Farthest North, Vol. II Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship 'Fram' 1893-1896

"Wednesday, July 24th. At last the marvel has come to pass--land, land! and after we had almost given up our belief in it! After nearly two years, we again see something rising...

At last, on Tuesday, May 19th, we were ready for the start. Our sledges stood loaded and lashed. The last thing we did was to photograph our hut, both outside and inside, and to...

"Saturday, June 1st. So this is June. What has it in store for us? Will not this month, either, bring us the land we are longing for? Must hope and believe so, though the time i...

"Tuesday, April 3d. There are many different kinds of difficulty to overcome on this journey, but the worst of all, perhaps, is getting all the trifles done and starting off. In...

On the Seventeenth of May the Fram was in about 83° 45' north latitude and 12° 50' east longitude. We again celebrated the day with a flag procession, as on the previous Sevente...

"Tuesday, February 26th. At last the day has arrived, the great day, when the journey is to commence. The week has passed in untiring work to get everything ready. We should hav...

"Wednesday, January 2, 1895. Never before have I had such strange feelings at the commencement of the new year. It cannot fail to bring some momentous events, and will possibly...

Who are to be the two members of the expedition? Sverdrup and I have tested each other before at this sort of work, and we could manage very well; but we cannot both leave the F...

"Wednesday, January 1, 1896. -41.5° C. (42.2° below zero, Fahr.). So a new year has come, the year of joy and home-coming. In bright moonlight 1895 departed, and in bright moonl...

As far back as February 26th Dr. Nansen had officially informed the crew that after he left the ship I was to be chief officer of the expedition, and Lieutenant Scott-Hansen sec...

With the rise in the temperature the snow surface became daily worse, so that it was seldom fit for snow-shoeing; even with "truger" [90] on it was most laborious to get along,...

At last by midday on March 14th we finally left the Fram to the noise of a thundering salute. For the third time farewells and mutual good wishes were exchanged. Some of our com...

New-year's-day came with fine, clear weather, moonlight, and about 43 degrees of cold. The ice kept remarkably quiet for about a month, but on February 4th the pressure commence...

As spring advanced the disturbance in the ice increased, and new lanes and pools were formed in every direction. At the same time there was a daily increase in the number of aqu...

compelling us to stay indoors. However, the bad weather did not worry us much; on the contrary, we looked rather eagerly for changes in the weather, especially if they revived o...