Part 6

Fridtjof Nansen, who planned and will lead the Norwegian expedition starting in June, is a naturalist, thirty-two years of age. He is singularly adapted physically for deeds of daring and endurance, perfectly equipped intellectually for command and research. His lithe, erect figure testifies to athletic training, while his expansive forehead and firm chin equally betoken thoughtfulness and determination. He is a typical Norseman, fair in complexion and hair, simple and rather reserved in manner, and modest almost to a fault. No one can see him without becoming his friend. He speaks English fluently, and a quiet, half-repressed humor lights up his conversation. Never overstepping the truth, he does not seem to feel the temptation of spinning imaginative yarns so over-powering for the undisciplined traveller. He knows his own strength, and measuring himself against the difficulties he proposes to meet, he feels confident of victory, and inspires others with his own faith. There is no turning back when once his mind is fully made up.

Nansen's whole life has been a training for the exploit he now engages in. After graduating at the University of Christiania, he was appointed curator of the Museum at Bergen, and carried out several important biological researches, of which that on the anatomy of whales is perhaps the best known. He was a diligent student of the great Norwegian naturalist Sars, and on his return from Greenland he entered into a closer relation by marrying the professor's daughter. Mrs. Nansen is said to be the most accomplished lady ski-runner in Norway, as her husband is the champion of his sex; their portraits in the costume of this national sport are extremely characteristic. She had originally planned to accompany Doctor Nansen on the Arctic voyage, but has reluctantly relinquished the intention. She stays behind with her little girl only a few months old. For the last three years Doctor Nansen has devoted himself entirely to the study of various branches of science likely to be of service to him in the accomplishment of his great ambition, and in organizing every detail of his expedition.

The chief circumstance in which Nansen differs from all his predecessors is, that he prepares no line of retreat. To the common question, "But how are you to come back?" his reply in word and deed has always been, "I will never come back. I shall go through to the other side." Thus, in crossing Greenland in 1888, he started from the uninhabited east coast, so that he and his companions had to go forward--retreat meant destruction. Such determination is only redeemed from obstinacy by the forethought which inspires it. Before setting out to cross Greenland, Nansen crossed the mountains of Norway from Bergen to Christiania in winter, thus proving his mastery of the ski or Norwegian snow-shoes, and testing his power of withstanding cold and fatigue. Just as the crossing of the Norwegian mountains proved his competence for the splendid feat of crossing Greenland, that journey by its success establishes his ability for enduring the severest privations which his new expedition may be called upon to undergo.

A careful study of all the known phenomena of the Arctic Basin, and the records of all the exploring, whaling, and sealing voyages in these waters which were accessible, impressed two facts upon him--one, that the currents of the Polar Basin were more regular and more powerful agents than had been previously supposed; the other, that the failure of the great expeditions to the north was in most cases due to the great number of men carried, and the labor involved in keeping open a line of retreat. The moral of this is simple enough: to sail as far as possible with the currents, to take as few men as possible, and these in thorough training for Arctic work, and to make no provision for retreat. For the valor and heroic efforts of the earlier Arctic explorers there can never be anything but praise; those men fought against the most terrific odds, and stood their ground without flinching, and their opinion on all matters connected with Arctic travel carries the utmost weight. Nansen breaks away from all tradition; he goes right against every cherished principle of all the older Arctic men. He will secure no line of retreat, he will carry only eleven men with him, every one of whom is inured to hardship and expert in ice-travel. He is bound by no orders, but has perfect freedom to alter his plans should circumstances seem to demand it. His plan is to drift with the currents, and the evidence for the currents moving in the direction he wishes to go is as follows:

The great drift of polar water southward along the east coasts of Labrador and of Greenland has been known from the beginning of Atlantic navigation, and the icebergs and floes carried along are serious obstacles to the shipping of the North Atlantic. It is estimated that between Greenland and Spitzbergen about eighty or ninety cubic miles of water pour southward every day. The current, like that down Smith Sound, flows from the north, but the water cannot originate there. There is a very slight northward extension of the Gulf Stream drift along the west coasts of Spitzbergen and Greenland, but the main drift of North Atlantic water from the southward sets round the North Cape of Norway, keeping the sea free from ice all the year round. It is felt in the Kara Sea, and as a north-easterly stream along the coast of Novaya Zemlya. It is difficult to estimate the volume of this drift, but from certain observations made by the Norwegian Government it seems to be about sixty cubic miles per day. There is a current running on the whole northward from the Pacific through Bering Strait with a volume of perhaps fifteen cubic miles a day, and in addition there is the volume of perhaps two cubic miles daily poured out during summer by the great American and Siberian rivers. This water is fresh and warm, and accumulating near shore in autumn it gives rise to the ice-free border which let the "Vega" slip round the north of Asia. Even where the sea is covered with floating ice, there are perceptible currents, and the ice-pack is never at rest.

Since the vast body of water north of 80 deg. between Franz-Josef Land and Greenland is streaming from the north, and since it must be derived somehow from water which comes from the south, it is evident that north-flowing currents of considerable power must exist in the Arctic Basin. Parry in his splendid voyage of 1827 spent months in sledging northward on a vast ice-floe which all the while was drifting south faster than the dogs could drag the sledges northward.

This polar current is the exit by which Doctor Nansen intends to leave the Polar Basin. It is a current which strews the coast of Greenland with Siberian and North American driftwood, all coming from the north, perhaps across the pole itself. Mud containing microscopic shells which only occur in Siberia has been collected on some of these southward-bound ice-floes. On one occasion a throwing-stick of a form used exclusively by the Eskimo of Alaska to cast their harpoons was picked up on the west coast of Greenland, having obviously been drifted round Cape Farewell, as the boats of many a whaler shipwrecked in the polar current have been drifted before. But perhaps the most interesting argument is that derived from the drift of the "Jeannette." The "Jeannette" (once a British gunboat, and afterward employed as the "Pandora" in attempting to repeat the north-west passage) was sent out by the proprietor of the "New York Herald," under the command of De Long, to push north to the pole, through Bering Strait, in 1879. In September of that year she got fast in the ice, and drifted on the whole north-westward for nearly two years. At last she was crushed in the ice on June 13, 1881, to the north of the New Siberian Islands. The drift of the "Jeannette" was becoming faster as she got farther west; indeed, it was possibly the more rapid movement of the current that set the floes in motion and led to the crushing of the vessel. Three years after she sank, an ice-floe was found on the south coast of Greenland at Julianehaab, on which were a number of articles, including documents relating to the stores and boats of the "Jeannette," bearing De Long's signature. The relics had a romantic history, and have given rise to controversy; but before their authenticity had been seriously questioned they were sacrificed to the sense of order of a Copenhagen housewife. Nansen is certain that the relics did come from the "Jeannette," and he believes they were drifted like the wood and Siberian mud upon an ice-raft across the pole or in its immediate vicinity.

His resolve was made accordingly "to take a ticket with the ice," as he phrases it, and so drift across. The point where it would be best to join the current, Nansen decided to be off the New Siberian Islands, although Captain Wiggins recommends the most northerly point of continental land, Cape Chelyuskin, as a more likely starting place. At first Nansen proposed to follow the "Jeannette" through Bering Sea, but he has now decided to take the nearer route round the North Cape, through the Kara Sea, and along the coast of Asia, as the "Vega" went, striking northward off the Lena Delta. It will require extremely skilful navigation even to reach the starting point, and it may even be impossible to do so in one year, but, having reached and run into the ice, another question comes to the front. The vessel in which the drift of several years is to be made must not share the fate of the "Jeannette," if human ingenuity can avoid it. And ingenuity has been taxed to produce a ship of the most perfect kind.

Nansen's little vessel, launched at Laurvik last October, suits his venture and himself as well as the famous "long serpents" of his ancestors suited them and their voyages of conquest and discovery a thousand years ago. She is built of wood, but is of a strength never hitherto aimed at. The frame timbers, Nansen modestly says, "may be said to be well-seasoned," for though cut from the gnarled oaks of Italy they have been stored in a Norwegian dockyard during the whole lifetime of the explorer. These timbers--the ribs of the ship--are a foot thick, and are placed only two inches apart, the intervening spaces being filled with a special composition, so that even the skeleton of the ship would be water-tight should the planks be stripped off. Inside, the walls are lined with pitch-pine planks alternately four inches and eight inches thick, with cross-beams and supports to resist pressure in every direction, as shown in the accompanying section. Outside, there is a three-inch skin of oak, carefully calked and made water-tight, then covered by another skin of oak four inches thick, which in turn is encased in a still thicker layer of the hard and slippery greenheart. Bow and stern are heavily plated with iron to cut through thin ice. Finally, to render her fit for living in during the coldest weather, the water-tight compartment set apart for this purpose (one of three) is lined, walls and ceiling, with layers of non-conducting material. Tarred canvas, cork, wood, several inches of felt enclosed by painted canvas, and finally a wooden wainscot, promise to effectually keep out the cold. In the roof, a layer of two inches of reindeer's hair has also been introduced.

The form of the vessel is as original as her material. She measures one hundred and twenty-eight feet in extreme length, thirty-six in beam, and is seventeen feet deep. With a full cargo she will draw fifteen feet, and have a freeboard of little more than three feet. She is pointed fore and aft, the stern being so formed that the propeller and rudder are deeply immersed to escape floating ice, and both these vital fittings are placed in wells, through which they may be brought on board in case of need, or readily replaced if damaged. The hull is rounded so that even the keel does not project materially. The form is designed so that when the ice begins to press, it will not crush but lift the ship, as one might lift an egg from a table by sliding two hands under it. Her rig, as shown in the illustration, is simply that of a three-masted fore and aft schooner, with a very tall mainmast, designed to carry the crow's nest for the look-out. This will stand one hundred and five feet above the water, thus affording the wide view indispensable in ice navigation. A captive balloon would have been used as well, but the necessary fittings were too heavy to carry. The engine is not of great power, as no particular reason exists for high speed, and with a coal capacity of only three hundred tons economy of fuel is of the first importance.

The ship is prophetically named the "Fram," or "Forward," and for her the viking explorer is determined there will be no turning back.

It is possible that in spite of all precautions the "Fram" may be nipped in the ice-floe which will carry her along, or stranded on some unknown northern land. This contingency is provided for by two large decked boats, twenty-nine feet long, either of which could accommodate the whole crew. These would be placed on the ice to serve as houses, and in the end could be used for the return voyage. Many smaller boats are carried, and light sledges with dog teams, in case it becomes necessary to travel over the ice. The invaluable "ski" would of course be used in such an emergency, and plenty of tarred canvas would be carried, by means of which the sledges could be converted into boats. Provisions for five years, at least, are stowed away on board; also books for study and recreation, and a complete equipment of scientific instruments for observations and collecting of every kind. The ship carries no alcoholic drink; alcohol is taken only as a fuel for use when the coal runs out, or if the ship has to be left. Nansen does not smoke, and very likely he may regulate the smoking of his followers, for his views on hygiene are clear, and his determination to enforce them strong. The eleven men chosen for the enterprise have the fullest faith in their leader, and that respect for his splendid qualities as a man which is essential to good order being maintained. For in the hardships of Arctic travel there is no sentimental deference to a leader unless he is the best man of the party, and Arctic hardships quickly reduce things and men to their real worth. Nansen and his crew will prove, we are confident, as firmly knit together as the timbers of the "Fram" herself. Captain Sverdrup, who accompanied him across Greenland, goes as navigating officer of the "Fram."

Perhaps the most original of the many original fittings of this little polar cruiser is the dynamo which will for the first time in the history of exploration supply abundant light during the whole Arctic night. When there is wind a windmill will work it; but in the calm weather the men, in watches, will take their necessary exercise in tramping round a capstan to the strains of a musical box of long Arctic experience--it was in the "Jeannette,"--and thus at least eight hours of perfect light will be secured every day.

Everything that foresight can suggest and money can buy has been secured to make the voyage a success; but even in the most sanguine mind the risk must appear great, and the time of suspense will be long. The drift across the polar area cannot occupy less than two years, and provisions are carried for five. But we need not dwell on dangers; the personality of Nansen rises above them all--the motto he carries with him in a little volume of condensed poetry, as powerful meat for the soul as any of his cunningly concocted extracts are for the body, is the wish of all his friends--

"Greet the Unseen with a cheer, Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be, 'Strive and thrive!' cry 'Speed--fight on, fare ever There as here!'"

The Norwegian expedition goes out under the command of a hero full of experience, ripe in knowledge, certain to do all that a strong and trained man can accomplish, backed by large grants of money from his own government, and smaller gifts from people and societies in many lands.

JACKSON'S EXPEDITION.

The British expedition which has been projected is not a national effort. It is purely private, planned and equipped by private enterprise and private money, in order to follow up the line in which private exertions have already done more for polar exploration than many government expeditions have achieved. Its leader, Mr. Frederick G. Jackson, is a business man, possessed of leisure and sufficient means, and experienced in travel in all parts of the world. Of the same age as Doctor Nansen, and, like him, married, he is as typical an Englishman as the latter is a Norseman. Pluck and "go" are his in very large measure; experience in serious ice-work he cannot lay claim to, but he knows more about the Arctic regions than many famous explorers did on their first setting out. Mr. Jackson has made a summer cruise to the far north, and, under the tuition of a canny Peterhead whaler, he has picked up many wrinkles which will help him in time of need. He is a keen sportsman rather than a man of science, but his ten companions will be chosen for their ability to make all necessary scientific observations and collections. If his plans fall out as he hopes, Jackson will be the most eager in the race to the pole, and it will not be his fault if the Union Jack is not the first flag planted on that much coveted site. He intends to leave England about the middle of July, or perhaps as late as the beginning of August.

His plan of attack is that which is most approved by the Arctic admirals of the British navy. It is to approach by Franz-Josef Land, which may in favorable years be comparatively easily reached. On landing, a depot will be formed and stores laid up as a base for retreat; and then, by sledging northward along the land-ice, the coast would be delineated and mapped as far as it extends, other depots established, and if the surface proves suitable, and if Franz-Josef Land proves, as is probable, not to have a great northerly extent, an advance may be made on the sea-ice, carrying boats for crossing open water.

It seems very probable that in this way the highest latitudes of earlier explorers may be passed, and in Franz-Josef Land life is more tolerable than in perhaps any other place at the same latitude. Mr. Leigh Smith, the most successful Arctic yachtsman, spent the winter of 1881-82 in a hut built on an island in the south of Franz-Josef Land, after his ship was wrecked, and without winter clothing, and he found bears and walrus plentiful enough to keep himself and his party supplied with fresh meat. The country however is very desolate, in spite of its comparatively genial conditions. Mr. Jackson intends to hire or purchase a steam whaler to convey him to Franz-Josef Land, and for navigation he has secured the services of Mr. Crowther, Leigh Smith's ice-master. After establishing winter quarters, he will make some preliminary trips to test his sledges and complete the survey of the southern part of the land, reserving the great northward march for the spring of 1894. He is pushing forward his preparations quietly and quickly, and, as he does not ask for public money, he does not feel it necessary to publish any of the details of his intended mode of life. It is difficult to forecast the result of his expedition. From the little we know about Franz-Josef Land, it appears certain that with a favorable season much good work could be done, and there is more satisfaction in contemplating an expedition in which pluck and endurance count than the mere passive submission to the laws of physical geography, on which Nansen depends. In two years he hopes to prove that Franz-Josef Land is or is not a practicable road to the pole.

We have no data to make a comparison between the two brave men, nor any wish to do so. But Nansen is Nansen, and Jackson has yet to win his spurs; to him therefore would be the greater glory if success attend him.

For our part, we heartily desire that Nansen, Peary, and Jackson may meet simultaneously at the pole, and return betimes to tell their story and share the honors. The aggravating thing is, that the expeditions may never reach their proper starting point. Many a good ship has knocked about for a whole season in the Kara Sea without getting a lead through the ice; the effort to reach Franz-Josef Land has not been often made, and it is a sinister omen that the "Tegetthof," which discovered that region, arrived there after eighteen months of drifting fast in the floes. But we shall see.

LIEUTENANT PEARY'S EXPEDITION.

BY CLEVELAND MOFFETT.

Before the end of June, Civil Engineer Robert E. Peary of the United States Navy will have sailed on another expedition for the Arctic regions. The party will go by the way of Newfoundland, Baffin's Bay, and Whale Sound, to Inglefield Gulf, which lies just southeast of Smith Sound and south of the promontory containing the great Humboldt glacier. The winter camp will be established at the head of Bowdoin Bay, some forty miles to the east of Redcliffe House, where Lieutenant Peary passed the winter of '91, '92.

The programme of the expedition may be briefly summarized as follows:

The party will be absent about two years and a half, a three years' leave of absence having been accorded Lieutenant Peary by the Navy Department. They expect to be in camp, as indicated, by the last week in July, when the staunch "Falcon," a sealing steamer which carries them, will land the expedition and return to Newfoundland. The months of August and September, all they will have before the Arctic night sets in, will be utilized in three ways: a party will be sent inland over the ice-cap with a large store of provisions, which will be stored as far to the north as possible, to await the expedition of the ensuing spring; another party, under Lieutenant Peary himself, will make a careful survey of Inglefield Gulf, which is of rare scientific interest on account of the tremendous glaciers which discharge into it; and a third party will busy itself hunting reindeer and other game to supply the expedition with fresh meat.

By November 1, 1893, they will go into winter quarters, all occupying a single house, which will be made as comfortable as possible. During the five or six months of darkness, scientific work will be carried on, including a thorough study of Esquimo habits and institutions. Clothing will be made of reindeer skins, and, in general, preparations be completed for the advance over the ice-cap. Lieutenant Peary hopes to start the sledges northward early in March, thus gaining two months on the start made in '92. The season of '94 will be spent in advancing as rapidly as possible to the northern extremity of Greenland, to Independence Bay, discovered by Lieutenant Peary in his recent expedition. At this point the party will divide, several men being detailed to explore the northeastern coast of Greenland as far to the south as Cape Bismarck, while Lieutenant Peary with two picked men will push across the fjord separating Greenland from the land beyond, and will advance thence still farther to the north, as circumstances may direct. It is probable that Lieutenant Peary will spend the winter of '94 to '95 somewhere in the neighborhood of northernmost Greenland, very probably in the most extreme northern latitude in which any white man has wintered. In the spring of '95, or as soon as the season will permit, he will make a further and final advance, leaving time enough for the party to return to Inglefield Gulf before the fall. There a relief ship will be in waiting to carry the expedition back to New York with the results of their explorations.