with boats, which he dragged on sledges. He
succeeded in attaining the highest latitude (82° 45') that had yet been
reached; but here the current carried him to the south more quickly
than he could advance against it, and he was obliged to turn back.
Of later years this method of travelling has not been greatly employed
in approaching the Pole. It may, however, be mentioned that Markham
took boats with him also on his sledge expedition. Many expeditions
have through sheer necessity accomplished long distances over the
drift-ice in this way, in order to reach home after having abandoned or
lost their ship. Especial mention may be made of the Austro-Hungarian
Tegethoff expedition to Franz Josef Land, and the ill-fated American
Jeannette expedition.
It seems that but few have thought of following the example of the
Eskimo--living as they do, and, instead of heavy boats, taking light
kayaks drawn by dogs. At all events, no attempts have been made in
this direction.
The methods of advance have been tested on four main routes: the
Smith Sound route, the sea route between Greenland and Spitzbergen,
Franz Josef Land route, and the Bering Strait route.
In later times, the point from which the Pole has been most
frequently assailed is Smith Sound, probably because American
explorers had somewhat too hastily asserted that they had there
descried the open Polar Sea, extending indefinitely towards the
north. Every expedition was stopped, however, by immense masses of
ice, which came drifting southward, and piled themselves up against
the coasts. The most important expedition by this route was the
English one conducted by Nares in 1875-76, the equipment of which
involved a vast expenditure. Markham, the next in command to Nares,
reached the highest latitude till then attained, 83° 20', but at
the cost of enormous exertion and loss; and Nares was of opinion
that the impossibility of reaching the Pole by this route was fully
demonstrated for all future ages.
During the stay of the Greely expedition (from 1881 to 1884) in this
same region, Lockwood attained a somewhat higher record, viz., 83°
24', the most northerly point on the globe that human feet had trodden
previous to the expedition of which the present work treats.
By way of the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen, several attempts
have been made to penetrate the secrets of the domain of ice. In
1607 Henry Hudson endeavored to reach the Pole along the east coast
of Greenland, where he was in hopes of finding an open basin and a
waterway to the Pacific. His progress was, however, stayed at 73°
north latitude, at a point of the coast which he named "Hold with
Hope." The German expedition under Koldeway (1869-70), which visited
the same waters, reached by the aid of sledges as far north as 77°
north latitude. Owing to the enormous masses of ice which the polar
current sweeps southward along this coast, it is certainly one of the
most unfavorable routes for a polar expedition. A better route is that
by Spitzbergen, which was essayed by Hudson, when his progress was
blocked off Greenland. Here he reached 80° 23' north latitude. Thanks
to the warm current that runs by the west coast of Spitzbergen in a
northerly direction, the sea is kept free from ice, and it is without
comparison the route by which one can the most safely and easily reach
high latitudes in ice-free waters. It was north of Spitzbergen that
Edward Parry made his attempt in 1827, above alluded to.
Farther eastward the ice-conditions are less favorable, and therefore
few polar expeditions have directed their course through these
regions. The original object of the Austro-Hungarian expedition
under Weyprecht and Payer (1872-74) was to seek for the Northeast
Passage; but at its first meeting with the ice it was set fast off
the north point of Novaya Zemlya, drifted northward, and discovered
Franz Josef Land, whence Payer endeavored to push forward to the
north with sledges, reaching 82° 5' north latitude on an island,
which he named Crown-Prince Rudolf's Land. To the north of this he
thought he could see an extensive tract of land, lying in about 83°
north latitude, which he called Petermann's Land. Franz Josef Land
was afterwards twice visited by the English traveller Leigh Smith in
1880 and 1881-82; and it is here that the English Jackson-Harmsworth
expedition is at present established.
The plan of the Danish expedition under Hovgaard was to push forward
to the North Pole from Cape Chelyuskin along the east coast of an
extensive tract of land which Hovgaard thought must lie to the east
of Franz Josef Land. He got set fast in the ice, however, in the Kara
Sea, and remained the winter there, returning home the following year.
Only a few attempts have been made through Bering Strait. The first was
Cook's, in 1776; the last the Jeannette expedition (1879-81), under De
Long, a lieutenant in the American navy. Scarcely anywhere have polar
travellers been so hopelessly blocked by ice in comparatively low
latitudes. The last-named expedition, however, had a most important
bearing upon my own. As De Long himself says in a letter to James
Gordon Bennett, who supplied the funds for the expedition, he was
of opinion that there were three routes to choose from--Smith Sound,
the east coast of Greenland, or Bering Strait; but he put most faith
in the last, and this was ultimately selected. His main reason for
this choice was his belief in a Japanese current running north through
Bering Strait and onward along the east coast of Wrangel Land, which
was believed to extend far to the north. It was urged that the warm
water of this current would open a way along that coast, possibly
up to the Pole. The experience of whalers showed that whenever their
vessels were set fast in the ice here they drifted northwards; hence it
was concluded that the current generally set in that direction. "This
will help explorers," says De Long, "to reach high latitudes, but at
the same time will make it more difficult for them to come back." The
truth of these words he himself was to learn by bitter experience.
The Jeannette stuck fast in the ice on September 6th, 1879, in 71°
35' north latitude and 175° 6' east longitude, southeast of Wrangel
Land--which, however, proved to be a small island--and drifted with
the ice in a west-northwesterly direction for two years, when it
foundered, June 12th, 1881, north of the New Siberian Islands, in 77°
15' north latitude and 154° 59' east longitude.
Everywhere, then, has the ice stopped the progress of mankind
towards the north. In two cases only have ice-bound vessels drifted
in a northerly direction--in the case of the Tegethoff and the
Jeannette--while most of the others have been carried away from their
goal by masses of ice drifting southward.
On reading the history of Arctic explorations, it early occurred to
me that it would be very difficult to wrest the secrets from these
unknown regions of ice by adopting the routes and the methods hitherto
employed. But where did the proper route lie?
It was in the autumn of 1884 that I happened to see an article by
Professor Mohn in the Norwegian Morgenblad, in which it was stated that
sundry articles which must have come from the Jeannette had been found
on the southwest coast of Greenland. He conjectured that they must have
drifted on a floe right across the Polar Sea. It immediately occurred
to me that here lay the route ready to hand. If a floe could drift
right across the unknown region, that drift might also be enlisted in
the service of exploration--and my plan was laid. Some years, however,
elapsed before, in February, 1890, after my return from my Greenland
expedition, I at last propounded the idea in an address before the
Christiania Geographical Society. As this address plays an important
part in the history of the expedition, I shall reproduce its principal
features, as printed in the March number of Naturen, 1891.
After giving a brief sketch of the different polar expeditions of
former years, I go on to say: "The results of these numerous attempts,
as I have pointed out, seem somewhat discouraging. They appear to
show plainly enough that it is impossible to sail to the Pole by any
route whatever; for everywhere the ice has proved an impenetrable
barrier, and has stayed the progress of invaders on the threshold of
the unknown regions.
"To drag boats over the uneven drift-ice, which moreover is constantly
moving under the influence of the current and wind, is an equally
great difficulty. The ice lays such obstacles in the way that any one
who has ever attempted to traverse it will not hesitate to declare
it well-nigh impossible to advance in this manner with the equipment
and provisions requisite for such an undertaking."
Had we been able to advance over land, I said, that would have been the
most certain route; in that case the Pole could have been reached "in
one summer by Norwegian snow-shoe runners." But there is every reason
to doubt the existence of any such land. Greenland, I considered,
did not extend farther than the most northerly known point of its
west coast. "It is not probable that Franz Josef Land reaches to the
Pole; from all we can learn it forms a group of islands separated
from each other by deep sounds, and it appears improbable that any
large continuous track of land is to be found there.
"Some people are perhaps of opinion that one ought to defer the
examination of regions like those around the Pole, beset, as they
are, with so many difficulties, till new means of transport have been
discovered. I have heard it intimated that one fine day we shall be
able to reach the Pole by a balloon, and that it is only waste of time
to seek to get there before that day comes. It need scarcely be shown
that this line of reasoning is untenable. Even if one could really
suppose that in the near or distant future this frequently mooted idea
of travelling to the Pole in an air-ship would be realized, such an
expedition, however interesting it might be in certain respects, would
be far from yielding the scientific results of expeditions carried out
in the manner here indicated. Scientific results of importance in all
branches of research can be attained only by persistent observations
during a lengthened sojourn in these regions, while those of a balloon
expedition cannot but be of a transitory nature.
"We must, then, endeavor to ascertain if there are not other
routes--and I believe there are. I believe that if we pay attention
to the actually existent forces of nature, and seek to work with and
not against them, we shall thus find the safest and easiest method
of reaching the Pole. It is useless, as previous expeditions have
done, to work against the current; we should see if there is not a
current we can work with. The Jeannette expedition is the only one,
in my opinion, that started on the right track, though it may have
been unwittingly and unwillingly.
"The Jeannette drifted for two years in the ice, from Wrangel Land
to the New Siberian Islands. Three years after she foundered to the
north of these islands there was found frozen into the drift-ice, in
the neighborhood of Julianehaab, on the southwest coast of Greenland,
a number of articles which appeared, from sundry indubitable marks, to
proceed from the sunken vessel. These articles were first discovered
by the Eskimo, and were afterwards collected by Mr. Lytzen, Colonial
Manager at Julianehaab, who has given a list of them in the Danish
Geographical Journal for 1885. Among them the following may especially
be mentioned:
"1. A list of provisions, signed by De Long, the commander of
the Jeannette.
"2. A MS. list of the Jeannette's boats.
"3. A pair of oilskin breeches marked 'Louis Noros,' the name of
one of the Jeannette's crew, who was saved.
"4. The peak of a cap on which, according to Lytzen's statement,
was written F. C. Lindemann. The name of one of the crew of
the Jeannette, who was also saved, was F. C. Nindemann. This
may either have been a clerical error on Lytzen's part or a
misprint in the Danish journal.
"In America, when it was reported that these articles had been found,
people were very sceptical, and doubts of their genuineness were
expressed in the American newspapers. The facts, however, can scarcely
be sheer inventions; and it may therefore be safely assumed that an
ice-floe bearing these articles from the Jeannette had drifted from
the place where it sank to Julianehaab.
"By what route did this ice-floe reach the west coast of Greenland?
"Professor Mohn, in a lecture before the Scientific Society of
Christiania, in November, 1894, showed that it could have come by no
other way than across the Pole. [3]
"It cannot possibly have come through Smith Sound, as the current
there passes along the western side of Baffin's Bay, and it would
thus have been conveyed to Baffin's Land or Labrador, and not to
the west coast of Greenland. The current flows along this coast in
a northerly direction, and is a continuation of the Greenland polar
current, which comes along the east coast of Greenland, takes a bend
round Cape Farewell, and passes upward along the west coast.
"It is by this current only that the floe could have come.
"But the question now arises: What route did it take from the New
Siberian Islands in order to reach the east coast of Greenland?
"It is conceivable that it might have drifted along the north coast
of Siberia, south of Franz Josef Land, up through the sound between
Franz Josef Land and Spitzbergen, or even to the south of Spitzbergen,
and might after that have got into the polar current which flows along
Greenland. If, however, we study the directions of the currents in
these regions so far as they are at present ascertained, it will be
found that this is extremely improbable, not to say impossible."
Having shown that this is evident from the Tegethoff drift and from
many other circumstances, I proceeded:
"The distance from the New Siberian Islands to the 80th degree
of latitude on the east coast of Greenland is 1360 miles, and the
distance from the last-named place to Julianehaab 1540 miles, making
together a distance of 2900 miles. This distance was traversed by
the floe in 1100 days, which gives a speed of 2.6 miles per day of 24
hours. The time during which the relics drifted after having reached
the 80th degree of latitude, till they arrived at Julianehaab, can be
calculated with tolerable precision, as the speed of the above-named
current along the east coast of Greenland is well known. It may be
assumed that it took at least 400 days to accomplish this distance;
there remain, then, about 700 days as the longest time the drifting
articles can have taken from the New Siberian Islands to the 80th
degree of latitude. Supposing that they took the shortest route--i. e.,
across the Pole--this computation gives a speed of about 2 miles in
24 hours. On the other hand, supposing they went by the route south of
Franz Josef Land, and south of Spitzbergen, they must have drifted at
much higher speed. Two miles in the 24 hours, however, coincides most
remarkably with the rate at which the Jeannette drifted during the
last months of her voyage, from January 1 to June 12, 1881. In this
time she drifted at an average rate of a little over 2 miles in the 24
hours. If, however, the average speed of the whole of the Jeannette's
drifting be taken, it will be found to be only 1 mile in the 24 hours.
"But are there no other evidences of a current flowing across the
North Pole from Bering Sea on the one side to the Atlantic Ocean on
the other?
"Yes, there are.
"Dr. Rink received from a Greenlander at Godthaab a remarkable piece
of wood which had been found among the drift-timber on the coast. It
is one of the 'throwing sticks' which the Eskimo use in hurling their
bird-darts, but altogether unlike those used by the Eskimo on the west
coast of Greenland. Dr. Rink conjectured that it possibly proceeded
from the Eskimo on the east coast of Greenland.
"From later inquiries, [4] however, it appeared that it must have
come from the coast of Alaska in the neighborhood of Bering Strait,
as that is the only place where 'throwing sticks' of a similar form
are used. It was even ornamented with Chinese glass beads, exactly
similar to those which the Alaskan Eskimo obtain by barter from
Asiatic tribes, and use for the decoration of their 'throwing sticks.'
"We may, therefore, with confidence assert that this piece of wood
was carried from the west coast of Alaska over to Greenland by a
current the whole course of which we do not know, but which may be
assumed to flow very near the North Pole, or at some place between
it and Franz Josef Land.
"There are, moreover, still further proofs that such a current
exists. As is well known, no trees grow in Greenland that can be used
for making boats, sledges, or other appliances. The driftwood that is
carried down by the polar current along the east coast of Greenland
and up the west coast is, therefore, essential to the existence of
the Greenland Eskimo. But whence does this timber come?
"Here our inquiries again carry us to lands on the other side of the
Pole. I have myself had an opportunity of examining large quantities of
driftwood both on the west coast and on the east coast of Greenland. I
have, moreover, found pieces drifting in the sea off the east coast,
and, like earlier travellers, have arrived at the conclusion that
much the greater part of it can only have come from Siberia, while
a smaller portion may possibly have come from America. For amongst
it are to be found fir, Siberian larch, and other kinds of wood
peculiar to the north, which could scarcely have come from any other
quarter. Interesting in this respect are the discoveries that have
been made on the east coast of Greenland by the second German Polar
Expedition. Out of twenty-five pieces of driftwood, seventeen were
Siberian larch, five Norwegian fir (probably Picea obovata), two a
kind of alder (Alnus incana?), and one a poplar (Populus tremula? the
common aspen), all of which are trees found in Siberia.
"By way of supplement to these observations on the Greenland side,
it may be mentioned that the Jeannette expedition frequently found
Siberian driftwood (fir and birch) between the floes in the strong
northerly current to the northward of the New Siberian Islands.
"Fortunately for the Eskimo, such large quantities of this driftwood
come every year to the coasts of Greenland that in my opinion one
cannot but assume that they are conveyed thither by a constantly
flowing current, especially as the wood never appears to have been
very long in the sea--at all events, not without having been frozen
in the ice.
"That this driftwood passes south of Franz Josef Land and Spitzbergen
is quite as unreasonable a theory as that the ice-floe with the relics
from the Jeannette drifted by this route. In further disproof of this
assumption it may be stated that Siberian driftwood is found north
of Spitzbergen in the strong southerly current, against which Parry
fought in vain.
"It appears, therefore, that on these grounds also we cannot but admit
the existence of a current flowing across, or in close proximity to,
the Pole.
"As an interesting fact in this connection, it may also be mentioned
that the German botanist Grisebach has shown that the Greenland flora
includes a series of Siberian vegetable forms that could scarcely
have reached Greenland in any other way than by the help of such a
current conveying the seeds.
"On the drift-ice in Denmark Strait (between Iceland and Greenland)
I have made observations which tend to the conclusion that this ice
too was of Siberian origin. For instance, I found quantities of mud on
it, which seemed to be of Siberian origin, or might possibly have come
from North American rivers. It is possible, however, to maintain that
this mud originates in the glacier rivers that flow from under the ice
in the north of Greenland, or in other unknown polar lands; so that
this piece of evidence is of less importance than those already named.
"Putting all this together, we seem driven to the conclusion that
a current flows at some point between the Pole and Franz Josef Land
from the Siberian Arctic Sea to the east coast of Greenland.
"That such must be the case we may also infer in another way. If we
regard, for instance, the polar current--that broad current which
flows down from the unknown polar regions between Spitzbergen and
Greenland--and consider what an enormous mass of water it carries
along, it must seem self-evident that this cannot come from a
circumscribed and small basin, but must needs be gathered from
distant sources, the more so as the Polar Sea (so far as we know
it) is remarkably shallow everywhere to the north of the European,
Asiatic, and American coasts. The polar current is no doubt fed by
that branch of the Gulf Stream which makes its way up the west side
of Spitzbergen; but this small stream is far from being sufficient,
and the main body of its water must be derived from farther northward.
"It is probable that the polar current stretches its suckers,
as it were, to the coast of Siberia and Bering Strait, and draws
its supplies from these distant regions. The water it carries off
is replaced partly through the warm current before mentioned which
makes its way through Bering Strait, and partly by that branch of the
Gulf Stream which, passing by the north of Norway, bends eastward
towards Novaya Zemlya, and of which a great portion unquestionably
continues its course along the north coast of this island into the
Siberian Arctic Sea. That a current coming from the south takes this
direction--at all events, in some measure--appears probable from
the well-known fact that in the northern hemisphere the rotation of
the earth tends to compel a northward-flowing current, whether of
water or of air, to assume an easterly course. The earth's rotation
may also cause a southward-flowing stream, like the polar current,
to direct its course westward to the east coast of Greenland.
"But even if these currents flowing in the polar basin did not exist,
I am still of opinion that in some other way a body of water must
collect in it, sufficient to form a polar current. In the first place,
there are the North European, the Siberian, and North American rivers
debouching into the Arctic Sea, to supply this water. The fluvial basin
of these rivers is very considerable, comprising a large portion of
Northern Europe, almost the whole of Northern Asia or Siberia down
to the Altai Mountains and Lake Baikal, together with the principal
part of Alaska and British North America. All these added together
form no unimportant portion of the earth, and the rainfall of these
countries is enormous. It is not conceivable that the Arctic Sea of
itself could contribute anything of importance to this rainfall; for,
in the first place, it is for the most part covered with drift-ice,
from which the evaporation is but trifling; and, in the next place,
the comparatively low temperature in these regions prevents any
considerable evaporation taking place even from open surfaces of
water. The moisture that produces this rainfall must consequently in
a great measure come from elsewhere, principally from the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans, and the amount of water which thereby feeds the
Arctic Sea must be very considerable. If we possessed sufficient
knowledge of the rainfall in the different localities it might be
exactly calculated. [5]
"The importance of this augmentation appears even greater when we
consider that the polar basin is comparatively small, and, as has
been already remarked, very shallow; its greatest known depth being
from 60 to 80 fathoms.
"But there is still another factor that must help to increase
the quantity of water in the polar basin, and that is its own
rainfall. Weyprecht has already pointed out the probability that
the large influx of warm, moist atmosphere from the south, attracted
by the constant low atmospheric pressure in the polar regions, must
engender so large a rainfall as to augment considerably the amount
of water in the Polar Sea. Moreover, the fact that the polar basin
receives large supplies of fresh water is proved by the small amount
of salt in the water of the polar current.
"From all these considerations it appears unquestionable that the
sea around the Pole is fed with considerable quantities of water,
partly fresh, as we have just seen, partly salt, as we indicated
further back, proceeding from the different ocean currents. It thus
becomes inevitable, according to the law of equilibrium, that these
masses of water should seek such an outlet as we find in the Greenland
polar current.
"Let us now inquire whether further reasons can be found to show why
this current flows exactly in the given direction.
"If we examine the ocean soundings, we at once find a conclusive reason
why the main outlet must lie between Spitzbergen and Greenland. The
sea here, so far as we know it, is at all points very deep; there is,
indeed, a channel of as much as 2500 fathoms depth; while south of
Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land it is remarkably shallow--not more
than 160 fathoms. As has been stated, a current passes northward
through Bering Strait and Smith Sound, and the sounds between the
islands north of America, though here, indeed, there is a southward
current, are far too small and narrow to form adequate outlets for
the mass of water of which we are speaking. There is, therefore,
no other assumption left than that this mass of water must find its
outlet by the route actually followed by the polar current. The channel
discovered by the Jeannette expedition between Wrangel Land and the
New Siberian Islands may here be mentioned as a notable fact. It
extended in a northerly direction, and was at some points more than
80 fathoms deep, while at the sides the soundings ran only to 40 or
50 fathoms. It is by no means impossible that this channel may be a
continuation of the channel between Spitzbergen and Greenland, [6]
in which case it would certainly influence, if not actually determine,
the direction of the main current.
"If we examine the conditions of wind and atmospheric pressure over
the Polar Sea, as far as they are known, it would appear that they
must tend to produce a current across the Pole in the direction
indicated. From the Atlantic to the south of Spitzbergen and Franz
Josef Land a belt of low atmospheric pressure (minimum belt) extends
into the Siberian Arctic Sea. In accordance with well-known laws, the
wind must have a preponderating direction from west to east on the
south side of this belt, and this would promote an eastward-flowing
current along the north coast of Siberia, such as has been found
to exist there. [7] The winds on the north side of the minimum
belt must, however, blow mainly in a direction from east to west,
and will consequently produce a westerly current, passing across the
Pole towards the Greenland Sea, exactly as we have seen to be the case.
"It thus appears that, from whatever side we consider this question,
even apart from the specially cogent evidences above cited, we cannot
escape the conclusion that a current passes across or very near to
the Pole into the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen.
"This being so, it seems to me that the plain thing for us to do is to
make our way into the current on that side of the Pole where it flows
northward, and by its help to penetrate into those regions which all
who have hitherto worked against it have sought in vain to reach.
"My plan is, briefly, as follows: I propose to have a ship built as
small and as strong as possible--just big enough to contain supplies
of coals and provisions for twelve men for five years. A ship of
about 170 tons (gross) will probably suffice. Its engine should be
powerful enough to give a speed of 6 knots; but in addition it must
also be fully rigged for sailing.
"The main point in this vessel is that it be built on such principles
as to enable it to withstand the pressure of the ice. The sides must
slope sufficiently to prevent the ice, when it presses together, from
getting firm hold of the hull, as was the case with the Jeannette and
other vessels. Instead of nipping the ship, the ice must raise it up
out of the water. No very new departure in construction is likely
to be needed, for the Jeannette, notwithstanding her preposterous
build, was able to hold out against the ice pressure for about two
years. That a vessel can easily be built on such lines as to fulfil
these requirements no one will question who has seen a ship nipped
by the ice. For the same reason, too, the ship ought to be a small
one; for, besides being thus easier to manoeuvre in the ice, it will
be more readily lifted by the pressure of the ice, not to mention
that it will be easier to give it the requisite strength. It must,
of course, be built of picked materials. A ship of the form and size
here indicated will not be a good or comfortable sea-boat, but that
is of minor importance in waters filled with ice such as we are here
speaking of. It is true that it would have to travel a long distance
over the open sea before it would get so far, but it would not be
so bad a sea-boat as to be unable to get along, even though sea-sick
passengers might have to offer sacrifices to the gods of the sea.
"With such a ship and a crew of ten, or at the most twelve, able-bodied
and carefully picked men, with a full equipment for five years, in
every respect as good as modern appliances permit of, I am of opinion
that the undertaking would be well secured against risk. With this
ship we should sail up through Bering Strait and westward along the
north coast of Siberia towards the New Siberian Islands [8] as early
in the summer as the ice would permit.
"Arrived at the New Siberian Islands, it will be advisable to employ
the time to the best advantage in examining the conditions of currents
and ice, and to wait for the most opportune moment to advance as
far as possible in ice-free water, which, judging by the accounts of
the ice conditions north of Bering Strait given by American whalers,
will probably be in August or the beginning of September.
"When the right time has arrived, then we shall plough our way in
amongst the ice as far as we can. We may venture to conclude from
the experience of the Jeannette expedition that we should thus be
able to reach a point north of the most northerly of the New Siberian
Islands. De Long notes in his journal that while the expedition was
drifting in the ice north of Bennett Island they saw all around them a
dark 'water-sky'--that is to say, a sky which gives a dark reflection
of open water--indicating such a sea as would be, at all events, to
some extent navigable by a strong ice-ship. Next, it must be borne in
mind that the whole Jeannette expedition travelled in boats, partly
in open water, from Bennett Island to the Siberian coast, where, as
we know, the majority of them met with a lamentable end. Nordenskiöld
advanced no farther northward than to the southernmost of the islands
mentioned (at the end of August) but here he found the water everywhere
open.
"It is, therefore, probable that we may be able to push our way up
past the New Siberian Islands, and that accomplished we shall be right
in the current which carried the Jeannette. The thing will then be
simply to force our way northward till we are set fast. [9]
"Next we must choose a fitting place and moor the ship firmly between
suitable ice-floes, and then let the ice screw itself together as much
as it likes--the more the better. The ship will simply be hoisted up
and will ride safely and firmly. It is possible it may heel over to
a certain extent under this pressure; but that will scarcely be of
much importance. ... Henceforth the current will be our motive power,
while our ship, no longer a means of transport, will become a barrack,
and we shall have ample time for scientific observations.
"In this manner the expedition will, as above indicated, probably
drift across the Pole, and onward to the sea between Greenland and
Spitzbergen. And when we get down to the 80th degree of latitude,
or even sooner, if it is summer, there is every likelihood of our
getting the ship free and being able to sail home. Should she,
however, be lost before this--which is certainly possible, though,
as I think, very unlikely if she is constructed in the way above
described--the expedition will not, therefore, be a failure, for our
homeward course must in any case follow the polar current on to the
North Atlantic basin; there is plenty of ice to drift on, and of this
means of locomotion we have already had experience. If the Jeannette
expedition had had sufficient provisions, and had remained on the
ice-floe on which the relics were ultimately found, the result would
doubtless have been very different from what it was. Our ship cannot
possibly founder under the ice-pressure so quickly but that there would
be time enough to remove, with all our equipment and provisions, to a
substantial ice-floe, which we should have selected beforehand in view
of such a contingency. Here the tents, which we should take with us
to meet this contingency, would be pitched. In order to preserve our
provisions and other equipments, we should not place them all together
on one spot, but should distribute them over the ice, laying them
on rafts of planks and beams which we should have built on it. This
will obviate the possibility of any of our equipments sinking, even
should the floe on which they are break up. The crew of the Hansa, who
drifted for more than half a year along the east coast of Greenland,
in this way lost a great quantity of their supplies.
"For the success of such an expedition two things only are required,
viz., good clothing and plenty of food, and these we can take care
to have with us. We should thus be able to remain as safely on our
ice-floe as in our ship, and should advance just as well towards the
Greenland Sea. The only difference would be that on our arrival there,
instead of proceeding by ship, we must take to our boats, which would
convey us just as safely to the nearest harbor.
"Thus it seems to me there is an overwhelming probability that such an
expedition would be successful. Many people, however, will certainly
urge: 'In all currents there are eddies and backwaters; suppose, then,
you get into one of these, or perhaps stumble on an unknown land
up by the Pole and remain lying fast there, how will you extricate
yourselves?' To this I would merely reply, as concerns the backwater,
that we must get out of it just as surely as we got into it, and that
we shall have provisions for five years. And as regards the other
possibility, we should hail such an occurrence with delight, for no
spot on earth could well be found of greater scientific interest. On
this newly discovered land we should make as many observations as
possible. Should time wear on and find us still unable to get our ship
into the set of the current again, there would be nothing for it but
to abandon her, and with our boats and necessary stores to search for
the nearest current, in order to drift in the manner before mentioned.
"How long may we suppose such a voyage to occupy? As we have already
seen, the relics of the Jeannette expedition at most took two years to
drift along the same course down to the 80th degree of latitude, where
we may, with tolerable certainty, count upon getting loose. This would
correspond to a rate of about two miles per day of twenty-four hours.
"We may therefore not unreasonably calculate on reaching this point in
the course of two years; and it is also possible that the ship might
be set free in a higher latitude than is here contemplated. Five years'
provisions must therefore be regarded as ample.
"But is not the cold in winter in these regions so severe that life
will be impossible? There is no probability of this. We can even say
with tolerable certainty that at the Pole itself it is not so cold in
winter as it is (for example) in the north of Siberia, an inhabited
region, or on the northern part of the west coast of Greenland,
which is also inhabited. Meteorologists have calculated that the mean
temperature at the Pole in January is about -33° Fahr. (-36° C), while,
for example, in Yakutsk it is -43° Fahr. (-42° C), and in Verkhoyansk
-54° Fahr. (-48° C.). We should remember that the Pole is probably
covered with sea, radiation from which is considerably less than from
large land surfaces, such as the plains of North Asia. The polar region
has, therefore, in all probability a marine climate with comparatively
mild winters, but, by way of a set-off, with cold summers.
"The cold in these regions cannot, then, be any direct obstacle. One
difficulty, however, which many former expeditions have had to contend
against, and which must not be overlooked here, is scurvy. During
a sojourn of any long duration in so cold a climate this malady
will unquestionably show itself unless one is able to obtain fresh
provisions. I think, however, it may be safely assumed that the very
various and nutritious foods now available in the form of hermetically
closed preparations of different kinds, together with the scientific
knowledge we now possess of the food-stuffs necessary for bodily
health, will enable us to hold this danger at a distance. Nor do I
think that there will be an entire absence of fresh provisions in the
waters we shall travel through. Polar bears and seals we may safely
calculate on finding far to the north, if not up to the very Pole. It
may be mentioned also that the sea must certainly contain quantities
of small animals that might serve as food in case of necessity.
"It will be seen that whatever difficulties may be suggested as
possible, they are not so great but that they can be surmounted by
means of a careful equipment, a fortunate selection of the members
of the expedition, and judicious leadership; so that good results
may be hoped for. We may reckon on getting out into the sea between
Greenland and Spitzbergen as surely as we can reckon on getting into
the Jeannette current off the New Siberian Islands.
"But if this Jeannette current does not pass right across the
Pole? If, for instance, it passes between the Pole and Franz Josef
Land, as above intimated? What will the expedition do in that case
to reach the earth's axis? Yes, this may seem to be the Achilles'
heel of the undertaking; for should the ship be carried past the
Pole at more than one degree's distance it may then appear extremely
imprudent and unsafe to abandon it in mid-current and face such a long
sledge-journey over uneven sea-ice, which itself is drifting. Even if
one reached the Pole it would be very uncertain whether one could find
the ship again on returning. ... I am, however, of opinion that this
is of small import: it is not to seek for the exact mathematical point
that forms the northern extremity of the earth's axis that we set out,
for to reach this point is intrinsically of small moment. Our object
is to investigate the great unknown region that surrounds the Pole,
and these investigations will be equally important, from a scientific
point of view, whether the expedition passes over the polar point
itself or at some distance from it."
In this lecture I had submitted the most important data on which my
plan was founded; but in the following years I continued to study
the conditions of the northern waters, and received ever fresh proofs
that my surmise of a drift right across the Polar Sea was correct. In
a lecture delivered before the Geographical Society in Christiania,
on September 28, 1892, I alluded to some of these inquiries. [10] I
laid stress on the fact that on considering the thickness and extent
of the drift-ice in the seas on both sides of the Pole, one cannot
but be struck by the fact that while the ice on the Asiatic side,
north of the Siberian coast, is comparatively thin (the ice in which
the Jeannette drifted was, as a rule, not more than from 7 to 10
feet thick), that on the other side, which comes drifting from the
north in the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen, is remarkably
massive, and this, notwithstanding that the sea north of Siberia is
one of the coldest tracts on the earth. This, I suggested, could be
explained only on the assumption that the ice is constantly drifting
from the Siberian coast, and that, while passing through the unknown
and cold sea there is time for it to attain its enormous thickness,
partly by freezing, partly by the constant packing that takes place
as the floes screw themselves together.
I further mentioned in the same lecture that the mud found on this
drift-ice seemed to point to a Siberian origin. I did not at the time
attach great importance to this fact, but on a further examination
of the deposits I had collected during my Greenland expedition
it appeared that it could scarcely come from anywhere else but
Siberia. On investigating its mineralogical composition, Dr. Törnebohm,
of Stockholm, came to the conclusion that the greater part of it must
be Siberian river mud. He found about twenty different minerals in
it. "This quantity of dissimilar constituent mineral parts appears to
me," he says, "to point to the fact that they take their origin from
a very extensive tract of land, and one's thoughts naturally turn to
Siberia." Moreover, more than half of this mud deposit consisted of
humus, or boggy soil. More interesting, however, than the actual mud
deposit were the diatoms found in it, which were examined by Professor
Cleve, of Upsala, who says: "These diatoms are decidedly marine (i.e.,
take their origin from salt-water), with some few fresh-water forms
which the wind has carried from land. The diatomous flora in this dust
is quite peculiar, and unlike what I have found in many thousands
of other specimens, with one exception, with which it shows the
most complete conformity--namely, a specimen which was collected by
Kellman during the Vega expedition on an ice-floe off Cape Wankarem,
near Bering Strait. Species and varieties were perfectly identical
in both specimens." Cleve was able to distinguish sixteen species
of diatoms. All these appear also in the dust from Cape Wankarem,
and twelve of them have been found at that place alone, and nowhere
else in all the world. This was a notable coincidence between two
such remote points, and Cleve is certainly right in saying: "It is,
indeed, quite remarkable that the diatomous flora on the ice-floes off
Bering Strait and on the east coast of Greenland should so completely
resemble each other, and should be so utterly unlike all others;
it points to an open connection between the seas east of Greenland
and north of Asia." "Through this open connection," I continued in
my address, "drift-ice is, therefore, yearly transported across the
unknown Polar Sea. On this same drift-ice, and by the same route,
it must be no less possible to transport an expedition."
When this plan was propounded it certainly met with approval in various
quarters, especially here at home. Thus it was vigorously supported
by Professor Mohn, who, indeed, by his explanation of the drift of the
Jeannette relics, had given the original impulse to it. But as might be
expected, it met with opposition in the main, especially from abroad,
while most of the polar travellers and Arctic authorities declared,
more or less openly, that it was sheer madness. The year before we
set out, in November, 1892, I laid it before the Geographical Society
in London in a lecture at which the principal Arctic travellers of
England were present. After the lecture a discussion took place, [11]
which plainly showed how greatly I was at variance with the generally
accepted opinions as to the conditions in the interior of the Polar
Sea, the principles of ice navigation, and the methods that a polar
expedition ought to pursue. The eminent Arctic traveller, Admiral Sir
Leopold M'Clintock, opened the discussion with the remark: "I think I
may say this is the most adventurous programme ever brought under the
notice of the Royal Geographical Society." He allowed that the facts
spoke in favor of the correctness of my theories, but was in a high
degree doubtful whether my plan could be realized. He was especially of
opinion that the danger of being crushed in the ice was too great. A
ship could, no doubt, be built that would be strong enough to resist
the ice pressure in summer; but should it be exposed to this pressure
in the winter months, when the ice resembled a mountain frozen fast
to the ship's side, he thought that the possibility of being forced
up on the surface of the ice was very remote. He firmly believed,
as did the majority of the others, that there was no probability of
ever seeing the Fram again when once she had given herself over to
the pitiless polar ice, and concluded by saying, "I wish the doctor
full and speedy success. But it will be a great relief to his many
friends in England when he returns, and more particularly to those
who have had experience of the dangers at all times inseparable from
ice navigation, even in regions not quite so far north."
Admiral Sir George Nares said:
"The adopted Arctic axioms for successfully navigating an icy region
are that it is absolutely necessary to keep close to a coast line, and
that the farther we advance from civilization, the more desirable it
is to insure a reasonably safe line of retreat. Totally disregarding
these, the ruling principle of the voyage is that the vessel--on
which, if the voyage is in any way successful, the sole future
hope of the party will depend--is to be pushed deliberately into
the pack-ice. Thus, her commander--in lieu of retaining any power
over her future movements--will be forced to submit to be drifted
helplessly about in agreement with the natural movements of the ice
in which he is imprisoned. Supposing the sea currents are as stated,
the time calculated as necessary to drift with the pack across the
polar area is several years, during which time, unless new lands are
met with, the ice near the vessel will certainly never be quiet and
the ship herself never free from the danger of being crushed by ice
presses. To guard against this the vessel is said to be unusually
strong, and of a special form to enable her to rise when the ice
presses against her sides. This idea is no novelty whatever; but
when once frozen into the polar pack the form of the vessel goes
for nothing. She is hermetically sealed to, and forms a part of, the
ice block surrounding her. The form of the ship is for all practical
purposes the form of the block of ice in which she is frozen. This is
a matter of the first importance, for there is no record of a vessel
frozen into the polar pack having been disconnected from the ice,
and so rendered capable of rising under pressure as a separate body
detached from the ice block, even in the height of summer. In the event
of the destruction of the vessel, the boats--necessarily fully stored,
not only for the retreat, but for continuing the voyage--are to be
available. This is well in theory, but extremely difficult to arrange
for in practice. Preparation to abandon the vessel is the one thing
that gives us the most anxiety. To place boats, etc., on the ice,
packed ready for use, involves the danger of being separated from
them by a movement of the ice, or of losing them altogether should a
sudden opening occur. If we merely have everything handy for heaving
over the side, the emergency may be so sudden that we have not time
to save anything..."
As regards the assumed drift of the polar ice, Nares expressed himself
on the whole at variance with me. He insisted that the drift was
essentially determined by the prevailing winds:
"As to the probable direction of the drift, the Fram, starting from
near the mouth of the Lena River, may expect to meet the main pack
not farther north than about latitude 76° 30'. I doubt her getting
farther north before she is beset, but taking an extreme case, and
giving her 60 miles more, she will then only be in the same latitude as
Cape Chelyuskin, 730 miles from the Pole, and about 600 miles from my
supposed limit of the effective homeward-carrying ocean current. After
a close study of all the information we possess, I think the wind
will be more likely to drift her towards the west than towards the
east. With an ice-encumbered sea north of her, and more open water or
newly made ice to the southward, the chances are small for a northerly
drift, at all events, at first, and afterwards I know of no natural
forces that will carry the vessel in any reasonable time much farther
from the Siberian coast than the Jeannette was carried, and during
the whole of this time, unless protected by newly discovered lands,
she will be to all intents and purposes immovably sealed up in the
pack, and exposed to its well-known dangers. There is no doubt that
there is an ocean connection across the area proposed to be explored."
In one point, however, Nares was able to declare himself in agreement
with me. It was the idea "that the principal aim of all such voyages
is to explore the unknown polar regions, not to reach exactly that
mathematical point in which the axis of our globe has its northern
termination." [12]
Sir Allen Young says, among other things: "Dr. Nansen assumes the
blank space around the axis of the earth to be a pool of water or ice;
I think the great danger to contend with will be the land in nearly
every direction near the Pole. Most previous navigators seem to have
continued seeing land again and again farther and farther north. These
Jeannette relics may have drifted through narrow channels, and thus
finally arrived at their destination, and, I think, it would be an
extremely dangerous thing for the ship to drift through them, where
she might impinge upon the land, and be kept for years."
With regard to the ship's form, Sir Allen Young says: "I do not think
the form of the ship is any great point, for, when a ship is fairly
nipped, the question is if there is any swell or movement of the ice
to lift the ship. If there is no swell the ice must go through her,
whatever material she is made of."
One or two authorities, however, expressed themselves in favor of
my plan. One was the Arctic traveller, Sir E. Inglefield, another
Captain (now Admiral) Wharton, Director of the Hydrographic Department
of England.
In a letter to the Geographical Society, Admiral Sir George H. Richards
says, on the occasion of my address: "I regret to have to speak
discouragingly of this project, but I think that any one who can speak
with authority ought to speak plainly where so much may be at stake."
With regard to the currents, he says: "I believe there is a constant
outflow (I prefer this word to current) from the north, in consequence
of the displacement of the water from the region of the Pole by the
ice-cap which covers it, intensified in its density by the enormous
weight of snow accumulated on its surface." This outflow takes place
on all sides, he thinks, from the polar basin, but should be most
pronounced in the tract between the western end of the Parry Islands
and Spitzbergen; and with this outflow all previous expeditions have
had to contend. He does not appear to make any exception as to the
Tegethoff or Jeannette, and can find no reason "for believing that
a current sets north over the Pole from the New Siberian Islands,
which Dr. Nansen hopes for and believes in. ... It is my opinion
that when really within what may be called the inner circle, say
about 78° of latitude, there is little current of any kind that would
influence a ship in the close ice that must be expected; it is when
we get outside this circle--round the corners, as it were--into the
straight wide channels, where the ice is loose, that we are really
affected by its influence, and here the ice gets naturally thinner,
and more decayed in autumn, and less dangerous to a ship. Within the
inner circle probably not much of the ice escapes; it becomes older
and heavier every year, and in all probability completely blocks the
navigation of ships entirely. This is the kind of ice which was brought
to Nares's winter quarters at the head of Smith Sound in about 82°
30' north; and this is the ice which Markham struggled against in
his sledge journey, and against which no human power could prevail."
He attached "no real importance" to the Jeannette relics. "If found
in Greenland, they may well have drifted down on a floe from the
neighborhood of Smith Sound, from some of the American expeditions
which went to Greely's rescue." "It may also well be that some of
De Long's printed or written documents in regard to his equipment
may have been taken out by these expeditions, and the same may apply
to the other articles." He does not, however, expressly say whether
there was any indication of such having been the case.
In a similar letter to the Geographical Society the renowned botanist
Sir Joseph Hooker says: "Dr. Nansen's project is a wide departure
from any hitherto put in practice for the purpose of polar discovery,
and it demands the closest scrutiny both on this account, and because
it is one involving the greatest peril...
"From my experience of three seasons in the Antarctic regions I do not
think that a ship, of whatever build, could long resist destruction if
committed to the movements of the pack in the polar regions. One built
as strongly as the Fram would no doubt resist great pressures in the
open pack, but not any pressure or repeated pressures, and still less
the thrust of the pack if driven with or by it against land. The lines
of the Fram might be of service so long as she was on an even keel or
in ice of no great height above the water-line; but amongst floes and
bergs, or when thrown on her beam-ends, they would avail her nothing."
If the Fram were to drift towards the Greenland coast or the American
polar islands he is of opinion that, supposing a landing could be
effected, there would be no probability at all of salvation. Assuming
that a landing could be effected, it must be on an inhospitable and
probably ice-bound coast, or on the mountainous ice of a palæocrystic
sea. With a certainly enfeebled, and probably reduced ship's company,
there could, in such a case, be no prospect of reaching succor. Putting
aside the possibility of scurvy (against which there is no certain
prophylactic), have the depressing influence on the minds of the crew
resulting from long confinement in very close quarters during many
months of darkness, extreme cold, inaction, ennui, constant peril,
and the haunting uncertainty as to the future, been sufficiently
taken into account? Perfunctory duties and occupations do not avert
the effects of these conditions; they hardly mitigate them, and have
been known to aggravate them. I do not consider the attainment of
Dr. Nansen's object by the means at his disposal to be impossible;
but I do consider that the success of such an enterprise would not
justify the exposure of valuable lives for its attainment.
In America, General Greely, the leader of the ill-fated expedition
generally known by his name (1881-84), wrote an article in The Forum
(August, 1891), in which he says, among other things: "It strikes
me as almost incredible that the plan here advanced by Dr. Nansen
should receive encouragement or support. It seems to me to be based
on fallacious ideas as to physical conditions within the polar
regions, and to foreshadow, if attempted, barren results, apart
from the suffering and death among its members. Dr. Nansen, so far
as I know, has had no Arctic service; his crossing of Greenland,
however difficult, is no more polar work than the scaling of
Mount St. Elias. It is doubtful if any hydrographer would treat
seriously his theory of polar currents, or if any Arctic traveller
would indorse the whole scheme. There are perhaps a dozen men whose
Arctic service has been such that the positive support of this plan
by even a respectable minority would entitle it to consideration and
confidence. These men are: Admiral M'Clintock, Richards, Collinson,
and Nares, and Captain Markham of the Royal Navy, Sir Allen Young
and Leigh-Smith of England, Koldewey of Germany, Payer of Austria,
Nordenskiöld of Sweden, and Melville in our own country. I have no
hesitation in asserting that no two of these believe in the possibility
of Nansen's first proposition--to build a vessel capable of living
or navigating in a heavy Arctic pack, into which it is proposed
to put his ship. The second proposition is even more hazardous,
involving as it does a drift of more than 2000 miles in a straight
line through an unknown region, during which the party in its voyage
(lasting two or more years, we are told) would take only boats along,
encamp on an iceberg, and live there while floating across."
After this General Greely proceeds to prove the falsity of all my
assumptions. Respecting the objects from the Jeannette, he says plainly
that he does not believe in them. "Probably some drift articles were
found," he says, "and it would seem more reasonable to trace them
to the Porteus, which was wrecked in Smith Sound, about 1000 miles
north of Julianehaab... It is further important to note that, if the
articles were really from the Jeannette, the nearest route would have
been, not across the North Pole along the east coast of Greenland,
but down Kennedy Channel and by way of Smith Sound and Baffin's Bay,
as was suggested, as to drift from the Porteus."
We could not possibly get near the Pole itself by a long distance, says
Greely, as "we know almost as well as if we had seen it that there is
in the unknown regions an extensive land which is the birthplace of the
flat-topped icebergs or the palæocrystic ice." In this glacier-covered
land, which he is of opinion must be over 300 miles in diameter, and
which sends out icebergs to Greenland as well as to Franz Josef Land,
[13] the Pole itself must be situated.
"As to the indestructible ship," he says, "it is certainly a most
desirable thing for Dr. Nansen." His meaning, however, is that it
cannot be built. "Dr. Nansen appears to believe that the question of
building on such lines as will give the ship the greatest power of
resistance to the pressure of the ice-floe has not been thoroughly and
satisfactorily solved, although hundreds of thousands of dollars have
been spent for this end by the seal and whaling companies of Scotland
and Newfoundland." As an authority he quotes Melville, and says "every
Arctic navigator of experience agrees with Melville's dictum that even
if built solid a vessel could not withstand the ice-pressure of the
heavy polar pack." To my assertion that the ice along the "Siberian
coast is comparatively thin, 7 to 10 feet," he again quotes Melville,
who speaks of ice "50 feet high, etc." (something we did not discover,
by-the-way, during the whole of our voyage).
After giving still more conclusive proofs that the Fram must inevitably
go to the bottom as soon as it should be exposed to the pressure of
the ice, he goes on to refer to the impossibility of drifting in the
ice with boats. And he concludes his article with the remark that
"Arctic exploration is sufficiently credited with rashness and danger
in its legitimate and sanctioned methods, without bearing the burden
of Dr. Nansen's illogical scheme of self-destruction."
From an article Greely wrote after our return home, in Harper's Weekly
for September 19th, 1896, he appears to have come to the conclusion
that the Jeannette relics were genuine and that the assumption of
their drift may have been correct, mentioning "Melville, Dall, and
others" as not believing in them. He allows also that my scheme has
been carried out in spite of what he had said. This time he concludes
the article as follows: "In contrasting the expeditions of De Long and
Nansen, it is necessary to allude to the single blemish that mars the
otherwise magnificent career of Nansen, who deliberately quitted his
comrades on the ice-beset ship hundreds of miles from any known land,
with the intention of not returning, but, in his own reported words,
'to go to Spitzbergen, where he felt certain to find a ship,' 600
miles away. De Long and Ambler had such a sense of honor that they
sacrificed their lives rather than separate themselves from a dying
man, whom their presence could not save. It passes comprehension how
Nansen could have thus deviated from the most sacred duty devolving on
the commander of a naval expedition. The safe return of brave Captain
Sverdrup with the Fram does not excuse Nansen. Sverdrup's consistency,
courage, and skill in holding fast to the Fram and bringing his
comrades back to Norway will win for him, in the minds of many,
laurels even brighter than those of his able and accomplished chief."
One of the few who publicly gave to my plan the support of his
scientific authority was Professor Supan, the well-known editor
of Petermann's Mitteilungen. In an article in this journal for 1891
(p. 191), he not only spoke warmly in its favor, but supported it with
new suggestions. His view was that what he terms the Arctic "wind-shed"
probably for the greater part of the year divides the unknown polar
basin into two parts. In the eastern part the prevailing winds blow
towards the Bering Sea, while those of the western part blow towards
the Atlantic. He thought that, as a rule, this "wind-shed" must lie
near the Bering Sea, and that the prevailing winds in the tracts we
purposed traversing would thus favor our drift. Our experience bore
out Professor Supan's theory in a remarkable degree.