CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER II. PREPARATIONS AND EQUIPMENT CHAPTER III. THE START CHAPTER IV. FAIRWELL TO NORWAY CHAPTER V. VOYAGE THROUGH THE CAR-A-SEE CHAPTER VI. THE WINTER NIGHT CHAPTER VII. THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1894 CHAPTER VIII. SECOND AUTOM. IN THE ICE CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION PART I. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A time will come in later years when the ocean will unloose the bands of things, when the immeasurable earth will lie open, when seafarers will discover new countries, and truly will no longer be the extreme point among the lands. Seneca. Unseen and untrodden under their spotless mantel of ice, the rigid polar region slept a profound sleep of death from the earliest dawn of time.  Ages passed, deep was the silence. Then in the dawn of history, far away in the south, the awakening spirit of man reared its head on high and gazed over the earth. To the south it encountered warmth, to the north cold, and behind the boundaries of the unknown it placed an imagination in the twin kingdoms of consuming heat and of deadly cold. But the limits of the unknown had to recede step by step before the ever-increasing yearning after light and knowledge of the human mind, till they made a stand in the north at the threshold of nature's great ice temple of the polar regions with their endless silence. Up to this point no insuperable obstacles had opposed the progress of the advancing hosts, which confidently proceeded on their way. But here the ramparts of ice and the long darkness of winter brought them to bay. Host after host marched on towards the north only to suffer defeat. Fresh ranks stood ever ready to advance over the bodies of their predecessors. Shrouded in fog laid the mythic land of Nivelheim where the rim-turser carried on their wild gambles. Why did we continually return to the attack? There in the darkness and cold stood Helheim where the death goddess held her sway. There lay Nostrand the shore of corpses. Thither where no living being could draw breath, thither troop after troop made its way to what end? Was it to bring home the dead, as did Hermod when he rode after Baldur? No, it was simply to satisfy man's thirst for knowledge. Nowhere in truth has knowledge been purchased at greater cost of privation and suffering. But the spirit of mankind will never rest till every spot of these regions has been trodden by the foot of man, till every enigma has been solved. Minute by minute, degree by degree, we have stolen forwards with painful effort. Slowly the day has approached, even now we are but in its early dawn, darkness still broods over vast tracks around the pole. Our ancestors, the old Vikings, were the first arctic voyagers. It has been said that their expeditions to the frozen sea were of no moment as they left no enduring marks behind them. This, however, is scarcely correct. Just as surely as the whalers of our age in their persistent struggles with ice and sea form our outposts of investigation up in the north, so were the old Northmen, with Eric the Red, Leif, and others at their head, the pioneers of the polar expeditions of future generations. It should be borne in mind that as they were the first ocean navigators, so also they were the first to combat with the ice. Long before other seafaring nations had ventured to do more than hug the coastlines, our ancestors had traversed the open seas in all directions, had discovered Iceland and Greenland, and had colonized them. At a later period they discovered America, and did not shrink from making a straight course over the Atlantic Ocean, from Greenland to Norway. Many and many about must they have had with the ice along the coasts of Greenland in their open barks, and many a life must have been lost. And that which impelled them to undertake these expeditions was not the mere love of adventure, though that is indeed one of the essential traits of our national character. It was rather the necessity of discovering new countries for the many restless beings that could find no room in Norway. Furthermore, they were stimulated by a real interest for knowledge. Othar, who about 890 resided in England at Alfred's Court, set out on an errand of geographical investigation, or, as he says himself, he felt an inspiration and a desire to learn, to know, and to demonstrate how far the land stretched toward the north, and if there were any regions inhabited by man northward beyond the desert waste. He lived in the northernmost part of Helgeland, probably at Björköy, and sailed around the North Cape and eastwards even to the White Sea. Adam of Bremen relates of Harold Harddrod, the experienced king of the Northmen, that he undertook a voyage out into the sea towards the north, and explored the expanse of the northern ocean with his ships, but darkness spread over the verge where the world falls away, and he put about barely in time to escape being swallowed in the vast abyss. This was Ganungagap, the abyss at the world's end. How far he went, no one knows, but at all events he deserves recognition as one of the first of the polar navigators that were animated by pure love of knowledge. Naturally these Northmen were not free from the superstitious ideas about the polar regions prevalent in their times. Where indeed they placed their Ganungagap, their Nivelheim, Helheim, and later on Trollabotten. But even these mythical and poetical ideas contained so large a kernel of observation that our fathers may be said to have possessed a remarkably clear conception of the true nature of things. How soberly and correctly they observed may best be seen a couple hundred years later in Kongaspila, the mirror of kings, the most scientific treatise of our ancient literature. Where it is said that, as soon as one has traversed the greater part of the wild sea, one comes upon such a huge quantity of ice that nowhere in the whole world has the like been known. Some of the ice is so flat that it looks as if it were frozen on the sea itself. It is from eight to ten feet thick and extends so far out into the sea that it would take a journey of four or more days to reach the land over it. But this ice lies more to the northeast or north, beyond the limits of the land, than to the south and southwest or west. This ice is of a wonderful nature. It lies at times quite still as one would expect, with openings or large fjords in it. But sometimes its movement is so strong and rapid as to equal that of a ship running before the wind, and it drifts against the wind as often as with it. This is a conception all the more remarkable when viewed in the light of the crude ideas entertained by the rest of the world at that period with regard to foreign climes. The strength of our people now dwindled away, and centuries elapsed before explorers once more sought the northern seas. Then it was other nations, especially the Dutch and the English that led the van. The sober observations of the old northmen were forgotten, and in their stead we meet with repeated instances of the attraction of mankind towards the most fantastic ideas, a tendency of thought that found ample scope in the regions of the north. When the cold proved not to be absolutely deadly, theories flew to the opposite extreme, and marvelous were the erroneous ideas that sprang up and have held their own down to the present day. Over and over again it has been the same. The most natural explanation of phenomena is the very one that men have most shunned, and if no middle course was to be found they have rushed to the wildest hypothesis. It is only thus that the belief in an open polar sea could have arisen and held its ground. Though everywhere ice was met with, people maintained that this open sea must lie behind the ice. Thus the belief in an ice-free northeast and northwest passage to the wealth of Cathay or of India, first propounded toward the close of the 15th century, cropped up again and again, only to be again and again refuted. Since the ice barred the southern regions the way must lie further north, and finally a passage over the pole itself was sought for. Wild as these theories were they have worked for the benefit of mankind, for by their means our knowledge of the earth has been widely extended. Hence we may see that no work done in the service of investigation is ever lost, not even when carried out under false assumptions. England has to thank these chimeras in no small degree for the fact that she has become the mightiest seafaring nation of the world. By many paths and by many means mankind has endeavored to penetrate this kingdom of death. At first the attempt was made exclusively by sea. Ships were then ill-adapted to combat the ice and people were loathed to make the venture. The clinker-built pine and fur barks of the Old Northmen were no better fitted for the purpose than were the small clumsy carvels of the first English and Dutch Arctic explorers. Little by little they learned to adapt their vessels to the conditions and with ever increasing daring they forced them in among the dreaded flows. But the uncivilized polar tribes, both those that inhabit the Siberian tundras and the Eskimo of North America, had discovered long before polar expeditions had begun another and a safer means of traversing these regions to wit the sledge usually drawn by dogs. It was in Siberia that this excellent method of locomotion was first applied to the service of polar exploration. Already in the 17th and 18th centuries the Russians undertook very extensive sledge journeys and charted the whole of the Siberian coast from the borders of Europe to Bering Strait. And they did not merely travel along the coasts but crossed the drift ice itself to the new Siberian islands and even north of them. Nowhere perhaps have travelers gone through so many sufferings or evinced so much endurance. In America too the sledge was employed by Englishmen at an early date for the purpose of exploring the shores of the Arctic seas. Sometimes the toboggan or Indian sledge was used, sometimes that of the Eskimo. It was under the able leadership of McClintock that sledge journeys attained their highest development. While the Russians had generally traveled with a large number of dogs and only a few men, the English employed many more men on their expeditions and their sledges were entirely or for the most part drawn by the explorers themselves. Thus in the most energetic attempt ever made to reach high latitudes, Albert Markham's memorable march towards the north from the alerts winter quarters there were thirty-three men who had to draw the sledges though there were plenty of dogs on board the ship. During his famous expedition in search of Franklin McClintock used both men and dogs. The American traveler Perry however adopted a totally different method of traveling on the inland ice of Greenland employing as few men and as many dogs as possible. The great importance of dogs for sledge journeys was clear to me before I undertook my Greenland expedition and the reason I did not use them then was simply that I was unable to procure any serviceable animals. A third method may yet be mentioned which has been employed in the Arctic regions, namely boats and sledges combined. It is said of the old Northmen in the sagas and in the congaspeal that for days on end they had to drag their boats over the ice in the Greenland Sea in order to reach land. The first in modern times to make use of this means of traveling was Perry who in his memorable attempt to reach the pole in 1827 abandoned his ship and made his way over the drift ice northwards with boats which he dragged on sledges. He succeeded in attaining the highest latitude, 82 degrees, 45 minutes, that had yet been reached. But here the current carried him to the south more rapidly than he could advance against it and he was obliged to turn back. Of later years this method of traveling has not been much employed in approaching the pole. It may, however, be mentioned that Markham took boats with him also on his sledge expedition. Many expeditions have, through sheer necessity, accomplished long distances over the drift ice in this way in order to reach home after having abandoned or lost their ship. A special mention may be made of the Austro-Hungarian Tegithoff expedition to Franz Josefland and the ill-fated American Jeanette expedition. It seems that but few have thought of following the example of the Eskimo living as they do and, instead of heavy boats, taking light kayaks drawn by dogs. At all events no attempts have been made in this direction. The methods of advance have been tested on four main routes, the Smith Sound Route, the Sea Route between Greenland and Spitzbergen, Franz Josefland Route, and the Bering Straight Route. In later times the point from which the pole has been most frequently assailed is Smith Sound, probably because American explorers had somewhat too hastily asserted that they had there described the open polar sea, extending indefinitely towards the north. Every expedition was stopped, however, by immense masses of ice, which came drifting southwards and piled themselves up against the coasts. The most important expedition by this route was the English one conducted by Narres in 1875 to 76, the equipment of which involved a vast expenditure. Markham, the next in command to Narres, reached the highest latitude till then attained, 83 degrees 20 minutes, but at the cost of enormous exertion and loss. And Narres was of the opinion that the impossibility of reaching the pole by this route was fully demonstrated for all future ages. During the stay of the Greeley expedition from 1881 to 1884 in this same region, Lockwood attained a somewhat higher record, that is, 83 degrees 24 minutes, the most northerly point on the globe that human feet had trodden previous to the expedition of which the present work treats. By way of the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen, several attempts have been made to penetrate the secrets of the domain of ice. In 1607 Henry Hudson endeavored to reach the pole along the east coast of Greenland, where he was in hopes of finding an open basin and a waterway to the Pacific. His progress was, however, stopped at 73 degrees north latitude at a point of the coast which he named Hold with Hope. The expedition under Coldway, 1869 to 70, which visited the same waters, reached by the aid of sledges as far north as 77 degrees north latitude. Owing to the enormous masses of ice which the polar current sweeps southward along this coast, it is certainly one of the most unfavorable routes for a polar expedition. A better route is that by Spitzbergen, which was essayed by Hudson when his progress was blocked off Greenland. Here he reached 80 degrees 23 minutes north latitude. Thanks to the warm current that runs by the west coast of Spitzbergen in a northerly direction, the sea is kept free from ice, and it is without comparison the route by which one can the most safely and easily reach high latitudes in ice-free waters. It was north of Spitzbergen that Edward Perry made his attempt in 1827 above alluded to. Further eastwards the ice conditions are less favorable and therefore few polar expeditions have directed their course through these regions. The original object of the Austro-Hungarian expedition under Vyprecht and Peier, 1872 to 74, was to seek for the northeast passage. But at its first meeting with the ice it was set fast off the north point of Novaya Zimlia, drifted northwards and discovered Franz Joseph Land, whence Peier endeavored to push forward to the north with sledges, reaching 82 degrees, five minutes north latitude on an island which he named Crown Prince Rudolph's land. To the north of this he thought he could see an extensive tract of land lying in about 83 degrees north latitude, which he called Petermann's land. Franz Joseph Land was afterwards twice visited by the English traveler Lee Smith in 1880 and 1881 to 82, and it is here that the English Jackson Harmsworth expedition is at present established. The plan of the Danish expedition under Hovegard was to push forward to the north pole from Cape Cheliusken along the east coast of an extensive tract of land which Hovegard thought must lie to the east of Franz Joseph Land. He got set fast in the ice however in the Kara Sea and remained the winter there returning home the following year. Only a few attempts have been made through Bering Strait. The first was cooked since 1776, the last the Jeanette expedition 1879 to 81 under DeLonge, a lieutenant in the American Navy. Scarcely anywhere have polar travelers been so hopelessly blocked by ice in comparatively low latitudes. The last named expedition however had a most important bearing upon my own. As DeLonge himself says in a letter to Gordon Bennett, who supplied the funds for the expedition, he was of opinion that there were three routes to choose from, Smith Sound, the east coast of Greenland or Bering Strait, but he put most faith in the last and this was ultimately selected. His main reason for this choice was his belief in a Japanese current running north through Bering Strait and onwards along the east coast of Rangel Land which was believed to extend far to the north. It was urged that the warm water of this current would open away along that coast possibly up to the pole. The experience of whalers showed that whenever their vessels were set fast in the ice here they drifted northwards. Hence it was concluded that the current generally set in that direction. This will help explorers, says DeLonge, to reach high latitudes but at the same time will make it more difficult for them to come back. The truth of these words he himself was to learn by bitter experience. The Jeanette stuck fast in the ice on September 6th, 1879 in 71 degrees 35 minutes north latitude and 175 degrees 6 minutes east longitudes southeast of Rangel's Land which however proved to be a small island and drifted with the ice in a northwesternly direction for two years when it foundered June 12th, 1881 north of the new Siberian islands in 77 degrees 15 minutes north latitude and 154 degrees 59 minutes east longitude. Everywhere then has the ice stopped the progress of mankind towards the north. In two cases only have icebound vessels drifted in a northally direction in the case of the Tegithoff and the Jeanette while most of the others have been carried away from their goal by masses of ice drifting southwards. On reading the history of arctic explorations it early occurred to me that it would be very difficult to rest the secrets from these unknown regions of ice by adopting the routes and the methods hitherto employed, but where did the proper route lie? It was in the autumn of 1884 that I happened to see an article by Professor Mohn in the Norwegian Morganblad in which it was stated that sundry articles which must have come from the Jeanette had been found on the southwest coast of Greenland. He conjectured that they must have drifted on a flow right across the polar sea. It immediately occurred to me that here lay the route ready to hand. If a flow could drift right across the unknown region that drift might be enlisted in the service of exploration and my plan was laid. Some years however elapsed before in February 1890 after my return from my Greenland expedition I at last propounded the idea in an address before the Christiania Geographical Society. As this address plays an important part in the history of the expedition I shall reproduce its principal features as printed in the March number of Naturan 1891. After giving a brief sketch of the different polar expeditions of former years I go on to say. The results of these numerous attempts as I have pointed out seem somewhat discouraging. They appear to show plainly enough that it is impossible to sail to the pole by any route whatever. For everywhere the ice has proved an impenetrable barrier and has stayed the progress of invaders on the threshold of the unknown regions. To drag boats over the uneven drift ice which moreover is constantly moving under the influence of the current and the wind is an equally great difficulty. The ice lays such obstacles in the way that anyone who has ever attempted to traverse it will not hesitate to declare it well nigh impossible to advance in this manner with the equipment and provisions requisite for such an undertaking. Had we been able to advance overland I said that would have been the most certain route. In that case the pole could have been reached in one summer by Norwegian snowshoe runners. But there is every reason to doubt the existence of any such land. The island I considered did not extend further than the most northerly known point of its west coast. It is not probable that France-Joseph land reaches to the pole. From all we can learn it forms a group of islands separated from each other by deep sounds and it appears improbable that any large continuous track of land is to be found there. Some people are perhaps of opinion that one ought to defer the examination of regions like those around the pole be set as they are with so many difficulties till new means of transport have been discovered. I have heard it intimated that one fine day we shall be able to reach the pole by a balloon and that it is only waste of time to seek to get there before that day comes. It needs scarcely be shown that this line of reasoning is untenable. Even if one could really suppose that in the near or distant future this frequently mooted idea of travelling to the pole in an airship would be realized, such an expedition however interesting it might be in certain respects would be far from yielding the scientific results of expeditions carried out in the manner here indicated. Scientific results of importance in all branches of research can be attained only by persistent observations during a lengthened sojourn in these regions while those of a balloon expedition cannot but be of a transitory nature. We must then endeavor to ascertain if there are not other routes and I believe there are. I believe that if we pay attention to the actually existent forces of nature and seek to work with and not against them we shall thus find the safest and easiest method of reaching the pole. It is useless as previous expeditions have done to work against the current. We should see if there is not a current we can work with. The Jeannette expedition is the only one in my opinion that started on the right track though it may have been unwittingly and unwillingly. The Jeannette drifted for two years in the ice from wrangeland to the new Siberian islands. Three years after it was founded to the north of these islands there was found frozen into the drift ice in the neighborhood of Julian Hobb on the southwest coast of Greenland a number of articles which appeared from sundry indubitable marks to proceed from the sunken vessel. These articles were first discovered by the Eskimo and were afterwards collected by Mr. Leitzen, colonial manager at Julian Hobb who has given a list of them in the Danish oil journal for 1885. Among them the following may especially be mentioned. One a list of provisions signed by DeLong the commander of the Jeannette. Two an MS list of the Jeannette's boats. Three a pair of oil skin breaches marked Louis Noros the name of one of the Jeannette's crew who was saved. Four the peak of a cap on which according to Leitzen statement was written F. C. Lindemann. The name of one of the crew of the Jeannette who was also saved was F. C. Nindemann. This may either have been a clerical error on Leitzen's part or a misprint in the Danish journal. In America when it was reported that these articles had been found people were very skeptical and doubts of their genuineness were expressed in the American newspapers. The facts however can scarcely be sheer inventions and it may therefore be safely assumed that an ice flow bearing these articles from the Jeannette had drifted from the place where it sank to Julian Hobb. By what root did this ice flow reach the west coast of Greenland? Professor Mohn in a lecture before the scientific society of Christiania in November 1894 showed that it could have come by no other way than across the pole. It cannot possibly have come through Smith Sound as the current there passes along the western side of Baffins Bay and it would thus have been conveyed to Baffins Land or Labrador and not to the west coast of Greenland. The current flows along this coast in a northerly direction and is a continuation of the Greenland polar current which comes along the east coast of Greenland, takes a bend around Cape Farewell and passes upwards along the west coast. It is by this current only that the flow could have come. But now the question arises what root did it take from the new Siberian islands in order to reach the east coast of Greenland? It is conceivable that it might have drifted along the north coast of Siberia south of Franz Josef Land up through the sound between Franz Josef Land and Spitzbergen or even to the south of Spitzbergen and might after that have got into the polar current which flows along Greenland. If however we study the directions of the currents in these regions so far as they are at present ascertained it will be found that this is extremely improbable not to say impossible. Having shown that this is evident from the Tegelhoff drift and from many other circumstances I proceeded. The distance from the new Siberian islands to the 80th degree of latitude on the east coast of Greenland is 1,360 miles and the distance from the last named place to Julian hob 1,540 miles making together a distance of 2,900 miles. This distance was traversed by the flow in 1,100 days which gives a speed of 2.6 miles per day of 24 hours. The time during which the relics drifted after having reached the 80th degree of latitude till they arrived at Julian hub can be calculated with tolerable precision as the speed of the above named current along the east coast of Greenland is well known. It may be assumed that it took at least 400 days to accomplish this distance. There remain then about 700 days as the longest time the drifting articles can have taken from the new Siberian islands to the 80th degree of latitude. Supposing that they took the shortest route i.e. across the pole this computation gives a speed of about 2 miles in 24 hours. On the other hand supposing they went by the route south of Franz Joseph land and south of Spitzbergen they must have drifted at a much higher speed. 2 miles in the 24 hours however coincides most remarkably with the rate at which the Jeanette drifted during the last months of her voyage from January 1st to June 12th, 1881. In this time she drifted at an average rate of a little over 2 miles in the 24 hours. If however the average speed of the whole of the Jeanette's drifting be taken it will be found to be only 1 mile in the 24 hours. But are there no other evidences of current flowing across the north pole from Bering sea on the one side to the Atlantic ocean on the other? Yes there are. Dr. Rink received from a Greenlander at Gotthab a remarkable piece of wood which had been found among the drift timber on the coast. It is one of the throwing sticks which the Eskimo use in hurling their bird darts but altogether unlike those used by the Eskimo on the west coast of Greenland. Dr. Rink conjectured that it possibly proceeded from the Eskimo on the east coast of Greenland. From later inquiries however it appeared that it must have come from the coast of Alaska on the neighborhood of Bering Strait as that is the only place where throwing sticks of a similar form are used. It was even ornamented with Chinese glass beads exactly similar to those which the Alaskan Eskimo obtained by barter from Asiatic tribes and used for the decoration of their throwing sticks. We may therefore with confidence assert that this piece of wood was carried from the west coast of Alaska over to Greenland by a current the whole course of which we do not know but which may be assumed to flow very near the North Pole or at some place between it and Franz Josef Land. There are moreover still further proofs that such a current exists. As is well known no trees grow in Greenland that can be used for making boats, sledges or other appliances. The driftwood that is carried down by the polar current along the east coast of Greenland and up the west coast is therefore essential to the existence of the Greenland Eskimo. But when does this timber come? Here our inquiries again carry us to lands on the other side of the pole. I have myself had an opportunity of examining large quantities of driftwood both on the west coast and on the east coast of Greenland. I have moreover found pieces drifting in the sea off the east coast and like earlier travelers have arrived at the conclusion that much the greater part of it can only have come from Siberia while a smaller portion may possibly have come from America. For amongst it are to be found fur, Siberian larch and other kinds of wood peculiar to the north which could scarcely have come from any other quarter. Interesting in this respect are the discoveries that have been made on the east coast of Greenland by the second German polar expedition. Out of twenty-five pieces of driftwood, seventeen were Siberian larch, five Norwegian fur probably pika obovata, two a kind of alder alness in kana and one a poplar populous tremula, the common aspen, all of which are trees found in Siberia. By way of supplement to these observations on the Greenland side it may be mentioned that the genetic expedition frequently found Siberian driftwood, fur and barge, between the flows in a strong northerly current to the northward of the new Siberian islands. Fortunately for the Eskimo such large quantities of driftwood come every year to the coasts of Greenland, that in my opinion one cannot but assume that they are conveyed thither by a constantly flowing current, especially as the wood never appears to have been very long in the sea, at all events not without having been frozen into the ice. That this driftwood passes south of Franz Joseph Land and Spitzbergen is quite as unreasonable a theory as that the ice flow with a relics from Jeanette drifted by this route. In further disproof of this assumption it may be stated that Siberian driftwood is found north of Spitzbergen in the strong southerly current against which Perry fought in vain. It appears therefore that on these grounds also we cannot but admit the existence of a current flowing across or in close proximity to the pole. As an interesting fact in this connection it may also be mentioned that the German botanist Grisbach has shown that the Greenland flora includes a series of Siberian vegetable forms that could scarcely have reached Greenland in any other way than by the help of such a current conveying the seeds. On the drift ice in Denmark straight between Iceland and Greenland I have made observations which tend to the conclusion that this ice too was of Siberian origin. For instance I found quantities of mud on it which seem to be of Siberian origin or might possibly have come from North American rivers. It is possible however to maintain that this mud originates in the glacier rivers that flow from under the ice in the north of Greenland or in other unknown polar lands so that this piece of evidence is of less importance than those already named. Putting all this together we seem driven to the conclusion that a current flows at some point between the pole and Franz Joseph Land from the Siberian Arctic Sea to the east coast of Greenland. That such must be the case we may also infer in another way. If we regard for instance the polar current that broad current which flows down from the unknown polar regions between Spitzbergen and Greenland and consider what an enormous mass of water it carries along. It must seem self-evident that this cannot come from a circumscribed and small basin but must needs be gathered from distant sources. The more so as the polar sea so far as we know it is remarkably shallow everywhere to the north of the European Asiatic and American coasts. The polar current is no doubt fed by that branch of the Gulfstream which makes it way up the west side of Spitzbergen but this small stream is far from being sufficient and the main body of its water must be derived from further northwards. It is probable that the polar current stretches its suckers as it were to the coast of Siberia and bearing straight and draws its supplies from these distant regions. What it carries off is replaced partly through the warm current before mentioned which makes it way through the bearing straight and partly by that branch of the Gulfstream which passing by the north of Norway bends eastwards towards Navaya Zemlia and of which a great portion unquestionably continues its course along the north coast of this island into the Siberian Arctic Sea. That a current coming from the south this direction at all events in some measure appears probable from the well-known fact that in the northern hemisphere the rotation of the earth tends to compel a northward flowing current whether of water or of air to assume an easterly course. The earth's rotation may also cause a southward flowing stream like the polar current to direct its course westward to the east coast of Greenland. But even if these currents flowing in the polar basin did not exist, I am still of opinion that in some other way a body of water must collect in it sufficient to form a polar current. In the first place there are the North European, the Siberian and North American rivers debouching into the Arctic sea to supply this water. The fluvial basin of these rivers is very considerable comprising a large portion of northern Europe, almost the whole of northern Asia or Siberia, down to the Altai mountains and Lake Baikal, together with the principal part of Alaska and British North America. All these added together form no unimportant portion of the earth and the rainfall of these countries is enormous. It is not conceivable that the Arctic sea of itself could contribute anything to the importance to this rainfall, for in the first place it is for the most part covered with drift ice, from which the evaporation is but trifling, and in the next place the comparatively low temperature in these regions prevents any considerable evaporation taking place even from open surfaces of water. The moisture that produces this rainfall must consequently in a great measure come from elsewhere, principally from Pacific Oceans, and the amount of water which thereby feeds the Arctic sea must be very considerable. If we possess sufficient knowledge of the rainfall in the different localities it might be exactly calculated. The importance of this augmentation appears even greater when we consider that the polar basin is comparatively small, and as has been already remarked very shallow, its greatest known depth being from 60 to 80 fathoms. But there is still another factor that must help to increase the quantity of water in the polar basin, and that is its own rainfall. Viprect has already pointed out the probability that the large influx of warm moist atmosphere from the south, attracted by the constant low atmospheric pressure in the polar regions, must engender so large a rainfall as to augment considerably the amount of water in the polar sea. Moreover, the fact that the polar basin receives large supplies of fresh water is proved by the small amount of salt in the water of the polar current. From all these considerations it appears unquestionable that the sea around the pole is fed with considerable quantities of water, partly fresh as we have just seen, partly salt, as we indicated further back, proceeding from the different ocean currents. It thus becomes inevitable, according to the law of equilibrium, that these masses of water should seek such an outlet as we find in the Greenland polar current. Volume 1 Let us now enquire whether further reasons can be found to show why this current flows exactly in the given direction. If we examine the ocean soundings, we at once find a conclusive reason why the main outlet must lie between Spitzbergen and Greenland. The sea here, so far as we know it, is at all points very deep. There is indeed a channel of as much as 2,500 fathoms depth, while south of Spitzbergen and France-Joseph land it is remarkably shallow, not more than 160 fathoms. As has been stated, a current passes northwards through Bering Strait, and Smith's sound and the sounds between the islands north of America, though here indeed there is a southward current, are far too small and narrow to form adequate outlets for the mass of water of which we are speaking. There is therefore no other sum should left, than that this mass of water must find its outlet by the route actually followed by the polar current. The channel discovered by the Jeannette expedition between Rangel land and the new Siberian islands may here be mentioned as a notable fact. It extended in a northerly direction and was at some points more than 80 fathoms deep, while at the sides the soundings ran only 240 or 50 fathoms. It is by no means impossible that this channel may be a continuation of the channel between Spitzbergen and Greenland, in which case it would certainly influence, if not actually determine, the direction of the main current. If we examine the conditions of wind and atmospheric pressure over the polar sea, as far as they are known, it would appear that they must tend to produce a current across the pole in the direction indicated. From the Atlantic to the south of Spitzbergen and Franz Josefland, a belt of low atmospheric pressure, minimum belt, extends into the Siberian Arctic Sea. In accordance with well-known laws, the wind must have a preponderating direction from west to east on the south side of this belt, and this would promote an eastward flowing current along the north coast of Siberia, such as has been found to exist there. The winds on the north side of the minimum belt must, however, blow mainly in a direction from east to west, and will consequently produce a westerly current passing across the pole towards the Greenland Sea, exactly as we have seen to be the case. It thus appears that from whatever side we consider this question, even apart from the specially cogent evidences above sided, we cannot escape the conclusion that a current passes across or very near to the pole into the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen. This being so, it seems to me that the plain thing for us to do is to make our way into the current on that side of the pole where it flows northward and by its help to penetrate into those regions which all who have hitherto worked against it have sought in vain to reach. My plan is briefly as follows. I propose to have a ship built, as small and as strong as possible, just big enough to contain supplies of coals and provisions for twelve men for five years. A ship of about one hundred seventy tons gross will probably suffice. Its engine should be powerful enough to give a speed of six knots, but in addition it must also be fully rigged for sailing. The main point in this vessel is that it be built on such principles as to enable it to withstand the pressure of the ice. The sides must slope sufficiently to prevent the ice presses together from getting firm hold of the hull, as was the case with the genet and other vessels. Instead of nipping the ship, the ice must raise it up out of the water. No very new departure in construction is likely to be needed for the genet notwithstanding her preposterous build was able to hold out against the ice pressure for about two years. That a vessel can easily be built on such lines as to fulfill these requirements, no one will question who has seen a ship nipped by the ice. For the same reason too, the ship ought to be a small one, for besides being thus easier to maneuver in the ice it will be more readily lifted by the pressure of the ice not to mention that it will be easier to give it the requisite strength. It must of course be built of picked materials. A ship of the form and size here indicated will not be a good or comfortable sea-boat, but that is of minor importance in waters filled with ice, such as we are here speaking of. It is true that it would have to travel a long distance over the open sea before it would get so far, but it would not be so bad a sea-boat as to be unable to get along even though seasick passengers might have to offer sacrifices to the gods of the sea. With such a ship and a crew of ten, or at the most twelve able-bodied and carefully picked men, with a full equipment for five years, in every respect as good as modern appliances permit of, I am of opinion that the undertaking would be well secured against risk. With this ship we should sail up through Bering Strait and westward along the north coast of Siberia towards the new Siberian islands as early in the summer as the ice would permit. Arrived at the new Siberian islands it will be advisable to employ the time to the best advantage in examining the cognitions of currents and ice, and to wait for the most opportune moment to advance as far as possible in ice-free water, which judging by the accounts of the ice conditions north of Bering Strait given by American whalers will probably be in August or the beginning of September. When the right time has arrived then we shall plow our way in amongst the ice as far as we can. We may venture to conclude from the experience of the Jeanette expedition that we should thus be able to reach a point north of the most northerly of the new Siberian islands. Delong notes in his journey that while the expedition was drifting in the ice north of the Benet island they saw all around them a dark water sky that is to say a sky which gives a dark reflection of open water indicating such a sea as would be at all events to some extent navigable by a strong ice ship. Next it must be borne in mind that the whole Jeanette expedition traveled in boats partly in open water from Benet island to the Siberian coast and we know the majority of them met with a lamentable end. Nordenshold advanced no farther northwards than to the southern most of the islands mentioned at the end of August but here he found the water everywhere open. It is therefore probable that we may be able to push our way up past the new Siberian islands and that accomplished we shall be right in the current which carried the Jeanette. We will then be simply to force our way northwards till we are set fast. Next we must choose a fitting place and more the ship firmly between suitable ice flows and then let the ice screw itself together as much as it likes the more the better. The ship will simply be hoisted up and will ride safely and firmly. It is possible it may heal over to a certain extent under this pressure but that will scarcely be of much importance. Henceforth the current will be our mode of power while our ship no longer a means of transport will become a barrack and we shall have ample time for scientific observations. In this manner the expedition will as above indicated probably drift across the pole and onwards to the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen and when we get down to the 80th degree of latitude or even sooner if it is summer there is every likelihood of our getting the ship free and being able to sail home. Should she however be lost before this which is certainly possible though as I think very unlikely if she is constructed in the way above described the expedition will not therefore be a failure for our homeward course must in any case follow the polar current on to the North Atlantic basin there is plenty of ice to drift on and of this means of locomotion we have already had experience. If the Jeannette expedition had had sufficient provisions and had remained on the ice flow on which the relics were ultimately found the result would doubtless have been very different from what it was. Our ship cannot possibly found her under the ice pressure so quickly but that there would be time enough to remove with all our equipment and provisions to a substantial ice flow which we should have selected beforehand in view of such a contingency. Here the tents which we should take with us to meet this contingency would be pitched in order to preserve our provisions and other equipments we should not place them all together on one spot but should distribute them over the ice laying them on rafts of planks and beams which we should have built on it. This will obviate the possibility of any of our equipment sinking even should the flow on which they are break up. The crew of the Hansa who drifted for more than half a year along the east coast of Greenland in this way lost a great quantity of their supplies. For the success of such an expedition two things only are required that is good clothing and plenty of food and these we can take care to have with us. We should thus be able to remain as safely on our ice flow as in our ship and should advance just as well towards the Greenland Sea. The only difference would be that on our arrival there instead of proceeding by ship we must take to our boats which would convey us just as safely to the nearest harbor. Thus it seems to me there is an overwhelming probability that such an expedition would be successful. Many people however will certainly urge in all currents there are eddies and backwaters. Suppose then you get into one of these or perhaps stumble on an unknown land up by the pole and remain lying fast there how will you extricate yourselves. To this I would merely reply as concerns the backwater that we must get out of it just as surely as we got into it and that we shall have provisions for five years. And as regards the other possibility we should hail such an occurrence with delight for no spot on earth could well be found of greater scientific interest. On this newly discovered land we should make as many observations as possible. Should time wear on and find us still unable to get our ship into the set of the current again there would be nothing for it but to abandon her and with our boats and necessary stores to search for the nearest current in order to drift in the manner before mentioned. How long may we suppose such a voyage to occupy? As we have already seen the relics of the Jeanette expedition at most took two years to drift along the same course down to the 80th degree of latitude where we may with tolerable certainty count upon getting loose. This would correspond to a rate of about two miles per day of 24 hours. We may therefore not unreasonably calculate on reaching this point in the course of two years and it is also possible that the ship might be set free in a higher latitude than is here contemplated. Five years provisions must therefore be regarded as ample. But is not the cold in winter in these regions so severe that life will be impossible? There is no probability of this. We can even say with tolerable certainty that the pole itself is not so cold in winter as it is for example in the north of Siberia an inhabited region or on the northern part of the west coast of Greenland which is also inhabited. Meteorologists have calculated that the mean temperature at the pole in January is about minus 33 degrees Fahrenheit minus 36 degrees Celsius while for example in Yakutsk it is minus 43 degrees Fahrenheit minus 42 degrees Celsius and in Verkhoyansk minus 54 degrees Fahrenheit minus 48 degrees Celsius. We should remember that the pole is probably covered with sea radiation from which is considerably less than from large land surfaces such as the plains of North Asia. The polar region has therefore in all probability a marine climate with comparatively mild winters but by way of a set off with cold summers. The cold in these regions cannot then be any direct obstacle. One difficulty however which many former expeditions have had to contend against and which must not be overlooked here is scurvy. During a sojourn of any long duration in so cold a climate this malady will unquestionably show itself unless one is able to obtain fresh provisions. I think however it may be safely assumed that the very various and nutritious foods now available in the form of hermetically closed preparations of different kinds together with the scientific knowledge we now possess of the food stuffs necessary for bodily health will enable us to hold this danger at a distance. Nor do I think that there will be an entire absence of fresh provisions in the water we shall travel through. Polar bears and seals we may safely calculate on finding far to the north if not up to the very pole. It may be mentioned also that the sea must certainly contain quantities of small animals that might serve as food in case of necessity. It will be seen that whatever difficulties may be suggested as possible. They are not so great but they can be surmounted by means of a careful equipment, a fortunate selection of the members of the expedition and its leadership so that good results may be hoped for. We may reckon on getting out into the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen as surely as we can reckon on getting into the Jeannette Current off the new Siberian islands. But if this Jeannette Current does not pass right across the pole if for instance it passes between the pole and Franz Joseph Land as above intimated what will the expedition do in that case to reach the earth's axis? Yes, this may seem to be the Achilles' heel of the undertaking for should the ship be carried past the pole at more than one degrees distance it may then appear extremely imprudent and unsafe to abandon it in mid current and face such a long sledge journey over uneven sea ice which itself is drifting. Even if one reached the pole it would be very uncertain whether one could find the ship again on returning. I am however of opinion that this is of small import. It is not to seek for the exact mathematical point that forms the northern extremity of the earth's axis 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 and these investigations will be equally important from a scientific point of view whether the expedition passes over the polar point itself or at some distance from it. In this lecture I had submitted the most important data on which my plan was founded. But in the following years I continued to study the conditions of the northern waters and received ever fresh proofs that my surmise of a drift right across the polar sea was correct. In a lecture delivered before the Geographical Society in Christiania on September 28th, 1892 I alluded to some of these enquiries. I laid stress on the fact that on considering the thickness and extent of the drift ice in the seas on both sides of the pole one cannot but be struck by the fact that while the ice on the Asiatic side north of the Siberian coast is comparatively thin, the ice in which the Jeanette drifted was as a rule not more than from 7 to 10 feet thick, that on the other side which comes drifting from the north in the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen is remarkably massive and this notwithstanding that the sea north of Siberia is one of the cold extracts on the earth. This I suggested could be explained only on the assumption that the ice is constantly drifting from the Siberian coast and that while passing through the unknown and cold sea there is time for it to attain its enormous thickness partly by freezing, partly by the constant packing that takes place as the flows screw themselves together. I further mentioned in the same lecture that the mud found on this drift ice seemed to point to a Siberian origin. I did not at the time attach great importance to this fact, but on a further examination of the deposits I had collected during my Greenland expedition it appeared that it could scarcely come from anywhere else but Siberia. On investigating its mineralogical composition Dr. Tornebaum of Stockholm came to the conclusion that the greater part of it must be Siberian river mud. He found about twenty different minerals in it. The quantity of dissimilar constituent mineral parts appears to me he says to point to the fact that they take their origin from a very extensive tract of land and one saws naturally turn to Siberia. Moreover more than half of this mud deposit consisted of humus or boggy soil. More interesting however than the actual mud deposit were the diatoms found in it which were examined by the cleave of Upsala who says, these diatoms are decidedly marine i.e. take their origin from salt water with some few freshwater forms which the wind has carried from land. The diatomas flora in this dust is quite peculiar and unlike what I have found in many thousands of other specimens with one exception with which it shows the most complete conformity namely a specimen which was collected by Kelvin during the Vega expedition on an ice flow off Cape Van Karam near Bering Strait. Species and varieties were perfectly identical in both specimens. Cleave was able to distinguish sixteen species of diatoms. All these appear also in the dust from Cape Van Karam and twelve of them have been found at that place alone and nowhere else in all the world. This was a notable coincidence between two such remote points and cleave is certainly right in saying, it is indeed quite remarkable that the diatomas flora on the ice flows off Bering Strait and on the east coast of Greenland should so completely resemble each other and should be so utterly unlike all others. It points to an open connection between the seas east of Greenland and north of Asia. Through this open connection I continued in my address. Drift ice is therefore yearly transported across the unknown polar sea. On this same drift ice and by the same route it must be no less possible to transport an expedition. When this plan was propounded it certainly met with approval in various quarters especially here at home. Thus it was vigorously supported by Professor Mohn who indeed by his explanation of the drift of the Jeanette Relics had given the original impulse to it. But as might be expected it met with opposition in the main especially from abroad while most of the polar travelers and Arctic authorities declared more or less openly that it was sheer madness. The year before we set out in November 1892 I laid it before the Geographical Society in London in a lecture at which the principal Arctic travelers of England were present. After the lecture a discussion took place which plainly showed how greatly I was at variance with a generally accepted opinions as to the conditions in the interior of the polar sea, the principles of ice navigation and the methods that a polar expedition ought to pursue. The eminent Arctic traveler Admiral Sir Leopold McClintock opened the discussion with a remark. I think I may say this is the most adventurous program ever brought under the notice of the Royal Geographical Society. He allowed that the facts spoke in favor of the correctness of my theories but was in a high degree doubtful whether my plan could be realized. He was especially of opinion that the danger of being crushed in the ice was too great. A ship could no doubt be built that would be strong enough to resist the ice pressure in summer but should it be exposed to this pressure in the winter months when the ice resembled a mountain frozen fast to the ship's side he thought that the possibility of being forced up on the surface of the ice was very remote. He firmly believed as did the majority of the others that there was no probability of ever seeing the Fram again when once she had given herself over to the pitiless polar ice and concluded by saying I wish the doctor full and speedy success but it will be a great relief to his many friends in England when he returns and more particularly to those who have had experience of the dangers at all times inseparable from navigation even in regions not quite so far north. Admiral Sir George Nara said the adopted arctic axioms for successfully navigating an icy region are that it is absolutely necessary to keep close to a coastline and that the farther we advance from civilization the more desirable it is to ensure a reasonably safe line of retreat. Totally disregarding these the ruling principle of the voyage is that the vessel on which if the voyage is in any way successful the sole future hope of the party will depend is to be pushed deliberately into the pack ice. Thus her commander in lieu of retaining any power over her future movements will be forced to submit to be drifted helplessly about in agreement with the natural movements of the ice in which he is imprisoned. Supposing the sea currents are as stated the time calculated as necessary to drift with the pack across the polar ice is several years during which time unless new lands are met with the ice near the vessel will certainly never be quiet and the ship herself never free from the danger of being crushed by ice presses. To guard against this the vessel is said to be visually strong and of a special form to enable her to rise when the ice presses against her sides. This idea is no novelty whatever but when once frozen into the polar pack the form of the vessel goes for nothing. She is her medically sealed too and forms a part of the ice block surrounding her. The form of the ship is for all practical purposes the form of the block of ice in which she is frozen. This is a matter of the first importance for there is no record of a vessel frozen into the polar pack having been disconnected from the ice and so rendered capable of rising under pressure as a separate body detached from the ice block even in the height of summer. In the event of the destruction of the vessel the boats necessarily fully stored not only for the retreat but for continuing the voyage are to be available. This is well in theory but extremely difficult to range for in practice. Preparation to abandon the vessel is the one thing that gives us the most anxiety. To place boats etc. on the ice pack ready for use involves the danger of being separated from them by a movement of the ice or of losing them altogether should a sudden opening occur. If we merely have everything handy for heaving over the side the emergency may be so sudden that we have not time to save anything. As regards the assumed drift of the polar ice Naraz expressed himself on the whole at variance with me. He insisted that the drift was essentially determined by the prevailing winds. As to the probable direction of the drift the from starting from near the mouth of the Lena River may expect to meet the main pack not farther north than about latitude 76 degrees 30 minutes. I doubt her getting farther north before she is beset but taking an extreme case and giving her 60 miles more she will then only be in the same latitude as Cape Chelyuskin 730 miles from the pole and about 600 miles from my supposed limit of the effective homeward carrying ocean current. After a close study of all the information we possess I think the wind will be more likely to drift her towards the west than towards the east. With an ice encumbered sea north of her and more open water or newly made ice to the southward the chances are small for a northerly drift. At all events at first and afterwards I know of no natural forces that will carry the vessel in any reasonable time much farther from the Siberian coast than the Chinat was carried and during the whole of this time unless protected by newly discovered lands she will be to all intents and purposes immovably sealed up in the pack and exposed to its well-known dangers. There is no doubt that there is an ocean connection across the area proposed to be explored. In one point however Naraz was able to declare himself in agreement with me. It was the idea that the principal aim of all such voyages is to explore the unknown polar regions not to reach exactly that mathematical point in which the axis of our globe has its northern termination. Sir Alan Young says among other things he assumes the blank space around the axis of the earth to be a pool of water or ice. I think the great danger to contend with will be the land in nearly every direction near the pole. Most previous navigators seem to have continued seeing land again and again further and further north. These Chinat relics may have drifted through narrow channels and thus finally arrived at their destination and I think it would be an extremely dangerous thing for a ship to drift through them where she might impinge upon the land and be kept for years. With regard to the ship's form Sir Alan Young says I do not think the form of the ship is any great point for when a ship is fairly nipped the question is if there is any swell or movement of the ice to lift the ship. If there is no swell the ice must go through her whatever material she is made of. One or two authorities however expressed themselves in favor of my plan. One was the Arctic traveler Sir E. Engelfeld another captain now Admiral Horton director of the Hydrographic Department of England. In a letter to the Geographical Society Admiral Sir George H. Richard says on the occasion of my address I regret to have to speak discouragingly of this project but I think that anyone who can speak with authority ought to speak plainly where so much may be at stake. With regard to the currents he says I believe there is a constant outflow I prefer this word to current from the north in consequence of the displacement of the water from the region of the pole by the ice cap which covers it. Intensified in its density by the enormous weight of snow accumulated on its surface. This outflow takes place on all sides he thinks from the polar basin but should be most pronounced in the tract between the western ends of the Perry Islands and Spitzbergen and with this outflow all previous expeditions have had to contend. He does not appear to make any exception as to the Tegithoff or St. and can find no reason for believing that a current sets north over the pole from the new Siberian islands which Dr. Nansen hopes for and believes in. It is my opinion that when really within what may be called the inner circle say about 78 degrees of latitude there is little current of any kind that would influence a ship in the close ice that must be expected. It is when we get outside this inner circle round the corners as it were into the straight wide channels where the ice is loose that we are really affected by its influence and here the ice gets naturally thinner and more decayed in autumn and less dangerous to a ship. Within the inner circle probably not much of the ice escapes. It becomes older and heavier every year and in all probability completely blocks the navigation of ships entirely. This is the kind of ice which was brought to Nara's winter quarters at the head of Smith Sound in about 82 degrees 30 minutes north and this is the ice which Markham struggled against in his sledge journey and against which no human power could prevail. He attached no real importance to the Genet Ralex. If found in Greenland they may well have drifted down on a flow from the neighborhood of Smith Sound from some of the American expeditions which went to Greeley's rescue. It may also well be that some of DeLong's printed or written documents in regard to his equipment may have been taken out by these expeditions and the same may apply to the other articles. He does not however expressly say whether there was any indication of such having been the case. In a similar letter to the geographical society the renowned botanist Sir Joseph Hooker says Dr. Nansen's project is a wide departure from any hitherto put in practice for the purpose of polar discovery and it demands the closest scrutiny both on this account and because it is one involving the greatest peril. From my experience of three seasons in the Antarctic regions I do not think that a ship of whatever build could long resist destruction if committed to the movements of the pack in the polar regions. One built as strongly as the Fram would no doubt resist great pressures in the open pack but not any pressure or repeated pressures and still less the thrust of the pack if driven with or by it against land. The lines of the Fram might be of service so long as she was on an even keel or in ice of no great height above the waterline but amongst flows and bergs or when thrown on her beamans they would avail her nothing. If the Fram were to drift towards the Greenland coast or the American polar islands he is of opinion that supposing a landing could be affected there would be no probability at all of salvation. Assuming that a landing could be affected it must be on an equal and probably ice bound coast or on the mountainous ice of a paleochristic sea. With a certainly enfeebled and probably reduced ships company there could in such a case be no prospect of reaching succor. Putting aside the possibility of scurvy against which there is no certain prophylactic have the depressing influence on the minds of the crew resulting from long confinement in very close borders during the many months of darkness extreme cold inaction, NUI, constant peril and the haunting uncertainty as to the future been sufficiently taken into account. Profunctory duties and occupations do not avert the effects of these conditions. They hardly mitigate them and have been known to aggravate them. I do not consider the attainment of Dr. Nansen's object by the means at his disposal to be impossible but I do consider that the success of such an enterprise would not justify the exposure of valuable lives for its attainment. In America General Greeley the leader of the ill-fated expedition generally known by his name 1881 to 84 wrote an article in the forum August 1891 in which he says among other things it strikes me is almost incredible that the plan here advanced by Dr. Nansen should receive encouragement or support. It seems to me to be based on fallacious ideas as to physical conditions within the polar regions and to foreshadow if attempted barren results apart from the suffering and death among its members. Dr. Nansen so far as I know has had no Arctic service, his crossing of land, however difficult, is no more polar work than the scaling of Mount St. Elias. It is doubtful if any hydrographer would treat seriously his theory of polar currents or if any Arctic traveler would endorse the whole scheme. There are perhaps a dozen men whose Arctic service has been such that the positive support of this plan by even a respectable minority would entitle it to consideration and confidence. These men are Admiral McClintock, Richards, Collinson and Naraz, and Captain Markham of the Royal Navy, Sir Alan Young, and Lee Smith of England, Coldway of Germany, Pyre of Austria, Norganshold of Sweden, and Malville in our own country. I have no hesitation in asserting that no two of these believe in the possibility of Nansen's first proposition to build a vessel capable of living or navigating in a heavy Arctic pack into which it is proposed to put his ship. The second proposition is even more hazardous, involving as it does a drift of more than 2,000 miles in a straight line through an unknown region, during which the party in its voyage lasting two or more years we are told would take only boats along and camp on an iceberg and live there while floating across. After this, General Greeley proceeds to prove the falsity of all my assumptions. Respecting the objects from the Jeanette, he says plainly that he does not believe in them. Probably some drift articles were found, he says, and it would seem more reasonable to trace them to the Porteus, which was wrecked in Smith Sound about 1,000 miles north of Julian Hobb. It is further important to note that if the articles were really from the Jeanette, the nearest route would have been not across the North Pole along the east coast of Greenland, but down Kennedy Channel and by way of Smith Sound and Baffin Bay, as was suggested as to drift from the Porteus. We could not possibly get near the pole itself by a long distance, says Greeley, as we know almost as well as we had seen it, that there is in the unknown regions an extensive land which is the birthplace of the flat top to icebergs or the paleo-christic ice. In this glacier-covered land, which he is of opinion must be over 300 miles in diameter and which sends out icebergs to Greenland as well as to Franz Josef's land, the pole itself must be situated. As to the indestructible ship, he says, it is certainly a most desirable thing for Dr. Nansen. His meaning, however, is that it cannot be built. Dr. Nansen appears to believe that the question of building on such lines as will give the ship the greatest power of resistance to the pressure of the ice flow has not been thoroughly and satisfactorily solved, although hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent for this end by the island whaling companies of Scotland and Newfoundland. As an authority, he quotes Melville and says, every Arctic navigator of experience agrees with Melville's dictum that even if built solid, a vessel could not withstand the ice pressure of the heavy polar pack. To my assertion that the ice along the Siberian coast is comparatively thin, seven to ten feet, he again quotes Melville who speaks of ice fifty feet high, etc., something we did not discover by the way during the whole of our voyage. After giving still more conclusive proofs that the Fram must inevitably go to the bottom as soon as it should be exposed to the pressure of the ice, he goes on to refer to the impossibility of drifting in the ice with boats. And he concludes his article with the remark that Arctic exploration is sufficiently credited with rashness and danger in its legitimate and sanctioned methods without bearing the burden of Dr. Nansen's illogical scheme of self-destruction. From an article Greeley wrote after our return home in Harpers Weekly for September 19th, 1896, he appears to have come to the conclusion that the Jeanette Ralecks were genuine and that the assumption of their drift may have been correct, mentioning Melville Dahl and others as not believing in them. He also allows that my scheme has been carried out in spite of what he had said. This time he concludes the article as follows. In contrasting the expeditions of DeLong and Nansen it is necessary to allude to the single blemish that Mars the otherwise magnificent career of Nansen deliberately quitted his comrades on the ice beset ship hundreds of miles from any known land with the intention of not returning but in his own reported words to go to Spitzbergen where he felt certain to find a ship six hundred miles away. DeLong and Ambler had such a sense of honour that they sacrificed their lives rather than separate themselves from a dying man whom their presence could not save. It passes comprehension how Nansen could have thus deviated from the most sacred duty devolving on the commander of a naval expedition. The safe return of brave Captain Sverderp with the Fram does not excuse Nansen. Sverderp's consistency, courage, and skill in holding fast to the Fram and bringing his comrades back to Norway will win for him in the minds of many, even those of his able and accomplished chief. One of the few who publicly gave to my plan the support of his scientific authority was Professor Supan the well-known editor of Petermann's Mitalungen. In an article in this journal for 1891, page 191 he not only spoke warmly in its favour but supported it with new suggestions. His view was that what he terms the Arctic windshed, probably for the greater part of the year divides the unknown polar basin into two parts. In the eastern part the prevailing winds blow towards the Bering Sea while those of the western part blow towards the Atlantic. He thought that as a rule this windshed must lie near the Bering Sea and that the prevailing winds in the tracks we proposed traversing would thus favour our drift. Our experience bore out Professor Supan's theory in a remarkable degree. End of file three.