NANSEN'S "FARTHEST NORTH."

Otago Witness, Issue 2251, 22 April 1897, Page 54

NANSEN'S "FARTHEST NORTH."

[The Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship Fram 18 )3-!!6 and of a Fifcen Months' Sleigh Journey by Dr Nansen and Lieut. Johanben with an appendix by Otro Sverdrup, captain of the Fram. About 120 full-page aud numerous text illustrations, li coloured plates in facsimile from Dr Ntiusen's own bketchc, etched portiait, photoßravures, aud maps. Iv 2 vols. Archibald Constable and Co. 42i set.] **

The two sumptuous volumes containing the full narrative of Dc Nansen's ever-memorable expedition to the North Pole are exceedingly pleasant reading. To those who havj ina Je tho author's acquaintance in his former work, "The First Crossing of Greenland," this will bj no surprise, but to many the first idea on takinir up ttese solid and substantial tomes will po! b by be that they must be Eomewhst heavy to read. Any such nation will be dispelled after reading even tbe first few pages. Ab one o? the numerous entertainments ncntly given in Dr Nansen's honour a speaker runarked upon the great variety of accomplishments of which their guest was master. This work is evidence of his possession of tte literary faculty — if thnt be the right term— iv a very high degree. He knows how to ba interesting. He weaves a story like a prac'i*ed, or, it might be bei.tpi- to say, like ( a born, novelist. The important element of suspensa is not neglected. Even when telling, for the twentieth time, of a IK c urnal adventure with a bear, we are never ture that it is a bear, and not something more awful or uncanny — once there was a distinct hut of a ghost — until the (Unoumcnt The form in which mesb of the story i* b Id — the diiry fora: — ie, perhaps the most d ffi;rlt of all to make interesting aud vivid ; ye we can honestly say thab Dr Nan3en hni» uiutnphcd over ths form as he triumphed ovir the thousand and one other difficulties that nut him in carrying through his great p«.j ;cb.

One thing tba'u strikes us in reading this work is that Dr Nansen 's cne of those whom fortune favours. Just; as thex-e aie rxea who carry all before them in bu»iness, and of whom it is commonly said. " Everything he touches turns to gold," so in Dr Napsen's enterprises ib may fairly be raid that in everything he undertakts he succeeds. Aud if Miy reader should cavil at this with the remark th»t afcer all ho did not reach the Pole, tte answer is immediate and complete — that he never undertook to do so. The public may have supposed that the Pole was his objective, and in a limited sense it was ; bub in the original pro^ramms laid down for the expedition, and Lever varied from, its leader expressly guarded againsb such a supposition. In February, Dr Nansen propounded his ideas in an addrefs before the Christiania Geographical S r ci<ty. He first diecusaed various plans of forrrer oxplorers who had tried lo reach the North Pole and had failed Those who bad attempted to sail all the way had invariably been turned back by the ice barrier, and those who had assayed to advance by dragging boats over the uneven drift ica had found it equally impossible. There remained two courses — omitting the aerial routs by balloon — by-which'the Pole might be reached : citber by snow-shoe runners over ice, if ice should be found all the way ; or by &endirjg a ship to the New Siberian Islands, there to tike its place among the ice floes and be drifted ncross the Polar Sea to the open water near Spitzbergen or Greenland. Tha data Dr Nansen had to go upon were the discovery of the relica of the Jeannett?, which he concluded had so drifted, and is a period of time capable of bsing roughly calculated ; the fact that a ' throwing stick ' from tbe coast of AJa«ka had been found in driftwood off Greenland ; and the wellknown circumstance of driftwood from Siberia reaching Greenland in large quantities. From these and other facts the conclusion was drawn that a current exited flowi «# across, or in near proximity to, the Pole. But Dr Nansen, in announcing his intention to adopt the iic <ncl of these courses declared : "It is nob to seek for the exact mathematical point that forms tbe northern extremity of the earth's axi3 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."

Wten this plan was laid before other Arctic travellers ib was received with scant favour generally, and by some was almost ridiculed as absurd. Sir Leopold M'Clintock, Sir George Nares, Sir Allen Young, S'r George H. Richards, and Sir Joseph Hooker for various reasons thought the plan mtut fail, chiefly because they did not belitva any ship could bj made strong enough to bear the ice-pressure in the pack, and because tb.6y distrusted

THK DRIFT IHEOBY,

General Greely, the leader of the American expedition of 1881-84, wrote still more forcibly; disparaging Dr Nansen's qualifications on the ground that he had "had no Arctic service," his crossing of Greenland being " no more polar work than th« scaling of Mouot Sb. Bliac" Ib is of interest here to note that General Grv.ely, on the return of Nansen and ih? sn'e arrival also of the Fram, wrote a second srt cle in wh'ch, as if in resentment at Nanseu's having falsified his predictions, he passed a very strong censure ujo.i Dr Nansen for leaving the vessel in order to pursue his sledge journey : "Ib passes comprehension how NaDsen could bave thus deviated from t':e most sacred duty devolving on the commander of a n*val expedition." The only reply Dr Nansen makes to, this charge is to tell the story and leave the reader to form Kb own opinion. Os rs is thst there was no dereliction of duty whiuever in undertaking the sleclg ng journey. The considerations that lead us to this conclusion are the3e : The expedition was in a large sense a national one, inasmuch as the major part of the expense had been contributed by the Norweigan Governmect. The leader may well hays ftlthiuaEelf in the position of a general in ommand of a military expedition, with orders to reach a certaiu point. In this cafe ib was to reach the farthest point North that could be attained with safety. When he started, Dr Nansen hoped to drift either across or very near to the Pole. As it turned out, the cunent upon which he had relied to carry the ship to 90deg of latitude had carried it only to about 84deg on March 14, 1895, after the Fram had beeu drifting from September 20, 1893 ; the course during this 18 monthi havirg been alternately j backwards acd forwj.ii'.-, with a genernl I trend in a noith-westerly direction ; somcMmes so much backwards as to make the leider doubt ■whether after all his theory regarding the current was correct. A reference to the chart of the voyage shows that the Fram made a further northward trend after Nansen and Johansen lefb it, actually attaining a point net very far south ot itbat reached by the two ; but the season of the yetr when that Lijhest point was reached was one when a sledge journey northward would have been impossible, for it was in tbe Arcfcic mid-winter of total darkness. Assuming, therefore, that a sledge journey was desirable, Nansen selected the proptr moment for starting, and the only question was whether

he did righu in going himself, or ought to bavfs sent anoiher in his placu, »nd remained with the Fram to tho end of it » long journey. This question he debited with much anxiety, and took the captain of th« ship a..d his other companions iuto his CDnfidenee, with the result that, although every one wanted to accompany him northward, a'l wifto agreed that ha oughj to lead on the sledge journey. He and Johausen were the best snow-shoers, and, as leader of the expedition, it was Nausen's duty — "sacred," if General G:ee'y's anjeotive must be use! — to go where important discoveries were probable.

To the armchair reader the adventures of Nsnsen and Jobansen are of the most absorbing description. We have not spac.i to give them even in outline. They posers all the fascination of Jules Verne's wonderful stories, with the added interest ab' aching to them from thoir being acLual performance. The reader c«i feel nil tbe thrill of alternate hope and disappointment iv the exciting incidents of this marvellous journey, in which a siugleßerious misadventure would have left tha travellers hopslees aud helpless iv that land of De\th. Up to the time when they bid farewell to theif fellow voyagers thf-y had bteu living under c'.vilised conditions. Compared with what they were to go through, l!fe on board tha Fram had b?en one of Sybaritic luxury. Indeed, the actual experiences had been free from any greater hardships than arose naturally from their isolated poi-Hion, and were far less trying, probabl7 than those of a Grst-clasa middenisanant in Hollowrv Gaol. Once they were convinced of the abi!it7 of the JD'ram fco bear the icepre«ure of the pac'*, and of tbe certainty of drifting on to open water communication with Europe before their ample stock of provisions was exh?>usted, they hal nothing to worry about except a possible explo'ion on board. Thair mental wants were supplied by a gx>d library and the observations taat had daily to be made to say nothing of a newspaper at vrted by the doctor. Tneirphyaical health was splendid, and the opportunities for eX' rcise so abundant tint they never had to fall back on a h*nd mill, which had befu taken to generate electricity and give the crew exercise at the same time. The cold, so far from being a subject of lamentation, 6eems to have beeu nosibively enjoyable, save on rare occasions. Bub when the warm quarters of the Fram were exchanged for life in the open, ou a slsdga journey of 50 days towards the Pole, and as many day» afterwards as might be necessary to enable them to reach civilised abodes, the change was fc-i the life of the nomad, bub of the nomad who had several adjuncts of civilisation (■till on or around him. When we rexd the preparation made by this traveller, who, according to General Greeley, "had no Arctic service," we marvel at his geniui and forethought. The chapter devoted to this will be of invaluable assistance to any fubure annirants to the honour of reaching the Pole. But Bomebhinu more than forethought in preparation is required for an Acetic expedition : nerve and resourcefulness in critical moments are juntas essential if the end is to to anything but failure. How near Nansen and Johansen were to losing their whole equipment and their lives — and that within a very short distance of tbe end of their sledge journey — is told in the following passage :—

•♦touch and go,

' "In the evening we pub in to the edge of the ice, so as to stretch our legs a little ; they were stiff with sitting in the kayak all day, and we wanted to get a little view over the water to the west, by ascending a hummock. As wa w*nt ashore the quest ion arose as to how we should moor our precious vessel. ' Take one of the braces,' said Johnußen ; ho was standing ou the ice. ' But J8 it strong enough ?' • Ye?,' he answered ; • I have used it as a halyard on nay sledge-sail all the time.' ' Oh, well, it doesn't require much to bold .these light kayaks,' said I. a little ashamed of having been bo timid, and I moaud them with the halyard, which was a strap cut from a raw walrus hide. We had betn oh the ics a little while, moving up and cown close to the kajaka. The wind had droppsd considerably, 'and penned to be more westerly, making ib doubt- ! ful whether we could make use of it any longer, and we went up to a hummock close by to | ascertain this better. At we stood thera ! Johansen suddf nly cried, 'I say ! the kayaks »ro adrift ! ' We ran down as hard as we could. They were already a little way out, and were cr'iting quickly off ; the painter had given way. •Hsre, take my watch,' I said to Johanseu, giving it to him ; and as quickly as possible I threw of Home clothing, so as to be able to swim more easily ; I did not dare to take everything off, as I might so easily pet cramp. I sprang into the water, bub the wind was off the ice, and the light lcaynks, with their high riggiDg, gave it a good hold. They were already well out, and were drifting rapidly. The water was icy cold. It was hard work swimming with clothes on, and the kajaks drifted farther and farther, often quicker than I could swim. Ib seemed more than doubtful whether I could manage it. But all cur hope was drifting there ; all we possessed was on board — we had nob even a knife with vb — and whether I got cramp and sank here, or turned buck without the kaynlc, it would come to piet^y much the same thing ; so I exerted myself to tbe u'mrsr. I When I get tired 1 turned over and swam on ray [ back, and then I could Bee Johaosen walking j restletsly up and down on the ies. Poor lad! He could not stand still, and thoughts dreadful not bo be able to do anything. He had no j much hope tha 1 ; I could do it, bub ib would n»fc improve matters in the least if he threw himself into the water too. He said afterwards that theee were the worst moments he had ever lived through. But when I turned over agiin, and saw thit I was nearer the kayak 1 , my com aj;e rose, and I redoubled my exertions. 1 felt, however, that my limbs wero gradually stiffeuiDg and loiing all feeling, and I knew that in a short time I should not be able to move them. But there was not far to go now ; if I could only hold out a littlo louger we should be &&ved — and I went on. The stroke became more and more feeble, but the distance became eh ■xiav and shorter, and I began to think I should reach the kayaks. At last I was able to frtretch out my hand to the snowßhoe, which lay across the sterns. I grasped it, pulled myself in to the edge of the kayak — and we were saved. I tried to pull myself up, but the whole of my body was so &t'ff with cold that this wai an impossibility. For a moment I thought that after all it was too late ; I was to get so far, but not be able to get in. After a little, however, I managed to swing one leg up on to the edge of the sledge which lay on the deck, and in this way macaged to tumble up. There I sat, but so stiff with cold that I had difficulty in paddling. Nor was ib easy to paddle iv the double vessel, where I first had to take cne or two strokes on one side, and then step into. the other lcayok to take a few strokes on the other 3ide. If I had been able to separate them and row in one while I towei tbe other it would have been easy enough ; but I could not undertake that piece of work, for I should have been stiff before it was done. Tbe thing to be done win to keep warm by rowing as hard as I could. The cold had robbsd ray whole body of feeling, but tthea tbe gusts of wind came they seemed to co right throuch me as I stood there in

my thin, wet, woollen shirt. I shivered, my teeth chattered, and I was numb almost all over ; but I could still use the paddle, and I should get warm when I got back on to tho ice again. Two auks were lying close to tho bow, and the thought of having auk for supper was too tempting ; we wers in want of food now. ' I got hold ot my gun, aud shot them with one discharge. Johausen said afterwards that he started at the report, thinking some accident had happened, and could not understand what I was about out there, but when hrs saw me paddle and pick up two birds lie thought I had 6,0118 out of my mind. Ab last I managed to reach the edge of the ice, bnfc tho current had driven me a long way from our landing place. Johansen came alouc; the edge of the ice, jumped into the kayak beside me, and wo soon fcob back to our place. I was undeniably a good deal exhausted, and could barely manage to c:awl-on land. I could scarcely stand, and while I shook and tremb'eel all over Johansen hud to pull off the web things I had on, put on tbe few dry ones I still bad in reserve, arid spread the sleeping-bag out upon the ice. I packed myself well into it, aud he covered me with the sail and everything he could find to keep out the cold air. There I lay shivering for a long time, but gradually the warmth bsgan to return to my body. For some time longer, however,, my feet had no mpre feeling in'thefn than icicles, for they had boon partly naked in the" water. While Johausen put up the tent and prepared supper, consisting of my two auks, I foil asleep. He let me sleep quietly, and when I awoke supper had bean ready for fcome time, and stood simmering over the fire. Auk and hot soup scon effaced the lasb traces o? my ewim. During the night my clothes wero huog out to dry, and tha next day were all nearly dry again."

The adventure just described came towards the end of the loag sledge.-and-kayak journey to the point "farthest north" and back. The northward journey had bean Btopped on April 7, and the ralreat begun. Tfle hardships endured and the anxieties suffered before laud was sighted on July 24 are graphically told. But it was not till August 26 that they aotually landed ou what they supposed to be tbe weab coasb of FraDz Josef Land. Four days later N.tnsen decided to make their winter quarters thero. They built a rude hub, and began to collrcb food, walruses and bears beinp plentiful. The long Arctic winter was spent; on this spot, and it was not till May 19, 1896, that a fresh start southwards was made. Tha almost! tragic incident recorded in the last extract was tha last of a sarics of exciting adventure?.

In the frail and light kayaka there was danger from walruses, and once Nansen was nearly upset by one. They escaped from this, howeve, as from other dangers, and on June 23 we have the following interesting entry in Nausen'd journal : —

"back to civixisatiox. *

" What has happened ? I can scarcely grasp it. How incessant are the vicissitudes in this wandering life ! A few days ago swimming in tho water for dear life, attacked by walrus, living the savage life which I have lived for more than a year now, and sure of a long joui-oey before us, over ice and sea, through unknown regions, before we should meet with other human beings — a journey full of Ihe same ups and downs, the same disappointments, thab we hava • become so accustomed to, — and now , living the life of a civilised Enropoan, surrounded by everything that civilisation c^n afford of luxury and good living, with abundance of water, soap, towels, clean, soft woollen clothes, boobs, and everything that wo have been sighing for all these weary months. " It was past midday on Juuo 17 when I turned out to prepare breakfast. I had beeu down to the edge of the ice to fetch salt water, had made up the fire, cut up the meat and pub il in tho pot", and had already taken off one boot preparatory to creeping into the big again, wheu I saw that the mist over the laud had risen a little since the preceding day. I thought it would be as well to take the opportunity of having a look round, bo I put on my boot ngain, and went up on to a hummock near to look at tho land beyond. A gentle breeze came from the land, baariug with ib a confused noise of thousands of. bird voices from the mountain there. As I listened to these sounds of life and movement, watched flocks of auks flying to> and fro abova my head, aud as my eye followed the line of coast, stopping at the dark, naked cliffs, glancing at the cold, icy plains and filaciers in a land which I believed to be unseen by any human eye and untrodden by any human foot, reposing in arctic majesty behind its mantle of mist, a sound suddenly reached my ear so like the barking of a dog that I started. . . While I went on Johauaen was to stay behind and m'nd the kayaks, so that we should run no v.sfc of their drifting away with the ice. I gob out my snowshoeg, glass, and gun, and was ready.' Bafnre starting, I went up once more to listen, and look out a road across the. uneven ico to the land. But there was nob a sound like the barking of dogs, only noisy auks, harsh-toned little auks, and screaming kitli wakes. WasJb these, after all, that I had heard ? I aefc off in doubt. Then in front of me I saw the fresh tracks of an auimal. They could hardly have been reud'i by a fox, for if they were, the foxes here must ha bigger than any I had evar seen. Bub d gi ? Coald a dog have been no more than a few hundred paces from us in the night without barking or without our having heard ib ? It seemed scarcely probable ; but whatever ib was, it could never have been a fox. A wolf, then ? I went on, my mind full of strange thoughts, hovering between certainty aud doubt. . . . Sudden'y I thought I heard a shout from a human voice, a strange voice, the first for three years. How my heart beat, and the blood rushed to my brain, as I ran up on to a hummock, and hallooed with all tbe strength of my lungs. Behind that one human voice in the midst of the icy desert, this one message from life, stood home and Bhe who was waiting there ; and I« saw nothing else as I made my way between bergs and ice-ridge?. Soon I heard another shout, and saw, too, ftom an ice-ridgei a dark form moving among the hummocks farther in. Ib was a dog ; but farther off came another figure, and that was a man. Who was ib ? Was itj Jackson or one of his companions, or was ib perhaps a fellow-countryman ? We approached one another quickly ; I waved my hat ; he did the same. I heard him speak to the dog, and I listened. Ib was English, and as I drew nearer I thought I recognised Mr Jackson, whom X remembered once to have seen.

" I raised my hat ; we extended a hand to one another, with a hearty • How do you do ? "' The meeting between Jackeon and Nansen is likely to be as famous as that between Stanley and Livingstone, We need not quote tho description of Nansen'h personal appearance on this occasion ; is it not pictorially recorded in the recent advertisements of a famous soap vendor ? But in spite of all they had gone through Naii3en weighed 221b more than he did when he !e"t the Fram, jincl his companion a. little more than 131b — "the result of a winter's feeding on nothing but bear'a meat and fat iv an Arctic climate." The brief record of his exploits which Nansen gave Jacksyn may bo auoteds

Cl Where have you come from now?" te asked.

"I left the Fram -in 84 N. lafc., after having drifted for two years, and I reached the £6 15 parallel, where we had to turn and 'make for Franz Josef Land. We were, however, obliged to stop for the winter somewhere north here, and are now on our route to Spiizbergeu."

After some weeks of impatient waiting for the long-expected Windward, which was to take the two travellers back to Norway, it arrived on July 26, and on August 7 NaDsen and Jackson embarked for Norway.

F ye chapters of the s^coud volume contain tho Report of Captain Otto Svfidrup on the drifting of the Fram. Sb« continued on her course from Marca 14, 1895, till August 13, 1896, when she got free from Ihe ice, and by a, strange coincidence this was the v*-ry day that Nauseu aud Johansen reached Vardo. On August 25 the leader and his companion rejointd the vc&t of the expedition at Tronoso after a separation of 17 mouths. In a bri»f " Conclusion " Dr Nanseu refers to the scientific re'ultg of the Norwegian Polar Expedition, but only to point out a few mere important features First, the Polar Sea, near the Pole itself, is a deep basin, not, as formerly imagined, a. shallow one containing many expanses of land and islands. It is certainly a continuation of the deep, channel which extends from the Atlantic Ocean northwards between Spitzbergen and Green'aud. A second important result is, of course, the verification of the theory as to the current which the drift ice across the polar basin. " Had the Fram continued her drifr instead of breaking loose to the north of Spitzbergen she would certainly have come down alon^ the coaet of Greenland." It was cusbomary to look upon the polar basin as being filled witb cold water at about l'sdeg C. Observations showed that under the cold surfacs there was ■wainier water, sometimeo at a temperature ot ldeg C. This water was more briny thau wa* supposed. It must come from the Gulf Stream, and much interest attaches to the hyd'Ojraphic observation* made during the expedition as bearing upon theories as to currents.

The maps accompanying the narrative enable the reader to follow very easily the route taken, and are excellent examples of drallimanshu> The coloured pictures aud pho r ographß t.ca' - tered through the work are also ot great service Ib is with regret we close the t\ irrative in wh'.c we teem to have lived with Nauaen ia tho lend of perpetual ice, and to have shared his alternate fears and joys. The mere perusal makes the blood run faster in one's veine, aud if th> effect is what we anticipate this enterprise of bis will find many imitators until at last thEecret of the pole is snatched. May it; be N»n een's good luck, as it certainly is his desert, to be the one to reach it, is a wish we can hardU avoid feeling. — Literary Wo-ld.