DR. NANSEN ON HIS POLAR EXPEDITION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVII, Issue 17, 21 January 1893, Page 2

DR. NANSEN ON HIS POLAR EXPEDITION.

'?Hm can the North Polar regioa be cro aed?" This was the question brought before another great maetiag at the Royal Geographical Society on November 14th by Dr Nansen, the famous Arotic travoller. fie looks little older t'aan on the day whea he first appeired at the British Association meeting to describe his adventures in Greenland, and aa usual towered above ni st of his cjmpinions 01 the platform, tall, very straight, stilwart, ai.d apparently as fis as man can ba for the great euterprise which he cantemplatsn. The general naturo of that project w.is outlined in the London Daily News, but fir over an hour details were amplified, and reasons were given by the speaker for the faith that is in him. Dr Nansen t >ld the audience that he be* lieves in the existence of a current which carries driftwood from Siberia across the North Pole to tho coast of Greenland, and how he intends to take advantage of it on his forthcoming voyjge. The chief interest, however, centred in the sketch of the stout specially-bmlt ship in the Fram (Fo:ward) and the way ia which, the ofilcecs and men hope to p\ss through the dreary nights and days of an Arotic wintsr, and endure through an exile which may Ist five years, The Fratn is, oE coarse constructed to withstand the pressure of ice, and iloat high and dry along with it; failing this, the alternative is to go in small boats, encamping on the ice-floe as it drifts across. The little vessel of 600 tons is pointed at both ends and resembles a Norwegian pilot-boat, or in some respects a Scotch buckie-boat. Near the keel the bottom is comparatively Hat ; stem and stern are considerably curved so that the ice shall get no hold, and there is an auxilliary screw which can be raised and protected from damage. The fetem ia of course especially strong with its three big o:tk b;ulka, one inside the other, presenting silid oak fifty inches thick. The keel is of American elm ; the frame timbers are of hard Italian oak, and the totil thickness of the Bhip's sides is twenty-eight to thirty-two inches -— i Eolid miss of pitch pine, oak. ant greenheart, beams and sides are so united with wooden knees and iron that the whole is like one oohereat m iss. The Fram is to be rig-g-ed as a three-masted fore and-affc schooner. The lecturer became specially interesting when tin provisions were explained for making the life of officers and and crew while oa the expedition as comfortable as possible. The saloon has been a> located that offlaers and men miy live there day and night, in case it should be I'foassnry, during the most severe cold, with.ufc the usual difficulties from oudeDSitiou of moisture. The inner aide is covered with tarred felt, then comes a thick layer of cork, I aside this is a wooden wainscot, theu follows a layer of felt a few inches thick, a nearly air-tight layer of painted canvas, or a similar material, and then another wainscot-. Petroleum will be used for heatinsf. aid alcohol for c joking. The st-ucturc of t^c ship, and the ice floes and buanoLks amongst wbioh vessels are eutiugled in Polar regiou?, were shown by photographs oa the screen. Dr Nansen t kes a crew of 12 strong picked men, with nn equipment for five or six years, and believes his enterprise has a good prospect of sucsess. He starts nfxfc spring, and the first goal will be the New Siberian Islands or the mouth of the Lena River. The scheme has one clear point When the ship can sail or steam no farther there will be nothing left but to run her into the ice at tl»e most favourable spqt, anil trust entirely to the current drifting across the Polar regian. ' Probably,' said the Doctor, ' we. shall in this way, in the course of some years, be carried across the Pole, or near it, and into the sea between Spitsbergen and Greenland, where we shall get into open water again, and ba able to return home.' Supposing, however, that the ship i?, as may ba quits possible, epite of all precautions, crushed in the ice, the expedition will have to move all it 3 stores, etc. to an ice floe, aud encamp there. Fur thi3 contingency there are two boats, 29ft long and aft broad, with fljt bottom, decked, and so roomy, that the whole of the crew can live in one of them. Placed side by side on the ice, covered with thick warm tents aud snow, these boats will be converted into two waroi Balooue, A good library form 3 part of the equipemeat, and Dr X&asea hopeß to defeat taat ghastly enemy the scurvy. Heat aad light arc the vital necessities of Arctic travel, and light espcciilly during the long Antic night?, whose darkness lastß six m>ntli3. Tho wonderful proppsal here oomi:8 in Jo iS5umJQ:>V* ibo Xorlb Tob probably with the electric light. The expedition will carry a dynamo for producing electricity. If there is uo wind to supply the necessary power, the leader hopes that twelve men wiU bo

able to furnish it by means of a walk-mill, arranged on deck ; four men taking their turn in a good and regular, if somewhat monotonous, exercise, and producing as a final result an electric arc-lamp burning eight to ten hours a day. Dr. Nansen thoroughly interested his audience in his hopes and resolves, and imparted to them something of his own confidence when he offered an assurance that the expedition would slowly move forward ; and he was answered by a hearty outburst of cheering, as in his concluding words, he expressed the hope that the ladies and gentlemen before him would sometimes giro a kind thought while he and his men went rou d in their mill far north in the solemn silence of the long Arctic night. An unusually enthusiastic round of cheering greeted the cloas of the paper, and amongst thoae who took part in the subsequent proceedi ga were ■Sir George Nares (who criticised the scheme s ■mewhat doubtiugly), Admiral Inglt field, Sir Allen Young, Captain Wiggins, &o.