Arctic Exploration

Waipawa Mail, Volume XIX, Issue 3419, 3 September 1896, Page 4

Arctic Exploration

DR NANSEN’S EXPEDITION. The Sydney papers contain these further details concerning the Polar expedition of Dr Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian explorer, who has.*-re-turned to Vardo. on the coast of Norway, after his unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole. Dr Nansen left Norway in June, 1893, in the Bteamer Fram, which was specially constructed for Arctic exploration. The course of the expedition lay along the north coast of Siberia. The mouth of the Olensk River, which empties itself into the Arctic Ocean, was reached in September of the same year. Dr Nansen was unable to obtain an additional supply of Esquimaux dogs. He entered the ice seas in the neighbourhood of the New Siberian Islands, and drifted with the current in a north-westerly direction. The Fram became icebound, and remained so until 14th March, 1895, when Dr Nansen and his companion Johansen set out on their journey across the ice in sledges. He left Sverdrup (who accompanied Nansen in his journey across Greenland) in command of the icebound Fram, the latitude being 84 degrees north. All the members of the party were in excellent health. The temperature at this latitude was 62 degrees below zero. The electric light was generated on the Fram by means of a windmill, and was found to act admirably. The Fram resisted an enormous ice pressure. Dr Nansen, accompanied by Johansen, started northward with 28 Esquimaux dogs, drawing three sledges and two canoes. A large area of rough ice was traversed in this manner, and the party reached 86 degrees 14 minutes north latitude on the 7th April. There were no signs of land or of open sea. Hummocks wore seen on the horizon resembling frozen breakers. Owing to the inadequate number of dogs and the short supply of food, it was deemed advisable to go no further, and Dr Nansen accordingly commenced the return journey from Franz Josef Hand. Owing to the intense cold the watches of the party stopped, and Dr Nansen and his companion were for some weeks without any means of reckoning their geographical position. They gradually killed all the dogs for food, and reached the northern extremity of Franz Josef Hand on 26th August. Dr Nansen and Johansen inhabited a hut, and subsisted on bears’ flesh and the blubber of whales. They remained here until 19th May of the present year, when they made a start for Spitsbergen, performing the journey in sledges and canoes. Dr Nansen and his companion enjoyed perfect health. On 17th June they unexpectedly met Mr F. G. Jackson, F.R.G.S., the leader of the Jackson-Harmsworth Polar expedition, who had established a depot in the ice near Cape Flora, Franz Josef Eand. They remained in Jackson’s quarters until the return from Vardo of the Bteamer Windward, which conveyed the JacksonHarmsworth expedition to Franz Josef Land. It is understood that great scientific results have been achieved by Dr Nansen’s voyage to the Polar regions. Dr Nansen is confident that the crew of the Fram, who were left icebound in the vessel on the I4th Mareh, 1895, are safe. During his journey in the Polar Sea Dr Nansen had a narrow escape through his canoe being wrecked by a walrus which attacked the craft. Dr Nansen declares that if he had had sufficient Esquimaux dogs he would have been able to reach the North Pole.